All language subtitles for Escape to the Chateau DIY S03E04.540p.HDTV.x264-GTi.English

I'm Dick Strawbridge and, along with
my wife Angel and our two
children...

I've got him!

..we're nearly five years into
restoring this once-abandoned
chateau.

There's something quite
sort of majestic about it.

You feel like you're in the clouds.

It's been demanding...

..yet truly fulfilling.

It's made me feel a bit mushy
and like a bit emotional.

And, with thousands
of chateaux in France,

we're not the only Brits
buying into the French fairy tale...

Oh, my goodness, it's amazing!

..so Angel and I are once again
helping our fellow expats...

This is a big old build.

..as they embark on a brand-new
set of chateau adventures.

Oh! Oh!

It'll be a roller-coaster ride...

Whoa!

No! No!

..but no matter what...

I'm just going to try not to cry.

..these plucky Brits...

Are we doing this with all
the technological

accomplishment of the ancient
Egyptians?

..are determined to transform
once-unloved buildings

into the most spectacular homes...

That is amazing!

..and live the dream as custodians
of their very own castles.

Today...

One day, I'll have a nice kitchen.

..a Lincolnshire family
start on their next project...

Tim does care what the
kitchen looks like,

but not in the same way that
I care what the kitchen looks like.

..and Angel steps
in to lend a hand.

How are you? I'm good, how are you?
Ah, welcome.

Two expat musicians have
it all to do...

We've got some really exciting
plans for the look of the building.

..as they prepare for a big
family wedding.

I just want it to
be as magical as possible.

And a new chateau-owning couple
have their hands full...

Get off, you hooligan.

..as they get cracking
on their B&B.

Moving into any chateau, which dates
back centuries, is a daunting task,

but doing the work yourselves can
save you lots of cash,

but not necessarily time.

The 20-room Chateau les Rosieres
is owned by Brit Amy

and French husband Marc,
who moved in a year ago...

Stop it!

You told me it wouldn't split.

..and have been getting their hands
dirty ever since.

I never took on this project
because I love DIY.

The idea, some people
who spend their...

She never told me that before
we went into that project.

And I'm just really looking
forward to the end product.

Do you really think
there will be an end?

Yes! Please say there'll be an end!

Located an hour and a half's
drive from the city of Lyon,

they're hoping to open it up as a
high-end B&B and run yoga retreats.

They've just finished renovating the
dining area,

where they uncovered and restored

the chateau's original inglenook
fireplace.

Now, in one of the outbuildings,
Marc and Amy

have made yet another
discovery.

This is the old cattle shed
and Mark's been cleaning it out

recently and cleaning away
about a century's worth of cow muck

and found a load of marble pieces
underneath it all.

And he THINKS

that one of them comes
from the bathroom, the en-suite

to the big bedroom and so we're
going to try and see if it fits.

OK.

Their plan is to transform
the largest bedroom with

an en-suite into a lavish
place to stay.

We're looking to be able to rent
out the grand bedroom,

so we can start to have luxury
bed-and-breakfast in that and

start to bring some income in before
the retreat centre's up and running.

It needs lots of work.

The floors are damaged

and the wallpaper
panels are crumbling,

while the bathroom is
stuck in a 1970s time-warp.

They're hoping the marble sink
they've found will help bring

back some charm and character.

If it's the right one.

It won't fit in, because of the
tiles. It won't fit,
because of the tiles.

But it looks like...
Oh, it might.

Oh, yeah, but they may have had...
Oh, right, OK.

So put it down a tiny bit
and rest it on there.

I think it's... So, you think
without the tiles there, it would?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it fits.

So if we had this in here

and we redesigned the bathroom,
that would mean?

It would get to about...
To about there.

Didn't we come round to saying
we think the toilet can be there

and the shower there?

Reconfiguring the bathroom
will cost more money,

but it'll be worth it,
if they can fit that lovely sink.

Really, the only downside, for me,

is that I never envisaged having
two sinks in here.

But it is a really nice idea to
kind of find an original feature

and put it back, because previous
owners have kind of gutted the place

and thrown loads of things away
and lots of stuff was destroyed

and so it's quite a little
nugget of gold that we've found

deep in the manure-soaked cow shed,

so I think...

