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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 a 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.
01:12It's a really big moment.
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!
01:24Oh, dear.
01:25as they try to restore the past to build their future.
01:30Because there's a whole village to be built, yeah.
01:38Today, a Spanish saviour juggles the multiple demands of his lost village.
01:43Any one time there could be eight to ten different jobs running in parallel here.
01:46One thing's for Sue, I don't get bored.
01:49While in France, another hamlet calls out for help.
01:52So I've got jobs every day.
01:54I wake up every day, do the job, go to bed, think about a job,
01:58wake up, do another job, and that's my life.
02:02Elsewhere in Normandy...
02:03Oh, my God.
02:05We've just bought a money pit here. This is never going to end.
02:10Saviours are having to dig deep.
02:13Abandoning the project really isn't an option for us at this point.
02:26When the ancient villages of Europe were first constructed,
02:29it's hard to imagine that the original builders would have envisioned these structures still to be standing many centuries later.
02:36Indeed, few were built with longevity in mind, and often building techniques were more primitive in the past,
02:44storing up problems for our modern-day village saviours.
02:48Such is the case at Le Oud in north-west France.
02:52The owners of the 17th century village, Louise and Paul, have had more than their fair share of problems with
02:57their array of properties.
03:01When you have some of the black moments, like, OK, I've got a phone call,
03:05oh, the wall's fallen down on the sheets, and I'm going, oh, my God, does that mean the building's about
03:10to fall down?
03:11Then Louise rings up and goes, oh, the kitchen's flooded because we had some rain,
03:15and then the power's gone down because there's been a lightning strike somewhere,
03:19and it's like another flood, and I'm like, oh, my God.
03:22And we've just bought a money pit here, this is never going to end.
03:26So there's been moments where I've gone, what, what have we done?
03:36It's September.
03:40And Paul and Louise are dealing with another major blow.
03:44They've discovered their farmhouse has been built without foundations,
03:48and needs underpinning a hugely expensive job.
03:52With Paul away in Paris with work, Louise is keen to let the builders know
03:56that they want to go ahead with the work.
03:59Good morning.
04:00Good morning.
04:01Good morning.
04:03All right.
04:04So you had a way with Paul?
04:05I have.
04:07And he said, basically, we can go ahead.
04:10I mean, it's either that or abandon the project.
04:13I mean, if we can maybe cut a few costs later on,
04:17we'll have to have a chat about where we can maybe save a little bit in certain areas
04:21without jeopardising, obviously, the integrity of the project.
04:26It's not good for anybody,
04:28because I know it's a job you don't particularly like doing.
04:31No.
04:31It's not our favourite job.
04:32So it's not good for us, because, you know,
04:34we've got to pay for it and we didn't anticipate that.
04:37But at the end of the day, we've got to get it done.
04:40It's the only way forward, so...
04:41Yeah, yeah, so it's a go.
04:43Okay.
04:45So we'll get digging.
04:47Yeah, digging starts in earnest.
04:51As well as delaying the completion date of the renovation,
04:54the underpinning is going to cost Louise and Paul an extra €14,000 plus materials,
05:00on top of their already stretched €100,000 budget.
05:03Basically, we need to get it done.
05:07Abandoning the project really isn't an option for us at this point.
05:11We had an amount of contingency money that we were keeping back for emergencies,
05:18and basically we've blown that now.
05:20We're not really in a good position if anything major goes wrong after this.
05:25You know, all these unforeseen things just puts your nerves on edge, you know,
05:29so fingers crossed we'll be okay.
05:33Yeah.
05:39Before Kelton and Stuart can begin to dig down to create pockets to fill with supportive concrete,
05:44they first need to remove the existing floor.
05:48So I've brought the concrete up along the side of the wall.
05:51Enough room for us to get in there and take the soil out so we can get to the underpinning.
05:57I've left this section at the moment so we can get supports off of this concrete base under these beams
06:08So the whole underpinning pad is going to be 1m 300 wide in total.
06:16So it's quite a depth of concrete got to go out and underneath the wall.
06:21But as the work moves outside, the excavations are brought to a halt by Mother Nature.
