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00:01Owning a property abroad is the ultimate goal for most Brits.
00:05It's like a dream come true. It's just so magical.
00:08But for some, a conventional home just won't do.
00:12A lot of it was ruins, but we fell in love with it.
00:18They're setting aside their fears.
00:20The key is to never look down.
00:22To do something remarkable.
00:24It's a mammoth task, really.
00:27Resurrecting Europe's lost villages.
00:30I think any sort of rational person would probably not try and do that.
00:35In this series, we meet the brand new pioneers.
00:38I think I'm a bit all over the place. It's like it's a big day.
00:41Delving into their village's past.
00:44I think that's powder flask.
00:47And we revisit those who already made the bold leap.
00:53And are still battling to keep their dreams alive.
00:57One year. One year without some disaster.
01:00But can they win the race against time?
01:03At the moment, it just feels like everything's falling down and nothing's going up.
01:06To turn crumbling buildings into family homes and successful businesses.
01:11That is a really big moment for us.
01:14Oh, bless you.
01:15Or will it all fall down around their ears?
01:20Oh, come out! Come out! Come out! Come out! Come out! Come out! Come out! Come out! Come out! Come
01:26out!
01:39Oh dear, you're not kidding.
01:40Our heroic saviours in Normandy risk life and limb.
01:44Hang on, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
01:45It seems to be loose.
01:48As their village threatens to fall apart at the seams.
01:51You can see, it's just literally mud.
01:55It's just holding everything together.
01:57It's mad.
01:59Guests at a ghost village in Italy
02:00are overwhelmed by their room without a roof.
02:04Oh, my gosh.
02:09Oh, this is, oh, my gosh.
02:13It is so rare that I don't find any words,
02:16but this is now happening.
02:20And at a hamlet in Western France,
02:25it takes some heavy lifting and plenty of help
02:28from the neighbours.
02:29Drag it on the side.
02:31OK, that's OK.
02:33Nicely done.
02:34To get a fire going for the first time in years.
02:39We have flame.
02:57When you're trying to restore an entire ghost village,
03:00it's vital to be able to turn your hand to a wide range of jobs.
03:04And south-west of Rouen, in the old farming community of La Boulière,
03:09Kent couple Paul and Yip have found that multitasking is now just second nature.
03:16We are workman, project manager, finance person, bank, architect.
03:25You know, we're all of those things because we can afford none of those things.
03:34Since 2021, these landscape gardeners have been the custodians of five cottages,
03:40two barns, a hayloft, a bakery and two acres of land.
03:45But they've also just taken on a sixth cottage after it unexpectedly came up for sale.
03:51We've recently acquired this with the same thinking that we've had all along really,
03:57is wanting to piece La Boulière back together.
04:00Yeah.
04:00Feels more secure to know that we now own this.
04:04Yeah.
04:04And it's the oldest property in La Boulière.
04:07Yeah.
04:07250 years old.
04:09It's exciting.
04:11Although other priorities mean it hasn't yet risen to the top of Paul and Yip's to-do list,
04:15they can't wait to get inside and start transforming it into another potential revenue stream.
04:22This is not going to steal our attention away from everything else, but it is going to be running
04:30alongside all the other works we've got going on here.
04:35Yeah.
04:35We've just added another two plates to the poles, haven't we?
04:44It's June, and Paul and Yip have had to refocus their attention away from the village
04:49because Paul's mum is ill, and they're spending much more time in the UK.
04:55The couple did have a plan to move out of the house they live in and into the derelict cottage
05:00next door,
05:01but that project is now on pause.
05:04Some jobs are too urgent to delay, though,
05:07and there's a building in the village that's crying out for Paul and Yip's help.
05:12It is a nightmare.
05:14It's quite a challenge, yes, I must admit.
05:17I'm not looking forward to it.
05:19The middle cottage in their row is increasingly unsafe,
05:22so Paul and Yip need to do some emergency work on the front wall.
05:28The wall is split, and it's starting to separate inside and outside.
05:34You can see daylight through the wall. It's not good, is it?
05:37Yeah, yeah. So we need to bring it down probably halfway past that window
05:41until I know it's all good stonework.
05:43We've been dreading it a bit, haven't we?
05:45Well, yeah, it's quite a risky thing,
05:47because it's, you know, we kind of don't really know what's going to happen.
05:51But we go into most jobs like that.
