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help we bought a village s04e34 skyfire
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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 in it.
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.
01:37Today...
01:37It's super thick this stuff, isn't it?
01:40Excitement at a ghost village in Normandy.
01:42As a once abandoned cottage begins to wake from its slumber.
01:46The more that gets done, the more I get excited about the possibility of moving in.
01:51Elsewhere in Normandy...
01:53It's a belt buckle.
01:54I believe it's from the Napoleonic period.
01:57A village saviour unearths a treasure trove from the past.
02:01That was a lovely little find.
02:03And that's definitely going to go in my man cave.
02:05And in northern Spain...
02:07Even the bottom part of the village is the after.
02:10Then this is the real before.
02:12We're back with a couple who, having completed one part of their village,
02:16are moving on to an entirely new phase.
02:19This is dangerous to go into right now, because the roof is collapsing.
02:22And if we don't do some controlled demolition in the next few months,
02:26then the walls will fall out as well.
02:38Over the centuries, the ghost settlements of Europe have had a front row seat
02:43for some of history's most pivotal moments.
02:46Through the course of their stewardship of these places,
02:49our saviours often feel a strong connection
02:52to what was, in many cases, a turbulent past.
02:57Located in northwest France,
02:58is the 17th century village of Le Hou.
03:03Falling into disrepair by the latter half of the 20th century,
03:07the village's chequered past is not lost on its current custodians,
03:11Louise and Paul, who purchased Le Hou in 2020.
03:19When this place was originally built, it was the Ancien Regime,
03:24kings on the throne, peasants in the countryside.
03:27Yeah, yeah.
03:28And it's been through a revolution, another revolution.
03:31Yeah.
03:32Second World War, yeah, this was in the occupied zone.
03:35Yeah.
03:35Been through a lot, so...
03:37Yeah, it's been a lot.
03:37Nice to sort of...
03:39...make it last, so...
03:40So it's nice for us inside, but outside it looks and feels like a proper French village.
03:49It's October, and builders, Kelson and Stuart,
03:52have completed the underpinning work on the walls of the old farmhouse,
03:56Louise and Paul's soon-to-be-forever home.
04:00This is looking great.
04:02It's brilliant.
04:04I defy these walls to fall down now.
04:07Although the unexpected and expensive extra work has delayed the project,
04:12everything is now back on track.
04:14The fact that they've now made the house safe is...
04:19Well, you know, I'm walking two feet above the ground, really,
04:22because it was such a worry.
04:25Words can't express how pleased I am that they've done it now.
04:28Now we know the house is not going to move anywhere,
04:33and no walls are going to fall down, which is brilliant.
04:40I can't believe the size of the rocks that are coming out of the floor here.
04:45It's amazing.
04:46Today, Kelson and Stuart are excavating the concrete floor of the farmhouse
04:50with an able assistant on wheelbarrow duty.
04:56That'd be me for the day.
04:59I can say I helped out.
05:01I've contributed.
05:03Phew.
05:03I need to go and have a lie down now.
05:08In the past, heat was generated by burning wood.
05:10But Louise and Paul want to bring the home into the 21st century
05:14by installing a more sustainable underfloor heating system.
05:18So, the builders need to dig deep.
05:30Whack.
05:34Oh, take that.
05:35It reminds me of, like, a bar of chocolate.
05:38It's just breaking up like a bar of chocolate.
05:51I will be really glad when this is totally out,
05:55cos it is...
05:55The only way we could get it out is with a small dig around a wheelbarrow.
05:59So I was Mr Wheelbarrow today.
06:02So, yeah.
06:03I'm glad when it's done.
06:11Two months later, the underfloor heating and new concrete floor are down.
06:17Framing for partition walls has been installed,
06:19as have First Fix Electrics.
06:22I'm extremely happy with the rate of progress at the moment.
06:25And they've really done a lot of work up until now.
06:30They're cracking on with the inside.
06:33So I couldn't be happier, really.
06:35I absolutely couldn't be happier.
06:39We're currently insulating the upstairs at the moment.
06:42So we're putting in 200ml of insulation
06:45to keep it nice and toasty and warm.
06:48We've put these rails on.
06:50We can fix the plasterboard with them.
06:55Great stuff, isn't it?
06:56Look, wow.
06:57It all feels a lot warmer.
