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00:01Many Brits have made the journey to foreign shores
00:04to find the perfect home.
00:08It's rather delicious.
00:10But a rare few are deciding to take a path less well-trodden.
00:15Believe it or not, there is quite a large building under that.
00:19They're embarking on a bold mission
00:22to preserve the past and save Europe's lost villages.
00:26800 years of history is a lot to be responsible for.
00:31Sawyer coming to help!
00:33In this series...
00:34Keep it clear.
00:37We step into the forgotten villages...
00:40On this beam here, there's some medieval writing.
00:43To meet the brave new visionaries...
00:45This is gonna be fun.
00:48...and seasoned saviours...
00:50On top of the world.
00:52...who are fighting to bring these abandoned settlements back to life.
00:56We're just trying to pick up the pieces, really.
00:59And hope they somehow go back together.
01:01As they turn ruins into homes...
01:03...and rubble into extraordinary businesses.
01:07And you can just lay down and sleep under the stars, literally.
01:10But will they buckle under the strain?
01:14Good way to get it out!
01:15Or find the strength to see it through?
01:19That weighs a ton.
01:21As they restore the past to build their future.
01:25I can't believe it!
01:27I bought a village!
01:37Today...
01:37This is a little hamlet that had been left to rack and ruin.
01:42In Normandy, an epic village restoration draws close to completion.
01:47It's been five years.
01:49I cannot wait.
01:51I am itching to get in.
01:52Yes.
01:53In another part of Normandy...
01:55Look at that!
01:56Tracy's gonna love that!
01:57...a craftsman builds a kitchen by hand, using age-old techniques.
02:03And there we go.
02:05It's nice and tight.
02:06It's very strong.
02:07And that's what we call a dovetail joint.
02:10And in Spain...
02:11This place is like a TARDIS, no?
02:13It's actually a lot bigger inside than you think it is.
02:15A couple embark on a project to transform an ancient wreck into their forever home.
02:21The first time we saw the village, we saw the potential.
02:24We've put our heart into this, but we're driven to complete this mission we've started.
02:42Europe's lost villages are magical places, often casting spells of enchantment over their potential saviours.
02:50Do you want to try and avoid the bubbly bits?
02:53Yes.
02:55In 2020, Louise and Paul became suitably bewitched by the 17th century hamlet of Le Où in Normandy.
03:04When we first came here to view the village, it just looked amazing.
03:10It was like being in Wonderland.
03:12The front, that grabbed your attention.
03:16It looks like something you'd see on a box of chocolates.
03:20And it was like just a feeling of immense curiosity when you know it's somewhere that's gonna be special for
03:27you.
03:27Not too small, not too big. This one we can make work.
03:32Yeah.
03:34Once a vibrant farming community, the village was abandoned in the 1960s.
03:39Since becoming village stewards, Louise and Paul have been fighting to bring it back to life.
03:45So far, they've set up a successful jeep business and built a swimming pool.
03:49And are now transforming a once derelict shell into their dream home.
04:02It's March.
04:03And all the major building work on the old farmhouse is finally complete.
04:08Which means Paul is in full decorating mode.
04:13Now I just need to get the paint and paint it.
04:18Meanwhile, with winter over, Le Où's jeeps are now open for business.
04:22And with guests arriving in the next few hours, Louise is under pressure to get everything just right.
04:29With the couple giving their heart and souls to the hamlet, it's time for the hamlet to start paying for
04:34itself.
04:36We want guests. We love having guests.
04:38You know, it's just at the moment we've got quite a lot on with painting in the new house as
04:42well.
04:43So it taxes your time a bit.
04:44But for now, I need to give this 100% concentration because it's like the worst nightmare to have a
04:50guest arrive and not be ready.
04:54Spotting an electrical issue, Louise calls Paul over from the farmhouse to see if he can fix the problem.
05:01OK.
05:02Yeah, you can see which one it is.
05:03Yeah, you can see which one it is.
05:04I'll now kill the power so it doesn't kill me.
05:10OK. Aha!
05:12It doesn't take him long.
05:13Light switch.
05:15Whee!
05:15We have light.
05:17It's very quick.
05:18That was quick.
05:18Very simple.
05:19One of the wires had come out.
05:20Oh.
05:22I like fixes like that.
05:23Marvellous.
05:24Now, you also said the TV wasn't working, correct?
05:27The English, yeah.
