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Help Bought Village Season 04 Episode 31
#Cineva USA
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#Cineva USA
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00:01Many Brits have made the journey to foreign shores
00:05to find the perfect home.
00:09It's rather delicious.
00:11But 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.
00:27800 years of history is a lot to be responsible for.
00:32Sawyer coming to help!
00:33In this series...
00:35Keep clear.
00:37We step into the forgotten villages...
00:40On this beam here, there's some medieval writing.
00:43...to meet the brave new visionaries...
00:46This 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?
01:13One way to get it out!
01:15Or find the strength to see it through?
01:18That weighs a tonne!
01:21As they restore the past to build their future.
01:25I can't believe it!
01:27I bought a village!
01:36Today, we meet the new custodians of a hamlet in France.
01:40This is the big barn.
01:42This was used in the medieval times.
01:44It's all made of oak.
01:46It's just so fascinating to have all this history in our village.
01:51Meanwhile, another set of saviours...
01:53Preserving the history of Lahu is important.
01:55This thing's been here over 300 years.
01:58...fight to give their own settlement a new purpose in life.
02:02I think that there is a certain amount of pride...
02:06...in making it a useful place again.
02:10And we're back with Neil in north-west Spain...
02:13...as his battle to save his village continues...
02:16OK, test time.
02:18...the modern age finally arriving with his new water system.
02:22Whoa, yeah, there's plenty of water.
02:26It works!
02:32When our village saviours first purchase...
02:40...one of the many abandoned settlements of Europe...
02:43...it's often the case that they never fully understand...
02:46...just what it is they've bought.
02:48That is, until they start to peel back the layers.
02:53Such is the case with the French village of La Cloutière...
02:56...80 miles north-east of the city of Rennes.
02:59While the main farmhouse dates to the 17th century...
03:04...the village's barn is thought to have been constructed in the Middle Ages.
03:12The settlement was once home to a thriving agricultural community...
03:16...the residents primarily making their living from dairy farming.
03:20The battle to bring La Cloutière back to life began in 2021...
03:33...when Budo, a joiner and carpenter...
03:35...and his retired retail manager wife, Tracy...
03:38...bought the settlement for 47,000 euros.
03:41The condition of our property when we first arrived...
03:44...was in a derelict state, you know, it was unlivable.
03:47We had to literally cut through the brambles...
03:52...pull our caravan in, clear a space...
03:54...and then we started to live in the caravan.
03:56It was very difficult.
03:57First winter was horrendous.
04:01Waking up in the morning with ice inside the caravan...
04:04...we were living in it permanently for just over a year.
04:08Many crumbling structures are dotted across La Cloutière's four acres...
04:14...relics of the village's previous existence.
04:17And even three years on, the couple are still unsure...
04:20...what they actually own.
04:22We had the cadast, what they call a cadast...
04:24...and it gives you a plan of what you're buying...
04:26...it marks it out for you.
04:27All the plots.
04:28And it just showed you these buildings here and there.
04:31And we couldn't even fathom where they were at first...
04:34...because the land was so overgrown.
04:36What they have uncovered, though, is remarkable.
04:43An empty doorway is the only part of the old milking shed...
04:46...that remains standing.
04:49Elsewhere, a bakery, once home to a huge bread oven...
04:53...which would have served the settlement's residents...
04:55...sits in ruins.
04:59And an abandoned 19th-century cottage lies empty, devoid of life.
05:05There was six-foot, maybe seven-foot of bracken and brambles.
05:09And we had to go and investigate, and it took us months.
05:12I mean, we've had the cottage, and we've been in it four times...
05:16...and we've been here for three years.
05:20There's so much...
05:21There's so much to go at.
05:22...to look at, to investigate.
05:24I mean, a couple of weeks ago, I found an outside toilet building...
05:28...just over in the woodland, and I've only just found that.
05:31The couple are also uncovering fascinating facts...
05:37...about the old barn on their land.
05:39This is the big barn.
05:47We're going to prepare it for a workshop.
05:50And it's a good space to work in for me.
05:54And we've got some history in here.
05:56We think this is old, older than the house, even.
06:01And the reason I say that is, if you look on this beam here...
06:05...there's some old, we believe, medieval writing.
06:08So we've had a French person come in here, and he can't read it.
06:11So we believe it might be Latin or some other language.
06:15We don't know.
06:16We do know that in the local area there was an old castle...
