Chateau DIY Season 10 Episode 18
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00:01France is home to thousands of stunning chateaux.
00:06Some forgotten and abandoned.
00:08It's making a hollow sound. It means that it's coming away from the wall.
00:12Now being brought back to life by intrepid new owners.
00:17This is completely winging it, learning as we go.
00:20They're taking on the challenge.
00:23Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
00:24I'm afraid I can't even look at it now.
00:27To restore these historic buildings.
00:30It's really an incomparable joy when you get a disinfection into crappy walls.
00:35Into stunning homes.
00:37I need a glory there, that's what came for.
00:40And unique businesses.
00:42Your make is your prime.
00:44There'll be successes.
00:46We got a ceiling.
00:48Wow!
00:50And setbacks.
00:52Nothing's coming through.
00:54But however hard the going gets.
00:56I don't like working in tariffs.
00:59The rewards can be great.
01:02To see the final result, it's worth every second.
01:05As they get to live the dream.
01:08It's not a bad life, is it?
01:09As custodians of their very own castle.
01:16Today.
01:171.65 is how deep it should be.
01:20One couple's giant pool project hits the buffers.
01:24Oh, that's a shame.
01:26Without the dumper truck, we're stuck.
01:28We're not going to take it around there in wheelbarrows.
01:30Because we'll be here till kingdom come.
01:32Another pair take on a delicate lounge renovation.
01:36I don't really want to break anything.
01:39Do you want to split that?
01:40Oh, careful.
01:41Oh, no.
01:42And new chateau owners tackle a risky bathroom job.
01:47Might as well just give it a kick and see what happens.
01:50Nothing.
02:03In the beautiful Haute-Vienne-d'Appartement in central France
02:07is the impressive 19th century Chateau de la Grière.
02:13Set in 12 acres, this majestic castle has three fairytale towers
02:23and boasts 25 beautiful rooms.
02:28Since 2022, it's been home to Sharon, a retired district nurse
02:36and husband Tim, a former construction boss,
02:41who are gradually renovating it.
02:44This is the first time we've worked together,
02:46spent any length of time together.
02:48Tim is very fastidious with how he does things.
02:51He's very precise.
02:52I'm very slapdash, so we don't always agree.
02:56We know what each other's capable of
02:58and I think we've learnt that in the first year.
03:01I haven't been taken off site yet.
03:03Located just over two hours north of Toulouse,
03:13Sharon and Tim bought the chateau for £500,000
03:18with a plan to run high-end holiday lets.
03:25It is quite satisfying, isn't it?
03:28They've recently started renovating a guest bathroom.
03:32If I let it go, can you catch it?
03:34Careful!
03:38And with a bit of ingenuity...
03:41Dream team!
03:43..empted out the space without much hassle.
03:48That's been a good day's work.
03:50We have now got a clear way forward.
03:53Today, they're turning their attention to the chateau's grounds.
03:59So we're going to measure it again, yeah?
04:01OK.
04:02..as they're eager to install a swimming pool
04:05in time for the summer.
04:08So the actual pool is going to be just here.
04:13We feel that by putting a swimming pool in for a property like this
04:16it's going to add value to the property.
04:18And enhance it. People will want to stay.
04:20We will put a pool house in with it as well
04:22and we're going to do all the work ourselves.
04:24What on earth can go wrong?
04:27It's a big challenge,
04:29but before they can do anything, they need to make room.
04:35Today we're going to move a statue
04:37because currently it's in the position
04:39where it's likely to get damaged
04:41with the swimming pool coming in.
04:43So we need to move it, hopefully in one piece.
04:46We're going to put it somewhere just here.
04:48The statue is in a fragile state
04:52and dates back to the 19th century.
04:55All right, shall we go for it?
04:57To help out, they've roped in handyman Ian
05:00in the hope of avoiding a catastrophe.
05:03Tim, I'll come at it with the blade to it.
05:20Are you ready? Good to go.
05:21OK, let's take her up slowly.
05:23Yeah.
05:24She's off the ground, yeah, that's good.
05:38Anywhere here is good, yeah.