Yeah, I think it might be a good
idea to go with it.

I wholeheartedly agree, Amy.

Now, Marc wants to get stuck into
removing the outdated wall tiles...

Here we go, serious stuff!

LAUGHTER

..although Amy wants to avoid
damaging the walls underneath...

Stop, stop.

Stop it!

Get off, you hooligan.

..as there could be original stone
worth preserving.

Need help? No.

All right, come on, then.

Ah, stone! Is it?

Ah. This is stone.

You won't damage it
with that, will you? No. No?

It doesn't look like an extremely
nice stone to me,

because it's...
It's quite rough.

..it's quite rough
and irregular.

The stone might not be worth
protecting,

but the tiles
still need to come off.

Are you having fun?

Yes, I am having fun -
nice, quiet fun.

It seems Amy is intent on doing it
the old-fashioned way.

Oh, what a mess!

No! Stop it.

Go away with your power tool.

Though, with the whole room to do,
it could be a long old job.

300 miles away is the picturesque
Chateau de la Ruche,

set in 15 acres of land.

For the last two years, it's been
home to Lincolnshire couple Tim

and Rebecca and their two children,
Rufus and Laurie.

It was the land that made us
want it, I think.

I just love the kind of countryside
aspect of it,

the outside space and the fact
that it was just a very beautiful,

very French-looking house.

Located 40 miles from our place
in the Pays de la Loire region,

they run it as a B&B
and have recently created a stunning

third guest suite,

to bring in some
much-needed extra income.

We wanted it to be
when you walk in the door,

it's kind of luxurious and special
and you feel like you've come

somewhere that's just a really
lovely place to be.

One of their most pressing projects
is the kitchen, which is

currently spread across two adjacent
rooms and is causing nothing

but headaches, particularly
when you're cooking for guests.

The sink in the little kitchen
doesn't work, so if I need

water, I have to walk from the
little kitchen into the big kitchen.

The fridge is also in the big
kitchen, because there isn't

room in the little kitchen, so
I probably just add to my step count

immeasurably every day just walking
backwards and forwards to the sink.

Rebecca's had enough.

Today, they're moving
everything into the larger room

to create an interim kitchen.

So this bit is just going as is,

but we're going to take
the worktop off that bit, aren't we?

That was the plan. Yeah.

We have been living in that terrible
little kitchen for the whole

time, it's very tight.

While she's doing that and I'm
trying to clear up around her and

get stuff taken out to people, it
does get a little bit cosy in there.

For now, they're using the existing
fixtures and fittings

until they have enough money to
create Rebecca's dream kitchen.

I am very much looking
forward to the new kitchen.

One, because of the space and two,
because it's the first room

we'll actually be doing for
ourselves,

because every room we've done
so far has been for the business

and for the guests.

Hopefully, when we get some money,

it will be my kind of forever house
dream kitchen.

Also on hand to clear stuff out is
live-in mate Dale.

The obligatory drawer of crap that
everyone has in their kitchen.

One day, I'll have a nice kitchen.

Tim is very anti...

..well, not very anti, well,

fairly anti my spending money.

Tim does care what the
kitchen looks like,

but not in the same way that I care
what the kitchen looks like, so...

I don't really want to
compromise.

Well, I don't really want
compromise.

There are solutions -

for our first year, we worked
out of a small service kitchen,

until I had the time to fix up
the original one in the basement.

At the minute, it's a
shell, before long,

it's going to be an amazing place.

It took a lot of hard work, but it's
incredible how far your money

can stretch with
a bit of creative know-how.

So, today, Rebecca has popped over
to our place to meet
up with Angel...

Hello. Hello.

..in the hope of getting some
inspiration.

How are you? I'm good, how are you?

Welcome. I brought you some
flowers from the garden.

Oh, my gosh! They look...

And a lemon drizzle, because...

Oh, my God, do you know that
that's my favourite? No.

Come in, come in, in fact,
I should get the kettle on.

Lemon drizzle cake is
always a winner.

Fingers crossed Angel can come up
with some great ideas.

Coming up...

Oh!

..Amy and Marc start on the bedroom,

with a little help from some
friends...