05:55The wall is so bowed that it could collapse at any minute,
05:58so the couple need to be careful how they tackle it.
06:03Right, mind there, no cats about, hopefully.
06:06Paul starts by removing any loose stones at the roofline.
06:10It's great for rebuilding.
06:15All these stones that I'm chucking down,
06:17they've slid from this gable end.
06:20They've all slid down and pushed this out.
06:23So I've got to just get all the loose ones off,
06:25and then I can start taking all this down
06:28to where it starts to come out, which is about down there.
06:31There is a lot of work here.
06:32And we've got just us two.
06:35No loader.
06:41Next, they need to start dismantling the wall by hand,
06:44one stone at a time.
06:46Well done.
06:47Paul and Yip have put together a rudimentary pulley system
06:51so they can lower multiple stones to the ground at once.
06:54The bucket and rope may be mass-produced from modern materials.
06:58I'm going to lower this down now.
07:01But their methods are following in the footsteps
07:03of the original craftsmen.
07:06The builders who went before them could have used ox or horsepower,
07:11but Paul and Yip are having to rely on their own muscle.
07:32They're making progress, but it isn't exactly fast.
07:36And without an extra pair of hands on the ground to empty the bucket,
07:40it could take days.
07:42Paul, Yip and LeBullier are locked together in a fight for survival,
07:47with little more than sweat and determination on their side.
07:50And they know it's a battle they might not win.
07:55Do you want me to get down and empty that into the wheelbarrow?
07:57Well, don't you have to keep coming up and down?
07:59Well, it is what it is.
08:08The Italian region of Basilicata was one of the cradles of European civilization.
08:14Home to mathematician Pythagoras, it was once an area so populated and vibrant
08:19that it sent its own delegation of athletes to the original Greek Olympics.
08:24Just above the modern town of Toursi stands Rabatana, founded in the 8th century by invading Arabs.
08:31It grew to a peak of around 2,500 people who farmed the surrounding fields
08:37and lived a traditional Mediterranean lifestyle.
08:41But emigration, demographic decline and successive earthquakes
08:45led to the complete abandonment of this town about 50 years ago.
08:50It's a trend that Martine, an ex-wine merchant from Norfolk, is desperately trying to reverse.
09:05I would imagine the last time that really this was populated was in the 50s.
09:10Most people left because there was no work, so basically, you know, the towns are abandoned.
09:16I'm fascinated by this coat of arms because it has a skull and crossbones on the bottom.
09:24And this is a beautiful palazzo which is for sale.
09:31There's something like 10 people living in the whole of Rabatana now,
09:35where once it would have been thriving with schools and shops.
09:38So, yes, it was very sad that the whole thing was just abandoned.
09:44A joke. There are more cats than people, but there probably is.
09:49Martine has been living amongst the ruins of Rabatana for the last 16 years.
09:54After buying and renovating various derelict properties, she now runs what is known as
09:59a defused hotel with four elegant apartments she saved from collapse.
10:04The more that I was here, the more I realised that there were so many possibilities,
10:10that, you know, there's all this fantastic landscape, this history, this culture.
10:15So, yeah, that kind of, it grew on me.
10:22It's August, and Martine is hard at work on her next renovation project.
10:28Look, we found Veronica's secret place.
10:31What are you doing in here, Veronica, eh?
10:34It's a cellar underneath the rooms she calls the Mandarin Suite,
10:38and thought to be at least 400 years old.
10:41This will probably be made into, like, two bedrooms with an ensuite bathroom.
10:46If we're going to put an ensuite down here, put a bath in front of here,
10:49so you can lay in the bath and look at the convent.
10:52I mean, it would just be incredible with these beams exposed and all of this lovely stone.
10:58Martine has already spent a day chipping away at the old plaster,
11:01and she's hoping to make more progress today.
11:08Look, you see, it just comes off so easily.
11:15I think that it's just been damp coming in here for a long time.
11:20Wow. Could look pretty fantastic, couldn't it?
11:24Can you imagine finding some buried treasure?
11:27Something from the Knights Templars, because apparently they came through here,
11:30with everybody else.
11:31After the best part of an hour, it's not buried treasure Martine has found,
11:36but some mysterious stones.
11:41There are quite a lot of black stones, like this one.
11:44In that wall as well, there's a lot.
11:46I wonder if they maybe even have been rescued from another house that burnt down,
11:50because there's obviously no sign of a chimney or anything here.