06:59That's amazing.
07:02It's super thick, this stuff, isn't it?
07:04Yeah, it's 200mm.
07:09It's funny, isn't it?
07:10Because the more that gets done,
07:11the more I get excited about the possibility of moving in.
07:14And now when I'm seeing, like, this stuff going in,
07:17and, you know, the walls going in and the electrical cables,
07:20I'm thinking, well, maybe it will be real.
07:24You know?
07:26Although the journey to get to this stage of the project
07:28hasn't been an easy one,
07:30for Louise and Paul,
07:31the dream of bringing this former farming hamlet
07:34back from the brink
07:34is finally within touching distance.
07:45In another part of Normandy, another English couple are also invested in restoring
07:50a once-lost village with a deep connection to the region's past.
07:55La Cloutière is a historic settlement thought to date back to the Middle Ages.
08:01I love the history here.
08:03I love the medieval stuff.
08:05And then even going back to the Viking stuff, which is Normandy.
08:07I love all that as well.
08:09So that was one of the big factors for us to move here.
08:13Originally from London, husband and wife Budo and Tracey
08:16are three years into the renovation of their historic village.
08:25We didn't want to be where it's too hot, Eva.
08:29It's lovely if you're on holiday, but if you're doing a renovation
08:32and you're constantly in the heat, we'd be having a lot of sit-downs.
08:37A lot of siestas, as they say, a lot of siestas.
08:39Having cups of tea and...
08:41We love the seasons, don't we?
08:43And we love seeing the changes, the winter snow, the summer heat.
08:48And the rain in between.
08:49And it's just a beautiful place to be, you know?
08:56It's August, and today marks the start of another new project.
09:01Budo is about to breathe new life into this very old and abandoned building.
09:06This is what we're up to, and believe it or not, this is a day's work we've done already.
09:11The earth was up to this here.
09:13While we're bringing it down, the reason is, is water is penetrating inside the building.
09:19This level that I'm standing on now is slightly below the inside level of the floor.
09:25But we wanted to pull this back so this building can start to breathe properly again,
09:30and not sitting in water all the time.
09:32Why we're doing this is, is this barn is a game changer for us.
09:37I am a joiner, I'm a carpenter, and I work making things.
09:40I make windows, doors, staircase, kitchens, whatever it be.
09:43This is going to be my new workshop, and this will help me repair and rebuild the whole of the
09:51village.
09:51Because we're working out of a little room in the house at the moment,
09:53and it's really going to change things for me.
09:55I'm going to be able to move along a lot quicker.
09:57It's got a roof, it's got good walls.
10:00All the prettiness of it, if I need it, will come later.
10:06Helping Budo is son James, a landscaping contractor,
10:10who's out in France visiting his parents and enjoying a working holiday.
10:15Using heavy machinery certainly speeds things up.
10:32But it's not long before history buff Budo spots some interesting artefacts hidden under the earth.
10:42Found some more pottery.
10:43We're seeing lots of shards coming up, but these more significant parts.
10:48This looks definitely medieval.
10:50This looks like a leg of a pot.
10:52And then we found a bit of glass, a neck.
10:55But you can tell it's old because the top is not symmetrical.
11:00It's just roughly blown.
11:03And this is the sort of thing you find all around this village.
11:11These aren't Budo's first vines.
11:14He's been amassing quite the collection,
11:16painting a fascinating picture of La Cloutière's former life.
11:21We keep bringing up little items from the past.
11:24We've got some sort of a neck of a vessel.
11:29Maybe a round pot of some sort.
11:32Looks quite old to me.
11:34A bit medieval looking.
11:36This one is a little cotter bell.
11:39Still got the pip in it.
11:41I looked into it and I believe it was made between 1500 and 1700.
11:48And it's still going today.
11:50And I found this in two halves, believe it or not.
11:52And what I believe that is, is a stopper for maybe a decanter
11:57or for maybe wine or cherry.
12:02And then, what I like, because it's related to military.
12:06Still investigating what it is.
12:08But we believe it's a belt buckle.
12:11I believe it's from the Napoleonic period.
12:16This armour, it is famous in France.
12:19This chest, breast armour they wear.
12:22But that was a lovely little find
12:23and that's definitely going to go in my man cape.
12:27And then, we're finding quite a lot of these.
