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00:01Buying a home abroad is a big step to take.
00:04This is my piece of heaven now.
00:07But imagine taking that to a whole new level.
00:10I'm down! Amazing.
00:13The ghost villages of Europe are crying out for help.
00:17It's just like Battle of the Somme, innit?
00:19And a strong-willed few have answered their calls.
00:23Our whole world, our whole life and belongings are now in Ichaka.
00:27In this series...
00:29There's a real sense of history and you can feel it.
00:32We rediscover the settlement's time left behind.
00:36Like ten people living in the whole of Rabatana now.
00:39Where once it would have been thriving with schools and shops.
00:43And meet the intrepid Brits.
00:45Trying to get this board in the hole without falling through.
00:49Who are trying to save them.
00:51It is more tricky than you imagine.
00:55But can they turn these crumbling villages?
00:58This is going to be a big crash.
01:02Into beautiful homes.
01:04This is no longer a ruin.
01:06It is now a chateau.
01:08And successful businesses.
01:09One are gorgeous.
01:13Or will it all prove to be...
01:15That was a close shave.
01:16...beyond their grasp.
01:18As it stands at the moment, in two years' time, it might collapse.
01:21As they restore the past to build their future.
01:25The village has come back to life.
01:27And that's exactly what we set out to do.
01:35Today in central France...
01:37You can still see the bathroom suspended in mid-air.
01:41Which is a little bit scary.
01:43We catch up with Dan as he takes his chateau restoration...
01:47You wouldn't believe how much wood we've winched up here.
01:50...to dizzying new heights.
01:52It's been such a struggle to get to the top.
01:55For that to be finally done is going to be a great feeling.
01:58And high emotions...
02:00The two of us have gone through quite a lot together.
02:04And drama for an untiring Sussex couple.
02:08Unfortunately, he's caught it with that arm.
02:12So we've got a little dent and a scratch.
02:15In Romania, a water shortage threatens to derail one couple's battle...
02:20...to save a historic Saxon settlement.
02:24I've never been imagining that in my lifetime...
02:27...I'll be having to deal with such challenges.
02:30But it's very much real.
02:31And a former truck driver hits the road...
02:35...as her journey as a village saviour begins.
02:38I can't stay here anymore wasting anymore of my life...
02:41...when I could be out living my life.
02:54Across Europe, lost villages stand as silent witnesses to history.
02:59Places that once provided refuge in the darkest of times.
03:07Few, however, can claim a story of protection as profound...
03:11...as the lost French settlement of Chemin.
03:1660 miles from Limoges, hidden deep within the woods...
03:19...lies the ruins of a chateau whose walls echo with whispers of survival.
03:27During the war, it fostered a community of Jewish children...
03:30...and some families fleeing the horrors of the Holocaust.
03:36These walls provided sanctuary for hundreds...
03:39...but in the 1980s, fire reduced it to ruins...
03:43...leaving its legacy hanging by a thread.
03:49Now, only one man.
03:51Dan Preston from Portsmouth stands between its past and oblivion.
04:00It played a big part in keeping people safe.
04:03And a lot of people have gone on to be...
04:05...do amazing things from here who were saved by the chateau.
04:08And I think this is another big step in the history of the chateau.
04:12Not only is it being rebuilt, but it's being rebuilt with a real purpose going forward...
04:17...and hopefully that'll save it for future generations.
04:24After a year battling nature's grip...
04:26...in 2023, Dan set his sights on rebuilding from the ground up.
04:32You can still see the bathroom suspended in mid-air...
04:36...which is a little bit scary walking under it.
04:40His goal? To make the structure watertight before winter arrived.
04:46And when the odds and the elements conspired against him...
04:50That's so scary. A gust of 80 kilometres an hour.
04:54He found strength by delving into its remarkable past.
05:04Meeting a survivor who owed his life to the protection of the chateau.
05:09It means a lot to meet someone who benefited from the chateau.
05:20It's now exactly two years since Dan became the king of his humble castle.
05:27And he's made remarkable progress.
05:31For the first time in nearly 40 years...
05:35...part of the chateau stands fully covered.
05:40Crowned once more with its elegant mansard roof.
05:46Inside, Dan and his team are making great progress...
05:49...reinstating the chateau's floors.
05:53The one thing that has changed is now we've finally got a staircase in.
05:56So before we were scaling the whole place with little ladders in between the rafters.
