1 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:07,040 What would you do if 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:08,840 an elderly relative gave you 3 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,240 an heirloom piece of furniture - 4 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:12,960 I don't know, a beautiful clock? 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:15,120 Well, obviously, not to hurt their feelings, 6 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:17,440 you would have to repair it, and keep it running, 7 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,560 polish it and look after it, just as you would cherish 8 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,200 and hand polish a beautiful piece of old furniture. 9 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:27,520 But, what if they gifted you 10 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:30,640 a brick water cistern on the side of a hill? 11 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:33,040 I mean, what on Earth would you do with that? 12 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:34,520 I know! 13 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:35,800 You could live in it! 14 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,480 Along this Herefordshire valley 15 00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,800 once ran a bustling steam railway, 16 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:10,760 from the late 1800s until the mid-20th century. 17 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:17,360 Not that you'd know today. 18 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,920 Except that on a nearby hillside 19 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:26,200 sits an engineering relic from this steam age - 20 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:28,920 a disused water reservoir that once fed 21 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:32,080 the thirsty steam engines running in the valley below. 22 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,600 The reservoir and surrounding fields are a special place for Rosa, 23 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:40,760 whose family have lived in the valley for generations. 24 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:46,400 The fields overlook my mum's home, where she grew up, 25 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,720 overlook my grandad's home, where he grew up. 26 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,760 The reservoir and the fields to me mean everything. 27 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:54,360 It's all my memories, from every time I finished school, 28 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:56,920 I had my horse up here, ride around the fields, 29 00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,800 and then when I was young, grandad used to take me up here, 30 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:02,160 every day when he used to pick me up from school. 31 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:04,520 Now elderly and living nearby, 32 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,040 Grandad Leo is not, in fact, Rosa's relative, 33 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,560 but became a grandfather figure to her when she was very young. 34 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:14,440 I don't actually remember life without him. 35 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:16,480 He's just always been there 36 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,560 and I've always thought of him as my family. 37 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:22,240 And he always will be my family. 38 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,480 He's such a fantastic man. 39 00:02:24,520 --> 00:02:28,120 The family bought the reservoir and the surrounding fields 40 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:31,240 from a local farmer, and Grandad Leo long dreamt 41 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:33,880 of one day converting it into a home. 42 00:02:33,920 --> 00:02:35,640 My grandad's always talked about, 43 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:37,840 "one day we will have a home here". 44 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,600 He'd always say, "It'll never be in my lifetime, 45 00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:42,280 "but one day you'll live up here." 46 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:44,240 And I thought "OK, Grandad". 47 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:46,560 Blue-sky thinking perhaps, 48 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,760 but then Rosa, an audiologist, 49 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,360 met Craig, a skydiving instructor. 50 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:02,040 So, Craig's an avid sky diver. 51 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,080 I say avid - he does it pretty much 24/seven, 52 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:06,520 and in his sleep, 53 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,320 and encouraged me - 54 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:10,320 maybe forced me - to do it. 55 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,960 She done a tandem skydive, and then she was hooked from there onwards. 56 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:16,480 We've been all over the world skydiving together now. Yeah. 57 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:19,960 Terrified of flying though, still! 58 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,400 Still terrified of flying! Take your parachute with you. Yeah! 59 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:29,040 Having conquered the skies, 60 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,440 Rosa and Craig now have their sights set 61 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:33,480 on a no less extreme challenge - 62 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:37,160 the reinvention of the reservoir as their home. 63 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,240 I think it was about six months after we started seeing each other 64 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,040 properly, Rosa brought me up here one day 65 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:45,960 and I was instantly in love with the fields, 66 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,680 the reservoir and everything, from that first moment. 67 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:51,840 It's not hard to see why. 68 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:56,600 Oh, this has to be it, 69 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:01,360 This has to be it because it's such a pretty place. 70 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:05,960 There's just a sort of an amazing natural beauty. 71 00:04:08,080 --> 00:04:12,120 But how on earth Rosa and Craig transform this subterranean, 72 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,560 industrial structure into a comfortable, light-filled home, 73 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,400 I'm intrigued to find out. 74 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,400 Hiya. Hi, lovely to meet you, I'm Rosa. Rosa. 75 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:24,760 I'm Craig. Craig, how are you? Who's this chap? 76 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,200 This is Truffles. Hello, Truffles. 