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00:02The green, rolling landscapes of Great Britain are home to the jewels in the country's rich heritage.
00:13Our country houses.
00:19Celebrated across the world for their design and decoration.
00:27Their crowns and gardens.
00:33And their centuries of history.
00:40There was a time when owning a grand country house meant a great deal.
00:45These estates were the keys to fortune and power.
00:50But today's country house owners live in a very different world.
00:54The sound of petrol!
00:56No, no, no, wrong way!
00:58These houses are still the grandest in the land.
01:02This is Oliver Cromwell's room.
01:03But the challenge of keeping them in one piece has never been greater.
01:07Spiral of decay, I don't like the sound of that.
01:10Ballpark figures, 350,000.
01:12Gulp.
01:13Gotta get these lights fixed.
01:14Today's owners are becoming ever more imaginative.
01:18Bon appetit.
01:19We're finding ways...
01:21I'm literally ankle deep right now.
01:23To keep the money coming in.
01:25These estates aren't designed to make money, they're designed to eat money.
01:29To keep the ceiling from falling down.
01:31And I turn the corner into here.
01:34Oh my goodness.
01:35We are collecting leaks, as you can see.
01:37And stop their fears becoming a reality.
01:40I think of all the ancestors going back 900 years.
01:44If we fail, it's on our watch.
01:47Of course, being to the manor born has always been a privilege.
01:51But today's owners face challenges as never before.
01:55So, they're rolling up their sleeves and putting their heart and soul into brave new ventures.
02:01The question is, how do you save a country house and see it prosper in the modern world?
02:08How do I save a country house?
02:31For spil Como Venture Me
02:35isering bones and the future.
02:36Khmer, du Porc, du Porco, du sam», is the second story of tea.
02:38Their houses may have listed status, having been recognized for their historic significance.
02:44But we're visiting a new house today, which, whilst being Grade 2 listed, is not the star attraction.
02:53Its gardens are Grade 1 listed, the highest level, and deemed to be of exceptional interest.
03:00And a treasure like this may be no easier or cheaper to look after than bricks and mortar.
03:10We're heading to south-west England, on the border between Somerset and Wiltshire.
03:16It's where we find Eifert Manor.
03:21Tucked away at the bottom of a valley, Eifert's splendid Georgian front overlooks a road and a river,
03:29as if determined to be noticed by passers-by.
03:34Better get the bins in.
03:36Although the reality of owning this handsome manor house is often rather less grand.
03:44The world's great levellers, isn't it, Binday?
03:53Eifert and its 1,000-acre estate is the cherished home of William Cartwright Hignett and his wife, Marianne.
04:02Eifert is a very special place.
04:04It's a little corner of England tucked away in a little valley just outside of Bath.
04:09And it feels like time hasn't touched it here for centuries.
04:14I think Eifert's a place that's an escape and a place for people to really just be and get away
04:19from the outside world.
04:23The challenge for William and Marianne is to maintain Eifert's idyllic qualities whilst turning it into a thoroughly modern business.
04:33It needs to be loved.
04:34Whether it's a child or whether it's a dependent grandparent, I don't know.
04:39Well, it's definitely dependent.
04:44For William, Eifert has always been home.
04:47His family bought the house in the 1960s.
04:53The most amazing place to grow up.
04:55I'm an only child, so my friends were, as it were, the team, the landscape, the bunnies, the wisterias.
05:03Everything here is my family.
05:07When you are in a place for longer than you can remember, it becomes part of you.
05:14You merge.
05:15This is where you have to earn your cup of tea because there's hundreds of steps in Eifert.
05:22Having met Marianne online, Eifert immediately became an important part of their relationship.
05:30She and I walked around the garden, and usually a wand around the garden might be an hour and a
05:33quarter,
05:34and in this instance it was three and a half hours.
05:37When I married William, I also married Eifert, and I often describe Eifert as being like my oldest child.
05:43And it's just so special to be the guardian and custodian of this special place.
05:49But, as well as keeping up the centuries-old building,
05:53this entrepreneurial couple know it is essential that they maintain Eifert's biggest drawl.
06:02Behind the manor house lie the charming Italianate gardens that cascade down a terraced hillside.
06:13Nearly 20,000 visitors a year now come here to enjoy the garden's delights,
06:19but they were designed as the rather more private retreat of Harold Peto,
06:25a visionary garden designer who bought Eifert in 1899.
06:31Eifert is still packed full of the plants, features, and surprises that Peto himself created.
06:39Harold Peto built this wall, and Wisteria predated it.