06:01And it's a rough replica of the staircase that ultimately is going to be there.
06:07And with friends Nick and Brian on site to help, today they're hoping to reach a milestone.
06:13So the main thing we've been concentrating on is a race to get to the top...
06:17...to get all these floors back in so we can get to the top to put the roof on.
06:22And today, hopefully, we're putting the very, very last floor back in the chateau.
06:27It's been such a struggle to get to the top.
06:30For that to be finally done is going to be a great feeling.
06:35Landmark days are coming thick and fast.
06:38Today, the chateau's final steel beam is being winched into place.
06:43Providing the backbone of its highest and largest room.
06:48What a difference though from when we were first lifting these in the chateau.
06:52Seven men on one I-beam wrestling it in.
06:56The stool must be fitted with precision.
07:00As eventually, it'll be supporting the full weight of the chateau's grand roof.
07:04Which Dan hopes to restore to its original 19th century splendour.
07:10And every step brings Dan's dream a little closer.
07:15Yeah, that's alright.
07:16That'll hold up a chateau, I reckon.
07:18Very happy with that, yeah.
07:20It was the last kind of thing we needed to really work out and get right.
07:25So now that's up.
07:26We can just carry on putting the wood in between.
07:29And this bit is going to actually go in super quick.
07:33Dan's now determined to have every joist and every noggin in place.
07:38You wouldn't believe how much wood we've winched up here.
07:42Because tomorrow he's hoping to host a celebration to mark its completion.
07:51Inevitably, once again the elements are doing their best to scupper his plans.
07:56It's absolutely bucking it down. Just stop.
08:03But if the past two years have taught this village saviour anything, it's how to weather a storm.
08:10We're pretty used to it now and the fact is, this just has to be done. That's it.
08:24Taking on the task of rejuvenating one of Europe's lost villages requires drive and persistence as unmoving as the walls
08:32of these ancient buildings.
08:36For Lolly and Sean from Sussex, it was a case of putting heart before head when they decided to buy
08:41the village of La Gallisserie just north of Poitiers.
08:47I just loved it and I knew potentially it had everything that we would ever need and more.
08:52So, yeah, we just went for it, didn't we?
08:54Yeah.
08:55So the purchase was €141,000.
09:00Yeah, I can't quite still believe it, really.
09:04It's 2024.
09:06Lolly and Sean bought this former farming estate two and a half years ago.
09:10And their progress since then has been astonishing.
09:14The couple have created not only a home for themselves, but also two bed and breakfast rooms and a holiday
09:21let.
09:23Their ultimate goal is to establish a wellness retreat here, the final piece of which will be an outdoor swimming
09:30pool.
09:32By the time the pool's gone in, so we budgeted with all of that, I think you're looking at, including
09:38the purchase, about half a million.
09:41To soften the financial blow of restoring the village single-handedly, the couple recently agreed to sell one of their
09:48biggest barns to Lolly's brother, Greg, who is also selling up in the UK to move to France permanently.
09:57Financially, it would be nice to start earning some money to keep us afloat and that side of it, but
10:05it's great that Greg wants to come here and invest some of his money into finishing it.
10:10And also then, with that, it moves the project along a lot quicker as well.
10:19It's November, and having spent the summer concluding work on their gite, Lolly and Sean are beginning the next phase
10:26of their plan for La Gallisserie, hosting yoga retreats.
10:31And they think the top floor of the biggest of their barns would be the perfect spot for classes.
10:39It's just such a fantastic space, and it just lends itself, obviously, to be a studio.
10:45I think the boys wanted a gym, but that's not happening.
10:49Clearly.
10:49So, I just love it.
10:54Creating a single space for yoga lessons should be more straightforward than their previous barn-to-home conversions.
11:01But decades of neglect still need to be undone.
11:05When we first bought the village, we got a surveyor to walk around with us to have a look at
11:10everything.
11:11Because in England, if you can put your finger in a gap, everyone goes, oh, that's terrible.
11:15But, as you can see, we have a huge crack in the wall here, which we were really worried about.
11:22So, we had someone look at it, and he just turned around and said that it's perfect, it's fine, and
11:28it's probably been like this for one to 200 years.
11:31So, I have the duty of repairing it.
11:36All righty. Let's get going.
11:37Let's get going.
11:39Yoga retreats will begin next summer, giving Lolly and Sean just seven months to transform this space into a studio.
11:48Hello. Anything in there?
