- 1 day ago
Escape To The Country - Season 26 Episode 21 - Oxfordshire
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00:00today we're seeking a rural escape from rocking all over the world it just gives you a bit of
00:07peace and tranquility to the craziness of rock and roll life really there's performance anxiety
00:13to overcome we have got to find somewhere for the drum kit to go but nothing gets things back
00:20on track like a showstopper you have a garage oh shut the front door best reaction and we might
00:30even find a home that inspires a love song Romeo Romeo that's amazing
00:50undulating farmscapes punctuated by thatched cottages
01:03Thameside country towns brim full with boutiques and bars and the oldest university in the English
01:12speaking world as far as all-encompassing escape destinations go the county of Oxfordshire gets
01:20first-class honors rolling hills winding rivers dreaming spires Oxfordshire is the home of
01:28storytellers and scholars although let's face it unless there's a degree in escaping to the country
01:35or maybe 90s pop music I think I'll simply stick to admiring this beautiful wonderful county slap
01:44bang in the heart of southern England Oxfordshire is a rock star when it comes to rural retreats
01:50stadium fillers radiohead hail from here although there's no need for fake plastic trees in this
01:57county it is lovely going up in Oxfordshire it feels like you're in nature around here but you're
02:04still pretty connected to like most places where we live there's woods and rivers and canals that we can
02:11walk along lots of lovely pubs and restaurants that welcome dogs North Oxfordshire has farming
02:19communities served by market towns and villages like Burford to the south the Chilterns and 10 side
02:26towns such as Abingdon and Henley where resident headliners have ranged from George Harrison to Liam
02:33Gallagher people think it's full of really wealthy people but actually there's normal people here as you can tell
02:41okay it's nearly time for our house hunting to begin here in Oxfordshire but first let's meet my buyers
02:55a couple of rock musicians so stand by everyone because we're going to be turning the volume up all
03:02the way to 11. Hello how's it going I'm Sophie I'm Chris and this is Kobe and we would like to escape to the country
03:11yes we would newlywed Sophie a touring rock guitarist and Chris a drummer have a huge social media following
03:21plus equally super sized and growing needs when it comes to a home with over 30 guitars drums costumes
03:30two cats and canine companion Kobe do you want to escape to the country Kobe yes their rented accommodation
03:42near the large Berkshire town of Reading is no longer cutting it I record all of my music here Chris
03:49obviously has a massive drum kit here so when one of us is working the other person can't just like
03:55sit and relax in the lounge they have to go upstairs or something because it's rented we can't really do
03:59anything with it so it'd just be like a dream of mine just to have our own space where we can do
04:04whatever we want with the garden and have a nice a nicer space for Kobe as well to be honest that'd be
04:09great this is our studio space at the moment where we film a lot of our videos very cluttered we've got
04:17a lot of random stuff but it does take up one of the bedrooms which is unfortunate because it means
04:21we don't have a guest bedroom for family and friends to come and stay I am originally from
04:27Henley-on-Thames which is in Oxfordshire so I know that area quite well it's where a lot of my friends
04:32and family are based so I don't want to be too far from them but we're hoping to find our own little
04:36pocket in Oxfordshire that we love these first-time buyers favor modern open-plan homes over period
04:43cottages they want three to four bedrooms parking for their cars and to the van and a garage or
04:50outbuilding for a soundproof studio a village with a pub is their ideal location and they have a budget of up to
04:57six hundred thousand pounds
05:06when you hear that these guys are rock musicians and they do really well at it the thought of moving to
05:14the countryside perhaps wouldn't be people's first choice for them but in a way I can understand it
05:19now I haven't toured like Sophie and Chris have but probably the longest I was on the road was with the
05:26Spice Girls sorry for the name drop and by the end of the tour as much as I loved it when you're living
05:31out of hotels and suitcases you just want to come home have your creature comforts around you beautiful
05:38surroundings and just chill
05:42before we go full volume on the house tours I've got us a scenic spot in South Oxfordshire for a warm-up
05:51Chris and Sophie a very warm welcome to you are you looking forward to the next few days
05:55thank you so much yeah we're really really excited now before we start I've got to ask you millions
06:01and millions of followers the two of you on social media I mean that's incredible are you
06:06going to be sharing this with the people that follow you oh yeah I think so definitely I like
06:11to share different parts of my lives and stuff so it's it's nice for people to see that we're normal
06:16people trying to find a house as well massive congratulations because you've just got about how many
06:21weeks is it oh it's two months two months five days is it yeah I love that extra points remembering the