06:43It must be one of the oldest in the country, because it's got to be about 1820s, something like that.
06:48And Wisteria only came to the UK in about 1815.
06:51Being a respecter of things that went before, he stuck it through the wall, which is quite fun.
06:58Peto's talents range from architecture, to garden design, to interiors.
07:03And his work took him all around the world.
07:06He was working predominantly in Europe for aristocracy and the royals and the big American industrialists and people like the
07:15Rothschilds.
07:16He built these incredible villas and gardens and was obviously very successful at it because he was able to buy
07:22Eifert.
07:24The difference here is that Eifert was Harold Peto's to experiment with at will.
07:31That is why this garden will take you from southwest England, to Japan, and to the Mediterranean.
07:43But the truth is, a garden like this can be just as challenging to look after as an historic house
07:50itself.
07:51And over the years, William and Marianne have found themselves facing many unexpected challenges.
07:59I think it's one of those things that when you are responsible for looking after them, to be honest, you
08:06never quite know what's going to come next.
08:09And suddenly in front of you, the cloister, the most wonderful folly garden building that you can imagine.
08:16It was built by Harold Peto and completed in 1914, and it's a real surprise.
08:29You feel like you've sort of come into something really historic and old, even though it's only 1914, so it's
08:36not as old as you think.
08:38He brought marble back from Greece that he turned into all the columns and various things, and lots of antiquities
08:44are within it.
08:47Although today, this feels like the most peaceful and contemplative spot in the whole garden, in recent years, this amazing
08:56feature cost the couple sleepless nights and more than a pretty penny.
09:022018 was the last time there was a big drought, and we have a real mix of soils here at
09:07Eiford, but underlying part of the garden is a fuller's clay layer.
09:10And the clay dried up, and it was underneath the cloister, and unexpectedly, there were some cracks, and it suddenly
09:18started moving very, very rapidly, and the cloister is a very fragile building.
09:22It turned out it didn't have any foundations, so that was a bit of a problem.
09:28Surveys revealed major subsidence in one corner of the cloister.
09:32This and the building's movements were then monitored over months, before scaffolding was erected, the roof supported, and several walls
09:42and columns removed.
09:44The subsoil could then be dug out, and foundations finally added.
09:49The project was challenging.
09:51We had to underpin 50% of this building without taking the building down properly.
09:57I think there were 30 trades involved, and it took seven or eight months.
10:00It was quite a job.
10:01And when they did drop the roof back down onto the columns, when everything had been built back up, and
10:07they took the scaffolding off, the foreman came in on a Sunday and didn't tell anybody, because I think we
10:12had all expected at least one of the columns to shatter.
10:19This summer, though, it's another of Pitot's structures that is in need of attention.
10:26It's a long-awaited project.
10:28We are starting to take down the original greenhouses, the Haralpito greenhouses, which are in the walled garden.
10:35They've been stood there for 120 years.
10:37They've been maintained a bit here and there.
10:40One of them has taken down about 20 years ago, because it was just plain dangerous, and the other one's
10:44got to a point where it's really end of life.
10:46So, so the time has come to replace them.
10:49But this isn't simply a case of popping down to the garden centre for a replacement.
10:54This is a 12 by 22 foot Edwardian glass house with 94 panes of glass.
11:01And to retain the estate's historic charms, it will need to be painstakingly restored.
11:09Everything in heritage, if done properly, costs more.
11:14It's just the way it works.
11:16And I think it's something you just learn to accept, because it involves artisan techniques, which are slower, harder to
11:23come by.
11:24And when you are building bespoke, the element of the unknown is also a worry for the country house custodian.
11:33Things don't always go to plan.
11:35There's always a chance that things can go wrong.
11:54At Eiford Manor, owners William and Marianne never tire of their idyllic and peaceful spot overlooking the River Froome on
12:02the Wiltshire Somerset border.
12:05It's hard to believe that we're just outside of Bath, just hidden away.
12:10But the Cartwright-Hignett family home has a surprisingly industrious past.
12:16It hasn't always been a country house.
12:192,000 years ago, there were Romans, and they were kind of doing sheep for wool for the Byrus Britannicus,
12:26the great overcoat of the day.
12:27And roll forward 1,000 years, and you get the Saxons still doing wool and cloth at Eiford.
12:33And then roll forward another 300 or 400 years, and you end up with a stone bridge being built under
12:37the monastic ownership of Eiford.
12:39And it's still wool trade.
12:41So it's really the wool-cloth industry at Eiford for 1,500 years.
12:46And it was ultimately money from the wool that wiped away that history and developed Eiford as the country house
12:53we see today.
