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Help! We Bought a Village Season 4 Episode 3
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FunTranscript
00:01Many Brits have made the journey to foreign shores
00:06to 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!
00:34In 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?
01:18Ooh!
01:19That 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, La Boulière just got bigger.
01:39Shall we go and have a little look?
01:41Yeah!
01:42Come on!
01:43We have little keys!
01:44As our most experienced saviours in Normandy rescue another house.
01:49Oh, wow!
01:51Oh, look!
01:54How long has it been since this window's been opened?
01:57At a ghost village in Italy, construction work begins after years of waiting.
02:02It was an amazing surprise and I was just so happy.
02:05So happy!
02:07But it comes with a risk.
02:09If they happen to hit one of the rocks under the keystone, it could all just collapse.
02:15And...
02:16Just imagine it's me.
02:17OK, I'll do that.
02:19I'm going for it.
02:20Wow!
02:21Put it twice as half!
02:22Renovators at a hamlet in Western France hit the ground running.
02:26But have they gone too far?
02:29I need another acro pull.
02:31They're all holding the roof up next door.
02:33I'm getting a bit nervous about this, to be honest, Harry.
02:36Are you?
02:37Yeah.
02:38So we'll fix one problem and cause another.
02:40This fall down on the roof.
02:51Renovating just a single house is a huge undertaking.
02:55But resurrecting an entire village can feel a bit like rolling a boulder up a never-ending slope.
03:02And even our most experienced saviours need a boost every now and again.
03:06Just west of Paris, the little hamlet of La Boulière was once a bustling agricultural hub.
03:12Abandoned decades ago, it was left to rot until Paul and Yip from Kent snapped it up for about £20,000.
03:20They've created a cosy home for themselves, rescued the piggery and turned it into a facilities block,
03:27and brought the old bakery back to life.
03:31But lately, the challenge has been overwhelming.
03:35Paul's mum has serious health problems.
03:38So they're having to split their time between the UK and France.
03:42We often feel like we've bitten off more than we can chew.
03:52Especially in this current time when things are difficult and, as a family, we're kind of going through something.
04:01In La Boulière, there is one bright spot on the horizon, though.
04:05Paul and Yip have bought an abandoned cottage in the village that wasn't part of their original purchase.
04:11And they hope it'll future-proof their business.
04:14But it's exciting. So the potential for La Boulière has just grown.
04:18There's even more reason to stick with it and see it through now.
04:21Yeah.
04:22It's July.
04:26Exciting, the big day.
04:29The couple transferred €17,000 for their new cottage weeks ago.
04:34But today, they're at the notary's office to sign the final bits of paperwork and pick up the keys.
04:40There we go.
04:42Yay!
04:43It's good, isn't it?
04:44All done.
04:47Felicitations, Paul!
04:50Their new purchase is the oldest cottage in the village, built 15 years before the start of the French Revolution.
05:07Back then, the peasants who laid the stones would have had to pay about half of what they produced from the land in rent,
05:13as well as taxes to the state and church.
05:16After the revolution, rural villages like La Boulière grew up all over the country.
05:22And now, Paul and Yip's cottage is at the beginning of another new dawn.
05:27We like it.
05:28And it's got a lovely date on it.
05:30Yep.
05:311774.
05:32Shall we go and have a little look?
05:34Yeah, come on.
05:35With our little keys.
05:36Right, here it is in all its glory.
05:41Come on.
05:42Oh, wow.
05:46A few runs to the tip here, aren't there?
05:50Yeah, it's a fair bit of work here.
05:52But in terms of how the other houses were...
05:55This is in very good condition, really.
05:57It's just junk.
05:58The walls are good, the woodwork's good, the beams are good.
06:02You know, it's all solid oak.
06:04It's very exciting.
06:05We've got great plans for this building.
06:08The cottage has three storeys, including the attic,
06:11and there's a door on the first floor that leads, via a set of outside steps,
06:15to the ground.
06:16It has spectacular views of the countryside,
06:19and the couple have grand visions of turning it into their home
06:22with an upside-down layout.
06:25So we have bedrooms down here, bedroom one, bedroom two.
06:30Bedroom two.
06:31Central staircase.
06:32Shower room and toilet under the staircase.