06:31I mean, like, even this little pocket here, I've only gone in a little bit.
06:34Yeah.
06:35And we've got that much water in it.
06:36Yeah.
06:37Yeah, we can't risk digging it out and then...
06:41No.
06:42...the heavens open.
06:42Because we'll fill it with concrete and if it rains, it's just going to drop.
06:48Yeah.
06:48Yeah.
06:49Because you can't just leave the hole, can you?
06:51No.
06:51No, we need a good weather window.
06:53You need something to put in it, yeah.
06:54A good weather window that we can get the hole filled with concrete and it's got a couple of days
07:00to cure.
07:03Already over budget and with winter around the corner, Louise and Paul's aspiration to be moving in by the beginning
07:10of next summer now looks to be under threat.
07:14The guys have said this isn't the best weather to do it, so they're going to start on that when
07:20they've got a few days of dry weather so that the cement can set off and so that they're not
07:25digging holes and then having them fill with water.
07:28There will be setbacks because with building work there always is a few setbacks, but, you know, hopefully nothing as
07:34bad as the underpinning.
07:36But now I'm just going to be wagging my tail every day because everything they do is a step further
07:43forward to getting it done.
07:45So, you know, happy days as far as I'm concerned.
07:48The dream's alive!
07:50The dream is totally alive!
07:53But despite Louise's optimism, delays cost money.
07:58And with this project already breaking the bank, it's key they get the underpinning sorted soon to keep their dream
08:04alive.
08:11While La Hous' journey to being brought back to life has not been an easy one, in a different part
08:16of Normandy, another village facing an equally tricky rebirth has been fortunate to find itself under the stewardship of a
08:23master craftsman, La Cloutière in northwest France.
08:30Even though we are the owners of everything that we have here, we are really just the custodians.
08:46For the last three years, Tracy and Budo from London have been lovingly restoring this once run-down settlement, learning
08:57ancient trades along the way.
09:00As a time-served joiner and carpenter, Budo is more than qualified to perform all the restoration work himself.
09:09There's a sense of responsibility when you buy these properties.
09:13You have to take them seriously and think about the past and the future.
09:19You start to touch the stonework or the woodwork and you know that hundreds of years ago someone else was
09:24working and building that.
09:26You gain that sort of respect that you want to keep that going and create and make the best you
09:31can at this and keep it as authentic as possible but with a modern touch.
09:36It's July.
09:39Today, the couple are keen to finish off a job that's taken longer than they would have hoped.
09:45We've got to get this tiled and watertight but the rain has slowed this process down. I'm behind on this
09:51roof, I need to catch up with it.
09:53While bad weather has limited the opportunities for Budo to work on the roof, in contrast, the single storey structure
10:01that sits beneath was erected with lightning speed.
10:04The building had collapsed that was here. Using the original footings, I just built straight back off of that.
10:12I think I built the stonework of cutting the roof in in 11 days. So that was a nice fast
10:16process and then the rains came.
10:18Now we're getting back on, the weather's breaking and we're, you know, we can push on and get this done.
10:24Today, Budo is finishing off attaching a frame of wooden battens which will support the final layer of slate roof
10:30tiles.
10:34Right, so, let's start with the first one down that end.
10:40Just work my way along with the spacer block and it keeps all the tiles true to form, if you
10:46like, coming down.
10:50Try to use up all my scraps of wood, fill in these openings.
10:57Next, Tracy begins the heavy job of transferring the tiles up to roof level.
11:04Good exercise.
11:07OK, any more?
11:09Yeah, we'll keep coming. Might as well get them up.
11:11Ever cost conscious, Tracy and Budo have saved a small fortune with the purchase of their roofing slate.
11:18So, we got these tiles second hand. They were apparently off of an old chateau.
11:24We ended up buying 8,000 for 1,600 euros.
11:28So, we were quizzing and maybe in the future we've got enough to do the barn as well, so we
11:33got plenty.
11:35There's history to them as well, so we're bringing them back to life.
11:39Again, we're looking after the past, aren't we?
11:42Recycling to the maximum.