12:55In its current form, the house originates in the 15th century, late 15th century, with this section here being the
13:02brew house, which is where, of course, they made the dyes and the beer for the workers and all of
13:05that.
13:05But it's a cloth industry set of buildings, factory, factory owner's house, brew house, some sheds, transport department.
13:14Oh, and the pub.
13:16It was a pub, they say.
13:17But I've never found evidence of it.
13:19There is evidence, though, of Harold Pitot, the celebrated landscape architect who called Eiford home until his death in 1933.
13:29And now, almost a century later, current custodian of Eiford, William, is planning to replace one of Pitot's original and
13:38now dilapidated greenhouses,
13:41but in the most sensitive way possible, to honour its Edwardian heritage.
13:47The lovely opportunity here is to keep the structure and the design of the old greenhouses by retaining the ironwork.
13:55And the ironwork dictates things like the roof pitch and it dictates technicalities, which are stuff that, you know, a
14:02modern greenhouse might have improved on.
14:04But actually, there's something to be said for keeping a historic form.
14:08You know, we don't try to improve on Gothic architecture on an old cathedral just because it's old.
14:14So let's just keep what we've got, but make one that's modern.
14:18The man tasked with seamlessly fusing the old with the new is head gardener Steve Lannin.
14:24Steve, what have you noticed?
14:26And he's relishing the opportunity to lead such a unique restoration.
14:31So, um, this glass here has got this lovely sort of fish scale detail to it.
14:38That side, it isn't. It's straight.
14:40Somebody's replaced that side of the glass at some point and it's all flat.
14:45It hasn't got this nice curve at it.
14:46You're right. It's all modern glass.
14:48Yeah.
14:49That is a thing.
14:50It is a thing.
14:51It is a thing.
14:51I thought it would be a shame to smash this stuff up.
14:54Maybe we could reuse this nicer glass to make cold frames.
14:59Having horticultural glass above your head is not ideal now and it's all going to be replaced with safety glass.
15:06But if it's just in a cold frame and it's not above your head, we could reuse it.
15:12It's one of those projects that comes along once in a generation and you have a real opportunity to leave
15:18something behind that is hopefully high quality, long lasting and does justice to the design.
15:25A really nice thing to be able to be a part of and leave a bit of a legacy, actually.
15:29Yeah.
15:29These have done 120.
15:30Yeah, that's it.
15:30So it's done pretty well for itself.
15:32But, you know, if we got 50, 60, 70 years out of it, maybe my grandchildren might have to think
15:38about doing something.
15:39Yeah, that's it.
15:40But apart from some unusual curved panes of glass, how much of Pitot's greenhouse can actually be preserved?
15:48Steve is leaving no stone unturned in his bid to solve the challenge.
15:54So I spent ages trying to find out who could have built them and it actually says it on them.
15:59It's Tucker of Tottenham.
16:01And I found a brochure from about 1910 and it shows this design.
16:06Well, that dates it, doesn't it?
16:07It does.
16:08It does.
16:10Managing heritage is different to managing a building in a modern context because you're
16:15always trying to do things in a way that is relevant to the day-to-day but that is respectful
16:22of what went before.
16:23The main thing that we're going to do is to retain the pitch and to do that we're going to
16:28reuse the iron work that's in here.
16:30As this is taken down, we'll get these sent off, shot blasted and brought back from where the new greenhouse
16:36is put up.
16:38So I'm hopeful that we can retain really an enormous amount of the historic properties of what we've got, the
16:43fabric, exactly.
16:44With a potential bill in the tens of thousands, the restoration of the greenhouse will take more
16:51than a year to complete, but William knows projects like this are key to keeping Iford on the visitors destination
16:59list.
17:01You never know what's around the corner.
17:03All you can do is plan for the best and prepare for a contingency.
17:15The replacement of a greenhouse feels like quite a simple project, and yet the team at Iford are making it
17:21more challenging than necessary
17:23in order to preserve their connection to the wonderful Harold Peto.
17:28I think that will serve them very well in the future.
17:31A little further north, James and Emma Lowsley-Williams are even more keen to preserve one connection with a previous
17:39owner.
17:40But they know very little about what they've inherited, even less so whether it could play a role in their
17:46future.
17:48In the heart of the glorious Cotswolds, and for the past two years, along with their wider family,
17:55James and Emma have been running Chavinage House.
17:59This wonderful Elizabethan manor has been in the Lowsley-Williams family for over 130 years.
18:06But looking after such an historic estate comes with multiple daily challenges.