06:27days yeah yeah I'm not as good at that and buying your first home together yeah we're very excited
06:35like it's it's kind of the time for us to start thinking about the potential of building a family
06:40as well in the next few years and just kind of yeah just really prioritizing our relationship what does
06:45the countryside look like the two of you what are you after I think we'd like to be close to a pub
06:49being able to be part of a community as well is really important to us we both know oxfordshire
06:54relatively well we know parts of it it feels like home to us i'm so looking forward to showing
06:59you around this beautiful county are we going to get any showbiz gossip while we're on the road
07:04oh maybe maybe just for you always for you what happens on the road stays on the road exactly and
07:09we're on the road aren't we say what you like and shall we get started let's do it let's go come on
07:15then follow me thank you
07:20the first house we're viewing is in the rurally located village of farmore
07:26a couple of miles along the road towards the town of whitney is the larger village of ensham
07:31this has a choice of pubs both of which are dog friendly as well as places to get a haircut
07:41a supermarket and regular buses to the city of oxford
07:46the seven minute drive back to farmore involves a quirky five penny toll
07:51small change in the scheme of a house that clicks
07:54so here we go oh it's so cute our first property i like the pink it's got a garage as well it's got
08:03a drive strong first impressions then yes i think so yeah just keeping an open mind yeah okay yeah
08:10well let's go in and see what you make of the inside all right great
08:17originally a 1960s brick bungalow the upper story was added by previous owners who also extended to
08:23the rear we're taking the central front door so here we go as you come in good size hallway
08:33to pass through some of the original footprint and reach a dining room with a window to the left hand
08:39side of the home i'm going to start off the tour properly in here because this is where i think we
08:45have amazing potential yeah yeah it's beautiful it's a really really nice space big window i would do
08:51probably more open plan with my dad i used to do a little building when i was younger did you i'm
08:56just visualizing how i'd sort of knock some walls down got a professional well if i go like this
09:04you could actually open this out i'll show you next door and make a fantastic area it's big space
09:09yeah it's a really big space let's go next door and i'll show you what i mean you see you've got this
09:13fabulous room as well oh this is beautiful i love the bifold doors yeah can you imagine opening it
09:21out yeah that would be really cool like we like to like sort of have family over and stuff so it'd be
09:24nice to have like a big entertaining space absolutely has a lot of potential there definitely let's see
09:29what you make of the kitchen chris if you wouldn't mind leading the way yeah no problem located at the
09:34rear in a single store extension is the kitchen oh this is cute and it's got high ceiling yeah i feel
09:43like nice high ceilings yeah it feels really spacious it does feel spacious it's nice i actually
09:47really like the kind of style it is too i like the the colors little utility in there oh it's a utility
09:53oh nice okay i wish everybody was like you too enthusiasm yeah it's just you've just got to be
10:04open-minded and also if you've rented for a long time together haven't you exactly yeah and you should
10:09see in some of the places we've rented oh really a bit dodgy you can paint it whatever color you like
10:15you can make it your own exactly i can imagine cooking here and like looking at the garden how many
10:20bedrooms ideally you after four four so i've got two downstairs that you could possibly have and
10:28then let's see what you think of upstairs okay i'm letting chris and sophie explore the two bedrooms
10:35at the front of the original bungalow which are now being put to other uses
10:41this would be great for like a this is a filming space i was gonna say a filming space so you would
10:46sit up there and have the back out there as well we have got to find somewhere for the drum kit to go
10:50oh god cue comedy drum roll cool this is another really good size room as well i've seen something
10:59is this a secret secret cupboard perfect i don't think you'll squeeze them in there chris
11:05you could have your whiskey corner in here oh see now you've just thrown it all out now that is yeah so
11:10i'm mixing stuff here i have my whiskey there yeah you just need to be really clever on storage
11:17serving the ground floor is a family shower room and on the floor above is an additional shower room
11:24sitting between two further bedrooms a front-facing double is set into the eaves
11:31do you know what this could probably double up as a guest room and your dressing room it is a lot
11:36bigger than the dressing room i have at the moment and finally at the back of the house the largest
11:41bedroom on offer with room enough to swing a chappers i'm going to call this the main bedroom
11:47it's maybe a little bit smaller than kind of like i'm just thinking with our super king bed in
11:51i like the fitted wardrobes though i think that's a really good user space with the eaves and it's the