12:29Loads of little sort of bottles.
12:32I like, you know, keeping things like this back
12:34because they give a bit of history to the village, if you like.
12:38And when you hold something like that, if that is 100 years old or more,
12:43you know that someone else was holding it a long time ago.
12:46So, I don't know, it's just got a bit of nostalgia for me.
12:48You know, I like to keep old things.
12:50And because they're coming out of the ground not broken,
12:53they're worth keeping, you know.
12:56This area is full of history, you know.
12:58And to be part of that, you know, we're a part of that now
13:01because we're putting our mark on this place.
13:04And when we find things, it's just respectful to keep them
13:07and just, you know, put them by.
13:10Just something I like about it, you know, history.
13:12Unearthing secrets of the past is part of the charm
13:15in restoring lost villages.
13:17And for Budo, it's definitely giving him the motivation
13:20to continue with his mission.
13:28Coming up...
13:29We've got a lot of good preparation
13:31and we've got people in place who are really good.
13:33Village saviours in Spain take a leap into the unknown.
13:37Have we managed and opened a restaurant before?
13:39No, but that's okay.
13:41While in France...
13:43Oh, I'm going to paint one of the walls here blue.
13:45Are you? Yes.
13:46Why?
13:47Because I want to.
13:48Louise and Paul's decorating visions are miles apart.
13:52It's not going to match the floor in.
13:53We'll see who wins the battle of colours in this room.
13:56Yeah, yeah.
14:08Purchasing one of the abandoned villages of Europe can be fraught with risks.
14:13Centuries-old crumbling structures are not the best place to put your life savings,
14:17particularly if seeking a quick return on your investment.
14:22Nestled within the misty mountains of Galicia in the north-west of Spain
14:26lies the tiny village of La Brada.
14:31Once abandoned and left to crumble,
14:33large parts of it have now been lovingly revived.
14:40La Brada shows just what a ghost village can become.
14:45Good boy. Welcome.
14:49For generations, farmers cultivated cereal crops and grazed cattle on these lands.
14:56But today, thanks to Ben and Susanna,
14:59its once ruined structures have been transformed into a stunning contemporary bed-and-breakfast complex.
15:05All achieved without losing its historic charm.
15:15It is a responsibility.
15:16The village was all but abandoned when we first came here.
15:20And it's just, we're, let's say, saving it for the next generation.
15:24We're reforming it.
15:25But it's like, you don't own these things.
15:27You just look after them for a generation, and that's what we're doing.
15:34Ben, originally from Newcastle, and his Spanish wife Susanna,
15:38began their journey with La Brada in 2008,
15:41when they purchased and renovated a dilapidated farmhouse to use as a holiday home.
15:48Falling in love with the village,
15:49they then purchased more of the abandoned buildings
15:51and set to work breathing new life into them.
15:54It's been a challenge, and we thought,
15:58is this the right thing to do, et cetera?
16:00Because we've done it bit by bit.
16:02We've done sort of one building by one building,
16:05one floor by one floor, one brick by one brick.
16:08Be perseverant.
16:10It's, as well, attitude, and really what,
16:13it gives you all the strength to go on.
16:21We first met Ben and Susanna in 2023 as they looked to expand their business,
16:26turning one of La Brada's previous ruins into a restaurant.
16:33The beauty, obviously, is this stone.
16:36So these are coming from houses in the area which are demolished or in ruins.
16:40But this is real, this is really a craft which doesn't exist anymore, like thatching roofs, I guess.
16:46The specialist nature of the stone craft work meant the restaurant renovation fell behind schedule.
16:57Pushing back the chefs, et cetera, we can't hire them.
17:02Could take two or three weeks, but really, in September.
17:08There we go, so we'll miss Summer Peak, but we are where we are.
17:13Despite setbacks, they did finally manage to open,
17:16but were only licensed to serve their B&B guests.
17:21We need to move on, and the important thing is when we open, we are ready,
17:26everything is perfect.
17:28Always, always, we see the positive things out.
17:36It's now July in La Brada, and with the stonework complete,
17:41Ben and Susanna have finally got permission to open the restaurant to the public.
17:46So we opened the restaurant at the beginning, just for our guests, for dinners.
17:53It's like opening the restaurant progressively,
17:56and we are planning to open the restaurant to the public for lunches next week.