18:13Look, this has only just been repainted, and this is condensation.
18:18So in the winter, it just drips and then you've got...
18:22Constant work.
18:25As new custodians, James and Emma are bursting with ideas for developing the estate.
18:32But they are very much learning on the job.
18:35If I'm totally honest, I don't know at this point what the estate finances are looking like entirely.
18:44But I know that we will probably spend the rest of our lives trying to keep this place financially stable.
18:52We are hand-to-mouth right now, so we've got to find innovative ways to generate revenue because otherwise we're
19:00not going to be able to put heating on and we're not going to be able to sustain the house
19:03and that would be devastating.
19:07Today, though, they're stepping away from day-to-day activities to spend time on something very personal and potentially income
19:16-generating.
19:17They've invited an expert in his field to assess one of the estate's most unique assets.
19:32Peter Lord has travelled from Cardiff, where he runs one of Britain's leading model railway shops.
19:40I've had my first train set when I was six years of age and I've had the lifelong interest and
19:46been very fortunate in to be able to turn it into a business.
19:50This is where the public normally see, but they don't normally see this part.
19:55Peter is the ideal man to give an opinion on the remarkable passion project of James's grandfather.
20:03I don't know anything about what I'm about to see, so I'm going in with a very open mind, but
20:09a very curious mind as well.
20:12Hello. Hi, Peter. How are you? Welcome to the attic.
20:17Wow. So, attic. Good God.
20:21For several decades, this space was the peaceful retreat of James's grandfather and model railway enthusiast, David Lowsley-Williams, who
20:30died two years ago.
20:32This remarkable collection is testament to David's passion for the railway.
20:37So, it starts here and goes round there on these turntables.
20:43And then it comes through here.
20:48And there's more.
20:49And there's more.
20:51That's incredible.
20:54Over the years, James's grandfather wrapped his model train around eaves, shaped it around windows, and spread it to many
21:03of Chavenage's gables.
21:05And Peter is here to see if it might be viable to get it up and running once again as
21:11a visitor attraction.
21:13It's good to see with the controllers as well.
21:16They're good quality controllers.
21:17Oh, really?
21:18Made by a firm called Gage Master.
21:20British built, top quality.
21:22Really?
21:22And then he's got these.
21:24And I don't understand how all this links up.
21:26And I think I'm going to have to do a map of the sites.
21:30It's all done in sections, rather like the real thing.
21:33So, if you like, he'd be in this area operating probably what you see around us in here.
21:38Yeah.
21:39And that's basically what that is.
21:40The panel there is the display of this particular area here.
21:46It looks like it's on Hint...
21:48Oh, my God.
21:49And then, yeah, then you've got all the circuitry behind it.
21:52That would probably need looking at it.
21:53But looking at it, it's fairly recent.
21:56You know, and again, it's all, as you would expect, top quality.
22:00It's being thought about, isn't it?
22:01Yeah, well, that's the prior planning, isn't it?
22:05In the past few weeks, James and Emma have spent hours tidying up the attic.
22:11But with no expert knowledge themselves, they're relying on Peter to tell them
22:16just how big a draw this railway could be for potential visitors.
22:21He built it for himself.
22:23He didn't show anyone it.
22:25Ah, right, OK.
22:26So he'd just like to just go away from the estate, go away from the manor, and sink in...
22:32This is his...
22:33It's paradise.
22:34This is the de-stress area.
22:36Yeah.
22:37This is meant to be Austria, I think.
22:39In the snow.
22:40Yes.
22:41Time and effort to do that.
22:43I know.
22:44My grandfather was very into skiing.
22:48As we can see.
22:49He's done different scenes that he was interested in.
22:53What he's doing is recreating his life, isn't he?
22:56Incredible.
22:57Isn't that amazing?
22:57In miniature.
22:58That's what he's done in areas there.
23:00One of those, skiing.
23:01Yeah, he's skiing.
23:01Yeah.
23:02Through the town.
23:03Yeah, in the little village there.
23:05And I think he bought the trains that he went on.
23:08Which remind him of his holidays, yeah.
23:11Yeah, the holidays.
23:11Yeah.
23:13Well, actually, that is one of my models.
23:16No.
23:17No.
23:18That's come from us.
23:19Oh, you're joking.
23:20No.
23:21The weathering, we were known for a distressing of models to make them look worn and battered.
23:26Oh, so that's not just because it's old?
23:28No, no, no.
23:29No, no, no.
23:29That's been recreated.
23:31That was done by Adrian, my business partner.
23:33I can tell that because of his unique style.
23:37Oh, my gosh.