11:56same here behind me so there's lots of good storage yeah that's good because we have a lot of stuff
12:01we have a lot of stuff yeah it'd be quite fitting to live in far more with all your stuff wouldn't it
12:07far more clothes yeah more clothes yeah i like what you did there
12:11that might be the reason you've got to buy this exactly there's a lot of potential puns
12:16and there's far more outside too including storage in the form of a detached garage and a large
12:22wooden shed there's space in the garden for some homegrown produce as well as a food for thought
12:29behind us there's a pond and that's a little wildlife reserve there so the insect pollinators
12:37could all come along yeah that's really sweet so the garden is bigger than it looks oh yeah it goes
12:42on for a bit you could actually without compromising the wildlife area is built a sound studio at the
12:47back yeah and that is enough room that's not overlooked you're not going to be disturbing too
12:50many neighbors no exactly so what do you reckon the first properties on the market this is on the nose i
12:55think i think it's probably like 600 000 i think it's probably yeah i'd say 600 or more okay well
13:01you're not going to be disappointed because that is the asking price yeah cool yeah that's kind of
13:06that's pretty much yeah definitely i think that's a good price right on the money this detached and
13:13extended 1960s house has a spacious kitchen two further reception rooms and two to four bedrooms
13:20depending on how the space is used there's the addition of a garage and a good-sized garden and
13:26it's in a quiet village location so this is somewhere that i could see us sort of coming home
13:32after a long stint on the road the downstairs is lovely it's quite modern with like quite a
13:37traditional feel for a 60s style house the only thing that's letting it down for me is the upstairs
13:43space like the size of the rooms but overall i really like it i'm feeling very excited i'm feeling
13:48really really positive i like the little pink color as well i'm a sucker for pink it's a little
13:53bit further out i think than we'd like from a community chris would probably like to have
13:59yeah the pub in walking distance
14:09the name woodstock is more likely to conjure up images of the famous united states music festival
14:15than honey-colored homes and english countryside
14:20but this market town established by a 12th century royal charter could well hit the right
14:26notes for chris and sophie's would-be escape there is a lot of cute little shops there aren't there
14:34combining shops for both daily staples and quirky curiosities it's served by frequent
14:39buses to oxford and a train station an 18-minute bus ride away woodstock's a perfect mix of being rural
14:48enough and to sort of have excitement but also countryside it's got such a thriving music and
14:56art scene very creative place it's so cute that you could bring your dog into all of these shops as
15:01well like all the shops around here are dog friendly it's great if you're raising young children there's
15:07lots of groups around pretty much for every interest woodstock's wooden stocks were once used to hold
15:15the legs of seated miscreants if you do anything wrong we can put you in the stocks as well
15:21and curiously feature five holes these days they are one of the many historic features that attract
15:28visitors to the town we have lots of people coming in especially during the summer internationally but the
15:34people that we see really regularly are more local tourists who know woodstock as a great place to go
15:40to thank you very much cheers adjacent to woodstock is the magnificent estate of blenheim palace
15:52birthplace of winston churchill blenheim's really looked after there's no litter and rubbish and it's just
15:58refreshing to be out there wow it's so beautiful i'll ruin it residents of the town can apply for a
16:09pass to walk the dog friendly grounds for visitors there's a choice of tickets some giving access to
16:15events such as a food festival and flower show the palace also plays host to live music
16:22can you imagine if we play here as well it would be like a little festival or something that would
16:29be cute it would be like woodstock 3.0
16:34if all that's worked up a thirst there's imbibing a plenty from pavement cafes to small family-run pubs
16:42and georgian inns that's got me like the fifth bozer we've all passed i know there's a lot of pubs
16:47it is a bit of me i've got to say it's so nice yeah definitely
16:56our next stop is the south oxfordshire village of blueberry located in the national landscape of the
17:03north wessex downs and presided over by the curves of an iron age hill fort the architecture of the
17:09village spans a millennium across more than 70 listed buildings despite its name savages offers
17:19a very civilized combination of plants groceries and a tea room there's also a couple of pubs one
17:27serving thai cuisine all within an easy walk for house i've got to show them
17:32oh i like the bay windows you love a bay window i do like a bay window it feels quite rural around
17:41here you've probably heard the horses walking by anyway yeah donkeys behind us in the field
17:45i love the donkey so much oh my god it's so cute so first impressions then it's got a nice big driveway
17:54as well which is really nice no garage that i can see yeah i can't see the garage true well let's see