11:54It's likely these blackened stones were once part of an old fireplace,
11:57and they were taken from other houses in Rabatana when they were dismantled.
12:02The builders of the past recognised the importance of reusing raw materials,
12:07and not just for economic reasons.
12:10Stones like these would have had to be dragged all the way up the hillside from the local riverbeds,
12:15so wasting them would have been unthinkable.
12:19Working away to peel off these layers of history is a privilege for this passionate village saviour.
12:27You know, when a project's finished, it's like finishing a good book.
12:31You're bereft, because it's gone.
12:32And all you've got is memories, really.
12:34But there's still a long way to go for Martine before her renovations here are over.
12:46Coming up...
12:48I don't think it's that bad, honestly.
12:50Yeah, look.
12:53Our village saviours are playing with fire in France.
12:57I always wanted to be a chimney sweep.
13:01And...
13:06I must be nearly through.
13:08It's the moment of truth for Paul and Yip in La Bouillière.
13:12What I don't want to do is for this lot to fall, because it's tied into this stonework.
13:17Close my eyes and ears and hope for the best.
13:30Despite the fact that the UK and France have similar-sized populations,
13:35there are over two million more homes lying empty on the other side of the Channel.
13:40Sometimes properties are abandoned in France because of the high cost of renovations
13:45or complicated inheritance laws.
13:47But in rural areas, it's often just down to the dwindling number of jobs on the land.
13:54The ghost village of Chicheville in Western France is a prime example.
14:00He's a little bit tired today.
14:04And it could have been lost forever if it wasn't for two British saviours.
14:10The guy that we bought it off when we signed at the Nataire on that day was 99.
14:16And he said his great-grandmother was born in the house.
14:27Tony and Terry are antique restorers from Gloucestershire who are now the proud custodians of three houses,
14:34half a dozen buildings and an extensive wood.
14:37They paid about £60,000 for the hamlet and intend to do most of the renovation work themselves.
14:46It's not getting handed over to anyone to sort out for us, is it?
14:50No, no.
14:51We can't afford that.
14:52Can't afford that.
14:52It's the labour.
14:54So, whereas you might do a room and it costs you €1,000, if you're paying something to do,
14:59it might be €5,000, €6,000.
15:01By the time we've improved the drainage, redo the electrics, some work on the roof,
15:06we think we can bring it in maybe £90,000.
15:16It's November, so before winter spreads its icy tentacles across the village,
15:22Tony and Terry are turning their attention to keeping warm.
15:25There's also damp in the farmhouse that needs drying out, so the couple have a plan.
15:31So, here's our lovely wood burner.
15:35The burner is made of steel plate, so it weighs well over 100 kilos.
15:40That's 16 stone, or about the same as a well-fed Great Dane.
15:46I don't think it's that bad, honestly.
15:48Yeah, look.
15:50Oh!
15:51Their first task...
15:52OK, keep going.
15:54A little bit of right, that's it.
15:56..is getting it from the open barn to the main house.
16:00Whoa! Spot on.
16:04My spear reversing that.
16:06Bang in the middle. Look at that.
16:09Tony has once again called on his good friend Peter,
16:12who's brought his son Toby for extra manpower.
16:16Try a left of it.
16:22But it's a struggle, even for the three of them.
16:25I did say wear steel toe caps, didn't I?
16:28Luckily, teamwork and a bit of British grit...
16:33..gets the job done.
16:35Argh!
16:36I don't know why you're making such a fuss.
16:39It isn't over yet, though.
16:41After a short drive to the front door...
16:46I've got the light in.
16:48And with more help from another neighbour, John...
16:51Let them take it.
16:53..the reclaimed wood burner finally makes it across the threshold.
16:57Where are we heading?
16:58Through here.
16:59Okay.
17:00Are we lifting or sliding?
17:02No, we're lifting.
17:03We're lifting.
17:03Are we?
17:04Okay.
17:06I'm a dragon on the side.
17:08Okay.
17:08Wow.
17:09That's okay.
17:10Nicely done.
17:11They say it takes a village to raise a child,
17:14but it can also take the neighbours to raise a village.
17:18Thank you, John.
17:19Appreciate that.
17:20Very welcome.
17:21And Tony and Terry feel blessed to be surrounded by willing friends,
17:25happy to lend a hand.
17:26The bills and the post.
17:29Their neighbours are just as delighted with what the newbies are bringing to their community.