23:37You'll have to take a picture of it.
23:39Yeah, yeah.
23:40He's been to your shop.
23:42Well, that model came out about 11 years ago.
23:45And how much would that be worth?
23:46Well, at the time, it was probably about 130, something like that.
23:51Oh, quite expensive.
23:52I mean, I would never sell it, but it's just interesting to know.
23:55Yeah.
23:57Isn't that mad to think my grandfather was one of your customers, and this is where all
24:02your trains were going?
24:03Without even knowing.
24:07And would you say this is one of the biggest private attic railways?
24:12From my point of view, it is the biggest private attic I've ever seen, yeah.
24:15Wow.
24:15It is phenomenal.
24:18That's good to know.
24:19Yeah.
24:19But the question is, just how big a job is it to get such a giant train set up and
24:25running
24:26once more?
24:37At Chavinage in the Cotswolds, owners James and Emma are in one of the most inaccessible
24:43parts of the house.
24:45The attic is where James' grandfather built his pride and joy, a model railway set.
24:52It is the biggest set that expert Peter Lord has ever laid eyes on.
24:57And now it's on to the next stage of breathing new life into this project.
25:02Shall we see if I can get you one going?
25:05Oh, yeah, we've certainly got power.
25:07I've got this lit up.
25:08Oh, it's moving!
25:09Oh, there we are.
25:10Train!
25:11Train, yeah.
25:12That's pretty cool, isn't it?
25:13Go, go, go, train.
25:16So far it goes.
25:18We'll leave you here for a couple of days then.
25:20Yeah.
25:21Just send the sarnies out.
25:22Yeah, yeah.
25:23Yeah, coffee will be delivered.
25:25Yeah.
25:25Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:29Whilst there's hope for this future visitor attraction, there is a big difference between
25:34getting the odd bit of track clear and the whole attic layout running and fit to receive
25:39visitors.
25:42Unfortunately, it is a little bit untidy over time, you know, with the dust collecting.
25:46I think the way I would do it, if I wanted to set it back up again and get it
25:51running, I
25:52think the way I would do it would be to perhaps just concentrate on two of the main lines and
26:00get those up and running so you can take advantage of the whole space.
26:04Really?
26:04Rather than trying to get everything working, just get the core part of the layout up and
26:12running.
26:13On the plus side, you see, we know that we've got good quality track, we know that we've
26:18got good quality controllers.
26:20Interestingly, I think this is where I'm going to be hiding when Emma and my wife gets cross
26:23with me.
26:23I think now I know the project, I can go to work.
26:26I'll come and join you.
26:27Yeah, yeah, exactly.
26:28It's a good place to be.
26:31And with a new plan starting to shape up for the railway, on the way downstairs, James
26:36can't resist showing Peter some of the items from his grandfather's collection that he and
26:42Emma have already cleared out of the attic.
26:45There's more.
26:46There's 342 here.
26:48Right.
26:48And we reckon there's another 500 upstairs.
26:51An exceptionally large collection of model railways.
26:56And there's one final train that James has known since he was a child, having walked past
27:02it thousands of times.
27:04Oh, yes.
27:05Right, we know what that is, looking at it.
27:07What's this?
27:08That is...
27:10I'll just move this, probably a valuable pot.
27:12Yeah, yeah, Chinese.
27:14Yeah.
27:16Yeah, yeah.
27:17That, I suspect, is a pre-war Hornby locomotive.
27:21Wow.
27:22Yeah, it's in beautiful condition.
27:24100 quid?
27:24A little bit more than that.
27:26Oh, really?
27:26It's in its box, probably about...
27:30Mmm, 700.
27:31Wow.
27:32Yeah.
27:33So it could be even, could be more.
27:36It's been extremely well looked after.
27:39Every boy's dream, pre-war.
27:42Yeah, very nice.
27:43I've walked past this my entire life.
27:45Right.
27:45Only until now you've told me about it, but I know what it's all about.
27:50Having tantalised Peter with this treasure trove of trains, it's time to ask the all-important
27:56question.
27:57What do you reckon about making the model railway a feature in tours?
28:04Could I actually monetise people coming to visit and see it, or is it not good enough?
28:09One, that one, I think you'd have to put quite a bit of work into it as regards security, little
28:15fingers, and again, you'd probably have to have a number of operatives to run it, you see,
28:20that's the thing, because it's in sections, isn't it?
28:23So one part of the attic would have to be talking to the other part of the attic, as the
28:30models
28:30are going through.
28:32It will take an inordinate amount of work to bring it back to life.