17:59what you make of the house shall we yes definitely dating to the start of the 1920s this semi-detached
18:06home has an entrance set at the side which takes us across to a central kitchen also with a window to
18:13the side so i think this house definitely has a contemporary feel to it yeah yeah definitely it's
18:20really nice um kitchens in the middle of the house which is quite unusual it is i usually like
18:25the kitchen opening onto the garden do you like to live in a open plan kitchen dining area living space
18:32yeah we like to be in the same room with each other so but not with the drum kit or the exactly how
18:38many guitars i lost count after 30 here yeah i think i think so yeah something like that that's better
18:45than my shoe collection i know it's a bit too much i only play like two as well yeah but are they your
18:52babies you can't get rid of course yeah i'm slightly worrying about storage now but we'll see how we get
18:57on come through here although not fully open plan the kitchen does flow through to a rear reception
19:06oh this is nice i've been tempted to open it up would have a really nice like big kitchen
19:11diner which would be lovely yeah it'd be perfect for that looking out onto your garden yeah and i do
19:17see a little building at the back there which i'm curious about yes you see most of downstairs do you
19:22two on your own now want to nip upstairs and have a look around there yeah let's do it all right cool
19:30completing the ground floor at the front of the home the smaller of the receptions could perhaps
19:35provide their social media studio okay i immediately i love the bay window it's spacious in here yeah
19:42it is a good size to be creative yeah true obsessed yeah let's do it on the floor above the first of
19:49three bedrooms the principal takes in the front facing bay window oh this is quite a nice size
19:57oh and i love the bay window oh that's nice to wake up you can wake up to the donkey's every morning
20:02it's so cute yeah this is a nice room with the super king beds plus a wardrobe we still don't
20:07have a massive amount of room we could build a wardrobe there yeah oh nice big bathroom
20:14i love a big it's been done really well yeah i do love a big bath in a separate shower in one room
20:19yeah creme de la creme the smaller of the two guest rooms is in use as an office
20:25and has an aspect to the rear garden as does the larger guest room this could double up as your
20:32sort of dressing room as well i think i probably need more space for a dressing room chris and sophie
20:38have so much stuff i mean she said 30 guitars at least he's got a drum kit plus on stage outfits
20:46merchandise leads and then they've got their own possessions as well i think the flow of the house
20:53is maybe slightly it's just doesn't flow right for us yeah and like the rooms upstairs are quite small
21:00for what we need there's not much built-in storage we're not improving on what we have exactly yeah
21:06there is room to spill out onto the garden which has a patio and is well enclosed for their dog
21:13oh this is nice this is a nice garden i love this garden yeah it's really pretty i like having a patio
21:18area and then like the nice long garden there are mature fruit trees and two large sheds which could
21:26perhaps be upgraded to store touring equipment here come the newlyweds hey that's why i'm not a singer
21:41great support great support thank you so i've given you a little time to look around the property and
21:46then i thought i'd show you the garden because at the back perhaps this could be our saviour we have
21:51a huge shed oh but with the right planning permission you could build a sound studio there okay what are
21:57we thinking then on the price i think it might be five three five okay 535 000 pounds okay 550
22:08you're close okay the actual asking price is 560 000 okay okay cool i was well off that you are
22:18leaving lots of financial wiggle room this semi-detached 1920s house has two reception rooms
22:25and three bedrooms there's an enclosed rear garden and it's in a village location with views to neighbors
22:32who don't mind making a bit of an ass of themselves i was very excited as we approached mainly because
22:39of the donkeys let's be honest the fact that you look over them when you're in the bedroom as well i
22:46think is a really nice touch yeah you've got the pubs in the area it's rural but it feels quite quaint
22:53quite nice as well quite welcoming look at all these bees on the lavender loads of them right sitting down
23:00on the job better get up you caught me happy yes very happy thank you seen enough yes i think
23:07it's today yeah good lots to think about um but let's go and have a chat shall we yeah
23:17that's today's house tours
23:23but how about this for an exclusive encore
23:30so
23:45it's like our own personal gig isn't it thank you and what a beautiful setting to do it absolutely yeah
23:52people wouldn't usually expect like the kind of rock metal guitar culture to also mix so well with
23:58the countryside but it does yeah it does often you'll read interviews with famous musicians and
24:04they say you know when i come off the road that's where i want to be i want to be in my own home
24:08in the countryside away from it all and you know what you two can relate to that yeah yeah definitely
24:13like i think it just gives you a bit of peace and tranquility to the craziness of of rock and roll life