11:44When the farmhouse was first built, its roof would have been thatched.
11:48But by the end of the 19th century, slate roofs had become much more widespread.
11:55Ever mindful of the history of their village, Budo's choice of roofing tools is very traditional.
12:02Like a machine gun.
12:04So simple.
12:06Then I'll just go along the line.
12:12And that gives me a lovely straight cut for my first tile on.
12:17I like the French and I love the old tools the French use as well.
12:20Some of the old tools like, you know, these are old, these are probably a hundred years old, these.
12:25And it's not just the French tools that Budo has been won over by.
12:29He also holds their building techniques in high regard.
12:33The roofing system here in France is different to the UK.
12:37In the UK we nail and fix the tiles, where here in France we do it on a hook.
12:44We put the tile in.
12:47We hook the tile on.
12:50Then we run another hook next to the tile.
12:55Here we go.
12:55That goes in there.
12:58And one on there.
12:59The French will be screaming at me now.
13:02There we go.
13:02No, French roofers.
13:03No!
13:07So we're going to keep going up.
13:08So the next one will drop in here.
13:11And the next one will go in there.
13:13So we've got tile underneath, tile overlapping the underneath tile and then the next tile starts up and that's how
13:19you continue all the way up through the roof.
13:21But what I love about it is if you have a cracked tile, slide it out, put a new tile
13:26in place and it's as easy as that.
13:29It's important for us to have things that are easily maintained, isn't it?
13:32Yeah, 100%.
13:33Because our age is catching up and in 10, 15 years we're going to be a lot older and it's
13:38going to be a lot tougher.
13:39We want to be able to go up there and do things a little bit easier.
13:42We're keeping to, like, traditional building methods, which are more simpler, I think, anyway.
13:48Using the efficient French hook system, as long as the sun keeps shining on La Cloutière, Budo should be able
13:54to finish tiling the roof in a matter of days.
14:04Coming up.
14:07In Spain, a village saviour has a pressing need to build a new safety barrier.
14:13Like a glove.
14:15Perfect.
14:16And at La U.
14:21Louise and Paul's builders fix the old farmhouse's foundations.
14:26It needs to be done.
14:27It's a mammoth task, really.
14:41While some village saviours have tight deadlines, others simply love to take their time to enjoy the process and learn
14:49new skills along the way.
14:54Located in the Asturias region of Spain, lies Arañada.
14:59The eight-acre site, perched on a hillside, consists of four buildings, a small forest and numerous streams and springs
15:06supplying the village with water.
15:10Almost 20 years into his village transformation, Neil Christie from Newcastle is still not finished.
15:16But that's not what drives him.
15:20Time actually heals a lot of things as well because trees grow and plants start coming through and it makes
15:25things look much better.
15:27than it did.
15:28Now it looks more established.
15:34As far as owning it, I more or less knew what I was launching into from the beginning.
15:39And obviously you always find something that you don't anticipate.
15:44It's got its problems, but there again it doesn't distract me from getting on with it.
15:50Really it's a lot of superficial, there's no major construction now.
15:54It's the peripherals that are actually funnily enough to take all the time.
16:00It's November and today Neil is continuing to repair damage caused by recent wild weather.
16:07It's a job that's really well overdue being done.
16:11It's a rather large sort of precipice of a wall.
16:15It's come to the point where the temporary fence that was along there got destroyed in the recent storms.
16:20So now what I'm doing is putting a proper fencing wall along the edge of this.
16:26I think it's 20 metres long, so it's going to take a little while to do.
16:29To build the hybrid wall-cum fence, Neil is using a mixture of precast hollow concrete blocks linked together with
16:37horizontal wooden beams to act as safety barriers.
16:43So, that will go on this end, but I'm also certainly going to have to cut the slots in the
16:53bottom of it,
16:55because obviously it sits over the top of that.
16:58And because I like my ears and my eyes, I'm putting protectors on both.
17:09Like many of our village saviours, Neil has built up an arsenal of power tools over the course of his
17:15many renovations, ready for any eventuality.
17:27Like a glove. Perfect.
17:31The idea, or the concept of what I'm doing, is this.