77 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:29,640 It looks like a military bunker, doesn't it? 78 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,440 A little. It's... Like an air raid shelter or something. 79 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:35,480 It is like an air raid shelter that's been fenced off. 80 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:37,200 It's been empty for about ten years now. 81 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:39,480 OK. So, it belonged to the water board? It was, yeah, 82 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,080 till about around the 1970s. Can we get in? 83 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:43,400 Yes, let's go. 84 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:45,800 Oh, it's full of stuff! Yeah. 85 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:48,880 It says in big letters there, "danger"! 86 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,800 Where's safe to be? Am I OK here? 87 00:04:51,840 --> 00:04:54,440 You're OK there. That's fine, you're not going to fall through. 88 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:56,600 How long had your grandfather been working on it? 89 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:58,320 At least ten, 15 years. 90 00:04:58,360 --> 00:05:01,440 He...he drained it of water, did he? 91 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:03,320 Yeah. Well, he's written it on the board - 92 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,840 326 barrows of slurry, that he got out from the bottom, 93 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:09,880 carrying over his shoulder with a wheelbarrow and a bucket. 94 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:11,640 You're joking? Yeah. On his own. 95 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:13,600 Can I go down? Yeah! 96 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,400 Oh, err! It's vast! 97 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,080 Come on down. 98 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:21,600 What's that brick structure there? 99 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,160 So that is the inspection chamber 100 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:26,280 from when it was a gravity fed reservoir, 101 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,720 and on top of it is a giant ballcock and float. 102 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:30,120 That we're keeping. 103 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,200 Like you'd find in a toilet cistern. 104 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:33,680 Both of those are staying - 105 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:36,200 they're going to be a feature in the reservoir, once it's... 106 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,440 It's so giant, I hadn't actually clocked it, 107 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,160 because at the moment it's quite hard to imagine this place 108 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:42,920 being lived in. Do you know what I mean? 109 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:44,920 And it's quite hard to imagine 110 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:48,200 that it's going to have enough light in this hole in the ground. 111 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:50,680 Well, what we are doing on this side is cutting some holes into it 112 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,000 and extending that side into the hill. 113 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,920 Punching through this structure, is going to be tough, I imagine. 114 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:02,640 Yeah. Well, we thought that it was actually concrete poured in, 115 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:04,240 like formwork essentially, 116 00:06:04,280 --> 00:06:06,640 but we've done some ground investigation on other side of it 117 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:07,800 and its stone. 118 00:06:07,840 --> 00:06:10,960 Rubble stone from the field, literally. From this field, yes. 119 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:14,120 Amazing! How remarkable - you've got a stone building! 120 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:15,720 So, people pay a lot of money for that finish, 121 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:17,800 and when we cut out into the courtyard, we'll have it there 122 00:06:17,840 --> 00:06:19,040 already waiting for us. 123 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:24,080 Rosa and Craig have enlisted the architects Loyn and Co 124 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:26,760 to realise the transformation of the reservoir, 125 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,960 and it's every bit as audacious as you might imagine. 126 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:34,600 The first stage will be the excavation of 3,000 tonnes of earth, 127 00:06:34,640 --> 00:06:37,080 mostly from the hillside to the north, 128 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:41,320 exposing some of the reservoir's stone walls for the first time. 129 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,320 Three large openings will be punched through 130 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,040 the exposed flank wall - 131 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:47,880 two for large picture windows, 132 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:51,360 the third for a walkway to connect an entirely new, 133 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:55,600 all-concrete wing to house a dining room and the bedrooms. 134 00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:01,440 This new extension will be then part re-buried under 200 tonnes of earth 135 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:04,360 so that it all but disappears into the hill. 136 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,280 What remains exposed is the centrepiece - the reservoir. 137 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:10,720 The dilapidated roof gets replaced with 138 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:13,640 a super insulated version, on a new steel frame. 139 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,720 Clerestory windows will slot between the original brick piers, 140 00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:22,120 and some half-moon curved glass walls will fill the gable ends. 141 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,000 Inside, a sleek, new mezzanine underneath 142 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:28,920 the arched ceiling will connect 143 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,800 via a steel framed bridge to an airborne snug, 144 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:34,120 from where there'll be some extraordinary views 145 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:35,520 over the valley. 