05:28Yeah.
05:28So, let me have a go at that.
05:30OK.
05:32Right.
05:34Essential tool.
05:35Spanner.
05:37Trying to tune in the box that allows us to have English television.
05:46Right.
05:46Any change on the screen, Lou?
05:49No.
05:50Right.
05:51I'll try doing this.
05:53I think the dish might have moved slightly.
05:55If I do this, what happens?
05:58Nothing.
06:00OK.
06:01And if I do that?
06:02Oh.
06:0285, strength, 60, quality.
06:05That's good.
06:06Right.
06:06OK.
06:0888, 70.
06:10No.
06:1164, strength.
06:12It was better before.
06:14I'll push it up slightly.
06:1785, 40.
06:2085, 50.
06:24It's like a bargain pen.
06:26It's like a bargain pen.
06:26Paul finally gets the satellite dish perfectly positioned.
06:29No question.
06:32Channel 4.
06:33Wee-hee!
06:34Woo-hoo!
06:42After two hours of scrubbing, Louise has Brigitte gleaming for their guests.
06:47Already.
06:48Brigitte income is vital to help finish the farmhouse project.
06:54Every little helps.
06:56Every stay, everything helps.
07:00Ten days later, and Louise takes delivery of a new door.
07:05OK.
07:05Merci beaucoup.
07:06Cool.
07:07But there's an issue with the design.
07:09We've waited so long for this door, you know, because we were initially going to go for
07:17a curved top door, but then it was too expensive, so then they said that they could do us a
07:23door
07:23this shape, obviously, with a curve built in.
07:26So when they arrived this morning, I was expecting to see something other than an ordinary door.
07:35Disappointed is the word I would use at this stage.
07:40Every detail of their dream home has been carefully thought through by the couple.
07:45The door is an important part of their final design, so Louise is keen to try and sort it.
07:50I thought that the curve would be in between the glass of the door.
07:56It's going to look really rubbish, isn't it?
07:58We're extremely keen now to get the door on so that the house is completely sealed.
08:04This is what we've got.
08:05We're going to have to swing with it and hope it's OK.
08:09So, you know.
08:17Not far away, in another part of Normandy, another English couple are saving a village,
08:22and it's slowly beginning to wake from its slumber.
08:26La Cloutière is a farming settlement dating back to the Middle Ages.
08:31Londoners Budo and Tracey are now three years into the renovation of their historic village.
08:40It's the lifestyle, isn't it?
08:41It's the lifestyle here.
08:42Once you mould into the way of France, you start to change your whole perspective of your life.
08:48You start to slow down, you take breaths, you're more aware of everything around you.
08:54It just changes you.
08:56And it's not just me.
08:57I've talked to other British people and they've had the same situation, you know.
09:00You appreciate things more as well, don't you?
09:03Yeah, definitely.
09:04You appreciate your surroundings, you appreciate what you've got, and we know that this is going to be a beautiful
09:11property.
09:11We can do everything we ever wanted here in France.
09:15Definitely, yeah.
09:20It's October, and with the Normandy weather taking a turn for the worse, today the couple have moved indoors.
09:29When the weather is bad outside, we come into the house, jobs are always getting done, but we are weather
09:35dependent.
09:35But luckily we can carry on with another big project, which is the kitchen.
09:39I'm going to be making some kitchen worktops.
09:42If I can get them done today, then it's a big job ticked off.
09:45Yeah, we'll be happy, won't we?
09:47The only thing that might stop us is having lots of tea breaks.
09:50Or getting high on the glue.
09:51Yeah.
09:53The kitchen is still very much a work in progress.
09:56A completely bespoke design, carpenter Budo is crafting nearly everything by hand.
10:02We're getting wall-to-wall work surfaces and a big island as well, so we're going to have a massive
10:08area.
10:09Tracy's got loads of implements like, you know, mixers.
10:11She's got all there to put out as well.
10:13While keen cook Tracy can't wait for the kitchen to be finished, today she's on door painting duty,
10:19while Budo builds the worktops, made from planks of sweet chestnut that he milled from a locally felled tree.
10:26Like the craftsmen of the past, Budo is using what's available around him.
10:33So what I do is I lay these out and I match them up and we're trying to get the
10:38figure of the grain
10:39sort of looking pleasing to the eye more than anything.
10:42And now what I'm going to do is I'm going to be using these here.
