Original subtitles

NARRATOR: On Salvage Hunters,

Industrial relics resemble works of art.

Oh, my God, look at that. It's absolutely brilliant.

Allegiances are tested.

It's worth about 350.Yeah. Shall we call it 350?

Four-fifty. Take no notice of him. (LAUGHS)

And nothing gets in the way of a promising deal.

I've never done this before. Yeah, yeah, come on. Show me how it's done. Come on.

Hoo-hoo-hoo!

Drew Pritchard is one of Britain's leading

antique and decorative salvage dealers.

It's a great looking thing. It's a fab thing.

Joined on the road by queen of the haggle and quick flip, Viki Knott...

Two seven five the lot?Yeah. Yeah, I'll take them.

... and lover of all things weathered and wonderful,

Alister Dryburgh...

It just needs a load of cleaning. You clean it, I'll sell it. Can we do it the other way round?

... Drew is sharing the knowledge... What are those, Drew?

They're great little mill carts. ... and expertise...

Three-step Anglepoise. Rare as hell.

God, it's an education already!

... he's gained over the past three decades.

It'd have to be a really buy-me-now price, but I don't think it will be. Five fifty, Drew.

(LAUGHTER)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

So we're off to Matlock today to Masson Mills.

Derbyshire.Derbyshire, yeah. Lovely. Beautiful.

Um, a first for me. This place is... Have you been anywhere?

Not many places outside Aberystwyth. (CHUCKLES)

I do venture outside Caerdydd sometimes.Okay.

But not to a big mill like this. The start of the Industrial Revolution.

I'm excited about this, I'm not gonna lie.

I'm looking forward to this one. It's huge, apparently.

Today, Drew and Alister are heading 115 miles due east into Derbyshire

where they've heard a former mill is undergoing a transformation.

Drew knows from experience that when a business changes direction

it can create a unique buying opportunity

for the likes of him and Al.

These guys have got a problem. They want to clear it out...

Yeah. ... so they can develop.Okay.

Isn't it like self-sufficient, he said?

With hydroelectric or something? Something like that.Good, yeah.

I don't know. I'm excited.

From antiquity, Matlock in Derbyshire

was the site of lead mining.

But in the late 18th century,

seeking to harvest the power of the River Derwent,

Richard Arkwright built an extraordinary cotton mill here.

One of the great innovators of the Industrial Revolution,

Arkwright had invented spinning machines

that mechanised the labour-intensive processes

of transforming raw cotton to woven fabric.

Today, Masson Mill has been bought by a hydroelectric business

and the River Derwent is now generating renewable energy

for the National Grid.

But the building's heritage has been preserved

by creating a working textile museum.

Dean Needle is one of three brothers in charge of the venture.

We're primarily a hydroelectric power generator, erm, and operator.

When we first moved in, when we were looking around, we were struck by

how much interesting stuff there is here.

So we want people to engage, so we've opened a Visitor Centre.

Erm, we've brought this room back into life.

This is a working textile museum, which is a great feature of the mill.

It's great for Drew and Alister to come and be with us today.

It's wonderful that they want to look around,

see what other people might like to share.

I don't know if I'm any good at haggling.

My two brothers are also directors of this company,

so if I'm pushed a bit hard, I might have to get

some authority from them as well.

Hello. Hello.Hi.

How you doing? Dean.Drew.

Drew, good to meet you. Hi. Alister. You all right? Yes, thank you.

Welcome to Masson Mills. Yeah.

You'll have to explain what's going on 'cause I know

none of this sort of really says what you guys are doing now. Not at all.

So we're a hydroelectric power company, erm, first and foremost.

So we've got 16 turbines across the UK generating renewable electricity.

We've diversified, we've increased the business

and bought Masson Mill. So this is a huge mill,

it was built in 1783 by Sir Richard Arkwright.

It's thought to be the finest surviving example of his mills.

It's huge. It's massive, isn't it? It is.

There's a lot of heritage here.

See all these metal things you've got?Yeah.What are they?

These are healds. Hills?

Healds. H-E-A-L-D-S.

They're used in the weaving process.

We've got a huge amount of them. We've found

they're great for decking the ceiling.

In the conference suite, we've used them as a divider. They're really versatile.Yeah.

Straight away I'm seeing that they're using elements of the mill

to decorate it, and I have to say

it's really beautifully done.

So I've got high hopes for today. This is just one room.

Oh, man, look at that!

So the water that's coming underneath us here...Yeah.