17:34They actually form a column that's just over a metre high.
17:38There's one of these every two metres right to the end here.
17:42In the second block, small block up, and the top one, I'm putting a 30mm hole,
17:49and there's going to be some wooden posts doing horizontally, so it makes like a bar fence.
17:54Even with cement, it could, with an impact, collapse.
18:00So, to prevent that happening, I've got some, I think it's 16mm diameter rebar.
18:06Which, this is a three metre length, obviously far too long.
18:09But that is going to go down here, like so.
18:14And I'm going to drill two holes in the base concrete.
18:20The rebar, or reinforcing bar, typically made of steel, is used in masonry structures to give added strength.
18:27It's also not a new invention.
18:31The Romans used rods made of iron or wood to construct their arches,
18:35featured most famously in the Colosseum in Rome, as well as their viaducts and aqueducts.
18:41Many of which still stand to this day.
18:49Once Neil's rebars are locked into the base, he'll pour concrete into the upright hollow void,
18:54to give further reinforcement.
18:58For me, that's a proof of concept, OK.
19:00I'm quite happy with the way things are going to progress with this.
19:04The biggest problem, I've had a problem here, is the multiplicity of different jobs on the go at any one
19:10time.
19:10When you get down to these kind of things, it's not 100% important,
19:15but it gets to a point like it is now, where it is important, so it takes precedent over other
19:19things.
19:20Any one time there could be eight to ten different jobs running in parallel here.
19:25One thing's for Sue, I don't get bored.
19:28There's always something to turn to.
19:39Back at the 300-year-old village of Leou in north-west France,
19:44it's October.
19:46And, already behind schedule because of bad weather,
19:49today, Louise and Paul's builders, Kelton and Stuart,
19:51can finally begin the underpinning work on the wall of the old farmhouse.
19:58They dug this hole here, that's got a join up to the other side,
20:02and then they will pour the concrete into these holes.
20:08So whilst this one sets, they'll do one further down,
20:11and then when this is set, they'll be able to do one next to it,
20:14so that, eventually, it will be one continuous line of cement going under the wall.
20:21If this wall's not safe, the house isn't safe.
20:23It needs to be done. It's a mammoth task, really.
20:28For builder Kelton, the process isn't without its risks.
20:32The challenging part of this job is, if we don't dig it in the correct position,
20:37the stonework can fall on us and come into the hole.
20:40And then that means we've got to concrete the hole and then rebuild the stone on top.
20:45If we can do it gingerly and safely, then we won't have to touch the wall,
20:51which is the best scenario.
20:54Complicating the underpinning process is Paul and Louise's requirement for underfloor heating,
20:59which means that the concrete needs to be set at two different levels.
21:04Here, underneath the wall, obviously we need the concrete right up underneath the wall.
21:09So here, we need the concrete at this level.
21:12But this side, in the finished floor, we need it down here.
21:17So we've got to create a shuttering system to keep the concrete up high underneath the wall.
21:25Outside's not an issue. It's the inside that's the problem.
21:31Kelsen is building a shuttering system from wood, which will allow for the two different heights of concrete to be
21:37poured.
21:41With the first hole dug and the shutter constructed, next Kelsen and Stuart begin mixing and then pouring the concrete.
21:53With enough concrete poured to the floor level, the shuttering box is put in place to allow for the higher
21:59level of concrete under the wall.
22:03Just need to top this up with concrete, vibrate it, which gets rid of all of the air pockets, so
22:09the concrete is nice and solid.
22:17With the first pocket of underpinning concrete in place, it can be left to cure and harden over the next
22:22few days.
22:24Kelsen and Stuart now begin the entire process all over again, digging a new hole on the other side of
22:30the doorway.
22:33Now that we're through, we can clean the hole, get some concrete in.
22:55We've got two in, which I'm really pleased with.
22:57You're never quite sure when you first start quite how it's going to go.
23:01If we can get at least another two in tomorrow, that'll be four done, so good head start.
23:08This is amazing.
23:11They've really made great progress.
23:13If they can do this in one day, if they continue at this rate, then it will be done in
23:20the couple of weeks that they said.