06:19...and it fell into ruin.
06:22And then the local people took parts of that castle to build their houses.
06:28The other element of this is a door.
06:31So this is what we call in the contrayed peg joinery.
06:33This was used in the medieval times.
06:35It's all made of oak.
06:37It was held to the bracings with pegs.
06:40There was no nail fixes as such.
06:41So this was what makes us think this barn is very old.
06:47It's just so fascinating to have all this history.
06:54Since taking ownership, Tracy and Budo have created a stunning bedroom in their farmhouse.
07:01Established a substantial kitchen garden.
07:03And they also have the beginnings of a small lavender retail business.
07:07The farmhouse kitchen is Budo's current big project, which he is lovingly crafting by hand.
07:15In front of us, we have a lot of work.
07:17But we knew this. This is part of the plan.
07:20We are very fortunate that Budo has got a lot of experience as a master craftsman.
07:26So we will not be waiting around for workmen.
07:29We will do it ourselves.
07:31While Tracy and Budo are still very much at the beginning of their village restoration journey,
07:44others have been carefully piecing their settlements back together over a much longer timeframe.
07:49Just under 100 miles west of Gijón, in the Asturias region of Spain, lies Arruñada, a hillside hamlet dating back to the mid-19th century.
08:01Once a bustling farming community, the settlement fell into disrepair some 50 years ago and slowly began to crumble.
08:09Until 2005, when former boatbuilder Neil Christie from Newcastle began the long task of saving the village.
08:20That was a rather daunting sort of appearance to start with.
08:24I couldn't actually see much of it, to be honest, because it was covered in brambles and trees and everything else.
08:29Well, there's always potential.
08:39Neil paid just 45,000 euros for four collapsing stone buildings, a small forest, a mountain stream and eight acres of land.
08:50His first job was to breathe new life back into the main farmhouse, which is now his family home.
08:56It's actually gone on a few years more than I anticipated because there's always more and more to do.
09:08We met Neil in 2022 when he began renovating some of the village's other abandoned buildings, transforming them into holiday homes.
09:18I'm trying to use as many of the traditional ways as possible.
09:22It looks more, I don't know, in keeping it to my point of view.
09:27Neil also needed to secure a reliable water supply.
09:31Set on a hillside, a number of springs passed nearby to the property,
09:36once utilised by the farming families who previously lived at Arunada.
09:39So, Neil began building a water pumping system to bring the village into the 21st century.
09:47Now that water there is coming from 120 metres down underneath the ground where the pump head is.
09:56While some plans were progressing, a long-standing legal issue threatened to drastically alter Neil's vision for the village.
10:07Four of the crumbling buildings he believed he owned were found not to be recorded on the deeds for the village.
10:13Neil was forced to halt any plans to renovate them until the matter could be resolved.
10:17The buildings are deteriorating rapidly at the moment.
10:22This gets to a point where even I would think twice about having a go at this.
10:32It's August in Arunada.
10:35The holiday cottages are still a work in progress.
10:38With good weather over the summer months, Neil has been focused on his outdoor projects,
10:42but is keen to complete the work on his potential rental properties.
10:47The shell's more or less finished.
10:49I've got to put new doors on the upper floor.
10:53There's stairs to go in, floors to go in, plumbing, electrics, various things like that.
10:57There's lots of bits and pieces inside.
10:59In itself, it's not a huge project, but it takes time.
11:02The remaining abandoned buildings continue to have an uncertain future.
11:06Their legal status still wrapped up in Spanish bureaucracy,
11:08leaving Neil to watch on helplessly as the structures crumble.
11:13This is the Oreo, which was a grain store.
11:17Won't be there for much longer looking at the trees growing through the roof.
11:20Then you've got a rather large building as well,
11:23which when we came here, it had a roof on it.
11:26But in the last five or six years, it's gradually just in.
11:32I'd hate to see the whole thing in a hole in the ground,
11:35because that's the way it's going.
11:37For now, Neil can only deal with those matters within his immediate control.
11:42The modernization of the village's water system is nearly complete.
11:46It's certainly a far cry from how villagers used to get their water.
11:52In centuries past, with the aid of their livestock,
11:55water would have been collected from the stream and then carried home and stored.
11:58But those days are long gone.
12:03Neil's new system features a huge water storage vessel filled from an underground well
12:09that will pump fresh water to the various houses around the village.
12:13OK, test time.