146 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:38,080 The steel bridge structure also connects to 147 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:41,120 a steel staircase that will drop through the open space 148 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,560 to one large, kitchen and sitting room below, 149 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,200 embellished with the reservoir's giant ballcock, 150 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:49,440 and lit, not just from above, 151 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,720 but by the two enormous glazed openings that will reveal 152 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,240 a delightful new courtyard garden 153 00:07:55,280 --> 00:07:57,600 that will sit at the heart of this home. 154 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:01,600 The connecting walkway will tie the old reservoir 155 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:04,720 to the new extension via a glass-walled dining room. 156 00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:07,320 Beyond it will lie the more private spaces 157 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,560 in the concrete wing - family bathroom and four bedrooms, 158 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:13,120 the largest of which will be Rosa and Craig's. 159 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:15,280 I do hope they have deep pockets, 160 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:18,160 because I'd expect that pulling off this ambitious reinvention 161 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:20,840 is going to cost well over £1 million. 162 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:25,440 How much did it cost to get the land, if anything? 163 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,800 £800. £800 yeah, just the changeover fees. Wow! 164 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:32,720 Wow, OK. To pass it into your title. That is the miracle... 165 00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:34,200 We're very blessed. 166 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,600 ..of living in a valley where your family have lived for however long. 167 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,600 Yeah. And have you got a contractor organised for that yet? No. 168 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:42,440 Oh, right. Nobody appointed yet. 169 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:44,040 No. OK. 170 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,200 When you do appoint a contractor, on what basis is it going to be? 171 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:48,520 Is it going to be a full contract - 172 00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:50,480 are they just going to do the whole thing? Yeah, full contract. 173 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:53,880 How much it this going to cost to do this? Do you know yet? 174 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,280 The contract value will be about 700,000. 175 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,000 What you're saying is you've got 700,000 that you want to spend. Yes. 176 00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:02,840 What happens if the contractor comes in and says 900? 177 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,600 Then we'll have to rethink things, I suppose, 178 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:10,000 because that is us at the very limit of our funding source. 179 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,160 Is it? Yeah. OK, 700. So how much are you borrowing? 180 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:15,440 Around 500,000. 181 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:17,360 Yeeee, half a million quid! 182 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:19,440 That's a lot by anybody's imagination, isn't it? 183 00:09:19,480 --> 00:09:20,720 Yep. Wow! 184 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,800 It means so much to us, it means so much to my family. 185 00:09:23,840 --> 00:09:26,200 We're not just building a house, 186 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:28,320 we're building...we're building our future, 187 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:30,720 building our children's future and their children's future. 188 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:32,480 But when do you actually start? 189 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:34,600 Start building in March next year. 190 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:36,240 When do you finish? 191 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:38,640 12 months we're giving the project date for. 192 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:40,680 That's the aim. And if its longer? 193 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:44,000 My grandad's health has deteriorated a lot, 194 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:45,560 especially in the last four years. 195 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:47,560 It would mean the world for me for him to be able 196 00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:50,600 to come up here, and show him what we have done... Yeah. 197 00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:53,200 So that is also a deadline as well. 198 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,000 You'd like him to see the finished house. Yeah. How old is he now? 199 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:57,360 He's 86 now. 200 00:09:57,400 --> 00:09:59,960 Oh, wow. Yes, he's a good ripe age! 201 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,480 Yeah, a good ripe age. 202 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:03,840 Yeah, that would mean a great deal to him, I'm sure. 203 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:06,880 Rosa and Craig will be living with Grandad Leo, 204 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,200 the man whose idea this project was, 205 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:11,400 until their new home's complete. 206 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,840 So, it's worth talking to him, and Rosa's mum, Tessa. 207 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:17,520 Leo, when was last time you were up there? 208 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:19,480 About six months ago, wasn't it? 209 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,760 Yeah. To me it's paradise there. It is paradise, you know? 210 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:24,320 When did you buy it, the field? 211 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:27,360 About 13 years ago, it was a dream come true, 212 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:29,480 for Rosa to keep her horse on there. 213 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:32,360 So, Rosa was sort of part of the reason 214 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:34,760 for buying it in the first place? Yeah. Yeah. 215 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:36,640 So, she was always involved, in other words. 