24:17really yeah we're almost ahead of our time really because usually they do that when they're at the
24:21end of the road don't they in their 60s yeah and they've retired we want to get that we're like no
24:25we want to do that now yeah i get to just enjoy the fruits of our labor now don't we exactly yeah
24:30can you feel the change in yourselves yeah definitely like i think everything kind of
24:35you just feel a bit quieter you do you feel at peace yeah we talk about working from home
24:41but can you explain to us what you mean by that yeah yeah so i do a lot on social media so that
24:46kind of means we're having we have to kind of have sets almost built which are ready with the big
24:51cameras with proper like softbox lighting and everything my whole guitar rig set up which goes
24:56through a pedal so many wires you wouldn't believe the amount of cables we have it's not just a case of
25:01going on the laptop and sending an email like what a lot of people do from home and then also chris does
25:06all of my merch and i think that's why we have so much stuff yeah yeah we've got to find you a place
25:11that has the potential for all of that absolutely i think you can add all the pressure yeah do you
25:17we've got quite a good track record i don't mind saying so let's see how we get on tomorrow yes
25:22the latest average sold price for detached properties in oxfordshire is 675 000 pounds considerably
25:41above the uk average of 441 000 but there are less expensive pockets to be found such as in and around
25:51the market towns of banbury in the north of the county and whitney in the west
25:59to help you do the maths on where your budget might get you in the county here's a selection
26:04from the area my buyers are looking at this week this grade two listed two bedroom 18th century cottage
26:12in a village location has period interiors and a private rear garden it's offered for a guide price
26:19of 330 000 pounds for a thatched and detached option this 17th century two-bedroom home in a riverside
26:30location is full of cottage character and has a generous garden backing onto the river tame
26:36the guide for office is 475 000 pounds
26:40for a short stay that really encourages branching out this futuristic treehouse sleeps too and offers
26:51surround sound custom playlists to go with a 360 sylvan serenity from 232 to 299 pounds per night
27:01for a minimum two night stay
27:07this move to oxfordshire is all about a lifestyle change for sophie and chris putting down some
27:13country roots and when i say country i don't mean the musical genre i mean rolling hills and beautiful
27:21landscapes so we're going to be showing them our mystery house which certainly has a homely appeal
27:27and i'm hoping it's going to work on all levels with a little bit of a compromise my mystery
27:34destination is in the village of sutton courtney
27:40this idyllic spot is ironically the final resting place of the author of some of the most dystopian
27:46novels ever written george orwell close to his grave an aptly named pub has a history of his life
27:55and don't fear the matrix here either it's a center for the arts
28:02there's also a convenience store a pretty green and several more pubs including one serving gourmet
28:08meals courtesy of a french chef while my buyers are getting a sense of all that i'm going ahead
28:16to what i hope will prove to be mystery property utopia
28:20so this mystery house or should that be a mystery cottage has a bundles of charm
28:28and bundles of beams come on
28:34feast your eyes it is beautiful it has the heritage it has the beams you can see the age but it also has
28:42that contemporary finish my buyers say they're not keen on cottages so fingers crossed for my period
28:51mystery wager hello hello so welcome to sutton courtney and welcome to your mystery cottage oh
29:00okay that's so pretty i love the porch i like the character features on it shall we start and see what
29:07you think yeah let's do it built as two attached cottages in the early 1900s but now a single
29:16detached home this brick stone and tiled property is thought to have been extended at least twice over
29:23its lifetime we enter through a more recently added porch to reach a characterful dining room in the
29:30original footprint and minor step as well oh wow wait for me
29:38wow this is really really nice yeah oh you've definitely stumped us yeah and it's sort of semi
29:47open plan living cool that's exactly what we like yeah i'm stumped i will say and the ceilings
29:53are high enough for your head as well because we always thought cottages had quite low ceilings
29:57yeah so these are quite okay you can jump around yeah a little jump there yeah it is one of those
30:02ones you step in and go oh wow yeah let's see if it continues okay we're all beaming oh do you like
30:09what i did there wow yeah this kitchen is beautiful it's pristine lots of side space too i like a good
30:17good amount of side space i need as much room as possible the drawers there's a lot of storage
30:23storage and you've got a dining table at the end that's pretty cool integrated is it talking to
30:29you chris mm-hmm i think you've stumped chris because you know chris thinks practically so he's
30:34very much like i think he's probably still thinking about the driveway you're not wrong just around the