12:16When it gets down to here, it will start the borehole pump up to pump the water into the tank.
12:22When it gets to the top, it'll stop it automatically.
12:26With the system only recently completed, Neil is keen to make sure it works.
12:32Still on rudimentary electrics, but the other end's connected.
12:36So now we can actually do a test run to see if the water actually does get down there.
12:41Stage one is to fill the tank.
12:45Well, it's definitely filling.
12:46I can hear it.
12:48Next, Neil goes to his plant room.
12:51Time to test.
12:53To check if the system's pressure is high enough to distribute water to the village's various buildings.
12:59Whoa, yeah, there's plenty of water.
13:03It works.
13:06I'm super pleased to see this.
13:08Now that water is coming from 120 metres at the bottom of the borehole,
13:15plus another 30, 35 metres above to the tank,
13:19and all the 130 metres back down again to here.
13:22So I'm quite pleased with that.
13:24A vital part of the infrastructure to bring the village into the modern world is now complete.
13:29But with his holiday accommodation renovations still a work in progress,
13:33it's clear Neil's battle isn't over yet.
13:40Coming up...
13:42The house behind us has been empty for about 20 years.
13:45Village owners in France embark on their next big project.
13:49It's a messy job, it's a smelly job, but it needs to be done.
13:53Angela Cloutier...
13:54To have this here, it's just, it's like a dream come true. It's just so magical.
14:01Tracy and Budo have big plans for their land.
14:05The beginnings of our lavender empire.
14:06While the ghost villages of Europe have lain empty for generations, in their pasts, many have borne witness to pivotal moments in world history.
14:30Such as the hamlet of Le Où, 70 miles from Caen, in northwest France.
14:42Le Où dates back to the 17th century.
14:45Originally a farming community, livestock and families would have lived and worked side by side.
14:51But during the Second World War, with this part of France under German control, the farm was occupied by the forces of the Wehrmacht.
15:01There were Germans, Nazis, if you like, coming through here.
15:05I think there would have been quite a lot of hardship during that period.
15:10It's been through a lot, and I think that there is a certain amount of pride in making it a useful place again.
15:18Although it survived the war, not long after, Le Où fell into steep decline.
15:25And might have been lost forever if Paul, a finance director, and his wife Louise, hadn't been overwhelmed by a desire to save it.
15:36Preserving the history of Le Où is important.
15:39I mean, we know this thing's been here over 300 years.
15:42We'd like it to be here another 300 years.
15:46I think if it wasn't for us, it would have all fallen down.
15:49And it's us crazy Brits are the ones that sort of go along and go,
15:52Oh, we'd like this stone thing.
15:54It's falling to bits.
15:55It's falling to bits.
15:57But we'll have to spend a lot of money and put it back together again.
15:59We'll buy it.
16:00The couple purchased this special hamlet in 2020 for 160,000 euros.
16:07As the latest custodians, they became the owners of seven buildings, including two farmhouses and three rental sheets, as well as a hectare of land.
16:18I mean, the place needed quite a lot of work just to be able to inhabit, never mind living.
16:25We wanted a kitchen that worked and some heat.
16:29So our initial planning was get the basics in there so we can live in the house and then get a couple of sheets up and working reasonably quickly.
16:38That was our plan. Yeah.
16:39That's what we did.
16:40We've now been following Paul and Louise's journey for a year and a half, joining them as they began to build an impressive new guest facility.
16:53What you can see here is the land where we're intending to do the next big project in the next 12 months, which is our swimming pool.
17:00The couple hoped that a pool would attract even more guests to book with them in the future.
17:04But ultimately, they intend to reinvest all new profits into saving Lou's remaining abandoned farmhouse.
17:14At the moment, it doesn't look like a great deal, but this is going to be the place where we're going to live and where we're going to make our little corner of paradise for us.
17:25If Louise and Paul were ever to call the farmhouse their forever home, the first piece of the jigsaw was to build their pool.
17:32It's exciting because, you know, they're finally breaking ground. It's going to be amazing. I'm so excited about it.
17:44And while the contractors got on with the construction of the pool, Paul and Louise pulled up their sleeves and began to demolish some of the centuries old internal structures of the farmhouse.
17:54It's quite hard work this.
17:56Whew.
18:04By October 2023, their outdoor swimming pool was finally complete, leaving Louise on cloud nine.
18:11It's something that makes me happy. And it's daft, really, because it's the swimming pool, you know, but I guess it's something I never thought I'd have, especially not in such a beautiful setting. So it's quite emotional.