28:39My grandfather died two years ago, and there's a big, turbulent change of era, and that's
28:44daunting, and I think it's not a sustainable business unless we work 100%.
28:48You know, we literally have to create revenue.
28:52We go under.
28:54The cash flow is not there.
28:56Well, I hope you can come back when we've got it running.
29:00Thank you for letting me have a look at the vast collection.
29:03The more train enthusiasts we can get in here, the better. I think my grandfather would be
29:07very pleased.
29:07I'll get a busload around here.
29:09Yeah, exactly. Let's do it.
29:10Everything we do and everything we try, yes, some may work, some may not.
29:24From model railway sets to Edwardian greenhouses, one of the curious challenges of country house
29:30ownership is spotting the potential value of your more unusual assets. Our next house certainly
29:37boasts of something unusual, and the owners are in no doubt of its significance. Much needed
29:44preservation work is now getting underway.
29:48Halfway between Shrewsbury and the Shropshire Hills, we're paying another visit to Pitchford Hall.
29:57This Tudor Manor house is celebrated not only for its half-timbered facades, but also for its
30:04unique garden treasure. At 550 years old, this is thought to be the oldest known broadleaf lime
30:14tree in the country. And within it, what's believed to be the world's oldest tree house.
30:23It dates back to 16, 1670. It's also, I think, the only listed tree house in the UK.
30:35It's been entertaining young and old alike for over 350 years, including Queen Victoria herself when she was
30:44a young princess. But this summer, owner James Nason is set on correcting some relatively recent
30:53maintenance mistakes made before he and his wife Rowena took possession of Pitchford.
30:59As part of the 1980 restoration, they used this hard cement, and that's not right for a heritage
31:04building. So we need to change it, you know, chip away the cement and put in lime plaster.
31:11And when it comes to a job like this, the Nasons turn to local artisan builder, Nick Tatchell,
31:17who knows the charms and challenges of the Pitchford estate like few others.
31:23Virtually every panel here needs some attention. There's been three or four repaired on this
31:29elevation, but it's a poorly thing.
31:33So this is what was taken out. This is galvanised steel mesh. It's your basic sort of builder's stuff,
31:39but it's just totally wrong. You can see it's obviously cement, and the galvanised steel is
31:45starting to fail. It's rusted, and then we get slabs falling out, and the whole tree house has been
31:53repaired with that. So that's for the scrap heap.
31:58To give this piece of Pitchford's history its best chance against the elements for another century,
32:04Nick will be replacing the steel mesh and cement with something more sympathetic to the original
32:09oak frame.
32:12Breathability, that's the main thing. Oak is super tough, but if the damp gets in,
32:19and it softens because it's a very starchy wood, it's like a quarter pound of a cheese to woodworm
32:25and all the other bugs that would like to live off it. So by using lime and the lath, it
32:33allows the
32:33building to get wet and dry, and it can dry through the plaster rather than dry around the edges of
32:38the
32:38oak. Because if you use cement, the cement is waterproof, so the moisture can only escape around the cement,
32:45which is why you then get, you get rotting around the oak frame. So providing you allow it to breathe,
32:54then it'll be fine. These are oak laths. We're replacing the galvanised mesh that's failed with
33:01the oak lath, and then it'll be plastered with lime plaster. It's pushed through these gaps, and as it
33:07falls through and hardens, they bind it, and it goes rock solid. They call those snots, just because of the
33:13way it obviously falls through. You can see here that it's done a similar thing with this cement,
33:20but obviously we've been using lime. Instead of stainless steel screws and oak lath I'm using,
33:27they would have used iron nails. Painstaking stuff, because each lath has to be fitted individually.
33:36Pilot drilled, it's really time-consuming.
33:40Pilot. All this oak comes from the estate as well. So every single piece is bespoke,
33:47which is where the time goes. Nick suspects that every panel on the treehouse will ultimately need
33:54removing and replacing. A job to relish on a nice summer's day. It's certainly a big thing behind
34:03the desk, particularly when you've got this scenery around you.
34:09It's also giving him a chance to inspect the rest of the treehouse close up.
34:15Squirrels are the bane of this estate's life. We grow squirrels. They nibble all the oak,
34:22nibble all the lead, and cause general mayhem.
34:31Nick is likely to spend the whole of the summer working his way around the treehouse,
34:36juggling it with other jobs across the estate.
34:39MUSIC PLAYS
34:47Now mix up the plaster now, because that one's all done.
34:52Lime plaster has been used for thousands of years, from the Great Pyramid to Edwardian interiors.
34:58You mix it by hand as well, really.