10:46We call these in the trade biscuits.
10:48They go in between the two joints and they're not there to hold it together as such because the glue
10:54does that.
10:55They're there to keep it in line up and down so we get a smoother transaction between these two.
10:59So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to start biscuiting these.
11:03And now I do that, I use this tool here and basically put it on here.
11:13The biscuit jointing tool cuts a small semi-circular slot horizontally into the plank.
11:19Each piece of wood pre-marked by Budo so the slots line up with the corresponding adjacent plank.
11:26While many jointing techniques and woodwork are ancient in origin, the biscuit joint is a relatively new innovation.
11:34Invented by a Swiss carpenter Hermann Steiner in the 1950s.
11:39He founded a company manufacturing an electric tool popularising the technique.
11:46I've got all my biscuit joints made and I'm now going to start to put them together.
11:54So basically just put the glue on.
11:56This is a polyurethane glue.
11:59It's a glue that foams up and grabs hold of the wood and locks it together.
12:05It's waterproof.
12:06I just now spread it all over nice and evenly.
12:08Now I put my little biscuits in.
12:11Make sure they're pushed in.
12:17Then I put this one, line up my little marks.
12:24That's ready to go for the next one on top now.
12:26And I'll just carry that procedure all the way through.
12:39I'm going to need my trusty assistant here to help me.
12:44Because when I lay it down, sometimes they open up.
12:48Okay, Trace, if we could...
12:50It might come apart but we'll see.
12:52Push it down.
12:53Push it, hold it down and then lay it straight down.
12:57Straight down.
12:59There we go, that's beautiful.
13:02Now what I'll do is I'll clamp this up.
13:06And I need this to sit in here for about half an hour.
13:09And I've just got three more to do.
13:10And then that'll be the kitchen worktop's done.
13:12I'm happy about that.
13:17So I'm going to use this scraper tool and I'm going to clean the surface off.
13:23Won't take long.
13:31I've been looking at it, the grain pattern's nice.
13:34A little bit of dressing up with some hand tools and a bit of sanding, that'll be finished.
13:41Been having a good day today.
13:43Got the worktops made and got the door painted.
13:46Even though we've had torrential rain all day, but...
13:49You know, we don't let the rain stop us.
13:51We want to be out in the barn doing the barn work.
13:53If we can't, we come in here, we keep going, we keep going.
13:56We've got lots of work to do.
13:57Yeah.
13:58And we're getting through it slowly, slowly.
14:00For Tracy and Budo, breathing new life into their village isn't about speed.
14:05It's about patience and lovingly restoring every single inch of this once-lost community
14:11as she enters a new chapter of her life.
14:19Coming up...
14:20These are absolutely the latest technology in solar panels.
14:24A Spanish village saviour goes green.
14:27As we're running lunches in the restaurant,
14:29and this is exactly when the solar panels are going to be delivering their maximum energy every day.
14:34And at La U...
14:35As it is, the door is absolutely fine.
14:38Louise has a change of heart.
14:40The rectangle of the glass fits perfectly inside the kerf.
14:44Happy days!
15:00While some of our village saviours manage to bring their once-lost settlements back from the brink
15:04within a matter of a few short years, others can take a lot longer to be saved.
15:11The tiny hilltop village of La Brada in rural Galicia lay in ruins until 2008,
15:17when Newcastle-born Ben and his Spanish wife Susana set about transforming it into a high-end holiday complex.
15:27The first time we saw the village, we saw the potential.
15:30What we wanted to create is something special, and I think that we've been successful in that.
15:35Almost two decades on, the couple have a contemporary restaurant
15:39and a busy B&B business to show for all their hard work.
15:44Recently, Ben and Susana have moved on to a new phase of their renovation,
15:48breathing new life into the still-crumbling Upper Village.
15:56We've put our heart into this, but we're driven to complete this mission we've started,
16:03and hopefully that mission will be finished soon.
16:09Meanwhile, the part of the village they have restored goes from strength to strength.
16:15Increasingly popular in the local area,
16:17the restaurant is now serving up to 50 covers a day.
16:23To help keep their costs down, as well as keep the lights on,
16:26Ben and Susana have made a very modern investment for their historic hamlet.
16:31These are absolutely the latest technology in solar panels, so they're bifacial.
16:36Generational literacy from the front and from the back.