05:40All right, just steady it as it goes down.
05:42Yeah.
05:43She gets a new view of her surroundings.
05:45She's probably bored to death all these years.
05:47I think I'd like her back there though
05:49because it's a nice focal point there.
05:51Pick it up there.
05:56How there?
05:57Yeah, nice and slowly.
06:01OK, hold it there.
06:03Take the bucket away Ian.
06:05Mind your head.
06:08I think I'll clean her up at some stage.
06:10But yeah, good job.
06:13The much bigger task is to remove a huge 15-metre-high yew tree.
06:20It's in poor condition.
06:22It's interfering with how we want to set the pool
06:24and the pool area up.
06:25So we're going to have it down.
06:30Ian's very competent.
06:31Let's just hope nature is with him today.
06:33You never know what the tree's going to do, do you?
06:35Oh, there you go.
06:48Just started to separate.
06:50The first section's actually moved,
06:52so it's gone that way, which is good.
07:03Here we go.
07:04Good job.
07:10Good job.
07:11Well done Ian.
07:12It's come down where you wanted it.
07:16We've got a massive amount of light through now,
07:18which is exactly what we need.
07:19Yeah.
07:20So, good job mate.
07:21Good job mate.
07:22It's an encouraging start, but with a tree to dismantle,
07:27land to excavate, and a pool and pool house to install,
07:34Tim and Sharon have barely got started.
07:38In the Loire Valley, in Northwest France, lies the charming 19th century Chateau La Grande Maison.
07:55This stunning property boasts 45 rooms, including an opulent ballroom.
08:05The lucky owners are musicians Ben and Billy, and their daughter Ella, who have been lovingly restoring it since 2011.
08:15This particular Chateau is really a once-in-a-lifetime type project.
08:20It was just love at first sight.
08:22It's been a massive adventure.
08:24It's got an amazing history, and we've tried to work with that over the years, and just breathe life back into it.
08:30And it's like our own little universe, and our own special paradise.
08:41Located near the town of Saumur, Ben and Billy run the Chateau as a chic B&B and events venue.
08:52And have been gearing up for the new season by transforming the grand entrance
08:58and huge stairwell in a bid to impress their guests.
09:04We're there. The hallway is finished.
09:06Hooray!
09:07It looks amazing.
09:12With the summer only weeks away, they're eager to elevate the bland apartment lobby
09:19into a lavish botanical lounge.
09:22Our intention for that space is to evoke the story of the botanist who lived here.
09:28He's the person who built the ballroom.
09:30He's a massive character in the Chateau's history.
09:33So what we're going to do is a room that's dedicated to him.
09:36It's a really exciting space, but it's not like anything we've done before.
09:41First, they plan to turn the two cupboards into cabinets of curiosities.
09:47If we can turn these into display cabinets, they could be the real feature of the room, couldn't they?
09:52Yeah. So there'll be glass display up to there, so...
09:57Yeah.
09:58What's that, three shelves?
09:59Three shelves.
10:01These shelves! Oh, dear, they're not very nice-looking, are they?
10:04Well, maybe we could make them look a bit more, um, museum-y.
10:08Yeah.
10:09I've got some really nice fossils to go in here.
10:12Gorgeous.
10:13Things that go together.
10:14Glass, stone, light, wood, velvet.
10:18Yeah. Yes.
10:19Yes. Gorgeous.
10:22Today, however, Ben's more intrigued with one of the apartment entrance doors.
10:27I just thought it was a modern door, but this looks like it's a panel that's been added.
10:34And, fingers crossed, if this is a panel door and it matches the others, it's absolutely perfect.
10:39Yeah.
10:40Because it is really ruining the vibe at the moment.
10:41It is ruining the vibe.
10:4719th century, nice wood panel door, please. That's what I've ordered.
10:54Uh-oh.
10:55I don't really want to break anything.
10:58Yeah, you don't want to split that.
10:59Ooh, careful.
11:04Trouble, I thought it was just tacked on, it's glued on as well.
11:07Oh, no.
11:08Can we see yet?
11:09No, not yet.