18:27It's now June 2024, and the couple are feeling confident about their future.
18:41The pool was a big investment. We're talking about 55,000 euros. Ouch. However, is it worth it? First signs are good. We've had our best spring ever. It's certainly helped bring people in.
18:53Yeah. And our summer bookings at this stage are well ahead of past years. So we'll see at the end of the year. But so far, the signs are good.
19:02July and August time in high summer, we'll roll it back. People will be sunbathing. People will be swimming. It will be like a proper holiday resort.
19:13And we will be sitting down there watching going mission accomplished.
19:18With the pool now complete, Louise and Paul can fully focus on the renovation of the old farmhouse, which will eventually become their dream home.
19:27Rose Cottage, the redevelopment is the last big project. It's going to cost us about 100,000 euros. We'll do all the work we can ourselves, but it can't go with a budget.
19:37So Louise can't have a marble ceilings and grand tiles. We've had to make some choices already for the budget. Yeah, but it should work.
19:43After that, we'll be heads down running the business for the next few years.
19:50Until then, it's time for the couple to roll up their sleeves.
19:54The house behind us has been empty for about 20 years. What we're working on now is the demolition we've agreed to do before the builders come in.
20:01Upstairs now, mattresses, waste, straw, goodness knows what. So we need to clear it out a bit. It's a messy job. It's a smelly job, but it needs to be done.
20:1017 miles away at the historic farming settlement of La Cloutière. As Tracy and Budo lovingly bring their village's farmhouse back to life, they're also breathing new life into the land.
20:29As well as farming dairy cattle, in the past, La Cloutière would have also fed itself, working the land to grow vegetables and feed all the families who lived here.
20:41Returning their village to a self-sufficient way of life is a big part of Tracy and Budo's dreams.
20:47At the minute, we're growing for ourselves. The long-term plan is for us to grow enough food and selling the produce.
20:58We are also growing our own lavender. I actually dry the lavender and sell it online.
21:05And having this extra bit of income will obviously help us put it back into our renovation.
21:12Today, Tracy is readying the soil with lime fertilizer before planting this year's lavender crop.
21:22It doesn't actually take long. It's actually quite a quick process, really. And I get to smell the lovely lavender as well.
21:30We just love lavender and there is just so much products we can make and also because it connects us to the bees.
21:42We want to encourage the bees to pollinate the flowers.
21:46Budo is an avid beekeeper and we are looking to make candles.
21:51So we'll incorporate the beeswax with the lavender as well.
21:55So, we'll roll this out.
22:01With the soil fertilised, Budo and Tracy lay a membrane along the full length of the planting area.
22:07I'm sure they have tractors that can do this sort of thing.
22:15You grab that side.
22:18And we'll work our way up.
22:20There we go. Yeah, that's lovely.
22:22There we go.
22:29So what we'll do now is we'll peg it down all the way through.
22:33And that's the system we'll have.
22:35All the way. All the way down.
22:39And this is absolutely fantastic for stopping the weeds coming through.
22:44This is essential, I would say.
22:47Yeah.
22:48I'd recommend anyone having a lavender field do this.
22:51It's safe to come in here, keep using the, uh, trimmer in between and damaging the plants.
22:57Well, that was a good look, hadn't he?
22:58He worked on there, anyway.
22:59Next, Budo marks out a suitable distance for each new plant, while Tracy burns a hole in the membrane.
23:11Great job, Trace.
23:13Finished.
23:1430.
23:1530, okay.
23:16We normally have 25 in a row.
23:17Yep.
23:18But we're gonna...
23:19But because the rows are getting longer.
23:20Yep.
23:21Because of the angle of the road going away.
23:22We'll just add more.
23:23We're gonna get more plants in.
23:24Yeah, that makes sense, doesn't it?
23:26If I give you these, Budo.
23:28Yep.
23:30I'm just trying to pick out the more mature plants.
23:36The seedlings Tracy is planting were created from cuttings from last year's lavender.
23:41This self-sustaining farming method keeps costs low and increases the profitability of their harvest.
23:50Watering teams here.
23:51Mercy, Budo.
23:53These seedlings are just from last September, aren't they?
23:56And look how lovely they are.
23:57Yeah.
23:58They soon grow.
23:59Yep.
24:00The lavender definitely likes it here in Normandy.