... is all going through that water turbine and it'll produce

up to 160 kilowatts to power this site.

Any spare is sold through the National Grid.

We generate nine gigawatt hours annually, er,

which is a fair amount of power.

What a great thing that is. You know, using these old buildings

to generate electricity today in a completely green way.

I'm all for that. It's a really good use.

But what comes along with that

is an enormous building full of stuff.

(GASPS) Look at that!

So this is the textile museum. (GASPS)

So is all this working? Many of the machines do work.

These machines, when running, make their own cloth.

We make our own string on site as well.Wow!

So we are still a functioning textile museum.

I like that. Wow.

This is when engineering becomes art.

It's great, isn't it? Yeah, that's wicked.

This place is brilliant. We're in the weaving shed.

They do tours here. They get all these machines up and running.

You can just imagine the noise, the smell of it. Brilliant.

These are good. (KNOCKS METAL)

They're fire bins. I think they held sand.Ah, okay.

Saleable? What do you think?

Yeah. Really?Don't you?

No. Don't you?No.

Honest? No, I don't think so, no.

Well, you can sell anything, but you know, there's...

Look at his little face.

Have you got a couple with that font on the front?

I think we've got another one with font. There's a lot of rooms to check.

Okay. Okay. (CHUCKLES)

Yeah, I'd love to buy two with the font.Right, okay.

I just think that is wonderful.

The look of that, you know. We've got more than that as well.

Have you?So that's what the ceiling was decorated with upstairs as we walked in, yeah?Yep.

Could do something with them, couldn't you? So many different things.

I see them going over... You know when you see all these awful lights, like modern strip lights?

There's no point buying five or six, you need to buy a lot.Yes.

Well, they come in sets of four, so that's actually just two there.

They're normally four in a string.

So, we've got this big, big rack of these healds.

Loads of them. I think it's very, very important

just to show people what you can do with these things

because they're just bits of wood with wire on, at the end of the day.

So you have to explain to people, take a picture of what you've seen,

and say, "This is what you can do with these. Look."

A revolutionary component at mechanised looms,

first designed in the 18th century...

... wooden heald frames lifted the vertical threads, or warp,

so that the horizontal threads, or weft, could be woven through.

Fuelled by cheap cotton harvested by enslaved people in the American South,

this process created not only fabric

but vast wealth for British industrialists.

With decorative potential, and complex social history,

Al thinks these relics could be worth around £80 each.

If I took 60 off you,

I'd be looking to pay 20 for the group of four.

Yep. And you're looking for 60 units altogether?Yes. Yeah.

Yeah, we could do that. Yeah?Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Good.

You've got to sell them the whole story.

They've come out from a huge mill in Derbyshire.

The start of the Industrial Revolution.

Just give it all. Just tell them everything about these things and that helps it sell.

Look at that! Look at that! (LAUGHS)

This is the largest collection of bobbins in the world. Oh, my God, look at that!

They're everywhere, aren't they?

Whoever has done this just needs a medal.

It's absolutely brilliant.

Do come in.

Okay. Oh, it's great.

As it goes back, there's stuff that goes all the way back to the 18th century,

to the beginning of the mill. Really interesting.

They're doing it right. They're saving the right things.

But I'm starting to see things of real interest to me.

I really like this thing. Wow, yeah.

Oh, God, yeah.

The wear on it's really good, isn't it?Yeah.

I'll check on that one. I'd be interested in that.

Yup. That's got a lot going on.

It's just a shelf. So this would have been above

a lathe, or a polishing station, or a drill, or something.

And it's for putting chucks,

or tools, or drill heads, or whatever.

And it's just acquired this wonderful shape

and colour and wear and scale and size,

and it's almost like a little miniature sort of landscape in itself.

It isn't just a dirty old bit of wood.

If I give you a bid on it... Yep.

One-twenty. Right, okay.

So, I'll leave that with you. Yeah.

You can decide what you want to do. And you'll come back at 150.

I'm not gonna pay you 150. Right.It's 120.

(LAUGHS) Let's cut that out. Yeah.

Hello. Drew's found something that he's interested in.

It's an old tool rack. A tool rack, we think.

And he'd like to give us an offer on that.

Do you think it's for sale?

2 NARRATOR: In Derbyshire, changes at

a former powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution

have provided a unique buying opportunity for Drew and Al.

I like that. Wow.

This is when sort of engineering becomes art.