18:01They've hired head chef Noelia, who has big ambitions.
18:08We have prepared a cheese plate
18:12using one of our regional and local cheese,
18:17which is the Cebreiro cheese.
18:20We respect the proximity product and local product.
18:24So, in our dishes, we always try to use the close product.
18:36The restaurant has been a big investment, and while they have experience hosting B&B guests,
18:43neither of them has ever run a restaurant before.
18:46I mean, I think we've got a lot of good preparation,
18:50and we've got people in place who are really good and experienced and know what they're doing.
18:54If you've got a good team, then things are going to work.
18:56We managed and opened a restaurant before, no.
18:59We're expecting teething problems, but that's okay.
19:02We'll overcome them.
19:05The proof really will be in the pudding.
19:08Ben and Susanna's restaurant will need bookings if they're to see any kind of return on their investment.
19:21Back in France, at the 300-year-old village of Le Oud.
19:25This is the last piece of studying and insulation to go in downstairs.
19:33There's light at the end of the tunnel.
19:34It's January, and after four months' hard work, the farmhouse renovation project is edging ever closer to completion.
19:43We've got full insulation, all the walls are straight inside.
19:49It's amazing.
19:50And this is where the kitchen will go.
19:52It's going to be black with gold handles.
19:56How posh am I?
19:59And it's going to have a marble effect worktop.
20:04So it will, I think it will be very modern, but at the same time, kind of in keeping with
20:11the surroundings.
20:13With the majority of the farmhouse now boarded and insulated,
20:17Louise and Paul are keen to retain a feature fireplace wall as a nod to the building's past.
20:24The original fireplace would have provided much needed warmth against the harsh Normandy winters.
20:30The farming family who lived here would have kept it lit day and night to provide both heat and a
20:36means to feed themselves.
20:39At one time, I think it would have had timber coming out to create a hood, essentially, over the top
20:46of the open fire.
20:48But it's long gone.
20:50With only the stone supports for the original mantel remaining,
20:54Builder Stuart has a plan for a replacement in keeping with the building's historic character.
21:02Because you're having a wood burner, timber's not an option.
21:05No, okay.
21:05It would be too close to the flue.
21:07Yeah, yeah.
21:07So I think what we've decided to do is to shutter this off and cast it in concrete.
21:13Okay.
21:14Up to the ceiling.
21:15Yeah.
21:16And then it comes to render it in the same colour as the font.
21:19So it'll all blend in.
21:20So it'll all blend in.
21:21Yeah, yeah. That'll be lovely.
21:22I think that's the option we come up with.
21:23Yeah, yeah, yeah. That'll be lovely.
21:27Upstairs, there's another room that's coming to life.
21:31So this is going to be my office.
21:33I'm a book person.
21:34So bookcases, bookcases, bookcases, bookcases.
21:39Probably filing cabinet.
21:41My plan is desk probably under the window.
21:45It's coming together nicely.
21:47I mean, it's actually going faster than I thought it would appear.
21:49Yeah.
21:50All that's left to do now is choose a colour scheme.
21:55I'm going to paint one of the walls here blue.
21:57Are you?
21:57Yes.
21:59Why?
22:00Because I want to.
22:02Okay. It's not going to match the floor in.
22:04Light blue.
22:06It's not going to match the floor in.
22:09We'll see who wins the battle of colours in this room.
22:12Yeah, yeah.
22:12Well, no, it's up to you, obviously. It's your room.
22:15Uh-huh.
22:18The rate that it's come along, it's amazing, really.
22:20And this, now it's all plastered.
22:23It just is a completely different kettle of fish, you know?
22:27It's amazing.
22:28It looks like a modern home already inside.
22:30Study it and see it getting there.
22:32Bathroom, what's going to get there?
22:34Yeah.
22:34Here, once the window's delivered, that bit will get sorted
22:38and it won't take long.
22:39No.
22:40We need to get carpet in here.
22:41Yeah.
22:42Do you still want carpet?
22:42Yeah, I do, yeah.
22:43Yeah, yeah.
22:44I still keep trying to talk Louise into laminate, but...
22:46What?
22:47She wants carpet.
22:48I've already surrendered on this one.
22:50Yeah.
22:50In my professional life, I pick my battles I can fight,
22:53that I can win.