11:12I think you can go for it.
11:14I'm going for it, okay.
11:15Just get rid of this thing.
11:19Oh.
11:20Oh, that's it now.
11:21I've done it now.
11:22You've broken it, so we have to do it.
11:23Shall I just do it?
11:24That's it, though, isn't it?
11:25Look at that.
11:26Oh, my gosh.
11:27Look.
11:29Woo!
11:31All right.
11:32Original door.
11:35Oh, this is brilliant.
11:38Well, that's definitely more interesting.
11:39Yeah.
11:41More in keeping.
11:42This is going to take sanding and painting now, but...
11:45We love the designing, the smashing up, and the finishing.
11:49It's just all a bit in the middle.
11:50A bit in between.
11:51It's a nightmare.
11:53It's a great start for Ben and Billy, but with the whole room to bring back to life, it's set to be a long old job.
12:07Still to come, Tim digs a huge hole for himself.
12:11My friend, I've got to draw it upside down.
12:15And the scale of the task hits home for Billy.
12:19Oh, it's quite time-consuming.
12:20I think I'll be here for another 145 million years.
12:22In the region of Occitanie, in southwest France, is the picturesque 19th century Chateau de Picon.
12:40This delightful property boasts 31 rooms, several outbuildings, and sits in six and a half acres, which comes complete with a private lake.
12:59The new owners are Jane, an intellectual property manager, and Rory, a plumber and actor, who have just bought it for £470,000.
13:15We were just really, really bowled over by it, and the price was attractive.
13:20Yeah.
13:21There are times when I catch sight of the Chateau, and my heart skips beat.
13:25That's so beautiful.
13:26We can probably make it into something really wonderful.
13:29We're very, very excited about the prospects of bringing it back to life, and starting our new lives here.
13:41Located an hour and a half's drive from Toulouse, Jane and Rory's long-term plan is to run the Chateau as an events venue.
13:53Go on, then, Bonnie. Go on.
13:54Go on.
13:56They only picked up the keys three weeks ago, and had an eventful first day.
14:03Bit of a panic. We haven't even moved in, and the horses are arriving.
14:09Earlier than expected, the animal-loving pair had to install an electric fence to keep their beloved horses safe.
14:17Horses before us.
14:21It proved to be an almighty scramble.
14:25Oh, good girl.
14:27But Penny and Harry arrived safely in their new home.
14:32They're in.
14:33We're all here.
14:34Yay!
14:36I think they like it.
14:38Fabulous.
14:39Yes, me too.
14:40Having begun to settle in, today, Jane and Rory are eager to crack on with their new vision for the Chateau.
14:51We're starting on our first top-floor suite.
14:55I mean, the room is gorgeous, but the bathroom is completely non-functional.
15:01We want to make it all look luxurious and lovely to match the roof terrace suite that it is part of.
15:10In an ideal world, the plan is to remove everything and smash down this wall...
15:18..which I'm hoping is just a plasterboard, and extend it to about here, about the edge of the wardrobe.
15:24So we just need to move the wardrobe, I guess.
15:39Hey, look at that.
15:40Wow.
15:42That should do it.
15:49There you go.
15:51With Rory being an experienced plumber...
15:57..he's hoping it will be a straightforward job.
16:02Right.
16:03Let the smashing commence.
16:15Well, I now know that it's a plasterboard wall.
16:17I'm probably not going to be able to get those tiles off without just the wall coming down, which is fine.
16:25However, this appears to also be a plasterboard wall.
16:30It might be that this wall comes down as well, and I've re-plasterboard it.
16:39I might as well just give it a kick and see what happens.
16:51Nothing.
16:55It certainly is pretty good fun.
17:10Huge progress.
17:11It's a promising start.
17:12But with another wall to demolish, and a huge bathroom to build, Rory and Jane's workload is just going to get bigger.
17:27Over in the Loire Valley, at Chateau La Grande Maison...
17:42Yes. Oh, I like that.
17:44...Billy is starting to transform the apartment lobby into their new botanist lounge.
17:50We want to evoke kind of like, you know, exotic, faraway, tropical places.