And Drew wants to buy a characterfully worn tool shelf

which he feels has decorative potential.

But he doesn't want to pay more than £120.

Drew's found something that he's interested in

and he'd like to give us an offer on that.

Do you think it's for sale? Great. Thank you.

It's okay. It's okay?

It's okay to go, so what was that, 120? A hundred and 20, yeah.

It's nice, that. Go on.

Thanks very much. Okay?Yeah.

I was massively excited, when I got going in the early 90s,

um, getting called in to mills and factories

all around the northwest of England, just like this.

And I look back on it and think just how lucky we were

going through these factories and mills

when we were the last people to see them in that state.

Nobody else was gonna see them again in that complete state.

So to see one that's so complete 30 years later is remarkable.

Skip Warehouse. That's all right, innit?

As we're walking around from room to room,

there's a lot of these fire bins, I think they're called.

But some are better than others. Some have got that wording on the front

from which room they were from,

and they've got that nice crusty, worn look to them.

But not every one's got the wording and they're the ones I'm keen on.

Would you be prepared to let that one and the one downstairs go?

Yeah.Yeah? Where are you starting on that?

Starting and ending. (THEY LAUGH)

Um, 50 quid each. Hundred for the pair.

Fifty each. Yeah, again, that's what I was thinking,

so I'm quite happy with that. Cool.Great stuff.Lovely.

Drew's turned his nose up at them. He doesn't rate them at all.

But I think they've got something.

They've got "Fire" on them. Put your logs in it,

put your coal in it. Put anything you want in it, it'll look great.

And they don't need a lot of work. Just a wipe over. Fantastic.

I like this. Yeah, it's fun.

Yeah, that's fun, isn't it?

I like that. Fab thing.

Drew pulled it out. It was a small little trolley.

I think it probably housed some kind of sewing machine or something originally.

The height of it's right. The look of it's right.

The wear of it's right.

At the side of the sofa, put your glass of wine on it,

push it over to somebody else,

and they can use it too. It's brilliant.

Were you having a go on that, Drew? No, you can.You sure?

Tell me what you want for that. It can go. Um...

One-fifty. No.

It's too much for that, innit? Honestly, it's 30 quid too much.

Yeah. It's 120 quid and no more,

I'm afraid. To me anyhow. You pay what you want for it.

But that's where I'm at. Yeah. I was 100,

so do you want to do 120? Add five?

One-twenty?One two five. Go on, then.Yup.That's fair.

Cool. Thank you.

This is where we're in our element. This is where we want to be.

As antique dealers,

we want to go to places like this every day.

We want to root through stuff, rummage, and find good things.

And we did. That is a lovely, lovely little thing.

That's a nice one.

It's just about all right.

That's a 40, 45 quid thing in that state.

Forty-five's all right. All right?Yeah. I'll shake your hand on that one.

If we sort of can put a few of those together, that would be great.

If not, you know. Have a dig around.Yeah.

These mills, cotton mills, would have these wicker baskets

for lots of reasons. They were very quick and cheap to make.

They were light, and they were very, very strong.

They still are. They were just a practical thing

and millions of them were made.

What does that say on there? Can you read it?

I think it's just figures, isn't it? Six one two nine, I think.

And they have to be the right scale and colour,

and they have to be old. But they can't be broken.

They just can't, because they're just not worth fixing, there's not enough money in them.

That's the size. That's the size you want.Yep.

So, that one I'll pay £80 for, as it is.

So, twice the price of the other one.I'm happy with that. Sorry about the dirty hands.

Mine are the same. Thank you.

The only problem with them, and it's always the same with these, is they're filthy.

And if you've ever tried to clean a wicker basket,

they are a bit of a nightmare, to be honest.

First, you use an air hose to get all the dust off as you can,

then you've still got to clean it. But they don't hang around long. They will go.

Right, then. We'll have to start loading all this stuff up.

And you'll need to pick up those. And you'll have to go up to the attic to bring that load down.Yeah.

Yeah, okay. Brilliant. Thank you. Let's do that. Okay.

A fantastic day. Meeting Dean today

and the massive, I mean huge job they've taken on doing this place,

and looking after it and retaining the integrity of the history,

you know, good on 'em.

But I'm very grateful they called us in, and I think we'll be coming back,

'cause there's more layers of this that are as yet untouched.

There's rooms below us that are just full,

which we couldn't even get into today.

We're at the start of the journey with this mill.

Right. Dean, thank you, mate. Much appreciated.