The boys' team have already got
two of the panels down

and we haven't even got
the edging down.

..as they speed
up their renovation project.

Angel gives Rebecca
the guided tour...

Now, this is...
I say it's Mr Strawbridge's kitchen!

Bonjour. Ca va?

..and we catch
up with two chateau owners,

who gear up to host
a big family wedding.

I do hope that my brother's only
ever going to get married once!

This is the stunning 19th-century
Chateau La Grande Maison.

It's home to musicians Ben
and Billie who've spent eight

years renovating it into a luxury
guesthouse and events business.

A chateau life is pretty special.

You know, sometimes
we find ourselves complaining

a bit about the workload or
something like that

and then you just have to pinch
yourself and remind yourself

of how privileged we are, actually,
to be in a place like this.

Located near the Loire Valley...

..they spent the winter
transforming the old library,

to host book club weekends there.

Sometimes, the best way to enjoy
the house is to see it through
other people's eyes.

You know, that's why we like having
guests here. We get such great
feedback from people.

And that gives us
the motivation to keep going,

cos we feel like we're doing
something right

and when we get that feedback,
it's special, isn't it?

Now they're preparing
for the biggest event of the summer,

the wedding of Billie's brother.

We're just about to have a visit
from the caterers

who are going to cater for my little
brother's wedding and I'm excited.

But it's a little bit nerve-racking,

because once the date is in the
diary, really, it's happening,

that day has to be a great day,
come rain or shine.

It's got to be great. You know?

But I do hope my brother's only ever
going to get married once.

To help everything run
smoothly on the big day,

Ben and Billie want to give wedding
coordinator Angela,

and caterers Laurence and Eric,
a tour of the chateau.

Ca va? Ca va bien?
Merci, et vous? Oui, tres bien.

So we'll try the Orangery first,
shall we?

Entrez. We finished this last
summer.

We've got two doors, so it's easy
for people to get in and out,

So it's a nice space
for people to mingle

and there's a balcony on top
of here, as well. Wonderful.

They're expecting at least 60
guests, and it's always good

to have a backup indoor space
for entertaining.

OK, do come in.

This is the ballroom space.

We can fit eight tables in here.

We can come here if it's raining?
Yes. Yes, exactly. OK.

Hopefully, we'll be eating outside,

but it's really important to have
a plan B if it's raining.

Of course. Yes.

Luckily, Ben and Billie's chateau
has lots of options.

We'll just show you the coach house.

It's a good functional space.

You know, we can set out serving
areas, tables.

I'm thinking about one thing
very important. The drinks.

Yes, exactly. The beers!

How are we keeping the beers cold?

They take a lot of place
in the refrigerator.

We have a pressoir that we
use as a bar area, as well. Mm-hm.

That's got one big fridge but, yeah,
we'll... It's perfect.

It will work. It will work.
Excellent.

It seems as though Ben
and Billie have it all covered.

They now just need to check in
with Billie's brother.

PHONE RINGS

Hello? Hey, there!
Hi, Pete and Sam!

First question, about the numbers...

Yeah, I think we're going to
say 50 adults and ten children.

Ideally, you'd like to eat outside?
Yeah.

But your numbers would all
fit inside the main part

of the ballroom if it's not going
to be good weather. I understand.

There's so much to organise and Ben

and Billie also have a surprise
up their sleeve.

When it gets dark,

Ben's got a lovely plan for some
architectural lighting.

It's just some up-lighters,
lighting all the architectural

characteristics of the building,
and the plan is to get that

finished for the wedding, so we just
thought we'd run that by you.

That would be amazing,

cos we were thinking of bringing
out lights and things. Ah.

So if you could do that,
that would be fantastic.

Yeah, wonderful.

Lovely to talk to you
and we'll speak again soon.

Bye. OK, cheers, Pete. Bye.

Thanks very much.

It's really special to me for us
to have the wedding here

and I just want it to
be as magical as possible.

And he's put his trust in me and
I'm not going to let him down. Mm.

Let's hope it all goes to plan.

260 miles away,
at Chateau de Rosieres...

..Amy and Marc are working towards
creating their first luxury

guest suite for their B&B.

So far, they've chipped off
all the '70s tiles

and ripped out the bathroom. Whoa.