23:22I never thought I would say that looking at a lump of unset concrete would be so exciting.
23:30When it sets, you know, I'm going to crack open the champagne.
23:37It's brilliant. Fantastic.
23:40If the project to renovate the old farmhouse is to stay on track, and more importantly, stay on budget, the
23:47builders' target of finishing the underpinning work within the next fortnight needs to be met.
23:57Coming up...
23:58This is what you call a proper workshop.
24:02Neil steps back in time to watch a craftsman at work.
24:06Do you think that's sharp?
24:08And at low?
24:10I think it's a tricky job.
24:12Paul and Louise's builders dig gingerly to avoid a collapse.
24:17We've got to be really careful. If we go any further underneath, we're going to lose it.
24:32Back in Aranyada, where Neil is taking a break from his wall construction.
24:38His love affair with this area extends beyond his own village to the nearby town of Taramundi.
24:44Today, Neil is visiting one of the town's museums, keen to build a picture of what life was like here
24:50in centuries past.
24:54We're at a place just outside of Taramundi town itself. It's called Masanovo.
24:59What it used to be was a grain mill.
25:02And it was the first place in the town to actually generate electricity in the mid-1960s.
25:07And it's been renovated into a museum now.
25:11This is part of the regeneration plan for the tourism in Taramundi.
25:17From the original concept of actually producing grain and generating electricity,
25:21now it's actually generating money for the town as well by bringing tourism in.
25:27A working museum, the mill sits at the bottom of a valley harnessing the power of the river that runs
25:33through it.
25:35While the mill originally produced flour to make bread, its machinery is still fully functional.
25:40Former boat builder Neil is in his element here.
25:44This is part of the original mill. It shows how the water actually operates the millstone.
25:53You see one there working from the big mill wheel outside.
25:57And it's actually turning this large shaft very, very slowly at the moment.
26:03The entire plant is actually operated by water pressure.
26:07And just by altering the water flow, you can alter the speed of the wheels for certain jobs.
26:15For instance, this one. Pull it out.
26:22And you can see by the amount of water flow, it's starting to move it properly now.
26:27This region is literally run by water. Everything was oriented around water, including the agriculture, the crops.
26:36Although now a popular local museum, the original mill was established here in the late 19th century.
26:42A vital resource that would have helped feed the local population with its flower production.
26:50Neil is passionate about the history of this area and what a museum like this can teach tourists about the
26:56heritage of a town like Taramundi.
27:00For me, this is very important that they can see what it used to be like.
27:05This is an old method of crushing grain.
27:11There's a bit of grain. You put it in there and turn it into flour.
27:17And the wheels are just an extended version of this tiny little machine here.
27:22To me, it was, wow, it's like stepping back in time.
27:26And I think a lot of people still think that way when they come here.
27:29Another attraction where you can step back in time is the Museum of Cutlery.
27:34Here, Neil is visiting a local craftsman, Antonio, who produces handmade pocket knives.
27:41This is what you call a proper workshop.
27:49Fantastic. I really enjoy watching Antonio doing this.
27:53He's a skilled craftsman.
27:57This is the blade of the knife coming up now.
28:00It's either carbon-based steel or chrome.
28:03And it's very, very hard.
28:13A stamp identifying the maker is hammered onto the surface of the blade.
28:20Like his father before him, Antonio is carrying on a tradition that's been handed down through the generations.
28:29He's cutting the handle down now for the knife.
28:32And there's this special wood called bock, which is really hard wood.
28:35And it lasts a long time.
28:37This is a complete traditional way of doing.
28:40He's been doing it for 50 years and the family probably over 100.
28:44In the same building.
28:47Next, Antonio takes the roughly hewn knife handle onto the lathe for further refinement.
29:01We're going to cut a slot in it now, by hand as well.
29:04Yeah.
29:10Exactly how much to cut into it.
29:14From raw materials, we're getting towards the shape of a blade.
29:25Now he's taking the shape of the blade itself.
29:28He's filing down the blade.
29:40With the knife almost complete, Antonio adds some decorative flourishes.