17:57So this is kind of a vanilla-y colour, and we've got some sort of coffee-influenced colours as well.
18:05We're both real coffee heads. Can't do anything here without coffee.
18:09Hopefully, we'll create the thing that's in our heads.
18:15Ben, meanwhile, is starting to repair the original apartment door.
18:21When we uncovered the door, I was a little bit disappointed.
18:23I was hoping it was going to be exactly the same as the other doors in the room,
18:26which, unfortunately, it's not.
18:28And all the other doors have lots of mouldings, including a central panel
18:32and a nice, ornate moulding around all the sides.
18:35But this one's just really, really plain.
18:37So what I'm going to do is put a central panel in,
18:42and then I'm going to add to the moulding around here.
18:45I'm going to kind of double the size of that.
18:47And once that's in, you then put a bead of decorator's cork there
18:52to make it look like it's actually carved from this piece.
18:55And you'll think it's all one piece of wood.
18:57Once it's painted up, you'll never know.
19:01It's an intricate job that will require military precision.
19:07OK.
19:08OK.
19:09OK.
19:10So that's our first piece.
19:12Billy also has a complex task.
19:15With the curiosities, she's earmarked for the cabinets.
19:18These are just some of the fossils we found here.
19:21Look at that.
19:22That was part of an ammonite.
19:24So imagine something like that big at least.
19:25At least.
19:26145 million years old.
19:27Lower Jurassic.
19:28And these are the kind of things we find when we're gardening.
19:29There was also a little box that the previous owners of the chateau had left,
19:31and we think some of them may be the botanist's son, who is a paleontologist.
19:33had even found.
19:34So they're the perfect thing to put in our display cabinets.
19:36But.
19:37But.
19:38This is my birthday present from last year.
19:39which I asked for.
19:40.
19:41And it's the perfect thing to put in our display cabinets.
19:42But.
19:44That's my birthday present from last year.
19:45And it's a little tool which I haven't used before.
19:46I'm just hoping that I can see it.
19:47I'm going to get to a point of theasure.
19:48Of course, it's a two, three year old that it's a four year old.
19:50And they're the board.
19:51I'm going to get to a point of the next century.
19:52It's about two years old.
19:53That's seven years old.
19:54Lower Jurassic.
19:55Um.
19:56And these are the kind of things we find when we're gardening.
19:57Um.
19:58There was also a little box that the previous owners of the chateau had left.
19:59And we think some of them may be the botanist's son, who is a paleontologist,
20:02had even found.
20:03So they're the perfect thing to put in our display cabinets.
20:05But.
20:06birthday present from last year which i asked for and it's a little tool which i haven't used
20:11before i'm just hoping that i can sort of tidy up some of these fossils
20:19this is my first victim
20:27oh it's quite time consuming i think i'll be here for another 145 million years
20:36aha that's it i think i've got the hang of this now
20:46right
20:50yes i think that's a good start this is still quite a bit of work to do but i think it's going to be
20:55worth it to have some really good fossils on display ben and billy certainly have their work cut out
21:04but with so much attention to detail it's a project that could run and run
21:17in central france at chateau de la gruyere
21:21it's a big day for tim and sharon as they're finally ready to start digging the pool in the garden
21:28we're on a deadline for the pool to turn up next week we have to have it prepared because if we're
21:34not prepared we're going to be in all sorts of trouble yeah well we've only got we've got one
21:38delivery slot so we need to be ready for it to help speed things up they've roped in handyman mate ian
21:45we've broken the ground as they say
21:57what we don't want to find is too many stones and rocks and
22:00granite and the worst but um yeah so far so good
22:091.65 is how deep it should be
22:12these are the plans from the manufacturer so as long as we adhere to these everything should be hunky-dory
22:21okay
22:26okay well we'll see which one it is
22:29but it's not long until they encounter their first problem
22:33yeah we've blown our hydraulic hose
22:40most inconsiderate of it
22:43oh that's a shame
22:46out oil got no steering
22:49without the dumper truck we're stuck because you know if we're not going to take it around our
22:52wheelbarrows because we'll be here till kingdom come
22:56got a bit of a mechanical emergency can you um do me a favor and whiz my spanner roll around
23:02while ian sends for his tools
23:10sharon tries to lighten the mood