Now, they're starting work
in the bedroom.

That's one.

They're removing the old
wallpaper panels

and have roped in friends, Claire
and Jon, who are over from the UK.

The boys' team have already got
two of the panels down

and we haven't even got the edging.

I think they're beating us
quite substantially. Oh.

SHE LAUGHS

Jobs like these are never
straightforward.

To me, the most...

the simplest way is to
start like this.

And then you have
a little leverage point,

and you can pull it from here.
Merci.

With some brute force,
it comes off quite easily.

We are on a bit of a deadline here,

because these two have to actually
go and catch a plane.

And I've got to get them all down
whilst they're here to help us

and we can do the clearing up
afterwards and stuff.

Yeah, I should keep holding
that as well, like I said I would.

With extra hands on deck, it doesn't
take long to get the panels down.

Much as we'd like to keep you,

I know you've got to catch a flight,
so thank you ever so much.

That's all right. No problem.
It's been great.

A pleasure as always.
Thank you. Yeah.

Uh... Do you want some gloves?

With the demolition
in the bedroom complete,

it now needs a good tidy up.

SHE LAUGHS

Today, Amy also wants to test out
some decor ideas in the bathroom,

after being inspired by old murals
she found while clearing it out.

We found these beautiful little
murals painted into the plaster,

which is really cute.

They are on that wall and all
around behind the door, here.

Marc's really keen to keep them
but, unfortunately,

the walls have been a bit massacred
around them and I think...

I think you have to be a bit careful
in a place like this

of keeping stuff just
because it's old.

If it doesn't look very nice,
it's not really worth it.

So they've decided to try painting
their own mural instead.

Marc has re-plastered the ledge
under the window,

and Amy wants to test out
a section there.

I'm going to just try and do
a vague imitation of what they did,

there, just as an idea,
some inspiration.

So I'm going to try

and do little pink flowers that have
actually turned out blood-red,

but there you go, and a yellow
middle and some brown stalks.

Amy's using natural pigments
to paint on wet plaster,

in keeping with the old murals.

Isn't that cute? Very cute.
It just looks...

Apart from it not being
the right shade,

it looks just like the ones
that used to be there, non?

Yeah, it's really nice.

Do you want to have a go? Non. Non?

I wouldn't volunteer either, Marc,

but adding your own personal touches
does make it more special.

You know I'm not good at that.

No, I know, but it's a really
enjoyable experience,

I promise I won't judge you.

But I will, Marc.

It's quite a naive form of painting,
so it doesn't matter so much

if your painting is a bit...naive.

It looks good to me. I can't
wait to see how this turns out.

Over at our place...

Wow, this is amazing.

Thank you.

..chateau owner Rebecca has
popped around in the hope that Angel

can come up with some creative
ideas for her new kitchen.

So I've seen
a picture of your kitchen.

Tell me what stage you're out now.
Is it the same? Yes.

What's it like? What's happening?
what have you got?

We're using bits of the old kitchen.

So when we arrived at the house,

we had a tiny kind of galley
kitchen, then we moved

the units and stuff out of there
into what will now be our kitchen.

OK. Great. Which is nice but, yeah,
interim. It functions as my... OK.

Doesn't look pretty
but it functions.

Well, you know, we had our service
kitchen

and that was our interim kitchen
for...

..up until our wedding,
so about 11 months. Yeah.

But it was fine because you know
that it's not going to

be your forever kitchen and you
just get on with it, don't you?

Yeah, you do.

So what's your dream kitchen like
then? In your mind's eye?

In my mind's eye, the dream kitchen

is kind of very eclectic,
lots of old pieces

of furniture, beautiful granite
worktops, very easy to keep clean.

And I was kind of trying to convince
Tim that we needed some very

nice wooden cabinets made
and all this kind of stuff.

You don't. No.

Sorry, I'm with Tim on that one,

and I feel like I will be on your
side most of the time.

But, actually, I don't think you do.
No.

In the pictures that I've seen,
at the moment, you've got

sort of melamine cabinets and this
beautiful sort of centre island.

Yes. Beautiful.

I think if you try and paint
all of that,

which is probably the plan, isn't
it? Yeah.

Uniform colour.