11:51Because it's a nice little holiday home, isn't it, for somebody?
11:56A little family of mice or something.
11:59Meanwhile, over in England...
12:01There you go.
12:01Lolly's brother Greg has two buyers interested in his London home, and a sale looks imminent.
12:09The idea really is to get out of here by December this year, that's 2024.
12:16Cross your fingers.
12:19Greg is swapping this impressive London pad for a barn conversion in the village,
12:24which has buckets of potential, but still requires months of work.
12:31People have said to me, you know, what's the reason for moving to France?
12:36And a part of it is, you know, understandably, the sort of space that, you know, you're afforded to obtain.
12:45But the other thing as well is because of Lorraine, my twin, and it is, you know, it's a big
12:49pull.
12:50Um, because the two of us, um, oh, you know what, I think I might well up, um...
12:57So, yeah, the two of us have gone through quite a lot together.
13:02So, I think from my point of view, uh, it's just wonderful to have that connection, um, you know, which
13:10we've always had.
13:12For Greg, the spiritual call of La Gallisserie was as strong for him as it was for his sister.
13:18But he knows that he's giving up a comfortable life in London
13:21for what will initially be a Spartan life in France.
13:27But I think sometimes you've just got to go for it.
13:31It's fair to say the future of this once-forgotten village is in safe hands.
13:40Coming up, at the mercy of Mother Nature, one couple are forced to get resourceful
13:46as climate change threatens their business in Romania.
13:50In the last three weeks, we needed to close a couple of apartments
13:55because there was no water.
13:58And a fresh start for a former truck driver trading Bournemouth for Bulgaria.
14:04So, today is the day that I am leaving to drive to Bulgaria.
14:11Yeah, excited. Can't wait.
14:24Romania is a country with a complex and difficult history,
14:29one shaped by centuries of change and, in more recent times,
14:32by a brutal dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu.
14:39Between the 1970s and 80s, his systemisation programme aimed to modernise Romania
14:46by demolishing thousands of rural villages,
14:50relocating their inhabitants to state-controlled housing.
14:54It was widely seen as an attempt to weaken ethnic communities and tighten communist control.
15:01To fund the struggling regime, many Saxons were sold in a mutual government scheme to West Germany
15:08in exchange for cash.
15:10Many villages never recovered.
15:14But in Transylvania, the Saxon village of Kund is beginning a new chapter,
15:20thanks to the work of a German couple who fell in love with its story.
15:26Many, many nations used to live together in peace and respect.
15:34And to me, Transylvania was always like a historical showcase of Europe.
15:40So many different cultures, people, attitudes.
15:45Yeah, that diversity, which makes it such a worthwhile place to be in.
15:52Ulrike and Jonas came here more than two decades ago,
15:56but stayed to give the village something to not just survive, but thrive.
16:01Tourism.
16:04Their award-winning restaurant and diffused hotel has welcomed guests from around the world,
16:10including long-time admirer of Romania, King Charles.
16:16It evolved from charity work to becoming the biggest employer in the region.
16:23And this is something we are proud on and we hope we'll be able to do in the future.
16:31It's September and restoration projects across the village are currently on hold.
16:37Hello there. Hey, Jonas.
16:39Summer is the busiest time for the resort
16:41and today Jonas and Ulrike are hosting a large group of cyclists
16:45who've been visiting the village since 2007.
16:50Back then, his riders were trailblazers in a country largely untouched by tourism.
16:56These days, cycling tours are big business for Jonas and Ulrike,
17:01who today are hosting a team of 20 gravel bikers.
17:06This is my first time in Romania, so I'm really excited.
17:10We'd heard good things about the gravel riding here
17:13and it's that combined with an adventure in a rural place
17:19that isn't something quite unlike the UK that appealed to us.
17:26After a long dry spell of weather, conditions are perfect for cyclists,
17:30but not for Jonas and Ulrike.
17:33Like everybody in the world, we are really depending on the water
17:38and in the last three weeks we needed to close a couple of apartments
17:45because there was no water.
17:47This is a big issue.
17:51The village's water supply relies on a fragile system of wells.
17:56Some neglected for decades like much of Romania's infrastructure under communism.
18:01With 39 guests staying tonight, it's a worrying time.
18:08Yesterday and the day before, it wasn't sufficient to ensure the supply
18:12for the restaurant and the rooms over here.
18:14When a big group is here, we are consuming about 1,500 litres of water per day.