17:34Well, the first time I saw this building, I really thought it was dangerous,
17:37and it was sort of a couple of months away from collapsing.
17:40It's been amazing what they've actually done in the relatively short time that they've been here
17:45in this, I don't know, 200-year-old house.
17:47That didn't have much done to me in that first 200 years, to be honest.
17:50Before they can get the home fires burning, the chimney is in need of a flue,
17:55and since Tony doesn't have a good head for heights, he's happy to let Peter take the lead.
18:01You there, Tony?
18:02Are you there, Peter?
18:04I'm here.
18:05OK, when do you want to start?
18:06We'll have you ready.
18:07Let's go.
18:09Yeah, go on, you push and I'll pull.
18:12This is where I'm glad I didn't paint the wood burner.
18:17Nice and steady, because it keeps getting caught.
18:19Yeah.
18:21Right there.
18:23Take a bit of tension off.
18:25I always wanted to be a chimney sweep.
18:27Yep, it's a good one.
18:29Well, we've just got to light the fire now, see if it works.
18:37We have flame.
18:38The wood burner can now start drying out the damp, ready for lime plastering.
18:43And when it's time to do that,
18:45Terry and Tony are determined to stay true to the techniques of the past.
18:49But for now, like generations of farming families in Sheathsville before them,
18:53they can cuddle up in front of a warm fire and rest their aching bones.
19:01Here's to a good day's work, I'd say.
19:03Yeah.
19:04Cheers.
19:05Well done.
19:15In the lost village of La Boulire, Paul and Yip have discovered exactly what's at the root
19:20of their crumbling wall.
19:21You can see it's just literally mud.
19:25It's just holding everything together.
19:27It's mad.
19:29Back in the 18th century, when the village was built, the stonemasons used to pack the gap
19:34between the inner and outer granite walls with mud, because it was a good insulator and it was
19:39easy to get hold of. Most importantly, of course, it was also free. But as La Boulire was abandoned
19:46for over 25 years before Paul and Yip moved in, rainwater has seeped into the stonework and washed
19:52away the mud, making the wall unstable. But that's the trouble. You know, it only starts with a
19:59slipped tile. Yeah, 25 years of rain through that one hole was a big deal.
20:04And we're just trying to pick up the pieces, really, literally, and hope they somehow go back together.
20:12With a large section of stones removed, the couple now need to free up the thick timber
20:17beam at the top of the wall to reach the stones below. They can't use a chainsaw because anything
20:24too vigorous could cause a collapse.
20:30I'm already creating quite a lot of movement here. Yeah.
20:38I feel like a spoon a bit quicker. What do you get in there, Pop? It's oak, isn't it?
20:42As the beam is tied into the stonework at multiple points along the wall, it's back-breaking work.
20:51Oh.
21:02Come on. Come on.
21:12It's great, that is, Pop? It doesn't feel great at the minute.
21:17Is that the end of the timber? There's one more, Pop? It.
21:23Oh.
21:25At 30 feet up, this isn't a job for the faint-hearted,
21:29especially as there's no way of knowing if the beam will fall as soon as it's released.
21:34Brace yourself. Oh, bloody hell, you're not kidding.
21:37I must be nearly through.
21:39Oh. There you go.
21:41All right, I felt that relaxed then.
21:43All right, hang on. So we've spent quite a bit of time
21:48releasing this beam. What I don't want to do is for this lot to fall,
21:51because it's tied into this stonework. So I need to lift this and throw it,
21:58and just get it off and out the way. So we need to just move this scaffold tower back
22:02so that I can just lean over and there's no danger of this hitting the tower with me on it.
22:07Paul and Yip reposition the tower.
22:10Lovely.
22:13All right, are you ready for this? Because I'm just going to do this.
22:16Oh, God. Close my eyes and ears and hope for the best.
22:21I'll spend the life insurance money well. Don't worry.
22:25Thank you. Hang on. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. It seems to be loose.
22:30OK, right. OK.
22:37Oh, that was close. Oh.
22:41Well done. I need a cup of tea. Strangely emotional, isn't it? Yeah.
22:48I'm just pleased to have you still alive.
22:50Oh. Today, Paul Yip and La Bouillère have proved they all have the determination
22:56to slow down the march of time, even if they can't stop it altogether.