29:48A final buffing up and the knife is ready to be used.
29:57Do you think that's sharp?
30:02Well, it's indescribable really, the end product.
30:06It's actually done by hand.
30:09Every part of it made from the basic materials.
30:12They're continuously busy, which is good for Taramundi and for them.
30:16Taramundi really is expanding its reputation for tourism.
30:21That's its light blood really.
30:23It lives on tourism.
30:27Really good place to live.
30:29There's no doubt about that.
30:30It's one of the best moves ever made to come here.
30:32In an era where ghost villages and their traditions can easily be lost forever,
30:38it's clear Neil takes great inspiration from artisans like Antonio,
30:43keeping the past alive through their dedication to their craft.
30:56Back in north-west France with Louise and Paul, their builders,
31:00Kelton and Stuart, are under pressure to complete the underpinning work to the old farmhouse
31:04before the bad weather arrives.
31:08There's a lot of discussion about this doorway.
31:11I think it's a tricky job.
31:12I don't really want to interrupt them while they're deciding what it's going to be like, you know.
31:17And I do well if we would have liked to have gone further underneath.
31:21Right.
31:22Because if we go any further underneath we're going to lose it.
31:24Obviously it's two ends of a wall.
31:26There's nothing joining the wall together across the doorway.
31:30So we've got to be really careful.
31:35We've done our excavation as far as we dare go.
31:38We can't go anymore because if we go anymore we're going to lose the stone.
31:41So now we're creating shuttering.
31:43We'll get some concrete mixed up and get it filled up.
31:46So the stone stays where it is at the moment so we don't lose it.
31:52When the old farmhouse was first constructed,
31:55the arched doorway would have been one of the trickiest parts to build.
31:59With huge stones to lift into place, it's likely a pulley system was employed,
32:03using livestock to heave the masonry skyward.
32:07Despite the largely simple design of the cottage,
32:10the archway gifts the property a welcoming architectural flourish.
32:20As well as the pressure of the changing weather, there's more pressing urgency.
32:25The stone here has started to move and there's a real risk it could all collapse.
32:31While Kelson shovels the concrete in place at the door,
32:34Louise is keen to have a look at the progress upstairs.
32:38This is great. You can get a real sense of how much space there's going to be for the rooms.
32:46Stewart and Kelson have used their time efficiently, working indoors when it's been too wet to work on the underpinning.
32:52As a result, the majority of the timber work for the upstairs of the property is now in place.
32:59A comfortable home for us is the end result, the desired end result really.
33:05Fundamentally, it's something that we've designed for us.
33:08You know, it's like our little dream project really.
33:16With Paul working in Paris during the week, he's been out of the loop.
33:21Returning home for the weekend, Louise is keen to bring him up to speed with the progress of the works.
33:27This is the underpinning on this corner that they've done.
33:30That's big.
33:32How far down did they go?
33:33I think we can walk on it now.
33:34Oh my gosh, about four feet.
33:36Okay, so that's good.
33:38And this is where they've built up the wall here.
33:41Wow.
33:42And they said they're going to shave off this concrete so that it matches the wall.
33:48Ah, follows the contour.
33:49That's nice.
33:49That follows the contour of the wall.
33:50I like that.
33:51And they've also done here.
33:53So it looks like there's another underpinning there.
33:55One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
33:59Yeah.
33:59They've got a ninth one to do under there.
34:01Well, that should hold it.
34:02It should, yeah.
34:05They've worked amazingly, really.
34:07Yeah.
34:08Well, maybe we can crawl in under here.
34:10Can you crawl in under there?
34:10No.
34:11Not with my hip.
34:12No, okay.
34:13Shall we go around the front then?
34:14Yeah, try not to fall in, Lou.
34:15Yeah, this mud is really sticky.
34:17Yes.
34:18Well, it's been very wet this week, so I'm not surprised.
34:24Let's have a look inside what these guys have been doing.
34:28Oh, wow.
34:30That's a lot.
34:31Oh, my goodness.
34:32Yeah.
34:33Although they've nearly finished upstairs.
34:34Yeah.
34:35Oh, my goodness, we've got a ceiling.