23:15would you like me to get your glass of rose
23:19imagine this is what it's going to be like sat under the tree
23:22enjoying the pool and we are away from that at the moment but um i'm sure it will come and it'll be
23:28beautiful sitting out here in the afternoon sun lovely
23:36so i've done a repair and all looking good
23:44fingers crossed
23:44with the dumper truck fixed tim can get stuck into the job
23:52tim do you know what you're looking at hey do you know what you're looking at i think i've got
23:58the drawing upside down it sure shouldn't be at the other end and with the sun out in full force
24:07it's sweltering work
24:19looking very nice from up here i think i might have to get myself a diving platform
24:26they're making good progress
24:28but with a huge 10 meter long hole to dig tim and sharon are not out of the woods just yet
24:42coming up
24:44rory and jane's troubles start to mount
24:47i don't even know whether this screw will go through the metal but
24:51it's got to so i'm going to try
24:54and tim's problems go from bad to worse
24:58it's reluctant to do what we want it to do it has a mind of its own
25:09in the loire valley in northwest france billy's gilding the door that ben painstakingly renovated
25:16great i've finished that is really really really looking good
25:24it's all starting to come together as their new botanist lounge is almost fully painted
25:33just needs one final thing you know the thing about the uh the um door crown right we just need a
25:40genius person with a paintbrush i thought he's good at fine detail gold and green and something
25:47beautiful all right all right stop trying to if you knew anybody
25:50trick me into more work okay i'll go and get it let's have a look i'll go and get it
25:57i saw ben pick up this bit from an old wardrobe um the other day in the antique shop so
26:04i thought we'd use it somewhere but he's bringing it into this project by the look of things
26:08um okay check this out hopefully it'll work
26:15oh
26:18door crown oh my gosh wow every chateau door needs a crown it does every door every door needs a crown
26:26it does look a little bit of a state though this is the crown and the whole project
26:31all yours great i see you didn't blow the entire budget on this 15 euros yes i knocked them down
26:38they 12 12 12. no you didn't knock them down 15. i feel sorry for people when they meet you
26:45it's another intricate job for billy
26:47but ben has his own challenge of upcycling the shelves for the cabinets of curiosities
26:57one to give like a give them a kind of museum sort of feel so i'm going to cover them in this
27:02lovely velvet slot them in the cupboard and it'll make a lovely backdrop tool and lovely items that
27:07are going in i've never done anything like this before but i can wrap christmas presents so i'm
27:14just going to use christmas present wrapping principles so that seems to be working working out
27:33right well it's looking better already just with the sand
27:36but its destiny is to match everything in this room so i'm going to get the color on now
27:44i imagine that i'm going to have to do two coats of this three colors ben has created a bit more
27:51work for me but this is definitely going to be worth it
27:58right this year's christmas presents i can be no bother after doing six of these
28:03okay last one yay that's really nice with the shelves complete ben just needs to try them for size
28:22yes great i'm really really happy with that it's gonna look absolutely brilliant next thing is glass
28:31adding glass panels to the door however might prove a lot trickier mind the fireplace ben
28:40especially as it's another first for ben please um be careful because we don't really have any
28:47backups no i'm gonna have a smashing time don't worry about me oh don't you dare
28:50ben can't afford to make a mistake and with two doors to glass panel it's certainly crunch time for ben and billy
29:04that's what's going on in south west france at chateau de piquon okay not too bad rory and jane's new
29:19ensuite is slowly coming together
29:22the two stud walls have finally been removed but the more complex challenge is to rebuild them
29:35finding that what you hope is a square wall often isn't i'm sort of having to muddle through as best
29:42i can which means my lovely perfect measurements are a little bit out whilst i've um i've put pipes into
29:50brand new stud work i've not actually had to build it before and i've used uh i've worked with the metal
29:54stud work even less than that because in the uk we tend to still use wood i don't even know whether
30:00this screw will go through the metal but it's got to so i'm going to try
30:10yep it will
30:11first bit in let's hope i measured right first time while rory constructs the new walls