30:39corner you've got a little utility room okay amazing which super super handy and then through here the
30:45sitting room okay oh wow damn you really don't want to like it because of the driveway but every room
30:55just keeps getting better and better like this is beautiful it feels really cozy but you look like
31:01you're in pain i am you can see the steam coming out of his ears and the cogs turning in his head
31:06because you wouldn't have considered this house not at all i want you two to go off and explore
31:10upstairs and then i will meet you outside okay cool thank you thank you at the back of the home
31:17the final room of the ground floor is a bathroom that has a large contemporary bath
31:22stairs in the dining room lead up to the bedrooms three in total starting with the principal to the front
31:28this is a really nice size bedroom you don't want to like it so i know that's really spacious
31:42it does you like a skylight for when it rains yeah watch the stars we can stargaze
31:49to give chris a further headache this opens into a smaller room in the rear eaves
31:54i do love this space for like a dressing room like i can imagine myself with my makeup mirror here
31:59yeah good wardrobes as well that are built in this is just such a good extra space to have
32:04this is really cute as well i've noticed they've been marking the children as they grow
32:09oh and we could probably do the same thing this is definitely a house you can make memories in absolutely
32:15there's more to fuel those fertile imaginations at the back in the first of the guest rooms
32:21look at the letterbox we can send letters to our guests could be a filming space and double up as a
32:27guest room also on this floor is a very modern wet room as well as the third and final bedroom
32:35another guest double facing to the front right hear me out guest room yeah and this is a creative
32:43space like filming i just want to peek around here as well where are you going there's like a little
32:48window there's a little window to the stairs so i can shout down that's amazing
32:54does it have a driveway no does it have loads of storage but does it feel like home yes yes yes
33:16okay well i've had enough so bye bye
33:24there is serious merriment is that a word going on upstairs wait you can do like this
33:30get this go down to the basement oh my god no it should be more like a lift
33:42well no that's brilliant like puppet shows for the kids yeah what punch and judy yeah
33:48if that sort of laughter means they love it i'm definitely going to take it it is soul because
33:57they seem to be really enjoying themselves whether the upstairs works on all the levels that they want
34:03it to it's another thing we can make it work it's just what we're willing to make work if you know what
34:09i mean and i think this one is finished to such a high standard yeah this is such like a oh this is a
34:14spanner and when it comes to somewhere to store that giant spanner chris my marvelous mystery might
34:21just have the thing because i've got something to reveal outside in the small but well stocked
34:27enclosed rear garden you have a garage oh shut the front door
34:34really best reaction for the garage ever and that's a big garage as well that goes really far
34:43back it does what price are we going to put oh i think it's going to be five nine five maybe even
34:49six hundred i have a gut feeling that it's going to be a lot less are you hoping i think he's manifesting
34:56i reckon it's five seven five okay offers over 600 000 pounds okay yeah i can see why because
35:03everything is finished to such a high standard yeah we are right on the top of your budget but
35:08you don't really need to spend any money inside the property you could in theory move in tomorrow
35:13yeah definitely and wouldn't need to do anything so okay so they would need to buy the place first
35:21but what a home this early 19th century mystery could give them with period features beating modern
35:27sensibilities in the kitchen diner three bedrooms two bathrooms and a detached garage plus it's in
35:35a great village with several pubs a short walk away these mystery houses are definitely they really
35:42do make you think because we had a list of things we wanted and this house you know it misses i guess
35:48quite a few things because i think from the office so we weren't keen on cottages and then when you just
35:55see the charm everything kind of goes out the window i still don't want to like it but i can't
36:00not because it is a beautiful home there are so many places in the uk to escape to but if you think
36:18about it there are even more places to escape from and we've met so many people living in the
36:25countryside from all around the world like tonner who's come all the way from mexico and brought with
36:32her her passion for food tonner is a chef with a masters in philosophy
36:38and 15 years of intercontinental experience in michelin-starred fine dining but baking bread in an
36:51oxfordshire village stoke row is where she's now totally at home is there anything better than the
36:59smell of fresh bread from a bakery and i think i've hit the spot and i'm not the only one seeking this
37:06place out awards and accolades from britain's best loaf to a nomination for baker of the year
37:13mean a steady stream of repeat customers precede me i can see you've got your hands full and just
37:20standing here it smells gorgeous what have you bought i bought two of their loaves in here uh i'm