24:03The beginnings of our lavender empire.
24:06I can smell the lavender.
24:09Yeah.
24:10How beautiful is this though?
24:11Yeah.
24:12Just wonderful.
24:13Magical.
24:14And in like one year they'll be like that.
24:16That was last year, wasn't it?
24:17Yep.
24:18When this whole field is turned purple from end to end,
24:22the people going by on the road, they'll just love it.
24:25And they come and buy our products?
24:27Yeah.
24:29Budo?
24:30Yeah.
24:31Give me a high five.
24:34There we go.
24:35The first row of 2024.
24:3830 lavenders planted.
24:41To have this here is just, it's like a dream come true.
24:45It's just so magical.
24:46And just today planting, I just love being out here.
24:50I just get so much joy.
24:52For our village saviours, bringing settlements back to life is not just about saving crumbling buildings.
24:58It's also about bringing back nature and the wildlife that would have once thrived.
25:05For Tracy and Budo, every day marks a big step forward for La Cloutier's future.
25:11Coming up, Neil makes a geological discovery.
25:19It's a small chunk of quartz stone.
25:21They used it to hold the top of the chimney pots on.
25:24And in France...
25:25We're down there.
25:30...Louise and Paul's demolition proves exhilarating.
25:35Well done, you.
25:36Thank you, babe.
25:37Thank you, babe.
25:50Back at the village of Arañada in northern Spain, Neil is continuing his work to bring modern-day amenities to his ancient village.
25:58Next, hot water powered by the sun.
26:03By installing these, it's going to give us more than enough hot water.
26:06To cover the entire summer period.
26:10In fact, probably most of the year.
26:14The panels themselves are going to be going on top of here.
26:18There's going to be a frame system built all the way along here.
26:22I've got ten panels and they're going to be level facing almost due south.
26:28So it gets the benefit of the sun, which will be around here in about an hour's time.
26:33Before the panels can be installed, Neil needs to level the area with his digger.
26:39And it's not long until his settlement reveals more hidden history.
26:57As you can see, it's a small chunk of quartz stone.
27:01As I said, it's absolutely everywhere.
27:04They used it in construction.
27:06In fact, most of the buildings in this area have actually used a chunk of quartz on the top of the chimneys to hold the top of the chimney pots on.
27:15Like a stabiliser for the roofs.
27:18With enough earth shifted, Neil moves on to building a frame for the panels.
27:25Very simple.
27:27Cold water goes in the bottom, heats it up, pumped up through the top.
27:30Takes the water out, hot water out, they're all linked together in series.
27:35And then it's pumped up to the storage tank and transferred to the other tanks.
27:39The plastic, pretty robust, but I'm building a decent frame so that they are stable.
27:47Should the wind get behind them or anything like that, I'm not sure how long they would last with full of water as well.
27:52So I'm just, at the moment, just marking out exactly where the cuts are going to have to go.
28:15So far, so good.
28:17Just double-check my measurements.
28:19That should be 50 inches, which it is exactly.
28:29That, theoretically, now, should sit exactly as it does.
28:35One down, only 19 to go.
28:41If you look at the overall costs, including all the plumbing and everything else,
28:46around about 2,000 euros or thereabouts for everything.
28:49So, if you calculated the amount of electricity in equivalent,
28:55you may be talking about two or three years in reality.
28:58It will last at least ten years, I would think.
29:01I mean, that's pretty solid stuff, yeah.
29:04As with everything at Arunyada, completing the project is still a while off yet.
29:09No sooner does Neil begin work on one project when something more pressing demands his attention.
29:14Having discovered water ingress to one of his properties, he needs to create some new drainage to solve the problem.
29:21As far as finishing jobs around here, difficult, very difficult.
29:28There's so much, so many parallel tracks going on at the same time,
29:31and I sort of jump from one thing to another.
29:34Much to the annoyance of my wife, of course.
29:35I'm sure she wants to think finished and done with.
29:38I've only got 24 hours in a day.
29:40I work about 12 of them already, so I've got to sleep some time.
29:52To begin the rebuild of a lost village, you often first need to demolish what was already there.
29:57And in Normandy, that's exactly what Louise and Paul are doing to their old farmhouse.
30:03Now, I can go up and remove the mattress,
30:05which is the tricky bit because I want to make sure I don't come through the ceiling as well.
30:09You always do the fun bits.
30:11Well, you can do them if you want to, Lou, but I don't think you want to do this bit, do you?