06:35Yes.
06:36They're great.
06:37Lovely steps.
06:38The only way to get from the ground floor to the first floor
06:41is via the outside steps at the back.
06:44Lovely view across the valley.
06:46This is amazing.
06:47Because when the cottage was built,
06:49the ground floor was probably where they kept the animals.
06:52So a staircase inside will be a vital addition.
06:55The staircase will start to open up here.
06:58Balistrade.
06:59Stairs coming up there.
07:01Yep.
07:02Kitchen that side.
07:05I think it would work.
07:06It would be quite good, wouldn't it?
07:07Lounge this side.
07:08Lounge this side.
07:09Fireplace.
07:10It's perfect.
07:11Absolutely perfect.
07:13As they work their way up to the attic,
07:16Paul and Yip begin to reveal some secrets of the past.
07:20Look at that.
07:21We're loving these.
07:23Proper vintage bottle holders.
07:25They're wonderful.
07:26Really looking forward to going through all of this.
07:29Oh, look.
07:30How long has it been since this window's been opened?
07:33A lot of view, Logan.
07:35Let's have a look at our other houses.
07:37The endurance to resurrect a ghost village comes from falling in love with the project over and over again.
07:47And this cottage has shot a welcome arrow through the hearts of our most experienced saviours.
07:53I remembered how excited we were when we first bought the first house.
07:57Yeah.
07:58It was a game changer, life changer.
08:00And I'm getting that back now.
08:02You know, we are still living the dream.
08:03This is really, really exciting.
08:05Well done on the purchase of the safe.
08:07No doubt.
08:08No doubt.
08:09No doubt.
08:10No doubt.
08:11No doubt.
08:12No doubt.
08:13Just do.
08:14We're always widow.
08:18Over a thousand miles south-east of La Bollière is another saviour who's desperately trying to turn back the hands of time.
08:25Martine is a former wine merchant from Norfolk who's made a home in southern Italy, where shifting demographics and a succession of earthquakes have left the village of Rabatana with just ten permanent residents.
08:39it has this almost a ghost-like emptiness to it it's just fascinating and so beautiful you think
08:4850 years ago everybody would have lived in all of these houses they would have their chairs out
08:52at night and they'd be sitting out gossiping until the 1950s the streets of rabbitana would
08:59have echoed with the sounds of merchants selling locally grown produce with women washing clothes
09:04at the standing water pipes with children playing games and with blacksmiths beating hot metal to
09:11make shoes for donkeys the courtyards may be empty now but for Martine rabbitana still has
09:18a magical charm that speaks across the ages so far she has renovated four properties that she's
09:26converted into a diffused hotel you can feel how much it's absorbed in all those years it stood
09:32there from the 8th century it's incredible really to believe that i'm living in a part of history
09:37it's summertime in rabbitana and Martine has had some disappointing news she'd been hoping to buy
09:51another abandoned house in her courtyard but the deal has fallen through she isn't the type to be
09:57dispirited for long though and since she feels her mission in rabbitana is to champion the old
10:01traditions as well as the empty buildings she's out today picking peppers with local farmer Giuseppe
10:08we're here to gather some peppers so that later we can go back and string them i can learn how to do
10:15that because i've never done it i know that they have picked here lately so i have to look around to
10:19see the biggest and the reddest that there are Giuseppe shares Martine's passion for the past his bell peppers
10:26or pepperoni in italian are grown organically and they're destined to be dried in a way that his
10:32family have been doing for generations what we need really are people like him to carry on these
10:39traditions otherwise they will be lost and and it's such a shame once the peppers have been picked
10:45they're taken to Giuseppe's workshop to be sewn onto strings by hand i knew this is going to be more
10:52difficult than it looked in days gone by it was only by drying them out like this that local families
11:04would have been able to feed themselves with vital nutrients over the winter when they make this noise
11:10they're ready this ties in with my idea of of living here really of embracing everything and
11:18things like these pepperonis it would mean the difference between going through the winter
11:23comfortably and being hungry and it's just beautiful because it's not industrial and it's
11:30something that i think we need to keep alive families would keep strings of peppers at home
11:35hanging them in dry roof spaces in cellars or even on the walls outside and Martine is delighted to carry
11:43on that tradition wow they probably come and call on uh imagine a good man oh yeah it's just like a
11:51necklace isn't it beautiful can you imagine having a necklace that look like that bellissimo as the
12:02tourist season draws to a close and bookings for Martine's diffused hotel slow down there is at