22:54This one...
22:55No.
22:55I'm not going to win it, so...
22:57Carpet.
23:05A month later, and with a new staircase in place,
23:08both floors of the farmhouse are finally connected.
23:12We were kind of limited with where to put the staircase,
23:15because upstairs, the roof immediately starts, you know,
23:20going into sort of like an apex situation.
23:23So it had to come up in the middle, otherwise there wouldn't have been headroom.
23:28The way that it's fitted in with the plan discreetly,
23:32and yet still looking a little bit country-fied and, you know,
23:37really pleased with it.
23:38And we've got doors, we've got a window,
23:41we've even got a window sill.
23:43It's amazing.
23:45And seeing this, you know, it feels like we're almost ready to move in.
23:50You know, it really does...
23:51It looks absolutely stunning.
23:56Nearly five months since the renovation began,
24:00the once abandoned farmhouse is slowly coming back to life.
24:04And with decorating about to begin,
24:06Louise and Paul can get their hands dirty,
24:09helping push the project forward to finally being complete.
24:19Coming up...
24:20See him going backwards and forwards with a digger,
24:22and he's tracking it and compacting it down.
24:24An extra pair of hands helps Budo rattle through his to-do list.
24:29Well, where James is here, we can flow and get things done very quickly.
24:33While in Spain...
24:34He's found a pipe and he's cut the pipe.
24:37Ben and Susanna are keen that their renovations
24:40don't create a neighbourhood dispute.
24:43But what we don't want is to find out
24:45that there's somebody down there in the valley
24:47who now doesn't have water.
25:00Back in France,
25:01at the historic farming settlement of La Cloutière,
25:04it's August.
25:05And Budo, along with son James,
25:08are excavating earth to help the walls of the village's
25:10medieval barn become moisture-free.
25:13James being here just pushes me on days ahead.
25:16Because ordinarily, if I was doing the digging,
25:18I would have to stop the digger,
25:20jump out, start the tractor up, move it into position.
25:24And it just takes so long.
25:26Well, where James is here,
25:27we can flow and get things done very quickly.
25:34Budo hopes the removal of centuries of accumulated soil
25:37will allow the building structure to dry out.
25:41And Budo is ensuring nothing goes to waste,
25:44using the earth to level the track
25:46that runs through the village.
25:52The soil that's coming out there, ordinarily,
25:55you would normally, say, fill up a couple of skips
25:58and that would be towed away to a landfill.
26:01And it's all energy, wasted fuel.
26:03We've got the land here to reuse the soil,
26:06so nothing has to leave our village at all.
26:08We'll make sure that it's used in the right way,
26:11so we're using the subsoil, if you like, to bring up the land.
26:18Helping Budo with this big project is his vintage tractor.
26:23She's the same age as me,
26:25so dare I say my age is 1965.
26:29And this tractor was born then as well.
26:33And she's been going all that time.
26:35Beautiful tractor, four-wheel drive, air-cooled engine.
26:41She's a little bit temperamental, but she's still going.
26:44And if you maintain them and look after them,
26:47like Tracy maintains and looks after me, we keep going.
26:52With a load of earth moved to the dirt track,
26:55Budo needs to change the digger's bucket for its next job.
26:59So this is an old-fashioned way of doing the digger,
27:02because it's an old digger.
27:03This is 20 years old, this digger.
27:04Just going to drop out this one first, James.
27:12Despite being semi-retired,
27:14Budo's zest for rejuvenating the village never wavers.
27:22Mum and Dad are very impressive at what they do,
27:25considering their age.
27:26We're not going to say they're too old,
27:28but they do a lot for how old they are.
27:30We ain't spring chickens any more, you know.
27:32We ain't got time to sit around and whinge and moan about things.
27:35We just get on.
27:35They're very passionate about this and I'd love to see them succeed
27:39and we can all come out here and enjoy it in a few summers' time.
27:44Yeah. I'm glad you're here anyway.
27:46That's all right.
27:50The plan now is James is going to level off what I've put over here.
27:54We're trying to build this up, so he's going to level it off.
27:58Yep.
27:59We're lucky we got the machines to help us.
28:02And then James is knowledge, because he's really good at this sort of stuff.