You get this gorgeous, bright space
and I think in the kitchen,

having that lovely, bright space
is going to be sort of the key

to making it just yours
and wonderful. Yeah.

To give Rebecca an idea of some
of the things we've done...

Do you want to come and see the
kitchen? Yes, I'd love to.

..Angel wants to show
where I spend most of the time

when we're hosting big events.

OK, this is...

I say it's Mr Strawbridge's kitchen.

LAUGHTER

This is where he would stand.

So, now,
I know you've got an island... Yes.

..and a Rayburn. Yes.
But this countertop,

honestly, it is indestructible
and it's really worth...

If you're going to spend money
anywhere,

don't spend it on the carcasses.

No. Cos you can do them cheaply.

And I know you've just got
that eclectic taste in you.

You know, we use things that we
find around the place,

there's a copper tin, there.

You know, it's just,
it's nice, it's homely.

And it's stuff in here
that makes Dick smile. Yeah.

So all his little bits and pieces,
you know, they've all got a story.

One of the stories that still
makes me smile is how Angel created

vintage-looking
tiles for a fraction of the price.

Dick said, You're not allowed
to spend £10,000 on tiles.

I have no idea why!

I think you do.

Angel printed her designs
onto transfer paper

and heat-pressed them
on to sublimation tiles.

And I've got 600 of them to do.

It was well worth the effort
and saved us a small fortune

when we didn't have any money to
spend.

This is going to look great. Mm.

This technique can be
used on lots of kitchen items

and Angel wants to show Rebecca
how she can personalise hers.

This must keep you fit,
up and down the stairs.

You would think so!
I hope she's going to like it.

Coming up...

I'll never get tired of that.

..it's all systems go as Ben and
Billie prepare for the wedding...

Hopefully, I haven't just made
the biggest cat litter

tray in the village.

..Angel starts working her magic...

I love the Breton stripe. Yeah.

You've obviously moved to France
because of it.

Cos of my stripes, yeah.

..and Amy
and Marc's project hits the buffers.

That's not good, that's not good,
that's good, that's good,

that's not good.

You're such a know-it-all.

THEY CHUCKLE

In southeastern France,

Amy and Marc have been working
on design ideas

for their luxury B&B guest suite.

The bathroom layout has now
been reconfigured.

See here...?

In the bedroom, they've come with up
with an extravagant way to

replace the old wallpaper panels.

So, we're having fabrics
hand-painted.

We found this incredible
designer in the UK,

who's going to do a different
design on each one,

with a theme from our own travels
and places we've been together.

And when she's finished,
we will mount them ourselves

into the old frames.

I think now that we've got these
horrible, old '70s wallpapers off,

it's a bit easier to imagine what
a difference it's going to make.

It's going to be so
bright and beautiful.

Sounds exciting.

The first one will be
finished in two months.

So, for now, they have to make
do with a sample.

These are an example of her leaves.

It's just going to look
so bright and lovely,

and flowers, and things like that.

It's going to be really,
really nice.

With the decoration
for the walls decided,

they now want to start
sanding the parquet floor.

I'm looking to get
rid of the varnish.

It just looks a bit miserable.

But what I don't want to do
is sand away the floor

cos you can't get it back
and it's beautiful.

Amy wants to test a small
area in the corner.

So, I just put it down
and then turn it on?

Yeah.

The sander they have to hand is
meant for walls and ceilings,

so they're not going to do
the whole job with it.

Rather than try to follow
the veins of the wood.

OK. So, you do it like this on this
side and then like this.

Can I try? Yeah, yeah.

It's crucial they
sand along the grain,

otherwise they run
the risk of gouging the wood.

Put your weight like this and...

OK. ..voila.

Their ultimate goal is to remove
all the old varnish,

then finish it with beeswax.

That's...I'm unilaterally deciding
that that's enough of a sample.

There's still a long way to go,

as only bits of the varnish have
been sanded away.

Does that look all right?

Is it not enough still?

Yeah, it needs finishing, but...

LAUGHING: No, but, I mean,
am I getting somewhere with it?

Is that still not down enough?

This is good, that's not good,
that's not good, that's good.

That's good, that's not good.

You're such a know-it-all.