16:38The light-coloured stones you see on the ground are to help reflect the sun,
16:43because the sun then comes back up to the back of the solar panels,
16:46and we gain another 20-30% of energy as a result of that.
16:50As we're running lunches in the restaurant,
16:52our main usage of energy is going to be lunchtime,
16:56between 12 o'clock and 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock,
16:59and this is exactly when the solar panels are going to be delivering their maximum energy every day,
17:04so this should make a huge difference to our cost of energy.
17:09Saving money means more cash to fund the rejuvenation of the abandoned upper village.
17:15A former farming settlement, commerce at Labrada used to mean harvesting cereal crops and grazing cattle.
17:23To generate income in the modern era, work is now underway to build three holiday homes.
17:30The last couple of days, I've been taking all the cement off with a hammer drill.
17:35In the past, they used that for insulation, but basically it makes a beautiful building look very, very ugly,
17:40and we want that real rustic look that we've got in the lower part of the village.
17:44And we find this really cool little window here, so we didn't even know it existed, so that's a bonus.
17:51Small windows like this are a common feature in rural Spanish properties as they help manage the flow of air
17:57to keep the house cool.
18:00And inside, the couple are also ensuring the village's original features are fully on show.
18:07This used to be a three-storey building with an attic, and we wanted to expose the beams in the
18:13attic,
18:13so we basically made it a two-storey building with nice high ceilings.
18:17These buildings have been here for hundreds of years, and as the custodian of this village,
18:22we have a responsibility to make sure that everything's done right so that it is going to last
18:27and it is going to be a great place for people to come and visit.
18:33Keen to maintain the architectural heritage of La Brada as they breathe new life into its buildings,
18:39this is not going to be a quick process.
18:44It's good to see the team working.
18:48We're happy that we're progressing.
18:50The key thing is that we do it right the first time,
18:53so I'd rather take more time and get it right than speed up and have problems.
19:06Back at the 17th century Normandy village of Le Oul,
19:14it's March, and builders Kelson and Stuart are fitting Louise and Paul's new door,
19:19despite the design not being to Louise's original specification.
19:24Get in there, yeah, propping them in position, and then we'll get the actual,
19:28get the door on, make sure that it's all square, and then we can fix it in position.
19:34The archway is an unusually sophisticated architectural flourish
19:38for a 300-year-old rural French farmhouse.
19:45While Louise originally wanted an arched window, she's had a change of heart.
19:50That looks great.
19:53As it is, the door is absolutely fine.
19:55The rectangle of the glass fits perfectly inside the curve.
19:59Works fantastically.
20:01Happy days!
20:03With the door fitted, next, Stuart and Kelson begin grouting the newly tiled downstairs floor.
20:12So, at the moment, I'm just filling in the joints.
20:17Because the stone walls are straight, it's a regular,
20:20you cut it in as best as you can, and then you just fill it in there after,
20:25just to blend it all in.
20:27Then you get washed and sponged off,
20:29and so it will look the same as the rest of the floor.
20:34The travertine tiles Louise and Paul have picked are a type of limestone.
20:39Hard-wearing, they're cheaper than marble, but just as visually impactful.
20:48This is amazing. I think this is the most beautiful floor I've ever seen in my life.
20:52I feel that strongly about it. I really love it.
20:56I so much prefer this to any other kind of tile ever.
21:06It's mid-April, and the project to save Le Où has raced forwards.
21:12Bit of a landmark day today. The builders finished yesterday.
21:15Wahey!
21:16The house is basically now ours. Great!
21:20Look at the electrician to do his bits and pieces.
21:23Plenty of painting to do. Yeah.
21:24Lots of furniture to put together and to move, but hey, big, big step forwards.
21:30This is a little hamlet that had been...
21:33It's our little village. A bit left to rack and ruin.
21:36It had been treated badly, and we've done a lot to make it more beautiful
21:41and to keep it going.
21:47It's been five years, and it's been, you know, at times, very frustrating.
21:54Times have gone, oh, my God, what have we done?
21:57It's been tough for Paul, because he's been working and doing all of this.
22:03It's been tough for me, because manually, physically,
22:08I've never worked so hard in my life.
22:11Hopefully, when we move in here, we will begin a different kind of life,
22:18which is the life that we were always aiming for from the beginning.
22:23I cannot wait. I am itching to get in.
22:26Yes.
22:33Coming up...
22:34It's all about accuracy. Cut into your line.