35:00MUSIC PLAYS
35:02The standard recipe is simple enough. Lime, sand, water, and one other key ingredient.
35:09This is, um, hair that we use to mix into the plaster to give it its, um...
35:15OK, here's its strength. And it's, um... This is actually yak hair.
35:18It's bit by bit. It's little and often. You can't just chuck a load in and mix it.
35:22You have to separate each hair, which, again, you can see why the process takes so long.
35:31Up. Up we go.
35:34So you can see all the hair, and that'll bind it together.
35:39And you just press to start with. It's not about covering it, because we want that to go through.
35:47The first coat you've got to be more careful with.
35:50And then I'll do a top coat, which is a harder, um, plaster.
35:55It could take a week to do a panel, but you have to keep revisiting, and that's where the time
36:00goes.
36:02It teaches you patience, and I'm not known for mine. So, er, you can't rush it.
36:09MUSIC PLAYS
36:09Dating the craftsmen of the past definitely isn't a fast job, but if Nick's patience lasts,
36:16this one corner of the Pitchford estate will be in good shape for decades to come.
36:22Nuts.
36:23Ah.
36:38We're returning now to Eiford Manor, a house whose trump card is its wonderful garden,
36:44laid out as the private retreat of a former owner, the landscape designer Harold Pitot.
36:50But in today's world, how do you turn a much-loved garden into something that will draw in the visitors
36:58and the revenue all year round?
37:04In a delightful corner of Wiltshire, this is the challenge that's been faced by Eiford's owners,
37:10William and Marianne Cartwright-Hignett.
37:14And they've been nothing short of bold with their solution.
37:17Here we are, about to enter the new entrance that we made, a bit of a secret garden,
37:23hidden way into the courtyard.
37:27Like many country house owners, William and Marianne have diversified the family estate
37:33by creating two beautiful new eateries for Eiford's visitors.
37:39A high-end restaurant and a more casual cafe.
37:44This used to be an old courtyard just for storage, really, not used for anything.
37:49But since 2021, it's become a focal point for the entire 1,000-acre estate.
37:57This is a really critical plank to making Eiford sustainable in the long term.
38:01It connects us to our community on a very regular basis. But also, just financially speaking,
38:07it hopefully puts through enough turnover that this place is viable on the long term.
38:15What's immediately obvious is that this isn't your run-of-the-mill tea shop.
38:20And the John Dory.
38:22Thank you very much.
38:23William and Marianne are determined to ensure that their customers return time and time again.
38:29It's a simple salmon, but it looks lovely.
38:34The restaurant is led by head chef Matthew Britton, who brings Michelin star experience to Eiford's kitchens.
38:42The beef and the lamb comes from the estate. The majority of the apples and the fruit from the estate.
38:48The vegetables from the estate. So, as in air miles, it's very minimal, really.
38:53I think as time goes on, we will use even more stuff from the estate.
38:58I think country manners need to diversify and do something different.
39:04And I think Williams chose to do this, and luckily, it's worked out.
39:10Some of our staff are very local as well, born and bred, like Amy, my sous chef.
39:15I walked to work, I came here as a kid, and now I get to work here as a sous
39:19chef, doing some amazing things.
39:23One terrace downhill, it's a similar story at the cafe, where baking happens in-house.
39:30Pastries are going well.
39:31Yeah, pastries are good.
39:32Excellent.
39:33Worked here for three years now, and yeah, it's the best job I've had.
39:37I started when I was 14, and since then, I've got so many new friends as well.
39:41I love it, honestly. It's great.
39:42Paris is my sister as well.
39:44Yeah. Yeah.
39:48Here, we're in a position where flexing means being more engaged with community.
39:54I couldn't be more proud that we're doing that.
39:57How else can we keep places like this alive if they aren't loved by tens of thousands of people?
40:04I live up the road, so I'm a regular. I walk down here and have coffee and croissant every week.
40:10Would you like to be inside or outside today?
40:13Outside? Perfect.
40:15This new culinary string to Iford's Bow isn't just bringing a fresh buzz to Iford.
40:21It's also generating vital revenue that can be ploughed back into the estate.
40:31Such as the careful dismantling of Harold Pitot's original greenhouse.
40:37Now being worked on by a team who helped build the restaurant and cafe.
40:43Working on the project today, our building team who we work with a lot,
40:48Matt and Will Andrews, their father and son, is so nice working with a family firm.
40:52They have the same ethos that we do, taking it steady, doing it once,
40:56doing it right.
40:59The next stage here, we're just going to take this opening fan light out.