23:01There's still more to do on the wall, but at least it's still standing,
23:06and so are our village saviours. We have to take risks on this project,
23:11otherwise nothing will get done, because there's a whole village to be built yet.
23:19Coming up, in Rabatana, Martine is behind schedule and racing to get her remarkable room ready.
23:27As the days kind of disappeared, you think you've got loads of time in the morning,
23:30and then all of a sudden the guests are arriving in ten minutes.
23:33And one forgotten corner of Sheeshville reaches the end of the road.
23:38Probably dating back 100, 150 years. Lovely building, and we're going to have to knock half of it down.
23:56Back in the abandoned town of Rabatana, the tourist season is in full swing,
24:02and village saviour Martine has had to take some time off renovating her old cantina
24:07to concentrate on running her diffused hotel. Two guests are on their way to stay in the mandarin suite,
24:14and Martine can't wait to share with them the room she is most proud of.
24:19For me, this is my most special room. It's just magical, sleeping out here with the stars
24:24and with the twinkly lights and the candles and everything else. It really is beautiful.
24:29Up until the 1950s, this room could have housed a whole family and possibly their animals too.
24:36The roof space above would have doubled up as a larder where hams and sausages would have hung
24:41alongside drying peppers. But with the roof gone, Martine has taken the opportunity to conjure up
24:47the spirit of the Moors who first settled in Rabatana over a thousand years ago.
24:53It reminds me of a Riyadh, maybe, in Morocco. So, you know, without Arabic roots here,
25:02it's kind of where you would sleep and you'd be completely hidden from everybody, but you can look at the
25:06stars.
25:08A Riyadh is a house centred around an inner courtyard, usually with gardens and fountains.
25:15Riyadhs are more often associated with rooftop terraces than roofless bedrooms,
25:20but both designs give visitors the chance to relax and gaze at the heavens.
25:26Martine can't do any cloud spotting now, though. She has guests from Switzerland due any minute.
25:33As the days kind of disappeared, you think you've got loads of time in the morning,
25:36and then all of a sudden the guests are arriving in ten minutes. I'm going to start making the bed
25:39up now.
25:43It doesn't take too long to finish the final touches, and Martine can now head off to greet her guests.
25:51This is the mandarin.
25:52Lovely, lovely.
25:54Thank you. I think it's my favourite, really, with these arches, and, uh, yeah.
26:00So the La Rabatane is an Arabic village, so these houses, nobody knows how old they are.
26:06We don't find any worse.
26:09When I first saw it, I just couldn't believe that a place like this existed, and then when I managed
26:15to buy it, it was just incredible.
26:24Oh, my God!
26:28Oh!
26:30This is... Oh, my God!
26:34Gary and Birgit have travelled nearly a thousand miles to be in Rabatane,
26:38but it's clear they already feel the destination is worth the journey.
26:45Super romantic.
26:47Romantic.
26:47Super romantic.
26:49Our second honeymoon is ready to start now.
26:55Like Martine, Gary and Birgit have completely fallen in love with the idea of sleeping under the stars
27:02in the middle of this stunning ghost village.
27:06It is so rare that I don't find any words, but this is now happening.
27:11The main house is in here.
27:13You don't have to sleep outside if you don't want to.
27:16Yes.
27:17Yes, certainly.
27:17Everything is fine.
27:18Prego.
27:20So this is where you'll be staying.
27:25After settling in and getting ready for bed, the couple prepare to step back into history.
27:32Beautiful.
27:34Look at that.
27:36Isn't it beautiful?
27:37We have here the open sky.
27:39Just like the first visitors to Rabatane over 10 centuries ago,
27:43they can snuggle down and marvel at the night sky.
27:48Have you seen any view like that?
27:50I did it when I was a child, last time.
27:53Yeah.
27:54For Martine, sharing the splendors of this once abandoned village is a source of never-ending
27:59satisfaction. But she knows that goodwill alone is no guarantee of its future survival.
28:06The revenues her guests bring are vital if Martine's mission to save the rest of Rabatane
28:11is ever going to succeed.
28:15Golden dreams. Sleep well, my darling.
28:18Mmm.
28:29Back in Sheeshville, Tony and Terry have a job in front of them that they haven't been looking forward to.
28:37I'll come with you and grab some more.
28:39All our saviours are passionate about preserving the history that lies under every stone and behind
28:45every door. But sometimes things are beyond redemption.
28:50Today is the outbuilding day.
28:52We've got to do it, but it's a bit sad.