22:38At La Cloutière, Budo is determined to deliver the very best for Tracy.
22:43This kitchen's going to be very solid.
22:45I want it to look aesthetically right for Tracy.
22:48I feel like she's, you know, a million dollars herself.
22:50And at Labrada...
22:52If we look upwards, we can see the beams are pretty much a goner.
22:57Ben uses modern tech to survey an ancient ruin.
23:01The roof has collapsed or not in any good condition whatsoever.
23:08The roof has collapsed or not in any good condition whatsoever.
23:16Back in France, at the historic farming settlement of La Cloutière,
23:20it's October.
23:21And while Tracy is out in the village's lavender fields,
23:24performing vital pruning to their growing crop ahead of the winter,
23:28Budo is in his workshop,
23:30determined to push on and finish the farmhouse's bespoke kitchen.
23:34Today, he's handcrafting kitchen drawers,
23:37using a traditional woodworking technique.
23:40So today, I'm doing dovetailing,
23:43which is quite a technical little joint,
23:46if you're not used to them.
23:48And the reason I want dovetails is it gives strength in the drawer,
23:51so over the many years of pulling, pulling in and out,
23:55this joint locks them, stops from falling apart.
23:58Making a drawer, it's just a box, I know,
24:00but it can be complicated if you don't know what you're doing.
24:05These drawers probably make four a day.
24:07Started yesterday, and I'm on number six.
24:09I've got to make 16.
24:13So what I'm doing now is I'm cutting this out.
24:15I've already marked it out.
24:16I've got to bring that to my voice and start the process.
24:20Trusty glasses.
24:21Can't see without these.
24:23Especially the fine details, you know.
24:33It's all about accuracy.
24:35Cutting to your lines, which I'll show you.
24:42So when I'm cutting this bit out, this is my waist,
24:49I'm cutting above the line.
24:51So you'll see me chop that out in a chisel in a minute.
24:58But I love this sort of work, you know, it keeps me,
25:01keeps me brain going.
25:04It keeps me thinking, and it ain't costing me nothing.
25:09So the next job is to take that out of there.
25:15I've got my chisels, so I come to my line on here, down, turn to an angle.
25:22And the reason I'm going to an angle is because the pins are at an angle.
25:26So a little bit down, come in, angle.
25:32In, a little bit of an angle.
25:37It's a, it's a great, uh, craft woodworking.
25:41And it's, uh, it's very fulfilling, satisfying.
25:45And then I do the rest of that with a little knife here.
25:52We call this the snots.
25:54Clean the snots out.
25:57There you go.
25:58So I'm going to put it together.
26:00And I put the, uh, joint onto its position where it's going in.
26:05And then I just bring it home.
26:09Then I turn it upside down.
26:16And there we go.
26:17It's nice, tight.
26:18It's very strong.
26:20And that's what we call a dovetail joint.
26:24Dovetail joints and woodworking are a very old technology.
26:27Some surviving examples of its early usage have been found in excavated tombs and burial sites across Egypt.
26:35Dating to the time of the Pharaohs.
26:39This kitchen is going to be very solid, very well built.
26:42I put a lot of time in to get it right.
26:44I want it to look aesthetically right for Tracy.
26:47I want her to feel that she's in a bit of luxury.
26:50You know, she can have the good quality around her and feel like she's, you know, a million dollars herself.
27:00That's a lovely one done.
27:01My next job would be to put the grooving in on the, uh, inside and do some staining and finish
27:09it off and then fit it.
27:12But I've got one here made.
27:14I'm going to go test it, fit it in its space.
27:18Budo's dedication to his craft is all to the advantage of La Cloutier.
27:23When finished, this kitchen is likely to last for at least a hundred years.
27:29Look at that.
27:30Tracy's going to love that.
27:33That's just so nice.
27:35Soft closed drawers, we call them.
27:36It's very tactile.
27:37Just part of the, the harmony of life, you know.
27:40That's why Jesus was the carpets are.
27:43That's why Jesus was the carpets are.
27:51Back at La Brada in northern Spain.
27:56It's January.
27:58And work is continuing on the renovation of the Apa village.
28:02All the buildings bar one are well on the way to becoming holiday rental properties.
28:07The remaining derelict house is due to begin its rebirth in the summer.
28:12This property, earmarked to become Ben and Susanna's dream home.