30:14No, probably not, actually.
30:18Let's see, can I move it? That's the first question.
30:21Ew.
30:23Oh, my God.
30:25Hello, Smokey.
30:27There's a cat up there.
30:29It's the cat's alternative residence, I think.
30:33Right, Lou, this is a box-frame mattress, so it's heavier than I thought it was going to be.
30:38So we stand well clear because it's full of wood.
30:40OK.
30:43Oh.
30:45Well, thank goodness they don't make mattresses like this anymore.
30:48Exactly.
30:49I mean, anything could be living in it.
30:53Lots of things probably are living in it.
30:54Lots of things are living in it.
30:55Including one of the cats was.
30:58Yeah, oh, the cats aren't going to be very pleased with us, are they?
31:00No, they're not.
31:01Yet another box-spring is waiting to be removed from the upstairs.
31:05They first became popular in the mid-19th century, and given this one's location, it could be that old.
31:12I'm actually going to have to cut the floorboards to get to this mattress.
31:15They've put this floor down on top of the mattress.
31:17So this is the insulation layer between the animals, who are downstairs, and the people who are upstairs in this part of the building.
31:23Interesting.
31:24Paul's discovery is a fascinating peek into the past usage of this building.
31:32It wasn't unusual for farmhouses like this to be inhabited by both families and their livestock.
31:38As they slept, they would have drawn warmth from the animals below.
31:41What we'll need, Lou, is I'm going to rip the mattress to pieces by hand.
31:58OK, I'll go and get some bags.
32:00Yes, please.
32:01With the dirty old mattress filling removed, Paul needs to draw on all his reserves of strength to heave the heavy wooden frame to the edge of the upper floor.
32:14Oh, my goodness.
32:15Oh, do you need me to come up and help?
32:17Lou, I just need you not to say anything for a minute.
32:19OK.
32:20OK, let's see if I can get this down.
32:22Stand well back, Lou.
32:23We're back, we're back.
32:24This is going to be a big crash.
32:32We're down.
32:34Oh, my God.
32:35Thank God for that.
32:37Well done, you.
32:38Thank you, babe.
32:40Thank you, babe.
32:41That's amazing.
32:42With the big objects like the mattress now dealt with, there remains decades worth of old timber and junk still to remove.
32:50He's got stuck in now, that's it.
32:52He's got a bit between his teeth.
32:53He's not going to stop now till he's finished.
32:55He likes to see it through to the very end.
32:58Exactly.
32:59I'm going to put a few bits of wood down, Lou, if I can.
33:02Yeah.
33:04Watch out there.
33:05Oh, I get very nervous when he's doing this stuff and it's dangerous.
33:08Yeah, and then she says to me about it and it makes me nervous.
33:11I know, exactly.
33:13I've got to try and keep quiet because it makes it worse if I keep going on about it.
33:16I just want him to come down now.
33:18Right, I'm coming down now.
33:19He's done as much as he can.
33:21Good job!
33:22Thank you, boo-boo.
33:26I think we're going to bite deep, don't you?
33:28I think we have, yeah.
33:29I'm hungry now.
33:30Good job.
33:31Thanks, Luke.
33:32Thanks for your help.
33:33No, it's all right.
33:34I don't feel like I did much.
33:35Let's get some lunch.
33:36Let's them have lunch.
33:37I'm tired.
33:40Lunchtime.
33:41Yeah.
33:47Coming up, Budo uses an ancient material to build a modern kitchen.
33:52Wow.
33:53Wow, look at that.
33:54That's why I love wood.
33:55And it's going to look wonderful in Tracey's kitchen.
33:58While at Lowoo...
34:00That could be quite old.
34:02Louise, found some newspapers.
34:05Paul makes a discovery, opening a window to the past.
34:09We'll try and iron them out and put them away safe.
34:11Oh, it's a surprise.
34:12Back at the farming settlement of La Cloutier in Normandy, Tracey and Budo's caravan days may be behind them.
34:32But for now, that only applies to their sleeping arrangements.
34:36The caravan still serves a vital daily function for the couple.
34:40This is my kitchen.
34:43This is where I do all my cooking.
34:45It's not the ideal kitchen for everyone, but it's served us well.
34:51Budo has been very busy working on our new kitchen, which is inside the farmhouse.
34:58And everything he will be making from scratch.
35:02And I can't tell you, I'm just so excited to get in there.