30:30jane's giving the bedroom suite window a new lease of life
30:33so far it's had an undercoat sanded it down and now i'm giving it its color this is blue gray
30:45i sort of agonized over quite a lot but i've tried it out on the shutters and
30:52i'm happy with it so now i can kind of proceed with confidence
30:55being a diy novice it's a new experience for jane
31:03i think you have to be willing to make mistakes otherwise you wouldn't do anything
31:09rory absolutely hates decorating and i find it quite relaxing
31:16it will need to have a second coat this will be the first window that's being protected
31:22and is in good condition it hasn't had i don't you know i don't think any
31:29window in the shadows had any attention for more than 10 years
31:34so it's really good that most of them are still sound it's pretty good
31:40hey look at that a couple of hours later and rory has also made great strides with the new stud walls
31:57you can tell it's a different room now can you yes you absolutely can oh it's amazing
32:01we now have a separate room start finishing off great and now you just need to pick your floor tiles
32:09and your wall tiles and i have to wait for all of the furniture for the bathroom to arrive and then
32:16we can install it it's exciting times for rory and jane but until everything's in place
32:24their first renovation is still a long way off
32:40in the odien departement sharon and tim have finally dug a huge hole for their swimming pool
32:49but they still have to clear the driveway to ensure it fits through tomorrow
32:57what we're doing now is we've got a couple of trees the stumps that are in the way for when the
33:01pool arrives so we're moving those they're about as tall as me maybe do you think yeah and as wide as
33:07you they are they're large very large they are large so take a bit of work
33:12it thankfully they also have friend ian to help out i'm going to pull it a little bit
33:19ian's going to push in hopefully it goes over okay you ready okay pull
33:30go on more
33:32oh there tim i'm going to come around the side and pull it
33:44good to go you ready tim
33:53it's reluctant to do what we want it to do when you're talking about a heavy stub like this
33:58it has a mind of its own what we're trying to do is now is just loosen it off a little bit of its base
34:06some of the roots are going down in the ground which is holding it which we've got to try and free off
34:20okay i'll do we'll scratch some of the mud off it now and get rid of some of the branches yeah okay
34:26because it's just far too big what's that weigh you reckon five ton about two ton i reckon two ton
34:35it's um it's quite surreal really living this chateau life the things that you do
34:40hey sharon here catches the wood
34:45he likes to wind me up he thinks he's funny
34:47he's not 32 years he's not as funny
34:54i'm going to bring it back the right way up it takes up less space and we'll bury it where it is
34:59it's just too heavy to move so it can stay where it is the idea is flick it and fill it flatten
35:06okay
35:20success we just got to get the strap out
35:26while tim and ian start refilling the ground
35:29right and she's gonna fall off it's gonna clean her legs in the bottom
35:35Sharon's eager to spruce up their statue which he hopes will be the centerpiece
35:40of their poolside design you can see her head's wobbling I don't want to put the
35:47pressure washer on it and then her head come off so I've got a little bit of
35:53bleach in this that I looked up and it said that's how you can clean ancient
35:59stonework but let's see whether it actually works or not that's really good
36:07it's been a successful afternoon and with the tree stump covered over there's
36:15extra space along the driveway for the arrival of the pool we've done
36:24everything that we can think of to make it as smooth as possible you can't do
36:28anymore we can't do any more than that so just fingers crossed everything goes
36:32according to plan a and without revert to plan B which we haven't got it's taken a
36:40huge amount of effort all Sharon and Tim can hope is that their new pool doesn't
36:46end up being a damp squib
36:55still to come Ben and Billy reach breaking point drop it down no not drop it down
37:02place it down and Jane and Rory face a hazardous new challenge
37:09are you ready I hope so
37:22in the region of Occitanie in southwest France done two coats it's not
37:30absolutely perfect but it's pretty good Jane's finished the first of the windows
37:36in the bedroom suite and with the bathroom on hold until the fittings
37:42arrive there we go today Rory wants to take down an overgrown tree as it's