Thanks for coming. Thanks, Alister. Thank you very much.

Take care. Bye-bye. Cheers. Ta.

It's been really nice walking around a mill that I know well

and seeing them see it for the first time. Erm,

see how excited they are about things we've got here,

the space, just the history of the site.

It's been really nice to see that almost afresh through their eyes. It's been great.

Right, so, Masson Mill, what do you reckon?

I did all right. I did all right. I bought some different things.

Things I didn't expect to buy, really. Healds.

Wasn't it healds? Heald?Heald.

Heald.Yeah. They were a bit of a risky one,

but what they did with them upstairs,

if I could sort of replicate that in my shop...

You'll sell 'em. ... they're gonna go, aren't they? The little trolley,

it's a nice little thing, isn't it? It's charming.Yeah.

And there is a hell of a lot more to come out of there.Yeah.

There's a month in that one room, you know, clearing it.

And shifting through it, finding stuff, yeah.

But happy. Happy.

Change at the historic mill has made for a great haul,

but before they head back to Wales,

the boys are continuing their trip eastwards,

travelling another 200 miles towards the Suffolk coast,

where a fellow antique dealer and old contact of Drew's

has also been transforming his business.

Today, we're gonna meet a guy called Dominic Straiton.

And Dominic is somebody who I've been buying off for a while,

but online. You've never met him.

I've never met him.Right. But today

is the opening day of his new showroom.

Really?Nobody's been in. We're gonna be the first through the door?

We're first through the door. Excellent.

A market town since the 13th century,

the prosperity of Halesworth in northeast Suffolk

has long made it a haven

for traders of the finer things in life.

One reason why it's now home to an expert dealer

who began his long career in the antiques trade

as an 18-year-old porter at Christie's,

Dominic Straiton.

I've been doing this quite a long time.

It's the hunt, isn't it? Just finding things that you like

and making a profit on them. Can't get better than that.

So I moved out of London. I found this house

that had been empty for five years. I thought that's the house for me.

The back walls are knackered, so we're working on that at the moment.

The house was full of my stuff,

so I thought I'll get it in the shop and we can have more room in here.

My style's mainly English country house - upholstery,

furniture. I try and buy furniture that's got a bit of colour about it.

Good patina, originality. All those things.

I know Drew. I've sold to him before.

I've never met Alister, so let's see what happens.

What a frontage. It is pretty good, isn't it? Bloomin' heck.

Dominic, hi. Hello, Drew. Nice to see you.

And you. Nice to meet you. And you.

Hello, Dominic. I'm Alister. Alister, nice to meet you.

Come in.

Ooh, this is smart. It is, isn't it? Very nice.

Very nice. Wow.

How long have you been here? One day.

One day. (LAUGHTER)

Yeah, moved in yesterday.

It looks great.

You walk through the door, and within seconds

you're going you're in the presence of somebody who really knows what they're doing.

A very educated eye.

English, Irish, and a little smattering of Italian furniture.

All of the right bits in all the right condition.

That's nice too, Dominic. Yeah.Like that. It's very me. I love that.

I just love that paint. And the legs.

I really like the offset keyholes. I didn't even notice that.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

We've just barely walked into the shop

and my eyes are everywhere, 'cause Drew's eyes are everywhere.

You've got to act quick. When you're with him,

you've got to be really quick,

because he's been doing it for years, he's on it.

So I've got to try and get on it before him.

There's this vernacular table.

It's just got everything I love about a piece of furniture.

What have you got on that? Er, 600.

Is that your best?

Five fifty? Yeah.

Lovely. Love it. Yeah? Thank you.

That was quick.

It's chunky, it's got six drawers.

But the paint on it, that's what I love about it.

It's got that black crusty paint.

And I think there's a little bit of red coming through.

I'm very, very happy with that.

This is nice. I was looking at that.

I really like that. Lovely. This came in last week.

Very blokey, very masculine piece.

And it's wider than normal. Normally, you'll find these

and they're quite dainty. They're sort of yay wide.

This one's that wide.

But the base itself has got a little bit too much rubbish all over it.

It's covered in French polish, which is gonna have to come off. Apart from that, it's good as gold.

The early 19th-century English craftsman

who built this unusually-sized writing desk

created the unique pattern of the tabletop

by using the bur of an oak tree.

The bur is a rounded outgrowth containing dormant buds

which yield very decorative timber.

Oak leaves have also been carved into the spandrels

either side of the frieze drawer,

and with some restoration to the base

Drew thinks it could be worth around £1,400.