12:08last some good news about her cellar under the mandarin suite after waiting years for it to be
12:14renovated she's found a builder and his team have already broken ground basically rang me and said
12:21we'll be arriving tomorrow morning which was yesterday so i couldn't absolutely believe it i really
12:26couldn't it was just incredible yeah it was an amazing surprise and i was just so happy so happy
12:32it really is a landmark moment for Martine who has grand designs for the cellar and hopes it will soon
12:40be another suite to add to the diffused hotel but when you're restoring a village that has its roots in
12:46the eighth century nothing is ever simple these houses all have drain pipes that all go down drain
12:52into this big system every bit of water that comes down out the sky is gathered in ancient italian
13:00villages like rabatana bell-shaped terracotta cisterns were built to collect as much rainwater as possible
13:06so that residents had access to water all year round venice once had a similar system with a complex
13:14underground network of almost 6 000 systems but for Martine this clever relic is adding serious
13:21complications to the project so it's really quite important that they take it easily and they
13:29have i mean you know they haven't bought an excavator and they're doing it all by hand if
13:32they happen to hit one of the rocks on the keystone it could all just collapse
13:41coming up doing something we've totally never done before so we don't know how it's going to go at all
13:47a rotten ceiling needs urgent repairs at a hamlet in france oh shinders how are you supposed to use
13:53these and this is real haute couture wow paul and yip unearth something unique in la bouillère
14:02that is so cool isn't it why wouldn't you want a brown pvc jacket from the 60s
14:17in france there are occasionally complex factors that lie behind the empty villages of europe
14:24but most often it's just the handiwork of two culprits father time and mother nature
14:31the little hamlet of shishville in western france is definitely a victim of both
14:36and since it was abandoned a couple of decades ago it's been in the grip of rampant vegetation
14:42the country and nature seems to reclaim everything here is at a rate that i think most people find
14:51hard to understand if you're in the uk everything grows here five times quicker they're just going to
14:57disappear off the map but if we don't do it and it doesn't get done it's gone gone for less than 60 000
15:04pounds furniture restorers tony and terry from gloucestershire have bought three houses half a
15:10dozen outbuildings and a sizable stretch of woodland but while they wait for their house in the uk to
15:16sell they can only scratch the surface of the vital renovations they need to do
15:22financially it will be right in the end but we're skating on thin ice a bit you know that i have no
15:33credit cards left i have no spare money left we're basically blagging it now so we need to sell yeah
15:42it's november and today tony and terry are concentrating their efforts on the ground floor
15:48in the main farmhouse if i hadn't left my small jackhammer behind life would have been a lot easier
15:56where they're planning to open up the living space big day for us doing something we've totally never
16:02done before so we don't know how it's going to go at all that's a good point actually i haven't thought
16:07we haven't locked walls down for so yeah this one's coming down today we're going to then open up this
16:13whole room and this will become our grand salon but i think that might be over egging it this sitting
16:21room we're hoping it's going to come down fairly easily as tony takes up the challenge it becomes
16:30apparent that removing the wall won't be as straightforward as he hoped it's not really
16:37coming out as one brick at a time is it when you hit it just imagine it's me okay i'll do that i'm
16:49going for it wow you hit it twice as hard hey voila quite good smashing things yeah therapeutic
17:03after a couple of hours there's only a single baton left and as long as it isn't supporting the
17:12ceiling it should pop out easily
17:14do that go tight then like it dropped there's no gap now where the blade was
17:33there should be a gap there means the joist has dropped a bit years of neglect seem to have caused
17:40unseen problems to the joists and the couple need to come up with a plan fast or the ceiling could
17:46collapse around their ears they need another acro prop yeah i haven't got any more they're all
17:53holding the roof out there still so did this fall down on the roof tone is left with no choice but to
18:02borrow a prop already doing a job outside i'm getting a bit nervous about this to be honest
18:10are you yeah i don't want it in here very long no okay first we'll fix one problem we'll cause another
18:24will that go under there it might be a bit tight ghost villages often come with nasty surprises
18:30i've seen this how you're supposed to use these but the couple aren't about to be put off the acro
18:36prop seems to have done the job so um i think if you if you worry too much you'd never do these places