28:54I know.
28:55You know, it's an old building, probably dating back 100, 150 years.
29:00Lovely building, and we're going to have to knock half of it down.
29:03In its heyday, this building was probably a stable for horses.
29:07But while its custodians have been away in the UK, it's slowly been surrendering to the elements.
29:15Unfortunately, last winter, we had a lot of rain, quite a bit of wind.
29:19It's brought down some of the wall nearest the road, and on the other side, quite a lot came down.
29:26Now what we're left with is just one high wall, about that deep, with a massive crack down it,
29:33and it's starting to lean, so now's the time to take it down.
29:38If you park under it, or even stand under it too long, it might come down on you.
29:43Just like the cottages in La Boulière that Paul and Yip are wrestling with,
29:47this crumbling ruin has been built from stone and mud.
29:51It makes demolition unpredictable.
29:54It will.
29:57Tony's good friend Peter, who's more comfortable working at heights, is taking the lead again.
30:03Have I got to stand on that?
30:05All the way up there?
30:06All the way up there, yeah.
30:08On your tippy toes.
30:09But Tony's doing his best to conquer his fears, and is climbing the scaffold too.
30:15Would you hold your hand?
30:16Yeah.
30:18All the time I'm up here, I think.
30:21There's a massive bloody gap there.
30:24I can't do this.
30:25Is that awful?
30:28Tony slowly finds his feet, but getting used to the height is only half the challenge.
30:34So attached, isn't it?
30:36All the way growing in.
30:38Freeing the wool from the stranglehold of rampant ivy is going to be a battle too.
30:44This has been a right pain, to be honest.
30:47The ivy has managed to find its way under all the roof tiles and the roof stones.
30:53But when you've got a wall like this that's made of mud, if there's no render on it, it starts
30:58to get its roots into the mud.
31:00And then you've got problems.
31:02It's just sticking everything together.
31:04You know, I begin to think there's so much ivy in it, we might as well have left it because
31:08it'd never fall down.
31:10As the foliage is stripped back, more of the original building is revealed, but it's a bittersweet moment for Terry.
31:19It's so sad to think that it's actually going to be coming down.
31:23Now you get to actually see it without the massive clumps of ivy that were on it and really had
31:29hidden everything about it.
31:31It hid the fact that there was a window there and it's going to be quite a lot lower than
31:36it is now.
31:38We've really got to do it, but it is a shame because it's looking so beautiful.
31:44Despite her attachment to the old building, Terry isn't about to shirk her responsibilities.
31:50OK, I'm coming up, Pete.
31:53So while Tony takes a tea break on terra firma...
31:56Go for another one. Mind your head.
31:58Terry climbs the scaffold.
32:01I'm more stressed than I was going out there meself.
32:04I'm well impressed.
32:07It's nice to get hands on with taking some of it down.
32:12And it is quite a lot more tricky than you imagine.
32:19After a big group effort...
32:21What do you get past the roots? It's easy.
32:24There's finally some progress.
32:28That's a big piece of one of the cornerstones.
32:31It's starting to get a bit more satisfying now.
32:36But the nights are drawing in and the change of season is working against them.
32:42Is it me or is it going a bit dark?
32:44It's going down, isn't it?
32:46Especially under the trees there.
32:47I might just do a couple of minutes and call it a day, I think.
32:51Because I don't want to climb down the scaffolding in the dark.
32:54I don't want to climb down it in the daylight, but the dark is definite. No, no.
32:59They'll need to do a bit more tomorrow morning, but most of the job is now done.
33:03And the old building is at a much safer height.
33:06Visa restrictions and the need to push through their UK house sale mean Tony and Terry will soon
33:12be heading back to Gloucestershire. But it feels like their village is slowly rising from its slumber.
33:19We've got two weeks left now before we go back to the UK.
33:22Yeah.
33:22So definitely got to get more of this building down.
33:25Once we've got that down to a safe level, which maybe another metre or so will do,
33:30then we can get cracking on in the house.
33:31We've got to make some progress, got to make some progress.
33:34Yeah.
33:39Coming up...
33:40I'm so excited, I can't believe it.
33:42..has Martine found another property to rescue in Rabatana?
33:47Oh, my goodness.
33:49No, I don't think so.
33:52And will La Boulière be ready for its first guests of the season?
33:58This isn't good, this isn't. I don't want that collapsing like that.