£1,000. Very nice.

There's a good profit in there.

Hmm.

2 NARRATOR: In Suffolk, the newly-transformed business

of a veteran dealer could mean rich pickings for Drew and Al.

How long have you been here? Er, one day.

One day. (LAUGHTER)

Yeah, moved in yesterday.

And Drew's fallen for a stunning 200-year-old bur oak desk.

£1,000. Very nice.

There's a good profit in there. Hmm.

Yes.Cheers, Drew. Thank you very much.

Very nice.

£1,000.

That is a come-buy-me price.

There's money left in that, because the thing is ripe itself.

(LAUGHS) I picked that up.

You were looking at the table. You helped me... You were looking at the table.

That's very good of you. Thank you. (LAUGHS)

As we're on the desk, I could see

Alister going for that little plaster arm.

And I thought I'm just gonna mess with him, so I picked it up.

I knew he was trying to buy it. I want it really,

it's my sort of thing, and he...

And you could see him going... (MIMICS WHIMPERING)

Get back to the table and give me that arm.

Drew's looking at this table in great depth.

It's not really for me. All is can see on this table

is this arm. So I grab it.

And I could see his eyes light up.

He knows it's a good thing.

So I thought right, I'm keeping this arm with me.

What do you call it? Ecorche.

Ecorche. So it's a flayed arm.

So it hasn't got any skin on it. No.

So it's used for either medical or artistic...

You know, to learn about the muscles.

They get them in full-size figures, small figures,

arms, legs, heads, hands, limbs, hearts.

I mean, all sorts really. And they've got their own sort of... I love 'em.

That sinister beauty to it. I went straight to that.

It's nice, innit?

Eighty-five quid.

(CHUCKLES)

Eighty-five pound. I was expecting more than 85 pound.

Couldn't get my arm out my pocket quick enough.

I hung onto it a bit then gave it to him. He ended up buying it.

Really nice. Eighty-five quid. Um, I'll buy it off him later.

From around the 15th century,

western artists became interested in painting the human body

with accurate anatomy.

Artists would find opportunities to watch medical dissections

of cadavers. And the ecochet, a plaster figure

with the skin removed to show the musculature, became popular.

This skilfully rendered plaster arm, dating from around 1880,

is now an intriguing decorative piece which Al thinks could fetch

around £350.

Oh, it's good in here, isn't it? Ooph, look at that.

Nice chair I thought you might like. That's got everything on it.

They've gone to town on that. I like that. That's nice.

Look at the casters. Oh, yeah. God almighty.

There is a carved armchair.

Again, almost exactly the same age

as the desk I've just bought in the main room.

Mid 1830s to early 1840s.

Rosewood. Heavily carved all over. Really not my thing.

But there's something about it.

I'm not sure about this. I'm not sure. It'd have to be a really sort of buy-me-now price,

but I don't think it will be. Five-fifty, Drew.

(LAUGHTER)

Yeah, that's very buyable, isn't it?

(LAUGHS) I've got to buy that, haven't I? I've got no choice.

There's money left in it. That's what Dominic does so well. It's the old-fashioned dealer way.

Really good things, spin them over as quickly as you can for a small profit.All right, Drew.

And you will sell stuff all day long.

Okay. Anywhere else to see, Dom? Yeah, we'll go round the house.

Let's do that. A few bits there?Yeah.Brilliant.

Dominic says, "Look, I live a two-minute walk away.

I've got more stuff in the house."

I've got to have a look at that.

A major restoration on the back wall of this house.

Ooh, look at that. This is it, yeah? Yeah.

That's lovely! What a cracker.

I love these finials.

That wall looks like it's about to fall over. I like that.Yeah.

Anyway, come in. We're going through this window.

Over the planks. Over the planks and through the window.

So he says, "Come through the front garden, come through the bay window." Like burglars.

I've never done this before. (LAUGHS)

Yeah, yeah. Come on, show me how it's done. Come on. (LAUGHS)

(SARCASTICALLY) Never done it before. Hoo-hoo-hoo!

But we come into this room and it's full of great things.

You know, again, we are into the home

of an educated, experienced antique dealer.

Oh, wow, what a great room. Whoa. Yes.

What's that sword, Dominic?

My dad gave me that when I was 12. Your dad gave you it?

Yeah. Did he?Yeah.

When you were 12? Yeah. Could hardly lift it up.