18:43with the prop safely supporting the ceiling for now tony and terry can breathe a sigh of relief
18:49they're still a long way to go but their vision for the farmhouse is still intact seeing the space as a
18:56whole makes it easier to imagine what it's going to be like when it's all done definitely yeah we're
19:02a long way off going to be a lot of work but i think this is going to be an amazing room
19:10back in normandy the stonework on paul and yip's middle cottage is still patiently waiting to be
19:24rebuilt but excited by the secrets that lie within their latest property
19:31the couple are today kicking off its restoration and just as always when they start working on a
19:36building in la bouillière paul and yip's first task is to release it from nature's grip
19:43very thorny aren't they they really are creating an access path to the back of the property
19:50which will be vital for clearing the junk from inside
19:55marvelous we're making great progress i've just got to cut these thorny bushes down and get them all
20:00out of the way and then i can get up there and start the digging bit this cottage is likely to
20:06have been the first in the village to be built and the original owners would have gazed out on very
20:11different views there would have been nothing but open fields here over the years la bouillière would
20:17have grown organically as other families moved nearby to farm the land eventually creating a self-sufficient
20:23community oh we're nearly through a lot of this is just bush isn't it after a few hours of hard graft
20:34the vegetation has been tamed that's great though we've got access and we've got light it feels like
20:43the beginning stages of giving this house and a home a new lease of life
20:49so now paul and yip can start sifting the trash from the treasure the box can go it's a dirty job
20:59that requires strong arms i can't bloody hell yeah it's weighty and an even stronger stomach imagine
21:07if this was in our bnb like there's your bed just a little bit of dust paul and yip don't know how
21:14many people have lived in this cottage since it was built 250 years ago or why it was abandoned
21:21but every item they find is a tantalizing link back to someone who once called this place home
21:29oh my god this is real haute couture wow that is so cool isn't it why wouldn't you want a brown pvc jacket
21:39from the 60s after a few trips to the tip the ground floor has been cleared and they've managed
21:50to find at least a few items they can restore this is a good solid bit of oak but obviously the doors
21:58are missing the drawers are missing so we're going to just put some shelves in there give it a coat of
22:05wax or something and it'll look lovely but clearing out the attic could take days and with the other
22:14houses at la bouillière still crying out for help paul and yip are in a quandary there's part of me
22:20that's battling with a lot of guilt about that we should be across there doing stuff but we're always
22:27gonna i feel that this is the thing every job at la bouillière is something that needs to be done and
22:33sometimes it's not just easy putting it in order luckily the cavalry turns out to be just around
22:44the corner what a lovely morning isn't it just because a few days later they're hosting a vip guest
22:53who's keen to help paul's cousin sarah arrived late last night from california
23:12sleep right good stuff oh yeah yeah she's here for a week and her visit is just the boost la bouillière
23:18needed so i'm really excited to see the countryside because i'm a country girl yeah and i want to see
23:26the new place from what it seems the last person to live in that house was about 100 odd years ago
23:31so the top floor of the house is absolutely ram packed it looks like a hundred years worth of stuff
23:40but we might start rooting around this week might we see if we can find any treasures um
23:46maybe a little summit that's her i can fit in our hand luggage back to that's it sometimes even the
23:53most dedicated saviors need to take a breath and on mornings like this when paul and yip can share
24:00la bouillière with a guest the village is paying back their hard work in spades
24:05coming up martine has something to celebrate in rabatana let me take a photo oh my god and is paul's
24:23californian cousin falling in love with la bouillière my favorite part is feeling like i went back in time
24:30this picture is about 1880 1890 he may well have been the original owner of la bouillière
24:47it's been raining and since about eight o'clock this morning so they're all actually indoors preparing
25:05it all for plastering martine managed to remove most of the old plaster herself but the stonework
25:12needs to be completely clear before the team can begin rendering i did it very roughly if they
25:18don't take off what's loose then it's not going to stick the stuff that's on there is going to fall
25:22off again martine had considered leaving a lot of the old stones exposed but this time the walls are
25:29going to be covered in a rough rustic plaster it's a nod to the days when they'd have made wine cheese or