28:17A crumbling wreck, today Ben is keen to inspect the current state of the building, using La Brada's newest form
28:24of inter-village transport.
28:27There's a lot of, um, moving of things around in, in all of this area we have in the forest
28:33and all the, uh, the fields we've got.
28:34So we've gone and bought this vehicle to help.
28:38It was dropped off yesterday.
28:40And, uh, we haven't had time to play with it yet.
28:51And I suspect it has no fuel right now.
28:57So, when in doubt, fill it up with fuel.
29:05This doesn't work, we'll walk.
29:11No.
29:12That can't be here.
29:15All right, so we'll walk.
29:24Looks great though, doesn't it?
29:30The crumbling building that will become Ben and Susanna's dream home is now too dangerous to enter.
29:36But Ben is keen to survey the structure to ensure it's still saveable.
29:41He has a modern solution to allow him to roam freely and safely.
29:46So we're just going to have a, um, a little look in, uh, inside our house, um, which, uh, obviously
29:53has deteriorated, uh, so much that it's, uh, pretty dangerous to go in.
29:57The whole thing's collapsing.
30:05Look upwards, we can see the beams are, uh, are pretty much, uh, a goner.
30:10They're, uh, sort of not in any condition, any good condition whatsoever.
30:16What we're looking at now is the, uh, the area which was the kitchen, which has, uh, the roof has
30:21collapsed.
30:23There's the sink.
30:27And the cooker.
30:29And basically what that will be is my office.
30:32And that'll lead into one of the three bedrooms, uh, in this, uh, building.
30:38There's a sink in the corner there and four bedrooms.
30:42Getting a glimpse inside for the first time in years, Ben now has a much clearer picture of what his
30:48dream home might eventually look like.
30:51This place is like a TARDIS, no? It's actually a lot bigger inside than you think it is.
30:56Having recorded his remote reconnaissance of the ruin, Ben is keen to show Susanna what he's uncovered.
31:04What we found is, uh, sort of several different, um, bedrooms.
31:08Oh my God.
31:10So this is upstairs.
31:14Green doors, amazing.
31:16It's clear that the potential is there to utterly transform this building.
31:21And their reaction to seeing the inside means they are now inspired to dream big when it comes to breathing
31:28new life into this abandoned ruin.
31:32Good job we have someone technical in the family.
31:37Almost two decades into its rebirth, La Brada is beginning to thrive.
31:43The lower village consists of four luxury B&B properties, sleeping up to 28 guests.
31:50In addition, the couple's new restaurant business is booming.
31:57Summer season was, uh, very intense.
32:01Very busy with dinners, with lunches, with breakfast.
32:05So, super happy because of that.
32:11But Ben and Susanna have no plans to rest on their laurels.
32:16As well as now offering a venue hire for weddings and events,
32:20their plans for the upper village renovation mean that when complete,
32:25the new holiday accommodation will mean upwards of 40 guests can stay at La Brada.
32:31We're, uh, still, uh, renovating those, but, uh, it's looking really good,
32:36so I'm very happy with, uh, with the results.
32:40So confident are Ben and Susanna that their holiday lets will be finished by the summer,
32:44that they are already taking bookings.
32:47And soon enough, work will begin on their own home,
32:50its completion marking a major milestone in the rebirth of La Brada.
32:55The entire village will be complete.
33:00They're looking forward to it.
33:08Coming up, our villages bring joy to their saviours.
33:12This is my kitchen and I'm cooking on gas.
33:16As Tracey is on cloud nine.
33:19I'm just in heaven at the moment.
33:21While at low...
33:23We like the juxtaposition between the new and the old.
33:26The new and the old.
33:27The old farmhouse transforms from a house into a home.
33:32And I'll tell you what, it properly feels nice.
33:47Back at the farming settlement of La Cloutier in Normandy...
33:54While Budo's work, crafting the farmhouse's handmade kitchen,
33:58continues throughout the autumn and winter months...
34:01One, two, three.
34:02On the top, nice and easy.
34:07At the same time, their hamlet also makes big demands on the couple's time.
34:14As our village saviours are all too aware, land management of these once abandoned places can be a never-ending
34:21task.
34:25However, by the spring, the kitchen is almost finished.
34:31It's May.
34:32Well, this has changed a little bit.
34:35Yep.
34:36Been busy in here.
34:37And I've just completed the island.
34:40Sweet Chester.