Is it bigger than me? It is, isn't it?

He gave me these as well. Bloody hell.

Pretty rough where you grew up, was it?(LAUGHTER)

It's all the fun of just dealing, you know?

If you get into antique dealing, it isn't a normal life.

You've got to expect the unexpected.

And if somebody says, "Come through the front window", as long as it's legal, go through the front window.

Ooh, hello, more. I love these little things.

Mmm. That's a nice one.That's lovely.

That sort of grotesque nature, I think lots of people

find beauty in it, don't they? Mmm.

That's why they're so collectable.

So we come into the hallway and then there was these, um,

beautiful plaster figures again.

One of them strikes me straight away

and it's a smaller version of it, a sort of darker grey.

So what's this one? That's Italian.About 1880? 1900?

Probably earlier than that, actually.Really?Yeah.Okay.

This one is 400.

I think there's a bit of guilt coming over me that, okay,

I had the arm back in the shop and Drew wanted it,

so I thought let's leave him to these.

How much was it? Four.Four.Four, innit?

Yeah, I'll have it. Thank you. Got to have that. It's lovely.

Isn't that beautiful! It is nice.Isn't it?

They're scarce. They're not rare, they're scarce.

He said, "That one's Italian, I've got all the history on it. It's about 1830." I was like, "Wow!"

What a wonderful thing. £400. Shake the man's hand. Have it. Yeah.

Lovely.Nice. Okay, well, I think we're done.

So if we go and get the van... Start loading up. ... and start loading everything up.

Superb. All right. Thank you very much.

What a day with Dominic. Me and Al were the first people through door of his brand-new shop.

And my word, does it look smart.

Bought really well there.

Then he said, "Come back to the house." We've come back to this place.

We had to go through the window. Everything's a first.

Every day's a new day in this job

and today has been a really good day

and I bought well.

Today's been brilliant. Not what I expected at all.

Dominic, an absolute gent.

And his prices were good.

He looked after us really well.

It's been a pleasure. Thank you very much.

Nice to meet you. And you, too.See you again soon.

Be in touch.Bye. Thank you. Bye-bye.

So what did you think of Dominic and his place? That shop looks the nuts, doesn't it?

What a nice bloke, too, huh? What a nice bloke.

And, like you said, his prices were brilliant.

Very happy.

He's just a, just a fantastic contact and a thoroughly nice man. Yeah.

I must say, I drove away from there thinking

I should have just bought all of it. How much is all of it?

Just buy the lot.

Back in South Wales, Al's decided to do some homework

on the ecochet plaster model of an arm

which caught both his and Drew's attention in Suffolk.

What I've learnt is these things go back to the Renaissance.

Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo,

A name that keep popping up

when I'm doing this research is Jean-Antoine Hudon.

A lot of his work seems to be in the Louvre in Paris.

The 18th-century sculptor Jean-Antoine Udon's most iconic ecochet

has been copied for use in art schools for centuries.

But among Udon's work, Al's made a fascinating discovery.

So, this sculpture on the screen is by Jean-Antoine Hudon.

And mine is very, very similar,

although not done by the master himself.

But the form of the arm is very, very similar,

the way it's held up...

... is pretty much identical.

So, I can quite safely say that

this is in the style, in the manner of Hudon.

And that, in my opinion, is gonna add value to it.

That's what's good about this game. It's not only buying the item,

it's looking into it, it's researching it

it's learning from it,

and then moving it on.

I'm pretty sure I'll come out with a tidy profit on it.

It's such a good thing.

It's been a superb buying week already,

but the boys are heading 191 miles southeast into Herefordshire

where Drew's heard of another business

that's going through some changes.

Today we are in Ross-on-Wye.

Ross-on-Wye. I've been there. Not too far from you.

Not a million miles away, no. We're going to see, um,

a couple who look after a place called Wilton Castle,

but they're not the owners. Right.

They manage the place for the owner

who has been renting it out as like a B&B holiday place.

But he now wants to turn it into a wedding venue.

Okay. Now, that's chalk and cheese.

You've got to have different furniture in there for it.Yes.

And that's what they want us to do. Okay. And it's a castle?

It's called a castle, yeah. The remnants of a castle, it's not an actual castle anymore.Right, okay.

Interesting. Interesting.

Right next to the picturesque Herefordshire town of Ross-on-Wye,

Wilton is a Norman castle built close to a ford in the river

to fortify the town during skirmishes between the invading Normans and the unconquered Welsh.