34:37Yeah, yeah.
34:38I'm dead keen to have a look upstairs, actually.
34:41Yeah.
34:41Let's have a little look upstairs.
34:43You can get a real sense of the space we're going to get upstairs.
34:46Yes, because before with all the junk and straw and beds and who knows what.
34:52Oh, wow.
34:54Yeah.
34:55Oh, this is a nice size.
34:56It is, isn't it?
34:57Stuart and Coulson have not only pushed the project on, they've succeeded in completing
35:02the underpinning in time, as well as also making good progress inside the house.
35:08Better than I thought it was going to be in a week.
35:10I'm going to Paris happy this afternoon, so I know I can leave things in loose capable
35:15hands.
35:16Happy man.
35:17Yeah.
35:17Good as it gets.
35:18Yeah, yeah.
35:19After an initial fear that the project was about to be derailed, Louise and Paul are
35:24delighted that their dream is now back on track.
35:32Coming up...
35:33I've got one tile, so I've got one chance, and that's it.
35:37It's now Budo's turn to feel the pressure.
35:41While in Aranyada...
35:44That's the first of goodness how many I've got to do.
35:47Neil's wall begins to take shape.
35:50It'll go through here, and that one goes into that one there.
36:06Back in France, at the historic farming settlement of La Cloutière, where Budo is making good
36:12progress with his roof tiling.
36:15Loving these French tools.
36:17Aided by the ease of the French hook method of laying slate tiles.
36:21And then by pushing it into that crochet, it locks it in.
36:26Makes it nice and sturdy.
36:28It's very important that when you start with these type of roofs, that you start off right.
36:33You start with plumb lines down the roof, and everything works to a nice straight line.
36:38So I'm happy now.
36:39This system's going to go quick, and I think I can have this done in a day or so.
36:45Most PLI wires, if you've got the right scaffold and you're a bit protected, you can do this
36:49sort of thing yourself.
36:50My trade is a carpenter and joiner, doing anything in wood.
36:54But doing all these other little trades saves us such a lot of money.
36:58We've got a quote from the roof above, which I'm going to do.
37:01And that was over €10,000 in labour with whatever the tile price would cost.
37:07So it shows you how much money you're going to save.
37:10Look at that, what a system, eh?
37:14No wonder the French can have two-hour lunch breaks.
37:18They make their working life easy.
37:20The recycled slate that Budo is using is likely to have been quarried in northwest Spain
37:26in the Galicia region, which is where the vast majority of roofing slate used in Europe originates.
37:34Spanish slate has, for a long time, been preferred by roofers because of its extremely slow water absorption rate,
37:40which makes it highly resistant to cracking in low temperatures.
37:44The hook system also reduces the chance of tiles being damaged, as there are no nail holes,
37:50which can weaken a tile's integrity.
37:58Four weeks later, and with other projects having delayed the finishing of the roof,
38:03today Budo is laying the very last tile.
38:08Thank God, last tile going on.
38:10Just got to put my cut in.
38:17I enjoy doing all aspects of building work, really.
38:21I've been fortunate in my life to be a foreman on a site, doing all trades, you know.
38:28I don't look at this as a chore as such.
38:30It's just something nice about these old houses.
38:32They warrant being brought back to how they would have been two or three hundred years ago, you know.
38:38With a layer of mortar applied to the apex of the roof, Budo positions the final ridge tile.
38:51Now I've got to just cut a little piece to go over here and cap this end off.
38:54I've got one tile, so I've got to do this.
38:58I'm going to be cutting it here, along here, and keeping this bit to put that capping on over there.
39:06So I've got one chance, and that's it.
39:08Means I've got to go buy another tile if I don't get it.
39:14With the pressure on to make the perfect cut, Budo wields his masonry saw with the poise of an open
39:21-heart surgeon.
39:25Success!
39:27So that's the bit that's going to go on there now.
39:29So I'll put a little bit of cement on that.
39:37I'm going to go away, leave that for an hour, just to dry off a bit.
39:40I'll cut it clean, fill this in with the rest of that on there.
39:44Job done.