34:01We're just trying to stop an avalanche.
34:16Back in southern Italy, Martine is up early picking apricots from a nearby organic farm.
34:23These are a special variety called rubis and they're biological so they're organic
34:29and they are absolutely exquisite.
34:30For her, saving Rabatana isn't just about breathing new life into the empty buildings,
34:36she's also keen to preserve the traditional culture and takes every chance to support local
34:41artisans and farmers like Marinella, who share her passion.
34:46I said, I'm doing one and you're picking like three, she said, it's my job.
34:51Martine plans to use the apricots in jam that she will provide the guests in her diffused hotel.
34:58This is the best. You know, you can't get better than this. It's absolutely delicious, isn't it?
35:03Mmm.
35:07Delicioso.
35:08Delicioso.
35:08Two days later, she's busy simmering the fruit with sugar to create a delicious breakfast treat.
35:15Basically, the recipe is a kilo of sugar to a kilo of apricots.
35:19Juice of one lemon to each kilo. So there's three kilos of fruit here.
35:23The history of jam making goes back at least to Roman times, when fruit was preserved in honey to
35:29last over the winter. But it was after the Crusades, when sugar was brought back to medieval Europe,
35:35that jam really took off. Martine may be using a gas hob instead of an open hearth,
35:41but the recipe and the principles haven't changed in centuries.
35:46But what I really like about it is there's still pieces of fruit that are whole in the jam.
35:50You put it on bread. It's just lovely.
35:54While the mixture is still bubbling, Martine transfers it to the jars.
36:01Next, the jars are turned upside down to create a vacuum that starves any unwanted
36:06microorganisms of oxygen. And once it's cooled, it'll be ready for her guests.
36:13As fast as I can make it, it gets eaten, which is great.
36:21Martine's had a busy and successful summer season,
36:24and there could be another exciting opportunity right on her doorstep.
36:29Just below the staircase leading to Martine's Mandarin apartment,
36:33there's a little two-room abandoned home, which could be about to go on the market.
36:38They called me two days ago to say they wanted to sell the little house here.
36:43And it's so exciting because it's just perfect. It's in my courtyard.
36:47And it's small. It's really sweet. I'm so excited. I can't believe it.
36:51I can't believe it.
36:56I can't believe it.
36:57My goodness.
37:00Considering the house hasn't been lived in for more than 50 years,
37:04it's still in good condition. And Martine's mind is racing.
37:09I reckon you could take these floors out and open it all up to give a feeling of a lot
37:15more space.
37:16But if we got rid of all this, it'd just be lovely. I'd love to get up there.
37:26No, I don't think so.
37:32It's got a little fireplace. How sweet is that?
37:36I think the fireplace says a lot about how they lived here.
37:40They would cook dried beans in the piñata, or they would cook things on the brachi, on the cinders.
37:48And, you know, you've got all of the equipment here for the different size pots and pans and things
37:53that they would have actually cooked on the fire.
37:55Just before leaving, Martine notices an add-on bathroom right at the back of the property.
38:01A lot of these bathrooms would have been added on in the 50s when water first came into the houses,
38:07and two of the houses I've bought didn't even have water connected.
38:10Curious to see how this extra room was created, Martine takes a walk outside.
38:15You see these all over the place, these toilets attached, and basically that's all they are,
38:20because they don't have to shower or anything in there, just a hand basin.
38:22And, yes, I mean, you're sitting suspended over basically a couple of bits of metal stuck into that wall.
38:29Nobody's actually gone thoughtfully into it and decided how to build that.
38:33But I suppose back then in the 50s, it was great. What a luxury to have a toilet in your
38:37house.
38:38The wheels of estate agency can run slowly in Italy though, so it could be a while before Martine
38:44finds out if she can save another little piece of the village. For her, resurrecting Rabatana
38:51is no longer just a labour of love. It's also now her life's work.
38:56I'm really, really, really interested. And yes, I would be absolutely distraught if I couldn't get it.
39:10In Normandy, Paul and Yip's glamping horse box is prepped and ready to welcome two returning guests.
39:17But as the front wall of the middle cottage is still precarious, Paul and Yip need to make it safe
39:23before their guests check in.
39:26We're on the stage three of this, aren't we?
39:29Yeah. Today, we're going to finish taking these stones down.
39:32So, where are we going? About halfway down the window?
39:35Yeah, about halfway down.