25:35salami down here and exposed stonework would have been less hygienic martine has also made a decision
25:43on the original double doors this is going to stay in this it's lovely and i've got the other half of
25:48this door it's in there i was just so characteristic i really don't want to do much with that door either
25:55it's just beautiful isn't it
25:59over the next few days the site becomes a hive of enterprise
26:04as the building team tackles the electrics and any broken sections of the wall
26:08it just looks so much better already the house hasn't seen this much activity for decades
26:14today it's builders with hammers and drills in winter's past it would have been servants making
26:20food like cheese or cured meats for the aristocracy living on the floors above
26:24normally january february would be um slaughtering time for the pigs
26:34the earliest records of cured meats in italy date back to the romans who were pioneers of salting
26:39and drying it allowed them to prolong the shelf life of their meat and making sausages
26:45was a cost-effective way of using up leftover scraps
26:50actually making the things isn't difficult it's the curing you have to have the right temperature
26:55if there is too much breeze that's a disaster too because it dries too quickly and there'll be like a
27:00hole through the middle of the salami but this this sort of temperature would be perfect
27:06martine's vision for this apartment isn't as luxurious as her previous restorations
27:11but it will be consistent with its history she'll be furnishing it with rustic period pieces many of
27:17which have been donated by local people keen to support her efforts to revive rabatana oops
27:26she's starting with this small 20th century sideboard that's an example of a movement called arti
27:31pulvera arti pulvera is a style that was popular in the 40s and 50s and pulvera means poor and it's
27:44kind of very simply made you won't find any of the corners mitered or anything it's all just straight
27:49pieces of wood almost almost like it's handmade in in at the home a lot of people don't like this kind
27:55of thing they're not really into reclaiming but luckily they know i am so you know i'm a kind of
28:02a recipient for anything that people don't want it'll look nice in my cantina it's the sort of thing
28:08that would have been down there originally in the 50s restoring this sideboard and the other pieces of
28:15furniture that she has will take martine a couple of weeks it'll be a process of cleaning repairing
28:21repainting and waiting for things to dry downstairs in the cellar it's a similar story with the team
28:28methodically ticking off each job on the list it's doing really really really well i'm really pleased
28:35with it outside they've also managed to connect her property to the sewers without damaging the
28:40ancient terracotta cisterns let me take a photo oh my god
28:46and it means the trench can now be carefully filled in again with christmas looming martin's
28:55construction team are under pressure to finish the walls and ceiling before the holidays
29:00but things are definitely moving in the right direction
29:15back in normandy paul's cousin sarah is getting her first look at the latest addition to the village
29:31so this is a new place yeah and paul and yip are keen to show her a few relics from the past
29:36that could be clues to the original owners so on this sack is the name ernest boeda so that was a farm
29:48business where they sold grain or something like that we're wondering and we're going to try and find
29:54out whether this is him so i put his name into the internet and someone did come up on like a census
30:02and he did reside in sancer de bayonne um and he had a business in montia just up the road and he died
30:09in 1930 so if this was him in this picture is about 1880 1890 he may well have been the original farm
30:21owner of le boulier exactly that's the furthest ever we've got with any kind of history and stuff
30:27on it so far by unearthing artifacts like this paul and yip are slowly filling in the gaps in their
30:34knowledge about the village they love so this is the barn that the lady that lived in the middle house
30:41was married in and it looks like la boulier is casting a spell over sarah too
30:48my favorite part is feeling like i went back in time you know and because i'm in america and there
30:56aren't very many historical buildings i mean this old so having that sense of rootedness just kind
31:05of stepping into that is pretty trippy keen to uncover more clues about the past the trio gets
31:14straight to work so this is rubbish clearing out the rest of the attic these are called coolie shades so
31:22they're light shades enameled beautiful quite collectible i don't know they could be 10 or 20
31:29euros apiece anything we can sell and and get some money for it just goes back into the renovation so
31:35it's perfect coolie shades coolie shades sell all day long i know look that is interesting yeah look how
31:46nice that is when you put a light on that and you fix that to the wall it's like a scissor lamp
31:51and they're really um collectible they're really collectible in and unusual a couple of hours in