216 00:10:36,680 --> 00:10:39,200 Oh, she was the boss. She was the boss. 217 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:40,560 A good little girl. 218 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:43,960 It must be pretty exciting, to think of Rosa actually getting 219 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:45,640 planning permission and actually doing it. 220 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:48,400 Oh, it was unbelievable, out of this world. 221 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,000 This is your dream come true wasn't it, 222 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:53,520 that one day, we thought, not in my lifetime, 223 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:55,680 she might get permission. 224 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:57,360 That was marvellous. 225 00:10:57,400 --> 00:10:59,400 To be fair, I have to keep pinching myself. 226 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,280 I don't think I can really believe it now. 227 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:04,320 I think, "She's done it. Wow." 228 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,760 And I think it's a next chapter for the reservoir. 229 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:09,960 It'll breathe new life into it. 230 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,240 It's up to them now, you know? I wouldn't want to interfere. 231 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:15,480 Our dream's come true. 232 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:21,760 While Rosa and Craig wait for quotes to come in, 233 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,280 they form an access track from the reservoir to the nearest road. 234 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,200 First bit of work that we're starting on site, 235 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,320 we're starting with removing a 50-metre section of hedge 236 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:35,080 before we can create the access to come into the field 237 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:37,280 before construction actually happens - 238 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:40,720 that's costing about £600 total, so pretty good. 239 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:45,800 But any optimism about costs evaporates 240 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,360 when the builders' quotes start coming in - 241 00:11:48,400 --> 00:11:54,080 way above the £700,000 Rosa and Craig can just about afford. 242 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,560 The highest tender out of three that came back 243 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:58,960 was £1.4 million. 244 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,000 And then our cheapest one 245 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:02,840 out of the three was £1.1 million. 246 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:04,880 Which, again, is ridiculous. 247 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:09,240 It's a hammer blow to their dreams. 248 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:13,040 Not in a million years we thought that they'd come back 249 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:14,640 at what they did. 250 00:12:14,680 --> 00:12:16,760 We can't afford it. 251 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:21,480 If you'd said to me, this is how much this house is going to cost, 252 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,360 this is how much you know, the dream that you've both got is going to be, 253 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,480 we'd have said no. There's no way. 254 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:30,800 There's just no way that we can do it. 255 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:35,280 But all that was before sadness filled their lives. 256 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:37,560 SHE SOBS 257 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,840 I feel very sad because it's all his stuff. 258 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,960 His bike that's in there, and everything. 259 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:54,560 All his cards that I've ever written him. 260 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:56,920 All saying "Grandad". All his pictures. 261 00:12:56,960 --> 00:12:59,800 Everything in there that he's ever kept. 262 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:07,680 I just feel so proud to actually be his granddaughter. 263 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:16,360 Grandad Leo, the inspiration behind so much of this project, 264 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,040 passed away suddenly in late December. 265 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,120 It was a complete shock. 266 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:24,520 It was on the Tuesday he was fine, 267 00:13:24,560 --> 00:13:26,680 then on the Wednesday he wasn't. 268 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:28,160 We had the horses. 269 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,520 They come down, and all the dogs were with him, 270 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:32,000 me and my mum were with him, 271 00:13:32,040 --> 00:13:35,080 and then he quietly just slipped away then. 272 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:39,040 The desire to honour Leo's memory 273 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:42,080 suddenly becomes a powerful motivator. 274 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,240 The land, it does take on a different meaning to me. 275 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:49,040 I think we are doing the right thing by building his home. 276 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:52,520 It's what I always spoke about with him. 277 00:13:52,560 --> 00:13:54,360 We are going to live there 278 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:58,000 because I almost see it as his legacy. 279 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:01,640 But how on earth they're going to pick up 280 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:04,680 the project from here, I have no idea. 281 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,000 A full year since I met Rosa and Craig, 282 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:24,800 a year of emotional recovery 283 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:26,880 and financial head-scratching, 284 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:29,960 a colossal earth excavation has begun 285 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:32,520 next to the old, Herefordshire railway reservoir. 286 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:35,320 It's been stripped back to a bare shell. 287 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:38,640 It's absolutely massive down there. 288 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:40,560 It is massive. 289 00:14:40,600 --> 00:14:43,800 The footprint of that's bigger than the house we're in at the moment. 290 00:14:43,840 --> 00:14:46,320 After protracted negotiations, 291 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:48,280 Rosa and Craig managed to get 292 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:51,560 the construction price down to £950,000, 293 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:54,800 primarily by compromising on the exterior landscaping. 