Today, much of the original castle stands as part of

a more recently built grand stately home,

stewarded by local couple, Sue and Nick Wall.

It really is a beautiful house setting.

The age of the place, from the castle walls right through,

is the 1150s.

The houses have been built up over the years

so there's different stages all through.

It's quite incredible when you go through the house

to see the different periods and the castle itself

went through the centre of the house.

And there's not many places you can say that.

Oh, it's fantastic to live and work in a place like this.

I'm excited to meet Drew and Al.

Hopefully they will find something to purchase,

but who knows? We'll just have to wait and see.

Morning.Morning. How you doing?Good morning.

Drew. Nice to meet you. Good to see you.

I'm Sue. Nice to see you. Lovely to meet you.

How you doing? All right? Al, nice to see you.Hello.

What a place! Welcome to Wilton Castle.

We'd like to show you around. Yes, please.We'd love to look. It's incredible.

Today we are at Wilton House. Built originally as a castle,

er, on the river here, to protect the river

and to protect the border from the Welsh, keep the Welsh out.

But it hasn't worked today, has it?

Come on in. It's warmer in here. Yeah.Yes.

It is warmer, yeah. It is.

Okay, so what's the plan? 'Cause I know it's not your building, is it?No.

So the owner is thinking of doing wedding venues

and so he's hoping to maybe get rid of some of the furniture.

Okay. Well, look, has he left you with a list of stuff to get rid of?

There is a list, yeah. Shall we just do that? Let's have a look and see what's what.

This is the scullery in here. Yeah.

And there's a modern... very dated furniture there.

Maybe you'd be better on the on date.

Well... It's not all there, is it?

No, it's missing some stuff. Um...

You mean it was bigger? Yeah.

There's a top on it. Really? Was it?Yeah.Good Lord.

It's useful,

but pretty much unsaleable in the market I work in.Mm.

I think it looks good here. Shall we leave it here?

Yeah. I think we're gonna have to leave that one there. Oh, do you have to?Yeah.

Yeah. Oh. Next room, please.

I don't know if you're interested in the chairs as we go.Um...

It's got a great look.

Damage there.

This is not everything it's cracked up to be.No.

What date would that be? It's pretending to be a lot older than it is,

but it's very late 19th into early 20th century.Right.

The joint that's come apart is a very big clue to its era, you know.

It's a machined joint. It's not ripe.

But it's not that wrong. You know, it's still a good chair.

Great seat. Great colour.

Black, which I think everything looks better in black. Cars, houses, everything.

NARRATOR: This chair is probably a 20th-century American version

of a traditional stick back style known as the Windsor chair.

a design which can be traced as far back as the 15th century.

when wheelwrights began making chair spindles

at the same time as producing spokes for wheels.

With graceful proportions, Drew thinks it could be worth

around £350.

Whoever's done the paint's done a nice job,

but they've done it a week last Wednesday. Do you have a price?

I imagine you've got a price for everything.Yeah. Five?

Five hundred? No. It's a good-looking chair,

I think it's worth half what he's asking.Two-fifty?Yeah.

I think the break on it is simple. It doesn't affect the price, that can be fixed in minutes

so that's fine. We could go to three.

We can go to 150 if you like. What is it, 1920s?

It's not an old chair, is it? I'm not sure if it's even a bit newer than that, to be honest.

Two seven five I'll pay you. I won't pay any more, but 275 I'd be happy to do a deal.

2 NARRATOR: In Herefordshire, a remarkable country house

is having a clear out, and Drew's spotted a well crafted

early 20th-century version of a classic chair.

Two seven five I'll pay you. Won't pay any more,

but 275 I'll be happy to do a deal.

Two 80? (LAUGHTER)

Are we arguing over a fiver? Yeah.

You know I'm not gonna argue over a fiver. I prefer an eight to a seven.Yes.Go on, then.

Evens it up. That's it though.

Tough lady. Deal done. Yes. Thank you very much.

Two 80. That's okay. Like I said, a little bit of work.

And to be honest with you, I'd have it in my house.

You know, you can be, "Oh, I'm an absolute purist

and I only use chairs from the 17th century

that were made on a Wednesday afternoon after four in that valley over there."

Fine. But it'll cost you £2,000 to £4,000 for a really good one.

This is doing something that's giving you that sort of look and feel for a few hundred quid.

So we've got these chairs. One, two, three, four.

French?Yep. French?Yep.

French stuff is something that I very rarely buy.