31:58and the trio have made a decent dent in the pile
32:03yeah it's fun looking at all these old things that are in the attic wow they know what they're doing
32:11and they've got an eye for things that have value or might be worth something and yip has gained
32:17another insight into the lives of the former residents my favorite find so far is this little
32:23bit of paper with the name andre boweda on it and it's from the minister de finance
32:29so the ministry of finances it's just a personal document so that's interesting so there was a
32:36earnest boweda who died in 1930 but this is 1941 so maybe this was his son or something like that
32:45i feel like we're building a picture of who was here and what he did maybe so all of these things
32:53we can piece together what part of the boweda family played in the history of la boulier they're
32:58yet to discover but it's thrilling to have found another name and another clue
33:12two weeks later sarah has gone back to the states and paul and yip have finally finished clearing the
33:18attic awful dirty job but we're a step ahead and a step closer aren't we yeah that's all we can ask for
33:25really the more buildings they take on the stronger their bond grows with la boulier and although their
33:34latest cottage will mean more work it's given the couple a boost as they continue putting their
33:38beloved village back together it gives a dirty hug
33:43coming up christmas is on its way it's basically pine the smell is so lovely and martine is collecting
33:57gifts from the trees in rabbitana it's so lovely to have a winter fruit you can pick it's loaded
34:05it's certainly loaded with fruit and in sheeshville terry and tony are coming to terms with a terrible loss
34:11it was like soul destroying really yeah i thought we were going to go back
34:28back in the crumbling italian village of rabbitana martine's team is making incredible progress
34:33transforming her cellar into a self-contained apartment
34:41the walls are finished and the ceiling is being boarded ready for plastering
34:48the old cobbles are being relayed above the sewage trench
34:54and upstairs martine is rolling up her sleeves
34:57the arte porvera sideboard she was working on has now been painted cream
35:02so she's moving on to another piece from the same era
35:06perfecto so at the moment i'm using a mixture of hot water
35:11bicarbonate of soda and ammonia to take off the grease that's inside here
35:18it's probably been in here for years you can see from the ring marks in the bottom here that it's
35:26been used for uh storing what they call sotiaceti imagine how many jars of preserved courgette
35:34you've been in in here in italy there are two types of pickles sotiaceti meaning under vinegar
35:42and sotoli which means under oil in the past vegetables like courgettes olives and peppers
35:48were traditionally picked during the summer and then pickled to ensure the pantry was well stocked
35:53during the colder months these days they're still considered a staple and every well-respected italian
36:01kitchen has its full share of pickle jars
36:12i've been here i think this is going to look really lovely considering what it was like brown
36:17and turquoise and everything looks a bit bland because it's all white but i think once it's down
36:22in the cantina with all the other white things it's just going to look really simple and really
36:27different to all the other houses that i've got and just really lovely
36:37okay i think that's it for today a few days later martine's upcycled sideboards are ready
36:44and soon they can take pride of place in the cantina for now with no paying guests on the horizon
36:50martine is moving out of the small apartment called the kumquat into its big sister the mandarin next door
36:57and with christmas coming her first thought is a festive treat
37:04i'm making mincemeat homemade mincemeat because it just tastes so much nicer than that stuff that
37:08you buy that's already industrially produced although mince pies aren't a traditional italian dish
37:15martine is making hers rabatana style with citrus fruits foraged from the village's communal green spaces
37:21it's so lovely to have a winter fruit that you can pick it's loaded absolutely loaded with fruit
37:30oh the smell of the lemon it's just so you can't get it any fresher can you straight off the tree
37:36into the kitchen
37:37with the mince pies prepped martine's next job is to gather some greenery for the house
37:50just like the residents of rabatana would have done in days gone by
37:54it's basically pine and the smell is so lovely christmas trees didn't become widely adopted in
38:04italy until the 20th century but decorating the home with evergreens during dark winter months
38:10is thought to date back to pre-christian times
38:13we might as well use what there is available and it's not hurting the tree might even be doing it some good
38:28since she moved to rabatana martine has immersed herself in village life
38:35and her dogged determination to resurrect this lost place is really starting to reap rewards