294 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:59,800 But they're still spending 250 grand more than they wanted. 295 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:01,320 I'm not going to lie, 296 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:05,400 I have had sleepless nights thinking about are we actually able 297 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:08,280 to achieve this, or are we going to 298 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:10,760 put ourselves into bankruptcy because of it? 299 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:14,000 I don't think Rosa kind of sees that at times. 300 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:16,600 She's just like, "Oh, it'll be all right in the end", 301 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,520 but there's serious consequences to taking out loans 302 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:21,840 and mortgages, and borrowing money off people. 303 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:23,680 You know, you've got to pay it back at some point. 304 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:27,600 Grandad Leo bequeathed his home to Rosa, 305 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,640 the sale of which will help cover some of the extra costs. 306 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,200 But they still need to borrow an extra 100 grand 307 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:37,160 from the bank - a whopping 600 grand in total, 308 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:41,080 at a time when another life-changing development is on the horizon. 309 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:48,640 We're now expecting a little baby in about three months' time. 310 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:53,920 Just to add to the absolute terror that I'm feeling already! 311 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,160 The financial stakes couldn't be higher. 312 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:02,000 Yet, after just five weeks, 313 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:04,360 the excavation phase is complete 314 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:07,400 and the builders are cutting out three huge holes in 315 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:10,800 the reservoir's flank wall for the picture windows and walkway. 316 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,840 Seeing the reservoir exposed to the elements for the first time... 317 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:18,080 Hello! 318 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:19,560 ..is quite a sight? 319 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,360 Hey! This is astonishing, isn't it? 320 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:24,200 Yes, it's outstanding! 321 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,400 I was prepared for this but it's so strong 322 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:30,200 and it looks so much like a proper house, a building. 323 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,400 I just love the stonework on it. I think it's beautiful. 324 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:34,800 It's remarkable. 325 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:37,480 It's like you've built a house in the 18th century 326 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:39,480 and then buried it, and then uncovered it! 327 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:41,520 There's one thing I'm dying to do, 328 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:43,360 and it wasn't ever possible before 329 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:45,520 and that is to actually enter a building. 330 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,920 Before, we were climbing down a ladder into a hole! 331 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:52,800 Oh, yeah. Oh, this is a ready-made house! 332 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:55,840 It's so different. This is... This is magnificent. 333 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:57,200 So, thinking about this, 334 00:16:57,240 --> 00:16:59,000 you're not building a house, I've just realised. 335 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:00,440 This is archaeology, 336 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:01,760 excavation, 337 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:03,360 civil engineering, 338 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:04,720 landscaping, 339 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:05,960 new build, 340 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:07,760 repair and restoration, 341 00:17:07,800 --> 00:17:09,080 Yeah? 342 00:17:09,120 --> 00:17:11,040 So, no wonder it's costing what it's costing! 343 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:15,200 A terrifying £950,000. 344 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:18,600 Which reminds me, how on earth are Rosa and Craig 345 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,000 intending to service a 600 grand mortgage, 346 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,520 in the height of Covid, and with a nipper due in three months? 347 00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:28,000 So, the start of the pandemic, 348 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:32,040 Craig started up a business that we're working from home. 349 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,440 So we've done an online confectionery shop. 350 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,520 So... Really? Yup! 351 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,520 See, it's so obvious for a skydiver to do that! 352 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,200 We had to get creative, didn't we? 353 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:45,920 Online sweeties? 354 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,000 Yeah. You're going to have to sell a lot of Sherbet Dabs aren't you, 355 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,880 to pay for anything like this? How amazing. 356 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:55,760 Is it going to make a serious contribution to the house? 357 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,520 It will help during Covid times, definitely. 358 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:00,360 OK. God help your baby child. 359 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:03,080 I know! You're going to have to put a lock on that door, aren't you? 360 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:04,880 He'll be the coolest kid in the school, with a sweet store! 361 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:06,280 He'll be the fattest! 362 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:07,680 THEY LAUGH 363 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,080 Well, I hadn't seen that one coming. 364 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:13,640 There we go. 365 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:18,400 Three months into their anticipated 12-month project they start on 366 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,560 the reservoir's new earth sheltered wing, made from exposed concrete. 