While Marc tries to smooth it out,

Amy takes a breather,

safe in the knowledge they're going
to have to get the right

bit of kit when they get
round to doing it for real.

Over at our place...

Oh, this lovely.
I want one of these.

..Angel has brought
chateau owner Rebecca

up to her craft
room in the attic.

It's a nice place to be, for me,
because it's so high up.

And calm and quiet.
No-one bothers me. Yeah.

She spends many hours up here,
working her creative magic,

and wants to show Rebecca a simple
way to personalise her new

kitchen without it
costing a fortune.

Kitchen tea towels in France. Yeah.

I mean, they don't really
get better, do they?

No, they are gorgeous.

And they all use this gorgeous,
really thick, heavy linen

because they've also got to be...
Functional. ..functional.

That's why I wanted you to use
these ones... Yeah, definitely.

..because these are actual French
tea towels.. Yeah, perfect.

..that no-one wants,
they're unloved.

ANGEL MOCK CRIES

Angel loves a tea towel and wants
to customise some for Rebecca,

by using her chateau
logo on plain ones

she's picked up for a euro each.

Right, do you want to cut
the rest of these up? Yeah.

I'm actually just going to
press these. OK.

By simply transferring the logo onto
a standard T-shirt transfer,

it's a straightforward job.

We're going to use a heat press for
this because I've got one. Yeah.

But you totally don't need a heat
press. OK. You can use just an iron.

HEAT PRESS BEEPS

It doesn't take long,

20 seconds, in fact.

Ooh, it's hot.

That's a hot baby.
Yeah, that looks really good.

Angel's not finished yet, though,

as no French tea towel is
complete without stripes.

I LOVE the Breton stripe. Yep.

You've obviously moved to
France because of it.

Yeah, because of my stripes, yeah.

So, I think we should be
inspired, kind of, by that

and the colours, which is
obviously, it's navy blue,

but it can be a red, and,
you know, different things.

In order to create coloured stripes
that don't wash away,

Angel is using
watered-down fabric dye.

The water in the fabric dye makes
a lot of difference, doesn't it?

It does, yeah. It really stops
it from being so intense

and makes it, sort of, a lot like
kind of old tick fabric. Yeah.

And then it looks like
it's... Aged. ..aged.

We all, us chateau owners, all like
old things, don't we? We do.

To finish them off,
they need to be left to dry...

Lovely. Yeah.

..before giving a final iron
to set the dye.

I think they look nice.
Yeah, they do.

Well done. Well done, you.

And Angel has other ideas to
extend the stripy

theme around Rebecca's kitchen.

I have got a few more bits for you.

Look, simple white china,
porcelain paint, masking tape.

Very similar to what you do.
So, that's for you. Thank you.

To stripe or not to stripe,
that is the question. Yeah.

But, if you've put a little
bit of a Breton stripe on these...

Yeah, perfect.

Lastly, but not least,
your works of art.

Ah.

A box of goodies, thank you.
A box of goodies.

Right, let me carry this
down for you. Thank you.

Ahh.

BOTH LAUGH

It's been such a lovely afternoon.

It's just been nice to
have an afternoon away

from the craziness of our place.

It's given me lots of
ideas for different things

I can try to jazz up
the kitchen a bit.

Lovely to meet you,
thank you so much.

Best of luck with everything.
It's been lovely.

It's going to be lovely, the first
room we're doing for ourselves,

so that's a big, big deal for us.

Bye. Bye, my love.

Best of luck, Rebecca.

Can't wait to see how you get on.

Over at Chateau la Grande Maison,

it's just over a month
until Billie's brother's wedding

and she's determined to make it
a day to remember.

What's the plan?
Right, this old space.

So, she wants to transform a small

disused room in an outbuilding
to have a bit more outdoor space.

I think making this into a little
Moroccan outdoor lounge.

That'd be lovely, yeah.
Would that be nice?

That'd be fantastic.

I don't think we need to do anything
with the walls or the floor,

it's really characterful, isn't it?
Just give it a good clean.

Yeah. I just think, just dress it.

I've been picking up all
this Moroccan stuff.

I love anything Moroccan. Yeah.

And I've got us these nice big
cushions and, you know,

like, brass things,
and little lanterns and stuff.