38:41because just 10 days after the builders arrived they can now see the finishing line
38:50it's better than i imagined it it's really really really good
38:56whatever ciao grazie tanto so with christmas in the air martine's in the mood to celebrate
39:04the change has been phenomenal you know we've got a ceiling we've got walls it's clean
39:10the first fitting of the electricity is all in i can't believe really that i'm in this position
39:16it just doesn't seem real i keep kind of pinching myself
39:27back in france tony and terry are coming to the end of their five-week stay in shishville
39:32and the grand salon is now in much better shape they've stabilized the ceiling and cleared away the
39:38debris so once the walls have dried out the room will be ready for lime plaster
39:44elsewhere there's still plenty to do though welcome to the makeshift kitchen so the kitchen is now in our
39:53hall it was in the other room through there but we've knocked the wall down now so we've brought
40:00all the kitchen items into here we put that down when we want to warm it up it works really well
40:06actually there you go warm kitchen diner and then we own it to warm warm up the rest of the house
40:14the couple plan to build a much bigger kitchen in the room next door but for now they're happy to make
40:19do i think a lot of people have noticed do come and do the kitchen first but yeah that might have
40:24been sensible but there you go it isn't just in the grand salon where tony and terry have made
40:31progress outside they've cleared vegetation made safe a crumbling wall on one of their outbuildings
40:37and fix the guttering they've achieved all this despite a heartbreaking loss that threatened to
40:44derail their trip entirely two days into our trip we lost our dog stan which was a bit of a shock to
40:50say the least on top of losing our other dog molly a month before so the first weekend we were here we
40:56were kind of it was like soul destroying really yeah missed having them haven't we so i thought we were
41:03going to go back yeah you know really thought we wouldn't get anything achieved this time but i
41:09think with help of our friends and neighbors yeah we've achieved more than we expected to achieve
41:18terry and tony now have to prepare the village for their return to gloucestershire
41:22where they can hopefully push through their house sale
41:27but when you're leaving a village you love it helps ease the pain of separation
41:32if you can keep a close eye on things while you're away that one's working i'll just check
41:37and see what i need to see you can see outside as well so it's quite good yeah see if any trees come
41:43down or anything tony and terry still haven't quite got over the loss of molly and stanley
41:48but by plunging themselves into vital jobs around sheeshville they've been able to take their minds off
41:53things that's it okay it's new and exciting it's an adventure it is and we own yeah who owns the village
42:07autumn 24 done okay let's go
42:10it's april and tony and terry are back home in gloucestershire
42:25sadly they still haven't managed to sell their house but there is some good news
42:29that's my thumb two new additions to the family
42:39lupin a pagalier and daisy a jack russell terrier
42:45they're both rescue dogs who arrived just before christmas and they had such a special bond the
42:50rehoming charity wanted them to live as a pair so two days after coming back from france at the end
42:56of november we went to see them three days later they were home we'll be taking them both
43:03back to france with us that village would have had loads of animals in it i mean it's originally a
43:08farm with lots of different families living there you know it's all about bringing back life to a
43:14village that otherwise could just vanish and be forgotten the logjam over tony and terry's house sale
43:21has put the couple under financial pressure and has slowed down progress at shishville but the
43:27couple are hoping for an upturn in the market soon what one coming up haven't we another yeah i've got
43:32a got a viewing next week we it's difficult some parts of the housing market seem to be quite busy
43:38just happens that our part the countryside seems a bit quieter than it used to be moving permanently
43:43to france hasn't been as straightforward as they'd hoped but tony and terry aren't giving up and
43:49their dream is still alive shishville may be in desperate need of their love and attention but
43:55it just needs to wait for its saviors a little while longer it's been daunting in some respects but um
44:02quite good fun a bit like rescuing the dogs we're not rescuing dogs we're rescuing a village
44:08come on then should we go in
44:10next time come bearing news paul in la bouillère paul and jip unearth a treasure trove this is gold dust
44:23really for us here at la bouillère rabatana might be about to get another hotel room
44:29oh my god what a find and marcial's deadline to buy openso is fast running out
44:44my deposit was non-refundable and she could easily have just taken the money and said no
44:59so
45:03so
45:11so
45:13you
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