37:53obscuring the scenic mountain view we'd like to have it opened up and and visible
38:00for guests and to and for ourselves I suppose this tree is not in great
38:04condition it's not really thriving and our Wi-Fi cable is running from the main
38:09post out on the road across and that's growing over the top of it I'm extremely
38:15aware that getting this wrong is going to be very costly I've already got the
38:19tree strapped if we can cut it halfway get it sort of a bit loose and we might
38:24just be able to pull it over and tidy the cut up later I'd rather that then and it
38:31falling over this way and taking down the fiber optic cable your mission should you
38:38choose to accept it yes stand about here keep it really tight keep the tension
38:43really tight and then really yank when I want you to I think I can do it
39:02right I heard a few cracks I'll come and see if I can help you out
39:09oh yeah oh I don't think it's quite through is it no it's not quite true no
39:18no it's okay might not take much though no so if you keep the tension I might not
39:27have chance to get back to you I might just have to jump out of the way are you
39:30ready I hope so
39:39okay
39:49well done we still have Wi-Fi yes that's good and you didn't get crushed it was
39:59such a concern that we've just had the fiber optic cable installed I was so
40:03worried that if I got it wrong that would be it but yeah now I'm feeling really
40:07really pleased that it didn't go wrong Rory did something right I can't say that
40:13every day yeah brilliant so I guess now you've got to go and see what the views
40:19like from the window yes oh wow yes that is a lot better much better it is yeah
40:29still a few branches to trim down yeah but the big one's gone yeah on a clear day
40:35those mountains yeah do you know what I can see from here what all the clearing up
40:41I've got to do I can help with that it's a positive start Jane and Rory have only been in
40:51their chateau for three weeks but their new life in France is already starting to take shape
40:59over in the Loire Valley your crown awaits wow wow wow
41:15Billy's finally finished a new door crown for the botanist lounge definitely worth the 15 euros bargain
41:2312 euros knock them down dad you like it really love it there you go then we're done right next
41:30thing it's been a job well done Ben hopes the glass panels for the cabinets of curiosities
41:39will be just as seamless tricky moment just could take it over drop it down try and get the gap
41:46nicely even drop it down no not drop it down place it okay okay lifting carefully placing it down placing it down I
42:02am seeing well that's perfect level love it when a plan comes together well done Ben
42:16it's been a big success that's really really good I'm really happy with that with the door back in its
42:26rightful place that's exactly as we imagined just needs to be full of treasure now doesn't yeah yeah
42:33they can start on the finishing touches with a little help from daughter Ella thank you
42:41lovely yeah Billy just needs to add the curiosities these are fossils and tools found here in English and French
42:55gorgeous it's not lovely really happy with that the room wouldn't be complete without one last fitting tribute
43:14right here he is here he is this is the botanist who inspired all of this but he did see some amazing things including
43:23building building the whole ballroom wing we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the ballroom wing because
43:28that's what really made us fall in love with the center isn't it Olivia Jules Richard
43:33just three weeks ago their apartment lobby was bland lifeless and dull now it's been transformed into a
43:47stylish botanical lounge area by restoring the original doors and creating display cabinets they've given the
43:57room its charm and character whilst the addition of opulent lighting tasteful decor and up cycled furniture
44:07helps it live up to the grandeur of the rest of their chateau
44:12we can take it all in now yeah we've actually done this it's an amazing transformation yeah what it was
44:19absolutely it looks amazing I think this room makes everything cohesive in the chateau it's just such a
44:28fantastic sort of communal space now and we'll use a lot won't we and yeah oh yeah it's been a big triumph
44:40and with the summer season upon them it looks like Ben Billy and Ella will be impressing their guests for
44:49many years to come next time one couple aren't ready for guests we are almost pouring this stuff
45:02on the floor i wonder if it'll be quicker this is awkward isn't it there's trouble in a tower i'm not
45:09working in tariffs they're rushing it to get it shifted and a 25 000 pound disaster
45:19this is really stressful
45:33so
45:47you