28:14This track would have been a vital artery when La Cloutière was a working farm,
28:18aiding the movement of goods and produce.
28:23The track would have been compacted and smoothed
28:26by the constant movement of animal-drawn carts.
28:31But today it just needs a helping hand.
28:36So, we made light work of that with the digger.
28:38We'll keep building on this.
28:40See him going backwards and forwards with the digger.
28:42And he's tracking it and compacting it down.
28:44Over 20 tonne there.
28:46There's no cost.
28:47We're reusing materials that are here.
28:50And it's coming out really well.
28:51I'm really happy with it so far.
28:56We're happy with today, aren't we, James?
28:57Yes, we are.
28:58As long as he's happy, we're happy.
29:01While today has been a success,
29:03restoring a building this old is never straightforward.
29:07Overgrown with ivy, all sorts of hidden problems may still be lurking.
29:17Back in La Brada in northern Spain, it's November.
29:20And Ben and Susanna have finally opened their restaurant to the public.
29:25This is good.
29:26We are completely fully booked all the weekends.
29:29So, that helps.
29:30That helps a lot.
29:32And customer feedback is immediately positive.
29:36I don't like the cheese, but this cake is incredible.
29:40It's amazing.
29:41A hillside village, La Brada is set across two levels.
29:45The lower village with the restaurant and B&B is now complete.
29:49However, further up the hillside lies another group of abandoned buildings,
29:53all crying out to be saved.
29:56This includes an old barn,
29:58which Ben and Susanna are keen to transform into luxury holiday accommodation.
30:06So, this is the romantic barn.
30:09Fireplace in the middle, a nice bed here.
30:12We'll likely have a hot tub as well outside.
30:14A nice bottle of wine sitting on the veranda there in the hot tub.
30:19I mean, yeah, what more do you want?
30:23As well as the barn renovation, Ben and Susanna have also earmarked another building in the upper village to become
30:30their dream home.
30:32This is our place.
30:34Might have seen better days, but basically we have a vision for this.
30:39If the bottom part of the village is the after, then this is the real before.
30:45This is dangerous to go into right now because the roof is collapsing.
30:48And if we don't do some controlled demolition in the next few months of the roof, then the walls will
30:53fall out as well.
30:55And that would defeat the object a little bit.
30:58With the drawings, you can see the transformation.
31:03And here as well we have a little piece of land for us to chill out, to have our pockets
31:08with friends.
31:10And have the sun when we have it.
31:15The architectural heritage of their village is important to the couple, which is why they're retaining and reusing as much
31:21as they can of the original construction.
31:25These are the original doors made in chestnut.
31:28So they are very heavy, very good.
31:32We were chatting already with our carpenter and he's going to restore them and we can reuse them.
31:39It will be a beautiful door when it's finished.
31:45But before any of the renovations can begin, this upper part of the ancient village needs some vital infrastructure installed
31:53to bring it into the modern era.
31:56Right now we're digging a trench from our water to the top part of the village.
32:04The top part of the village doesn't have water.
32:08Suddenly, excavations are brought to a halt.
32:12He's found a pipe and he's cut the pipe.
32:15But what we don't want is to find out that there's somebody down there in the valley who now doesn't
32:21have water.
32:22So the key question is, whose pipe is that?
32:25And where was it going?
32:27Susana begins the detective work, phoning a local contact to see if they can help solve the puzzle of the
32:34mystery pipe.
32:35Susana is speaking to the son of Elena who used to live here.
32:39He knows these mountains like the back of his hand, etc.
32:41He knows where all the water fountains are, water sources.
32:43And he's just confirmed that he originally went to this house.
32:49So it's all okay. It's all good.
32:51We didn't affect the water for our neighbours, so that's perfect.
32:55So good. No bad news.
33:00As the digger driver returns to the vital work of bringing utilities to the upper village, the couple are excited
33:06by what this new chapter for Labrada will bring.
33:10I mean, we're very, very close to putting this in place.
33:13And once this is in place, then we basically got another 12 people would be able to stay in these
33:20accommodations.
33:21So that makes the whole village 40 people once we're full, which would be every summer.
33:29So that's good business for the restaurant. And yeah, we're so close, so close.
33:38Coming up...
33:39The ivy, it grows in between these joints, and it pushes.
33:43At La Cloutier, Tracy and Budo go to war with Mother Nature.