34:40So it's going to be really nice and classy, I think.
34:43But I'm just in heaven at the moment.
34:45Because coming from a caravan, which I cannot complain, I made roast dinners.
34:52So I've done well.
34:54But to come in here now is just pure luxury.
35:00As they would have done in the past, Budo has sourced all his materials locally.
35:06All this cabinetry I've made by hand.
35:09The over mantle, we call this an over mantle.
35:11This is all sweet chestnut again.
35:13And there's a lot of detail in the chestnut.
35:15Like this little cove here.
35:17So these little corbels here, we call these.
35:20And that gives a feel of dresser of some sort, you know, rather than just a plain old kitchen unit.
35:26But keeping it simple as well, but looking very classical.
35:30Not only are the couple thrilled with how it looks, but it's given them the strength to carry on with
35:35the rest of the hamlet.
35:40In time scale, probably a couple of months of work in total to get to this stage.
35:45But it's been spread out over a year and a half because of all the other things going on.
35:49Because we're not just doing the renovation, are we?
35:52We have land, so we always get pulled away.
35:55But for the last few weeks, we've seen the progress to get to where we are now.
35:59We're feeling that inspiration to keep pushing forwards now because you can see the fruits of your labour.
36:06Look at this, gas.
36:08This is my kitchen and I'm cooking on gas.
36:11Budo, if you can put your timer on and just let me know when five minutes is up, please.
36:17Cinq mince.
36:18With their kitchen garden providing much of their food already, Tracey and Budo have future plans for even more of
36:25their produce to come from their village.
36:28Now we can sit and have a little salad for lunch.
36:31I'm actually looking at the plate here.
36:32All the salad will be grown here.
36:34The eggs from the chicken.
36:35And we were talking about making cheese, weren't we?
36:37Yeah.
36:37So technically, 100% of that plate would be from our land.
36:42Well, that's part of our journey, being self-sufficient, isn't it?
36:45There is just so much you can do if you put your mind to it.
36:50And across the four years of their stewardship of La Cloutière, there's so much that Tracey and Budo have already
36:57done.
36:59This place was in a bad state when we first bought it.
37:02It was unlivable.
37:03Then we got our teeth into it, started doing the floors, building up the walls.
37:07There are lots of hidden jobs like running plumbing and electrics.
37:10Making new windows.
37:12Beautiful oak ledge and braced doors as well you made, didn't you?
37:15In oak, yeah.
37:16I had the pleasure of oiling them, they were lovely.
37:18We built a porch on the front.
37:20We built a garden.
37:21So we built a pot of shade, they call it in France, where you grow your food.
37:24We built a lavender field.
37:26Which is expanding, isn't it?
37:28Which is expanding year by year.
37:30And then we started a little bit of work on the barn.
37:32Yep.
37:33But we had to stop that to go back to doing the kitchen.
37:36But the thing was, the building had collapsed away, so I rebuilt the whole building as well.
37:40Done all the walls, put the roof on, tiled it, and then built the kitchen inside.
37:44So we've been doing a lot in four years.
37:46And also, within that four years, it's maintaining our land.
37:49And one of the main issues you have in France, and you have to remember this if you come to
37:53live in France,
37:54is socialisation.
37:57Their socialisation is a must-do.
37:59Because you offend your neighbours if you don't.
38:02They enjoy life, and that's what I love here.
38:05And it's because they realise working is not the be-all and end-all, is it?
38:10They want to enjoy life.
38:11They tend to enjoy their lives a lot more here, they're at a slower pace.
38:13Not only have Tracy and Budo saved a lost village of Europe, but the village has given them the life
38:20that they always dreamed of.
38:23Once we do finish the renovation and get that up to a standard, then we can really start to enjoy
38:29it even more.
38:30It's just a wonderful experience.
38:32Yeah.
38:32And, you know, if you've got the means to have a go at doing something like this, buy yourself a
38:36little village and do it up.
38:38Yeah.
38:49A few miles away in another part of Normandy, another village is paying its saviours back in spades.
38:56It's April at La Oue.
38:59Water.
39:00Water.
39:01Village saviours Louise and Paul are getting ready to move into their fully restored farmhouse.
39:07I mean, the kitchen's fully functional now, isn't it?
39:10Aye.
39:10It's all connected up to the electrics and the gas.
39:13So it should just work.
39:14Yay, there we go.