18:24With the resort well running dry, Jonas and Ulrike's team must transport 1,000 litres of water daily
18:30from another nearby supply to keep the resort running.
18:36But this is only a temporary fix.
18:39Across the village, household wells are nearly empty.
18:45We have always heard that water will be one of the most precious resources
18:50that in our time we will have to deal with.
18:54I've never been imagining that in my lifetime
18:57I'll be having to deal with such challenges.
19:00But it's very much real.
19:03For centuries, Kund has fought to survive
19:06from war, dictatorship and abandonment.
19:09Now it faces a new battle against climate change
19:14that could be its toughest yet.
19:20Like its neighbour Romania,
19:22Bulgaria experienced rapid rural decline
19:25at the hands of a brutal post-war communist regime.
19:29Spearheaded by dictator Todor Zhivkov.
19:33But when the Soviet Union began to collapse in 1989,
19:37calls for change rang out across Eastern Europe.
19:40And on November the 10th, 1989,
19:43the day after the Berlin Wall was breached,
19:46Zhivkov was ousted.
19:51Four decades on, the scars left by 50 years under communist control
19:56are still plain to see.
19:58But with a low cost of living and laid-back atmosphere,
20:02it recently became a hotspot for relocated Brits.
20:07After losing her husband, Kate from Bournemouth
20:10recently joined ten other families in moving to Ores,
20:13a historic village just south of the Romanian border.
20:20For what I want, the type of life I want for myself now,
20:24being a single woman going forward,
20:26it absolutely made sense to come to Bulgaria.
20:30I'm just kind of walking away from everything that happened in my past
20:34and it is just a fresh start.
20:36It really is just a fresh start.
20:40Originally built by the Romans as a trading post between the port of Shistov
20:45and the fortress of Bellinay, Ores has a history dating back to the first century.
20:51But over the past two decades, one in three homes here has been deserted,
20:56meaning property prices are some of the lowest in Europe.
21:01For only 11,000 euros, Kate purchased an abandoned estate here with an acre of land,
21:07two farmhouses and multiple outbuildings.
21:12I love the character of the place.
21:14It's great. I don't want to bring England to my village.
21:19I want it traditional. I want to live the Bulgarian lifestyle.
21:26It's late January and back in Bournemouth,
21:29Kate is preparing to say goodbye to her home of the past 14 years.
21:35So today is the day that I am leaving to drive to Bulgaria.
21:42The truck's outside, Frank's ready.
21:45Yeah, excited. Can't wait.
21:48Joining her on the cross-continent trip will be Davey,
21:52who's offered to drive Kate's car to Bulgaria.
21:55Originally from the north-east,
21:56he bought his home in Ores 15 years ago and helped Kate find hers.
22:03It's a nice little community.
22:05We all work together and help each other.
22:08When everybody found out I was in the cross to England,
22:10it was shopping lists at the ready.
22:13Kate will need to return to the UK within the next 90 days
22:16to finalise her visa.
22:18But her mind is made up that her future lies in Bulgaria.
22:23It's a shame that I'm doing all this on my own, you know,
22:25because that was never the plan.
22:27But it is what it is and it's the way it's got to be.
22:30So, you know, I can't stay here any more,
22:32wasting any more of my life when I could be out living my life.
22:40Once they cross the English Channel,
22:42Kate and Davey face a 30-hour drive to Ores,
22:46passing through six countries and crossing three time zones.
22:58Four days later, Kate's horse box emerges on a ferry crossing the River Danube,
23:04the last leg of her epic journey.
23:10But the extended European road trip proved too much for Kate's car,
23:15which broke down in Hungary and couldn't be recovered.
23:20The car didn't make it. The car died.
23:23Just been chaos.
23:24But we're here.
23:26So I don't care.
23:29Finally, it's time to explore for both Kate and her cat, Frank.
23:35Four days in a truck.
23:39What's this?
23:40Look at your new garden.
23:42Oh, my God.
23:44Come see.
23:45He doesn't know what to look at first.
23:47He's like, where am I going?
23:48Right, where's he going to go?
23:50While Frank takes in his new surroundings,
23:53after four days on the road, Kate is ready for bed.
23:58I don't have beds and stuff here.
24:01I didn't bring them over.
24:02So I'm going to set up my tent.
24:07The start of Kate's life as a village saviour hasn't been without its challenges.
24:12But they do say that from humble beginnings come great things.