So, I think, literally,
make it look like, you know,

like if you went to a bazaar. Yeah.

OK.

But Billie's not the only
one on a mission to impress.

Ben's started working on
the chateau's lighting display,

which he hopes will
provide the perfect backdrop

for the evening celebrations.

As soon as I saw the house,

I knew we had to do some
beautiful lighting project -

it was crying out for it.

It's taken a while to get round
to it, but this wedding...

A lot of the events are
all in the garden,

the evening meal is in the garden,

so it's the perfect moment
to get this project completed.

Before he starts
putting in the lights,

Ben is creating a gravel border.

Hopefully I haven't just made
the biggest cat litter

tray in the village.

Whether the local cats will find it,
hopefully not.

To achieve the effect Ben wants,

he's bought 26 multicoloured
LED lights for around £170...

..and each of them needs
to be strategically placed.

The main features we're going to
pull out with the lighting is

the columns of the orangery,
and the arches of the pressoir,

so you're creating
an impression of the house,

rather than a full
floodlight of the house.

I think it's going to look amazing.

I can't wait for the night when we
switch them on for the first time.

I've got it pictured in my mind,
what it's going to look like,

but until we try it, who knows?

Never get tired of that.

Billie's also made good
progress in the outbuilding...

..and is using bargains she's picked
up at local flea markets

for the finishing touches.

Can I come in?

You can enter my secret Moroccan
retreat, you're allowed in.

Wow.

Fantastic.

Using just cheap, second-hand
furniture and ornaments,

Billie has transformed
this disused space

into an inviting lounge
for the wedding.

It'll be fantastic for the
wedding, what a lovely space.

I was thinking,
by the end of the night,

we'll want somewhere to come and
sit. Come in here for mint tea.

Sit in here. So, yeah.

Cheers. Cheers, well done.

Coming up...

I've got the paintings.

..Amy and Marc still have
problems to iron out...

Oh, yeah, that is splutter...ooh.
Yeah, that's the problem.

Oh, it's all brown.

..and Ben goes to town for
Billie's brother's wedding.

It's not the size of the wine
press that matters,

it's what you do with it,
apparently.

In southeastern France,

Amy and Marc have roped in another
set of friends, Katie

and Chris, to help them put up new
wall panels in their guest suite.

It's a big day, as their specially
commissioned hand-painted

fabrics have arrived.

I've got the paintings.

Let's smack
the paintings on the wall.

Right. That's exciting.

Each design is based
on their travelling adventures,

so let's hope they really like them.

There.

Oh, that's the Rwenzori
from our honeymoon. Oh, that's nice.

Oh, look at that.

Beautiful.

Look at that. This is it.

SHE GASPS

Is it the one with the iguana on it,
as well?

Yes, the iguana in the tree.

This is it.
Look at the colours on that.

Still a little bit... Do you think
we should iron it or not?

Maybe we could just steam iron
the... The edges.

..the edges that are white anyway.
Yeah, yeah, OK.

Sounds like Marc's erring
on the side of caution.

Will you hold it against me
if I ruin our painting? Yes.

SHE LAUGHS

Thankfully,
mate Katie has agreed to oversee.

Are you a bit of an expert
with a steam iron?

I've had steam irons for years.
Do you want to... Nope.

SHE LAUGHS

Not worth the risk, is it? No.

To avoid unwanted marks,

Katie wants Amy to first test it
out on the bedsheet.

So do it on here first
just in case it splutters.

Oh, yeah, that is spluttering. Ooh.
Yeah. That's the problem.

Oh. Oh, it's all brown.

The first time you use it,
that's what I was worried about.

You need to iron a bit, first.

God, thank goodness you said that.
Yeah, you don't want to...

I've ruined many a T-shirt.

A potential disaster
has been averted.

There's a bit...
Do you want me to clean that?

It does not bear thinking about.

You know, the thing that goes wrong
is usually

the thing that you
haven't thought about,

so I've been really worried about
ripping it when it's on the wall,

I didn't think about
what would happen

if the iron exploded on the fabric.
Yeah.

When starting on the artwork,

Amy decides not to take any chances
and uses a tea towel for protection.