33:48Never ever let ivy grow in your house, because it just causes so much damage.
33:53While at Lou...
33:54The only challenge is Lou doesn't like it if I drink.
33:58Louise becomes a hard taskmaster.
34:00I think it's a shame to mess it up by doing bad painting.
34:05This is why I'm keeping an eye.
34:20Back at the farming settlement of La Cloutier in Normandy, it's September, and Tracy and Budo's latest project, breathing new
34:27life into the village's medieval barn, moves on to the next stage.
34:34Well, we'll get this tower built.
34:36Yep.
34:36And then we can start working on that ivy.
34:39Yep, because that's going to be a really big job, isn't it, trying to get that down for me.
34:44While the ground around the barn has been lowered to stop water ingress, ingress of a different sort is plaguing
34:51the structure's stonework.
34:54Well, the ivy's been there for a long time. Some of it's like this round, and it's grown into the
34:59wall, so we've got to be very delicate.
35:01But before we get there, we've got to go and build the scaffold first, so...
35:04That'll be fun.
35:05One thing that sort of goes against for me is that I'm not very tall.
35:10No, but you cope well. She's quite strong, like, so she's got some muscles. I've trained her up well, you
35:13know, over the years she's been good.
35:17You get two of them, or one, I'll take two.
35:20With a lifetime in the building trade, Budo not only has the knowledge, he also has all the equipment.
35:27Using their own scaffolding is saving them a small fortune.
35:34Right, so this one's live now, right, so it's freestanding.
35:37Yeah.
35:38You just want to put your hand on that for us.
35:40So we're going to put another pole up.
35:43These are heavy.
35:50You okay to hold them?
35:51Cool.
36:00As we whack them wedges in, it locks it all up tight.
36:05But we're semi-solid now.
36:09While often Mother Nature can appear pretty, she can also be incredibly destructive.
36:17The ivy, it's shoving the building around, so it grows in between these joints and it pushes.
36:23And eventually it'll just push this corner of that building over.
36:26Never ever let ivy grow in your house, because it just causes so much damage.
36:33Working in tandem, soon enough the scaffolding begins to rise to reach the highest parts of the barn.
36:40All right, just push that post in a bit, trace at the top.
36:45You're carrying that like a pro.
36:47I know.
36:48You're like a pro.
36:49Got to keep her going.
36:52There we go, that's that floor in now.
36:55Do you know what?
36:56I could think of better things to do when you're nearly 60.
37:01Despite all the hard work, Tracy and Budo's passion for the history of their village is what drives them on.
37:08So, I've been doing a bit of investigation on this building.
37:11The general size of it, and the fact that it has a timber frame construction inside, which would have been
37:18before the stonework came,
37:20and the shape of the windows and doors, I believe that this was the original house, that this is the
37:25oldest part of this village.
37:27It's been used as a barn, but it's not got proper barn doors on it, so big animals wouldn't have
37:32been able to come in and out of here.
37:33It reminds me of, you know, the very early Viking buildings.
37:37Going back to that time, Normandy was a very Viking area.
37:43The Vikings ruled this part of Normandy between the 9th and 11th centuries.
37:48Typical Viking dwellings were wood or stone-built structures with a turf or thatched roof.
37:57Inside, Viking families originally from Scandinavia would have likely lived alongside their animals.
38:05While the scaffolding has gone up quickly, the removal of the ivy would be a far more delicate and time
38:11-consuming operation.
38:14I'm just going to be very careful as I'm taking the ivy down, because I just want the ivy to
38:19come off, I don't want the stone as well.
38:21It's going to be a slow and tedious job.
38:23I don't want a couple of days of masonry work putting it all back together again.
38:27Hopefully in six to eight weeks, it'll be looking pretty and working functionally as a workshop for me and I'll
38:33be in my element.
38:39Two months later and progress is slow.
38:43Taking this ivy off is so tedious because the trunks are really thick here.
38:49But above here, we have a lot of loose stones.
38:53And Budo has to rebuild the wall so that we make the gable end very safe.
39:00While the scaffold's up, work can't continue inside the barn, clearing everything.
39:06So once we get this down, then we can start doing the work inside.
39:11As is often the case with ancient villages, it's only when you peel back the layers that the scale of
39:17the work becomes truly clear.