24:17The last four nights I've slept in the truck,
24:21literally huddled myself into a little corner.
24:24So it's going to be nice to sleep on this tonight and for the foreseeable future.
24:29But it'll be good. It'll be cosy.
24:35Coming up...
24:36This is the very last section of floor joists to cut.
24:42Ever!
24:43It's a landmark day for Dan's chateau restoration.
24:46It's the first time we'll have ever been up that high.
24:50But at La Galliserie,
24:52Lolly and Sean find themselves in a tight scrape.
24:55It's like a snow storm in there.
24:58Never easy, these jobs.
25:11In La Galliserie, Lolly and Sean want to make the most of a boom in wellness tourism by hosting yoga
25:18retreats in the village.
25:20They're making headway converting the top floor of the biggest of their outbuildings into a yoga studio.
25:26But today they need to turn their attention elsewhere.
25:30It's an exciting day.
25:31The windows and doors are arriving for our jeet and they should be arriving in the next half an hour.
25:36So today I really want to get all of them in, but I would like just the window and the
25:42door indefinitely.
25:43That's my main goal today is to get those two in.
25:45The interior of the jeet was finished several months ago, but their window order was delayed.
25:52And they have an added incentive to make sure the jeet is watertight.
25:56Lolly's brother Greg has agreed to sell his home in London and will soon be moving to the village.
26:05He's going to be chasing the solicitors this week for an exchange date.
26:10And this will be his little home with his dog for, well, I've got to kick him out actually by
26:16the end of March,
26:17because that's when we have our first paying guests in the jeet.
26:22Centuries ago, the windows may have had flattened animal skins drawn across them.
26:27But Lolly and Sean have opted for double glazing and brushed aluminium frames.
26:32Oh, it is a big wagon.
26:35At a cost of 12,000 euros, this is the biggest expense of the whole jeet renovation.
26:41Magnifique.
26:43And Lolly and Sean have just been informed that today's driver is in training.
26:49It's good when they've got training day.
26:51Yeah. Why are they doing training day on our delivery of windows and doors,
26:56which we really don't want anything to go wrong?
27:02The delivery makes it to the ground without incident.
27:07But as the operator raises the mechanical arm, there's a problem.
27:12He's caught here in the back a little bit.
27:17They're putting him to task with quite an expensive set of windows and doors.
27:22And unfortunately, he's caught it with that arm.
27:27An awkward conversation with the windows company later, the truck is on its way.
27:35They're insured, so they get it sorted, so it is what it is.
27:39We're going to pull it in, and then they can work out and replace it how they replace it.
27:44So it's down to them now.
27:45Yeah.
27:47And now there's another problem.
27:50Doesn't go in the hole.
27:51Is it too wide?
27:52Yeah.
27:52Yeah.
27:53But this one isn't caused by human error, but rather the quirks of this centuries-old building.
28:00It might get wider in that corner, actually.
28:02Let's have a little look.
28:04It's still heavy-ish, so just be careful.
28:07But Loll is feeling more confident.
28:10It should go in. It's as tight as anything.
28:13You might need to chisel a bit out there.
28:16They measured where it would go into the recess.
28:20But, of course, the wall's going into the recess.
28:23At 94 and this is 95, so we're going to have to make a couple of adjustments to get it
28:29in.
28:33And by a couple of adjustments, what Sean means is cutting into the stone walls, showering their newly decorated jeet
28:40in dust and dirt.
28:43It's like a snowstorm in there.
28:46I'm just keeping myself to myself.
28:51But Sean has soon removed enough stone to squeeze the window frame into the recess.
28:58Well, that's positive. It's where I want it to be.
29:02This is level, so if I can get a screw this side, screw that side, then I know it's level.
29:07Never easy, these jobs.
29:10As the sunlight begins to fade,
29:14what should have been a 15-minute job has now taken three hours.
29:20That's all my round. That's always good.
29:22But, finally, the first jeet window slots into place.
29:27Oh, my gosh! Yay!
29:29That one, Jean.
29:30That's amazing. Well done, darling.
29:33I want to go home.
29:35You are. Oh, yeah.
29:39Sean was determined to get one window and one door in today.
29:45And though the sun may have deserted them, Lolly and Sean battle on, bringing their jeet one step closer to
29:52being watertight.
29:55It just uplifts it again.
29:57It makes such a difference, actually.
29:58Even though there's only half a door on, but seeing the window as well together looks amazing.
30:02It looks magical.