41:03It can be a little bit tricky, just try and take the paint out of the screws,
41:07unscrew it, one of us on the screwdriver, one holding the window,
41:10and then we'll try and lower it carefully down through.
41:20Just handy to have an extra pair of hands sometimes, isn't it?
41:23Yeah.
41:25Prep ready for them.
41:27But this is, uh, this is quite big scale, really.
41:31And just a bit unusual. I mean, you think how many years this has been here.
41:34It's time to us to take it down.
41:38And it seems that working in tandem with their nearest and dearest
41:42is paying dividends for this father and son team.
41:46Lots of people always say, oh, how do you get on? Do you not argue all the time?
41:49But, yeah, we don't seem to, yet anyway, touch wood.
41:53But, yeah, definitely learn a lot from him.
41:55All yours.
41:56OK, stop it.
41:58OK, stop it.
41:58But who's really in charge?
42:01Mum.
42:03Good answer.
42:06I don't know the absolute age of it, but with most things, especially greenhouses,
42:11it's difficult to get a coat of paint on, so I think probably they do get ignored over the years.
42:15These brackets, they're modern, so somebody's had a go at it.
42:19Whether they've just put new brackets on an old frame or whether that frame has been renewed,
42:24I don't know. Certainly the greenhouse has been there a while.
42:27Matt and Will have become key parts of the team at Eiford.
42:34Well, I started off 20 years ago doing small jobs around the estate.
42:41And then gradually we've sort of done more and more.
42:43Um, I didn't ever think Will would come into the business.
42:47Turned out really well.
42:49Once the cafe was done and we saw the product of what we'd done,
42:52that really, uh, sort of reeled me into the line of work, I think.
42:56But once you're part of the team, you can be called in to help with almost anything.
43:02And not every job here is as pleasant as restoring a beautiful historic greenhouse.
43:12What's the capacity of the lorry?
43:142,000 gallons.
43:152,000 gallons.
43:18Yeah, we'd be at least 1,500, wouldn't we?
43:21A bit more.
43:22Welcome to Eiford Manor's septic tank.
43:26I think one of the things that I was blissfully unaware of growing up
43:32was that not everyone is on main sewers.
43:36Fresh from the greenhouse, Will is turning his hand to averting a sewage disaster.
43:41I think the last time we emptied was about three, four weeks ago, something like that.
43:46With, uh, sort of 500-yard visitors a day, obviously it fills up fairly quickly.
43:51The irony here is that the more popular Eiford becomes...
43:55Cheddar and onion chutney, do you want that toasted at all?
43:58..the more the problems increase.
44:01They were actually already booked in to pump it out, I think,
44:05the following day or the day after, but the usage had been higher than expected,
44:10and so, uh, we realised rather rapidly that, actually,
44:14the normal, uh, forecast sort of visit was not going to be in time.
44:20We managed to get the emergency call out so we could get it pumped out.
44:24Everyone's always desperate when they give you a ring.
44:26You know, emergency, innit? Every call.
44:28The nick of time.
44:31If you leave it, it's not a good day at the office.
44:36Having septic tanks, obviously, to deal with, um,
44:40all of the waste from here, uh, and indeed the cafe and the kitchen,
44:44it's really, really complicated, especially for fatbergs and things like this.
44:49It's been quite eye-opening, to be honest, at the costs involved.
44:54With a system like this, it's made up of various different chambers,
44:57levels that separate out all of the, uh, well, the sewage into its different sort of, um,
45:04well, densities, fundamentally.
45:06And so we start by clearing the bottom tank and then we work our way up the various tanks
45:11and, um, yeah, make sure it's all sort of taken out and essentially hoovered.
45:18If you look at the gauge, I would say it's got to be three-quarters full.
45:25Hoovering complete.
45:27Everyone can breathe easy once more, although not too deeply, perhaps.
45:33Good job done.
45:35Just another day at Eiford.
45:41Next time on Saving Country Houses...
45:45Come on, yeah, you're good.
45:46..the Chavonish sauna is moved extremely carefully to its final position.
45:51What about the winter?
45:53Still don't know if it's just a stupid idea or a good one.
45:57Some really interesting visitors in recent history here.
46:01In Northamptonshire, Ashby Manor's star architect and royal visitors are revealed.
46:08Prince Edward, he hasn't become the King of England.
46:13And we meet the Staffordshire family getting to know their home, having lived in it for 900 years.
46:21There's always been a story that there was a hidden room and an escape tunnel from the hall
46:26through up to the church. It's just amazing.
46:45From now on, at the moment, we must have been going to resume to the party.
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