These would have been done originally in a very vivid gold brocade

with tassels, and all sorts of stuff all over them.

I prefer them like that. But French stuff,

French chairs particularly, there's a lot of them,

but they don't stand up to scrutiny compared to an English one.

Price? Seven hundred pound a chair.

Per chair? Okay.

Next room. (LAUGHTER)

It's fine, it's fine. It is what it is. So they will be staying here.

Well priced for somebody. Seven hundred each, that's fine.

We're now up in the top bedroom. Anything that takes your fancy?

That chair's nice. Ah. Right.

Just the one? There's two. There's a pair, is there?

There's one in the other room. Okay.

What sort of period are those? They're later than you think.

They're meant to look like something

from the last quarter of the 18th century,

but they're a lot later. Six hundred pound a chair.

Per chair? Can't get to that.

These were made in the latter part of the 19th century.

They look like they're the latter part of the 18th century.

They're a sort of revival of that, but they're not pure at all.

If we were looking at the 18th century for the pair of chairs, I'd have bought them.

But they're not, so they're staying here.

What else have we got to see? We have one table up in the northwest tower.

So outside?Outside.Let's do that. In the cold.I'll get my hat on. Don't worry.

We got to dozens and dozens of houses in this game

and sometimes you can tell straight away

that it's not quite what we want.

I'm not taking away, there's some good stuff there, but not stuff to make the money on.

And that's what we do. We've got to make money from things we buy.

As we're leaving, Sue said

over in the west tower there's a table.

I thought: right, please be a good table.

Gosh. One table.

That's nice.

It's constructed of oak. And they're appealing

for where I live, farmhouses.

Er, it's not massive, it's about six and a half foot,

so it can go into a smaller kitchen too.

And that's just got the look of an older table.

So I've got to try and buy it, but I've got to buy it for the right price.

It's very obviously a reproduction. An older table like this,

the timber would have been cut in a different way, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

So all of these dints and marks have been done with little grinders.

Ah, right. Yeah, all that sort of stuff.

Do you know how much he wants for it?Seven hundred.

No, that's too much for that. Because of what age it is.Yeah.

If you cut the price in half... Oh!

It's worth about 350. Yeah.Four?

Five? (DREW LAUGHS)

You're meant to come down. Three fifty.

Shall we call it 350? It's a good table

for 450.

I think I'm gonna buy it for that. I think there's money left in there. The profit is not a lot.

(EXHALES HEAVILY) Just be realistic.

You're a big boy, you know what you're doing.Yeah.

Four fifty, take no notice of him. Four fifty.

(CHUCKLES)

Yeah, come on, 450, yeah. Four fifty. Well done. Thank you very much indeed.

I can see this table at about 650, 750.

Eight hundred on a good day.

But I'd happily take a couple of hundred quid profit on it just for today's wages.

Right, are a we done? Have we seen everything? I think you have.Yep.

You can put that in the van. Yep.

Let's go. Thank you. Lovely, thanks.

Ah, thank you so much indeed.

Wilton Castle, Ross-on-Wye, beautiful location.

The river is right there and the remains of the castle. It is a fantastic spot.

Not so great on the sort of purchase front

for myself and Al.

But you have to go to every house call that sounds right.

And as I say, if you're ever called

to anywhere that has got

castle, manor or palace on the end of the address, you go.

You just go.

SUE: Oh, Drew and Al have been amazing. I've had a fantastic time.

Yeah, I think Drew and Al had a good time

and a good deal as well. Pity they didn't buy a little bit more,

but hey-ho. That's life, isn't it?

Thanks very much. Okay, thank you very much.

Take care. Thank you ever so much indeed. Nice to meet you both.

Cheers. Bye-bye.Bye.

NARRATOR: For both Drew and Al,

visiting businesses in the process of transformation

has meant a great week of buying.

One of my favourite days out actually for ages was going to see Dominic.

Cheers, Drew. Thank you very much.

I bought a particularly good desk and I really like it.

The colour of that timber on the top, I'd have bought it for that alone.

The day in Masson Mills was particularly good.

Nobody wants to see these buildings and this industry and these businesses close down.

Unfortunately, it happens.

We get called because they do have to find another purpose and use for these buildings

because it stops the buildings going into decay.

So, what do they do with all the stuff in there? They call people like me.

I'm making some money out of it, Al's making some money.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

It's reuse in action. It's recycling.

And it's not getting thrown away, so we're doing the very best we can.

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