39:19It's clearly going to take some time to bring this latest building back to life.
39:32Back at La Oue in Normandy, it's February.
39:35And upstairs in the old farmhouse, Builder Kelson is plastering the walls and ceilings.
39:41While downstairs, Stuart is working on the restoration of the feature stone wall of the open plan living area.
39:50So we've sandblasted it, cleaned out all the joints.
39:52The new mortar has been pumped in up to this level, as you can see.
39:57That's then been struck back with a trowel to push it fully into the joints.
40:01Now we've just got to wait for it to dry enough to be able to brush it back.
40:07The new mantle is also now set in place above the fireplace, creating a stunning feature wall.
40:14The colour is just perfect. Yes. The colour is perfect.
40:18And with the big feature stones, it sets off very nicely like that.
40:22I love the niche as well, the way that's... Yes.
40:25It's looking amazing, isn't it?
40:32A month later, and with the plastering complete upstairs, Louise and Paul are painting their master bedroom.
40:41We've undercoated all of the walls, and I've done some snagging where there were drips and whatnot, so it would
40:46be a nice finish.
40:49And the next thing is really to put the top coat of white on.
40:52The only challenge is, Louise is a perfectionist when it comes to painting.
40:55I am, yes.
40:56And she doesn't like it if I drip, so I'll get it pulled off.
41:01Kelsin's plastering is perfect, and so I think it's a shame to mess it up by doing bad painting.
41:08So, this is why I'm keeping an eye.
41:13Can I just say just one thing?
41:16Depends what it is.
41:17Well, where you've come down there and you've got that line...
41:20Yes.
41:20..what you need to do is go horizontally and smooth that line.
41:25The watch out is it gouges the plaster, because the plaster's very sensitive.
41:30No, that's fine.
41:34We are so happy with how things are going.
41:37I mean, really, it's amazing. It's difficult to put into words, really, because we've waited so long.
41:43Because we did the sheets first, we did the pool first.
41:48Everything, you know, for the business, we did first.
41:51And we've waited five years to do this, and it's just amazing to think that we've come along so far
41:59that we're getting our lovely little house done, which will be our forever home, really.
42:05So, it's exciting, yeah. Super exciting.
42:11With the old farmhouse lying empty since the 1960s, it's lacking many modern amenities.
42:18So, today, Stuart and Kelson are back on site.
42:22Luckily, the sun's come out.
42:25We've been able to come outside and continue with the excavations around the back, the land drainage.
42:31We're now at the front, putting the land drainage in at the front.
42:34And then the next step will be dig a big hole to put the septic tank in.
42:39Hopefully, there's no surprises.
42:41There is an electric cable running across, so we need to try and avoid that.
42:46And I hope there's no big boulders.
42:49Indoors, Louise and Paul are eager for the next phase of their large open-plan living area to begin.
43:00So, we now have a proper floor, been drying for the last two weeks.
43:04Yeah, yeah.
43:05And it needs another couple of weeks to dry before it can be tiled, which is the next big project
43:09in here.
43:10And we have a new fire ready to go in there.
43:12That's sat outside under plastic, just waiting to go in.
43:15Yeah. So, it's going to be lovely.
43:20For Louise and Paul, the journey to reach this point has had its ups and downs.
43:25So, as they approach the end point, they can now begin to imagine their new life.
43:31In a building that could have easily disappeared forever.
43:35We're feeling great at the moment, really positive, because the guys have come on in leaps and bounds with the
43:41house.
43:41And hopefully, within a month, we'll be able to move in, which is amazing, because, you know, it's going to
43:47have everything.
43:49It's going to be the dream home.
43:50So, this is, it's like all our Christmases, basically.
43:54Looking forward to being in there, sitting down and going, we haven't got any big jobs to do.
43:59No, no.
44:06Next time, Louise and Paul's village restoration draws close to completion.
44:11It's been five years. I'm itching to get in.
44:16While elsewhere in Normandy, Budo builds a kitchen by hand.
44:20There we go. And that's what we call a dovetail joint.
44:23And in Spain, Ben and Susana begin a project to transform an ancient wreck into their forever home.
44:31The first time we saw the village, we saw the potential.
44:34We're driven to complete this mission we've started.
44:37Withersl come here.
45:06Also, we're excited.
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