My first time using a steam iron is

when I'm doing
something as precious as this.

With no harm done, Amy wants to get
a sense of how it looks on the wall.

Let's see.
You've got the top end there.

They've already
put in a padded panel,

so they just have to hang
the fabric on top.

Up like that.

Right, we'll step back
and have a look at that.

That's not bad. Yay! Whoo!

Are you happy? It's so much.

I can't wait to hang the other ones.

I know, I can't.

This was just our first
attempt at putting one up.

To cover the edges,
we'll have some sort of edging,

like a ribbon or something,
we haven't chosen yet.

So it will look like a beautifully
finished painting at the end.

It's going to be like living
in a tropical paradise in here.

Can you imagine just lying
in that four-poster bed

and looking round the walls?
It's going to be incredible.

I'm so happy with it.

It's a great start but with
the floor to do and a bathroom to

install, they're still some way off
being ready for their first guests.

260 miles away,
near the Loire Valley...

Lights either side here
and one light there.

..Billie's brother Pete
and fiancee Sam have arrived,

to check on the final wedding
preparations.

So they start on the floor.

Although Ben is going to have
to make do without Billie,

who's been booked for a last-minute
gig in the UK.

She's got this great job in the UK.
It would have been handy

if it was last week
but it's this week,

so we're just cracking on with it,
but it's going to plan.

Today, Ben's called in a favour,

as he wants to set up a bar area
in the chateau's winery.

One, two, three.

So mate Ronnie has kindly agreed to
lend him part of an old wine press.

LAUGHTER

I'm just going to...

My boards are three metres.

To make the bar, Ben simply plans to
stick three boards on top of it.

Ah.

155, so it will be 150. Voila.

But it looks as though it's going
to be too wide for them.

I think it's too big for the boards.

What we could do is use my wine
press for the bar

and put this wine press
where my wine press is.

Sounds like a plan
as Ben's one is a lot narrower.

Yours is bigger than mine, Ronnie.
Yep.

It's not the size of the wine
press that matters,

it's what you do with it. How you
use it, yeah.

Maybe go to your left, Pete.
Put it in there.

Back in the day,
these wine press casings

would have been filled to the brim
with grapes.

And using them as a bar will ensure
the winery has some

extra-special charm
when it comes to the wedding day.

That's going to be great.

So we've got a couple of barrels
we've bought to go on here.

With the bar sorted,

it just leaves the boys to put
Ronnie's one into place.

To me, to you, to me, to you.

Ooh, perfect. There you go.

Time to see what the
bride-to-be thinks.

Oh, that's fantastic! I love it!

Oh, brilliant.

Let's get the full effect.

Sam. Ronnie. Cheers, Pete.

There you go, Pete, I'll take that
one, you have that one.

Thanks, everyone. Cheers. Cheers.

Oh, fantastic.

With the night drawing in,

Ben can finally show off
the chateau's new light display.

Do a Nasa countdown.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Blast-off!

Wow!

Oh, yes! Amazing.

Shows off the arches.
Well done, Ben.

Thank you. It is really nice.
Really, really pretty.

Ben has one final trick
up his sleeve.

We can have that
colour for the party. Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, I like the natural look,
so let's not go for any day-glow.

OK.

You can't win them all, Ben,
but it's not dampened the bride

and grooms' spirits.

It looks fantastic, doesn't it?
It does. It looks amazing.

Really like it.

I'm really, really happy.
I'm especially pleased that Pete

and Sam really loved it cos
your wedding is all about creating

magic and lighting in the evening
and everything.

It's all kind of coming
together now,

and I can't
wait for the weekend to start.

Cheers! Thank you.
Cheers, cheers. Cheers, guys.

Cheers, Emma. Cheers, Ronnie.

Next time...

Rain stops play for Ben and Billie.

Hopefully,
it's just going to blow through

and we're going to be fashionably
late, as a bride should be.

I recruit the children to help me
in the garden.

We have to go all the way.

But Arthur has other ideas.

Hey, I can't see!

Amy and Marc are hoping
to finish their B&B suite,

if the livestock will allow.

LAUGHING
Stop it! Pack it in!

No. No.

And things reach breaking
point for Tim and Rebecca.

I'm so fed up of this house!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media