39:37Lovely. Let me get a sheet to collect all the rubbish that's going to fall off that wall.
39:41Yeah. Here we go.
39:49Since the couple have no professional training,
39:52a risky job like this means having complete trust in your workmate.
39:58Luckily, Paul and Yip have no qualms about that.
40:01We're making it as safe as possible just by putting these outrigger legs in place.
40:11They've been together for 20 years and their history goes back to childhood.
40:19Paul says that he was aware of me at school.
40:22I don't think he was aware of me as much as I was aware of him.
40:26You were the troublemaker in your Burgundy stay press.
40:31Yeah, I was aware of Yip when we were at school, but he was in a different...
40:39Friend group.
40:40Friend group, I suppose, and you were a bit more academic, weren't you?
40:46Yeah, I suppose in comparison to you.
40:49I'd had it by the time I'd got to Yip's school. The school I went to where Yip was,
40:54was my third school. But anyway, that's another story.
40:58Oh, quite graceful do I get up there, like a swan. Shall I come up?
41:02Yeah.
41:05Having broken the back of this job a few weeks ago, finishing it today should be a breeze.
41:11We'll have this done in a jiffy, won't we?
41:13Yeah. Tea and toast on its way.
41:17But it isn't long before the stones start to give way.
41:21Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
41:22Yeah, this isn't good, this isn't. I don't want that collapsing like that.
41:26Yeah, I'll take these ones off. Oh, God.
41:30Just the mud, that one. This one. We're just trying to stop an avalanche.
41:36Some stones have started to move.
41:38We're just trying to see where it should be and what's holding what.
41:43It's just very precarious at the moment.
41:45Really precarious.
41:47Oh, oh, oh, oh.
41:56Crisis averted.
42:00And after a few more hours of hard graft...
42:05God!
42:07The couple are, at last, on the home stretch.
42:13Yeah, basically, we've just got some cleaning up to do.
42:16Yip's going to remove these handful of stones there.
42:19All this has got to come out.
42:20Clean all the joints out. Sweep all this down.
42:24And then we're kind of almost there, aren't we?
42:30Well done.
42:32You're well done.
42:32Take this round.
42:33Paul and Yip finish up just in time to roll out the red carpet for their guests,
42:38George and Mary, who've driven all the way from Somerset.
42:42Third time returning guests.
42:48Oh, look, it's just so wonderful, isn't it?
42:52Yeah.
42:52Paradise in the countryside.
42:53It's great to see you both.
42:55Yeah.
42:55It's nice to be back.
42:57One dramatic change that's happened since Mary and George were last here is at the barn that overlooks the horse
43:03box.
43:04Oh, my goodness.
43:05The top section of that fell down on its own.
43:08Oh, did it?
43:08And then we dismantled the rest of it.
43:13It's a reminder of how quickly the sands of time are running out in La Boulière
43:17and how huge the challenges that Paul and Yip still face.
43:21Because the buildings are so old, you feel like just a blip in the long line of proprietors that it's
43:29had.
43:30So we want to kind of do what we can, but knowing that in terms of keeping some of it
43:35alive, at least,
43:36we're part of this place's history, aren't we?
43:40The couple are channeling their love for each other into resurrecting this ancient village
43:45and helping her come back to life.
43:47Like any relationship, it can lurch from agony to joy in a heartbeat.
43:52And there's no guarantee of a happy ending.
43:55But with three such strong entities as Paul, Yip and La Boulière, anything is possible.
44:03Most people come to France and it's a big enough project to buy a house that needs fully renovating.
44:10Yeah.
44:11But you've got blooming village.
44:13You've got a home there.
44:15I've got the old couple of that.
44:22Next time...
44:23Shall we go and have a little look?
44:24Yeah, come on.
44:25Paul and Yip rescue another house in La Boulière.
44:29Oh, wow.
44:30Construction work in Rabatana begins after years of waiting.
44:34It was an amazing surprise and I was just so happy.
44:37So happy.
44:37But it comes with a risk.
44:40If they happen to hit one of the rocks on the keystone, it could all just collapse.
44:46And in Sheeshville...
44:47Just imagine it's me.
44:48Okay, I'll do that.
44:49Tony and Terry hit the ground running.
44:52Wow.
44:53You hit it twice as hard.
44:54Found loss.
44:56End of.
45:23Page on 3.
45:24Maybe we canıp your car Rahmen a bear on his body.
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