30:04So it's good.
30:05Tante.
30:06She's good.
30:06Have a good day. Well done.
30:10Tante.
30:14Tante.
30:18Tante.
30:18Tante.
30:19140 miles away in Chamonde.
30:21Tante.
30:23Tante.
30:24Fellow village saviour Dan is about to reach dizzying heights with his progress.
30:30this is the very last section of floor joists to cut ever with the weather finally on their side
30:41work to finish the chateau's highest floor is just hours from completion so we're on the last
30:47two little segments of floor now so I'm just cutting them down here passing them up to the
30:52boys hopefully in a few hours we'll have that whole floor finished and boarded and we can stand
30:57on the highest point of the chateau we're gonna have a little celebration little barbecue with a
31:02few friends just to celebrate the fact we finally got them all back and after cutting more than the
31:10600 joists and 1200 noggins the lads are ready for a well-earned break I am looking forward to just
31:23just silence no sore sounds in the background fortunately for the moment the end is in sight
31:38well that's all the wood cut all the little noggins cut as well so all we've got to do is
31:44basically put
31:44this jigsaw together up there Dan has scoured historical records to ensure this grand space
31:53is restored as faithfully as possible during the war it's believed to have served as a dormitory for
32:01the older girls in the refuge before that it is likely to have been the boudoir of its original owner
32:08the
32:10chateau was built in 1886 for wealthy opera singer Eugénie Bardet who lived here with her daughter
32:16Gilberta no expense was spared in its design and legend has it it played host to her lavish soirees
32:27fans celebration today may not be as opulent but for him it's just as momentous it really is the
32:37floor has just gone in party at last the job is done
32:55and Dan wants to share the special moment whoa this is weird and take his first ever steps on the
33:05highest balcony with the lads who made this happen been looking up at this for two years nearly we did
33:14it
33:16well done sir for Dan is the first glimmer of this becoming a home bath right there it's a view
33:28we've
33:28never seen before and we keep looking around in every different corner there's something new to see
33:33which is just amazing and standing underneath the arch which we've been looking up at for so long now
33:39it's just the best feeling after two years of solid graft Dan has experienced his fair share of lows
33:50this is gonna go for miles this cork whoa but as highs go this could take some beating
34:11after months of solitude Dan finally shares this milestone with friends
34:23bringing life back into these long silent walls literally no idea that how beautiful it would be
34:31looking down no heralding the dawn of a new chapter in this chateau's unfinished legacy to finally get to
34:40this stage is really good and we've achieved something between a really small team which a lot of
34:46people didn't think we could so that in itself is a success I think after this we can now get
34:52the
34:52roofs on we can get it dry and that's a massive step in a project like this is no longer
34:56ruin it is now
35:04coming up a breakthrough for Jonas and Ulrika as they battle to restore the village's water supply a
35:11local community got together on this project and they started to dig and then saw the pipe is going
35:18in that direction and a close encounter for Kate in Bulgaria through the night you can scratchy scratchy
35:24so obviously there's an animal or something up in the roof which was interesting
35:40in Bulgaria it's February and Kate is waking up in the village of Oresh for the very first time but
35:48it seems that she didn't spend the night alone in her new home I do have friends that live above
35:54me
35:55so through the night you can hear scratchy scratchy so obviously there's an animal or
35:59something up in the roof which was interesting but yeah it was good it was really good I slept really
36:05well and then to wake up to just cockerels it's so peaceful this smallholding dates back to the early
36:1520th century and consists of two farmhouses one of which is still standing and multiple outbuildings
36:22the newest addition to the estate was built in 1959 and though this house was recently updated it still
36:30lacks many modern essentials so I've got no plumbing at the moment so I've got no washing machine I've got
36:37no sink I've got no toilet well I have got a toilet outside I've got an outside toilet I've got
36:43no kitchen
36:44I've got no bathroom and I've got no heating so the first things that I want to do is get
36:50the plumbing
36:50sorted so that I can put in a little kitchen and my shower and toilet Kate has lofty ambitions for
37:00this
37:01abandoned estate this crumbling farmhouse will be rebuilt and together with the outbuildings will be
37:07turned into a collection of holiday cottages but her own needs must come first so today Kate's meeting
37:15with local electrician Joseph and plumber Ilya behind yeah need big machine yeah because it's there is
37:26there are brush trees difficult to work yeah the house has no running water and is too remote to be
37:34connected to the mains sewer network so fixing this has just become her top priority we have to put a
37:41septic tank in for the toilet in the dirty water and we're just trying to work out where former truck