37:25gonna freeze one and then the other one might not last longer than the day good idea so are you a
37:31regular here at the bakery yes yeah yeah it's very famous in the local area so always come here when
37:36i can i come all the way from reddick to get it yeah i make that a 20 mile round trip but the journey
37:44here for the baker herself has been even longer so lovely to meet you standing here i'm in seventh heaven
37:52really surrounded by all this goodness and gorgeousness oxfordshire wasn't originally your
37:58home was it yours is an unusual story so yeah i was born in mexico i went to argentina and i thought
38:04i was going to stay there uh then i met my partner who is from around here but we didn't come here
38:10straight away we went to mexico we set up a restaurant we sold that restaurant right before the pandemic
38:17and we relocated here so the dream was always to have a bakery or not no originally i was thinking
38:24maybe i could make another restaurant but through the years i worked in fine dining uh one of the
38:30things that bothered me the most was that those amazing meals um that really touched your soul um
38:38are not affordable for everybody all i wanted was to make that kind of experience affordable
38:44or in a way that could reach most of the people and if i can translate what i wanted to do into bread
38:50uh there's so many people i can like reach i i can share the experience you've got something
38:57here which is first class in a village community this year we are doing gingerbread house decorating
39:03competition where we are trying to make a model village of a stoke road what a lovely idea but it
39:09doesn't stop there does it recent thing we're doing we just took over the pub the local pub
39:13the pub may not be open quite yet but the garden is a good spot to sample a taste of things to come
39:22i have been with the most lovely couple and one of the things that they ask for near any property
39:30is a pub they want to be part of that community a great place to to meet people make friends it's
39:35lovely that you've got that passion to get it reopened with the backing of the village and beyond but
39:41also give them great food you want a space where you can sit and feel that you belong to me it takes
39:48a village to to raise a person but to me it takes a baker to feed a village yes so right absolutely
39:57and on that note what have we got here uh what we've been doing for the last 10 000 years breaking
40:02bread together come on then this is a stick it's got a nice crust it's got a nice inside how lovely
40:11let plenty of butter on this ready
40:21truly delicious i think tonner must have found a way to the heart of this village through its stomachs
40:30now back to the property and pub that could have my buyers calling oxfordshire home
40:35we have had a great few days hanging out in oxfordshire with two rock musicians and sophie and
40:44chris have been positive about all the houses we've shown them but did we get close with our mystery
40:50house should then find out well it's certainly been an entertaining few days it's been fabulous we've
41:01had so much fun like honestly and we've learned so much as well about what we need yeah it was
41:06interesting to see how our lives would work in each one we're both awful decision makers and it feels
41:10like such we're both libras it doesn't help we're both still defense on everything but you know what
41:15you haven't been bad in actual fact because i know lifestyle lifestyle has been in the back of our heads
41:19the whole time you were very open-minded and mindful of what it is you need yeah did we get close yeah
41:28for sure i think i think you did get really close with a couple of the properties particularly the
41:33mystery yeah i think it goes without saying we did love the feel of the mystery house we both absolutely
41:38loved it like that was a spanner our hearts were really in that one but we do also have to think
41:43practically yeah i don't think we could compromise on not having a driveway so i'm taking from this
41:48conversation then that you're going to continue the search i think what we may need to consider because
41:53obviously we wanted to stay local for our families and everything but there is no harm in
41:58going further afield squeeze in some more time to look at properties we'll do because i know you're
42:03keen don't lose that momentum um but all the very best thank you both so much thank you it's been
42:09amazing an amazing few days
42:18it does seem that the search is going to continue for that home with lots of storage space and studio as
42:25well not just here in oxfordshire but in the surrounding counties too and in my opinion
42:30that is a sensible move we wish them all the very best with their exciting careers and also for their
42:37next move to the countryside so that's it from me and i'll see you again soon
42:44sophie and chris did indeed continue to tour property further north and we're delighted to announce
42:50that they found just what they were looking for in the oxfordshire market town of banbury we hope
42:56to hear they've moved in very soon if you would like to escape to the country in england
43:02northern ireland scotland or wales and need our help why not apply online at bbc.co.uk forward
43:09slash take part
43:27so
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