39:16We knew it would get there in the end, but it's still nice to see it working.
39:20I'm sure that after we've moved in and everything, all of a sudden it's going to all become very banal.
39:25But at the moment, it's really thrilling.
39:31We have to be very careful.
39:34While the appearance of the farmhouse has changed considerably from what it might have looked like in centuries past,
39:43Louise and Paul have made sure that elements of that past are still on show.
39:47We like the juxtaposition between the new and the old.
39:51The new and the old, you know?
39:53You've got the kitchen, which is modern, and the floor, which is retro.
39:57The new lights next to the beams.
39:59I love it.
40:03And there we are.
40:04And there we are.
40:04There we are.
40:05What you might want to do is open the other box up and start lifting the bits out.
40:12Breathing new life into a once abandoned village takes time, commitment and patience.
40:18I will hold it.
40:20You twist it.
40:22And for couples like Louise and Paul, it means having a shared vision for what your village and your life
40:28are going to look like.
40:30Wee!
40:33Having risen to the challenge, they're finally starting to reap the rewards.
40:38Oh, that was comfy.
40:40Apart from sitting on the floor, scrubbing it, it's the first to have sat on a seat near.
40:45Yeah, in fact.
40:45Wow, it is actually, yes.
40:47Today.
40:48And I'll tell you what, it properly feels nice.
40:50I cannot wait to start faffing on and getting it how we want it, you know.
40:55Still got the grand move to do, but yeah, it's started to come together.
41:04Three weeks later, and the couple's dream finally becomes a reality.
41:11The former farmhouse, where animals once slept under the same roof as the labourers who worked here,
41:16was abandoned in the 1960s.
41:21Left to rack and ruin, decades of decay meant it was almost lost forever.
41:27But now it finally has a new purpose in life.
41:31We moved into a new house, what, two nights ago?
41:35Not sure we can quite believe it.
41:37We've exceeded our expectations.
41:40The dusty and crumbling old farmhouse is now an elegant and modern home.
41:46Downstairs, the open-plan living area proudly showcases the charming relics of the building's past.
41:53This is the original brick wall.
41:56I'm, like, blown away by how it's turned out, really.
41:59I think it looks amazing.
42:01It really makes it into something super special.
42:06Upstairs, where long ago farm workers would have bunked down for the night,
42:10it's now a bright and playful contemporary bedroom.
42:14This is an amazing space.
42:16It's nice and light.
42:18We've got our two dressing room areas behind the bed.
42:22For the couple, the journey to get to this point hasn't been an easy one.
42:27It's been eventful, to say the very least.
42:31It was a slightly unpleasant surprise to find that the whole thing needed underpinning.
42:36It was like, oh dear, how much is that?
42:39But at least now it's on solid concrete foundations.
42:42And I think, with all of that behind us,
42:46we'll begin to live the life that we wanted to live from the beginning.
42:51Bringing Lou back to life has been a mammoth project for Louise and Paul.
42:55From restoring holiday geats to building a swimming pool for their guests to enjoy.
43:01With the farmhouse complete, their next project is to turn their old house into a geat
43:06and expand further their blossoming holiday business.
43:11We've got four geats up and working, which is great.
43:13And we will have five.
43:14We will have five, though there is a chunk of work to be done on that.
43:17Yeah.
43:17So that'll keep us busy over this month or summer getting it ready.
43:20Hopefully ready by the peak, we'll see.
43:24Louise and Paul have done more than just saving a village.
43:28They've given her a new purpose, ready to begin a new chapter in her long life.
43:34The thing that I'm most proud of is we've taken something which was a run-down disaster
43:41and we've made it into something beautiful.
43:43As far as I'm concerned, there's no better feeling.
43:46We've made a difference.
43:47I think so, yeah.
43:48We've preserved a little bit of history and a lovely bit of France, which to me is very satisfying.
43:53The Book of Le Houx started in 1700.
43:57There are more chapters to write, but I think with the house we've finished a big one.
44:02We can go and enjoy it.
44:04Yeah.
44:05Then get on to writing the next chapter.
44:07Le Houx, the future.
44:09Le Houx, the future.
44:10Exactly.
44:10Yeah, yeah.
44:19If you too are saving a village or a hamlet in Europe and would like this programme to document your
44:25progress,
44:26please get in touch with our production team.
44:30We'd love to tell your story.
45:02We'll see you next time.
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