37:46driver Kate has never project managed a major build before and is keen to take baby steps fitting the septic
37:53tank will be step one in an estimate for materials yes yes and do I buy the toilet shower and
38:05sink or how
38:08does that work who you got training positive possible day new work they bolt yeah yeah yeah and then
38:17everything's there and then they know I'm like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah amazing
38:25Joseph and Ilya will help lay the groundwork for the future of this derelict estate but Kate's budget is
38:31not limitless and she's keen to make do and mend wherever possible the essentials need to go in you
38:40know you need a bathroom you need to shower and you need a little bit of a kitchen area it's
38:46only me so
38:46you know I don't need the best of everything just the basics and I'm good to go you know so
38:53yeah it'll be
38:54nice to have those bits in for now Kate is really going back to basics washing her clothes in the
39:02same
39:02way as the original owners would have done just after World War One this to me is heaven no noise
39:11no people it's so nice honestly so nice Kate moved to Oddish for a fresh start following the death of
39:20her
39:20husband and though her first few days here have felt like an extended camping trip today marks the
39:27start of a bright new future for both herself and this forgotten corner of rural Bulgaria this is my
39:35piece of heaven now this is it you know all the pain that I've been through it was worth it
39:41just for
39:41this piece you know so it's it's just lovely it's stunning here I don't want a lot in life I
39:51really
39:59don't in Kound Jonas and Ulrike are facing a similar battle to Kate as they fight to boost their
40:05villages fragile post communist infrastructure wells across the village recently ran dry but
40:13luckily as a group of cycling guests set out on a five-day tour the couple are breathing a sigh
40:18of
40:19relief last night the resort's water supply held out there is something that we learned which basically is
40:31things always work out in the end but the recent drought weighs heavily the challenge now is to
40:38find a lasting solution we want to develop infrastructure in the village so running water
40:45sewage system it would be pioneering it would involve getting many people together which still
40:52is a huge issue in many rural communities unifying a community since the fall of communism many
41:00villages have been wary of collective projects but with the water shortage threatening the health
41:07of their livestock they recently came together to search for new water sources what we knew was there is a
41:17pipe from here that is connected to a spring somewhere so the local community got together on this
41:25project and they started to dig and then saw the pipe is going in that direction what they uncovered
41:33was an old groundwater well now pipes have been laid to reconnect the spring to the villages water system
41:42next week we'll be able to connect also the resort back to this spring and we will not have to
41:48bring
41:49over a thousand liter in by tractor every day by working together the villagers revived the spirit of
41:58their forefathers the saxons fostered strong social bonds within their settlements forming organized
42:05groups known as at nachperschaften who tackled communal tasks like well construction
42:14for jonas rebuilding that deep sense of community is essential for the villages future
42:22one thing that this crisis has shown us the power of doing things together of a community getting
42:31together and solving a problem that threatened the lives of so many animals and our business
42:43the wells are slowly replenishing just in time for the cyclist return and another group enchanted by
42:49this land of beauty and mystery it's definitely my first time in transylvania um i think a bike
42:57trip is it's a great way to see a wide swath of both villages but also the countryside you know
43:03i could
43:03be definitely encouraged to come back it was such a lovely time and so i would love others that i
43:08love
43:09to also come and experience it tourism in romania is rapidly growing now welcoming more than 13 million
43:16visitors each year it's great news for jonas and orica but as the last few days have shown it comes
43:24with
43:24great responsibility as one grows it's very important to uh not forget that we also have to create an
43:35infrastructure that supports all our new ventures sustainability is something that is very close to
43:46our hearts and i think we have to see possibly at some point how far we can push the boundaries
43:55in order to still in order to not affect village life saving europe's lost villages is a delicate balancing act
44:05a lasting solution to the region's fragile infrastructure may take gears
44:10but like the saxons before them they won't give in without a fight
44:20next time it's the dawn of a new era for lolly and sean it's the first day what i would
44:26say
44:26to me anyway in paradise dan turns content maker we're able to use social media and gain attention
44:35in romania in romania it's a case of delicate demolition if we could save this original organ
44:41this would be such a joyous experience and has kate's journey hit a dead end i have to leave
44:49leave after 90 days unless i can sort my visa which isn't going to happen
44:55so
45:20so
45:22you
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