35:06I'm actually now counting down the days.
35:10Poor Tracey.
35:11She's been cooking away in that kitchen for three years.
35:14I obviously, you know, got on with it.
35:16I adapted with the cooking in the caravan, but I just, I need the space.
35:22Like when I prepare certain things, you're lacking the space.
35:26You have to move everything and it is a pain.
35:30Pressure's on me now.
35:31She's a very good cook as well, Tracey.
35:34So, you know, she's looked after me and her.
35:37So I need, she deserves a good kitchen, you know, and I'm going to make it for her and I'm going to finish it.
35:42And it's a dream kitchen.
35:43There's not many people that will have a kitchen like that.
35:48To ask someone to custom build that kitchen for you, you are probably looking from start to finish maybe £70,000.
36:00And how much is it going to cost us?
36:02I think from start to finish maybe 7,000 euros.
36:06If you have the knowledge, you can save a lot of dosh.
36:12I just cannot wait really. I'm so excited.
36:15And on that note...
36:17Don't pressure then, eh?
36:20Like the ancient dwellers who would have first lived here,
36:23Budo is drawing on materials that are available to him close at hand.
36:28So, that's probably about 170 to 180 years old.
36:33Oak grows very slowly, takes time to get to this size.
36:37We carpenters, we use oak and the reason we use it is its longevity.
36:42It lasts for such a long time.
36:43I mean, there's still buildings standing in the world that are 1,000 years old and made of oak.
36:49Oak will last for hundreds and hundreds of years if Maintain looked after.
36:53But I will shortly be planking this up and getting it ready for the drying process
36:59to get it ready to use.
37:02I turn this into a product, you know, I turn this into something.
37:05Whether it's furniture, parts of a building.
37:09And today, mirroring the work of the 17th century craftsman who built the farmhouse,
37:15Budo is turning local timber into a product for the new kitchen.
37:18I've got some sweet chestnut here, which is another beautiful wood.
37:23It comes from the oak family actually.
37:25This wood is going on the interior of the cabinets.
37:27It's not going to be painted, it's going to be finished in its natural state.
37:30So, you won't see this until you open them doors and then it hits you.
37:34This beautiful sweet chestnut.
37:36As Budo skilfully begins to mill the timber, it's clear that his affinity with wood is deeply ingrained.
37:45Give it a little brush.
37:55You can see it's still slightly wet, even though it's been drying for a long time.
38:00Look at that grain pattern, look.
38:02I could make a tabletop out of that.
38:05How beautiful is that, eh?
38:06But this is where you really see it because the light's coming down.
38:09Wow, wow, look at that.
38:12That's amazing.
38:13That's why I love wood.
38:15You know, it's such a beautiful material.
38:17It's never the same.
38:19Every time it's a different shape, different pattern.
38:22Just so beautiful.
38:24And it's going to look wonderful in Tracy's kitchen.
38:26By drawing on the ancient and natural resources he has close at hand to rebuild La Cloutière, Budo is helping the village to retain its proud historical identity.
38:44Back at the 300-year-old village of L'Eau in northwest France, where Louise and Paul are continuing their interior demolition work on the old farmhouse.
38:53With nearly all the existing upper floor now removed, Paul is able to visualise how their new home might look.
39:01We're going to have a nice open-plan living, kitchen, dining room at the far side.
39:06I'll have a study to do my work down here.
39:09Utility at the back.
39:11Upstairs, an art room for Louise when she has time for her hobbies.
39:14Bathroom.
39:16Then a big bedroom and dressing room just for us.
39:19Hopefully, less than a year from now, we'll be in.
39:21That's the plan.
39:22There's an awful lot of work still to be done before they reach that point.
39:25Contractors will do the bulk of the renovation, but to save money, Paul and Louise are quite happy to get their hands dirty.
39:32So, what I'm going to do first, I'm going to try and rake the stuff off the top.
39:38Paul has invested in an array of power tools to assist him in the demolition.
39:49Okay, so, let's see if I can get through this.
39:52Okay.
39:53I'm glad I wasn't underneath that.
39:54I just need to clear the junk up, but this bay is done.
40:10It's faster than I thought it was going to be, actually.
40:13I thought that was going to take ages to cut through.
40:15In amongst all the dirt and detritus from the demolition, Paul makes a discovery.
40:22Newspaper.
40:24Interesting.
40:26Any stories on them?