39:45That's the roof on.
39:47Thank God.
39:47Next job.
39:50As all our saviours know, when one project is finished, a short pause in hostilities is all you can count
39:57on,
39:57before the village cries out for more help.
40:00So I'll just keep working, getting jobs done, get this kitchen done for Trace.
40:05We've got another adventure we're doing over on the barn.
40:08So I'll get on to that as well, and then working through the house.
40:10So I've got jobs every day.
40:12I wake up every day and do the job, go to bed, think about a job, wake up, do another
40:16job.
40:17And that's my life.
40:26Back in Arrañada, where Neil has returned to his wall building.
40:31While the project has moved forwards, he's not as far on as he would have hoped.
40:36It's progressing slowly, very slowly, because every other day it throws it down with rain.
40:42It's just not really sensible to do it with the amount of water.
40:46Everything's saturated from one end to the other, including me.
40:49With a pause in the down pause, today Neil is working on the upright columns for the structure.
40:55That's the first of God knows how many I've got to do.
41:01That will go in there.
41:04There'll be another one exactly the same, that side.
41:08The rails will go between the two.
41:14So what I'll do is just to demonstrate how it's going to happen.
41:18It'll go through here, and that one goes into that one there.
41:22And that's cemented in.
41:24And there'll be another one two blocks up on here as well.
41:27So it'll be pretty stable when it's all cemented up.
41:32Having made a good start, inevitably northern Spain's climate strikes back.
41:37You can see the water lying on the top of here.
41:40Even the blocks that are being cut out have got about two inches of water in the bottom of the
41:46holes here.
41:48So that isn't a good idea to start putting concrete in there.
41:52So, well, I think I'll have to give it up for today.
41:56And wait until it gets dried out a bit.
42:03A few months later, and making good use of dry spells, Neil's wall is almost finished.
42:10The railings are, as you can see, very strong.
42:14They are treated, so they're not going to rot away or anything like that.
42:17It'll take a lot of years, I would think.
42:19And now it's just a pretty new exercise, really, to make them in keeping with the rest of the building.
42:24It will look properly decorative at the end of it as well, and I think it'll make a big difference
42:29to the appearance of this part.
42:31Having safely secured the top of the wall with his solidly built structure, he's decided to replicate the design to
42:38make safe another exposed high wall on the terrace below his house.
42:44The idea is that exactly the same type of structure is going to continue where these green-yellow marks are.
42:54And that will go the entire length of the entire terrace.
43:00Part of the reason for wanting to do this is, in the summer, we do spend a lot of time
43:06sitting out here in the longer days.
43:09It's absolutely spectacular views around here.
43:12It's part of the reason for the family picking this particular place, because it's nearly all our land around here,
43:19so nobody can do anything with it.
43:21The view's not going to change, so it's perfect for us.
43:24Two decades into his village saviour journey, and Neil's transformation of Arañada is remarkable to behold.
43:32And the fact he's doing it all himself is simply the icing on the cake.
43:37You think, oh, just get a load of people in to do things, and I don't want to do that.
43:42It's an expression in Spanish, it's a poco poco, it's little by little.
43:47And that's precisely what I am, little by little.
43:50And eventually you do get the results.
43:53I can sit back and say, look, I've done it, I'm quite satisfied with the end results.
43:58But if you're getting somebody to do it, how do you explain what you want to see in your mind's
44:03eye?
44:03It's not possible.
44:04So, for me, that's part of the enjoyment, if you can call it that, of doing the work.
44:10Yeah, physically it's hard work at times, but I get satisfaction out of seeing the end result.
44:15And that inspires me to continue with it.
44:24Next time, anticipation builds for Louise and Paul.
44:29The more that gets dirt, the more I get excited about the possibility of moving in.
44:34At La Cloutière, Budo unearths a treasure trove from the past.
44:39That was a lovely little find, and that's definitely going to go in my man cave.
44:44And in northern Spain, we're back with a couple who, having completed one part of their village,
44:50are moving on to an entirely new phase.
44:52If we don't do some controlled demolition in the next few months, then the walls will fall out as well.
45:14All right.
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