40:27Charles Lindbergh finished his voyage on the 13th of February.
40:32Ooh, that could be quite old.
40:36Louise!
40:37Found some newspapers!
40:39Some interesting stuff here, because there's a bit about Charles Lindbergh.
40:45He finished his voyage.
40:47That must be Havana, La Havana, I guess.
40:49La Havana, the 13th of February.
40:52The aviator...
40:54Has departed to what?
40:55Yeah, has departed St. Louis or somewhere.
40:58Flight of 1,200 miles.
41:00Flight of 1,200 miles.
41:02To St. Louis to Havana.
41:04Latin America, to Havana.
41:05Wow.
41:06Well, we'll try and flatten them out.
41:07We'll try and iron them out and put them away safe.
41:09Oh, it's a surprise.
41:11Charles Lindbergh was a pioneering American aviator
41:15who famously flew in his single-engine aircraft,
41:18the Spirit of St. Louis,
41:20from Long Island, New York to Paris,
41:22the first ever solo flight across the Atlantic.
41:25This historic article reports on his celebrity flying tour
41:30of the Caribbean and the aftermath of his feat,
41:33which Lindbergh used as a way to promote air mail across the region.
41:35Meanwhile, after the excitement of the historical find,
41:40it's back to the modern era to bring down the last section of the upper floor.
41:44There.
41:45That's that done.
41:46It's like pulling a tooth out.
41:47Yes.
41:48Whoa!
41:49Right.
41:50I'm going to cut here.
41:51There's probably some pivotal bit you'll cut in a minute,
41:52and it'll all come down.
41:53Exactly.
41:54So keep hold of the ladder.
41:55Yeah.
41:57Can I wax something?
41:58Which which bit?
41:59Well, which bit do you reckon?
42:00That bit, this bit on the end bit?
42:01Try.
42:02It's asking to be one.
42:03Hang on, wait.
42:05Oh.
42:06Okay.
42:07Oh.
42:08Oh.
42:09It's quite empowering, this.
42:10There you go.
42:11Right.
42:12Stand back.
42:13Oh, it's quite empowering, this.
42:14There you go.
42:15Right.
42:16Stand back.
42:17Oh.
42:18Oh.
42:19Oh.
42:20Oh.
42:21Oh.
42:22Oh.
42:23It's quite empowering, this.
42:24There you go.
42:25Right.
42:26Stand back.
42:27Oh.
42:28Oh.
42:29Oh.
42:30Oh.
42:31Oh.
42:32Oh.
42:33Oh.
42:34Oh.
42:35Oh.
42:36Oh.
42:37Oh.
42:38Oh.
42:39Oh.
42:40Oh.
42:41Oh.
42:42Oh.
42:43Oh.
42:44Oh.
42:45Oh.
42:46Oh.
42:47Oh.
42:48Oh.
42:49Oh, wow.
42:50That's the hope would happen.
42:51Oh, my gosh.
42:52Oh, my goodness.
42:53The good news is the top pea mustn't fallen down.
42:54Yeah.
42:55No, that's good news.
42:56Oh, my goodness.
42:57Oh, my goodness.
42:58The good news is the top pea mustn't fallen down.
43:02Yeah.
43:03No, that's good news.
43:07like that will do for today yeah I can taste all this dust so can I I think time for a break in
43:26a shower yeah and we'll let the dust settle that's excellent progress though yes we're nearly there
43:32absolutely and that's what they said to do is to leave these beams these supporting beams and get
43:39rid of everything else that's exactly so it'll be mission accomplished exactly it's an amazing
43:45building really it is once you take all the group and the rotten wood away the structure's not bad
43:52no it just needs some work to bring it up to date let's get in there they babe yeah good progress
43:57today it is good progress I'm proud of you dear and I'm proud of you too
44:02having peeled back the layers at la ou Paul and Louise are left with a shell from which they
44:10can derive hope and determination to continue their quest to save their settlement
44:16next time Stan keep clear Louise and Paul peel back the layers at their French hamlet and that is why
44:30Stan well clear meanwhile in Normandy Budo breathes a new life into his village when we're doing any
44:39renovations here we are trying to keep it as traditional as possible and in Spain Neil battles to free his
44:46settlement from nature's grasp it's the first one out of the way is about 155 to go
45:09is what guys doing so you I don't be afraid to keep drawing you here are in some things here you go
45:22to him
45:24and 1
45:24and k
45:27any
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