367 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:25,320 It will house the dining room and bedrooms, 368 00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:28,400 and cost £260,000. 369 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:30,520 Once you come out of there, we'll go round the back 370 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:32,320 and we'll just double check off the back again. 371 00:18:32,360 --> 00:18:35,600 Naturally, Rosa and Craig want the concrete to look as smooth 372 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:37,200 and as beautiful as possible. 373 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,720 Which is why they've employed Darren, 374 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,040 who has a fine pedigree in the field, 375 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:44,720 having helped build the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff. 376 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:47,640 They brought in a new specification especially for that job. 377 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,280 It's basically because it was all exposed concrete, 378 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:52,680 they wanted to take it to the next level of exposed concrete. 379 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,640 So, this is cabinet making level of joinery. 380 00:18:55,680 --> 00:18:59,120 It is really, really precise. Yes. And beautiful and detailed. 381 00:18:59,160 --> 00:19:01,800 We really pride ourselves on these types of projects. 382 00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:03,760 We're building this house for somebody who's 383 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:06,120 going to live here for generations to come. 384 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:07,680 Their family, their grandchildren. 385 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,600 If you put that time and effort and love into it, 386 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:12,160 you can make something special. 387 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,920 But not everyone here's convinced that exposed concrete 388 00:19:15,960 --> 00:19:19,120 is the right material to build a home with. 389 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,280 It's a Teletubby house really, isn't it? 390 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,320 It's under the ground. It's all going to be buried. 391 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:26,760 I don't know. Not for me. 392 00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:29,120 I think it's just a multistorey car park at the end 393 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:30,360 of the day, isn't it? 394 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:31,920 Yeah. I don't like it. 395 00:19:33,960 --> 00:19:35,120 That's me. 396 00:19:39,000 --> 00:19:42,000 But Rosa and Craig's architects, Loyn and Co, 397 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,360 have established an award-winning reputation 398 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,120 designing earth-sheltered homes from concrete, 399 00:19:47,160 --> 00:19:51,520 including this one 80-miles away on the Gower Peninsula. 400 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:59,320 You know, if James Bond ever retired and took up organic gardening, 401 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:00,640 he'd live here. 402 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,800 This is a hunkered lair. 403 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,480 This is a very different building to Rosa and Craig's, 404 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:19,520 but it's also hunkered into a hill, yeah? 405 00:20:19,560 --> 00:20:22,960 It is, and the driving force for all of our architecture 406 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:24,360 is context. 407 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:26,520 A lovely Frank Lloyd Wright quote - 408 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,520 "A house should not be on a hill. It should be of the hill." 409 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:32,280 Hill and house, the better for each other. 410 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:35,840 I mean when you're in Gower it's the landscape. 411 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,040 It's an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 412 00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:39,360 that's so important, 413 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,120 and instead of putting ON the site, 414 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:43,760 we lift the site up, 415 00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,360 we insert, and we put the site back. 416 00:20:46,400 --> 00:20:50,040 Yeah. Therefore, we're taking nothing and we're giving something. 417 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:52,640 Boy, is this place beautiful. 418 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:55,440 I mean. It's exquisite. 419 00:20:55,480 --> 00:20:57,080 It is cherished, 420 00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:00,480 and it makes this fantastic connection to its context, 421 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:02,960 it's setting, and it has one other quality, 422 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:04,560 which is that it's finished! 423 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,560 Whereas Rosa and Craig's house clearly is not. 424 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,240 I mean, it's just as ambitious in a way as this building is - 425 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:14,040 it shares some of the same DNA, 426 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:15,560 the same architect 427 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:19,920 but their resources, of course, are finite and at the moment... 428 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,160 Well, at the moment their project is more mud than concrete. 429 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:30,440 But mud and concrete will have to wait. 430 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:32,880 Meet, baby Leo! 431 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:37,240 He was born on 6th April at 6:46. 432 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:39,560 And he weighed 8lbs 4oz. 433 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:41,280 He's a bit of a chunk. 434 00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:44,840 LEO CRIES Oh, here he is, right on cue! 435 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:47,400 Even though my grandfather's here in spirit, 436 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:49,320 He's also here in baby name. 437 00:21:49,360 --> 00:21:51,640 He's going to grow with the structure now 438 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,200 as it starts to come out from the foundation. Hang on! 439 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,200 We'd better be in before he's walking! 440 00:21:56,240 --> 00:21:57,800 Yeah! 441 00:21:57,840 --> 00:21:59,920 Crawling. Crawling. 442 00:21:59,960 --> 00:22:03,000 Just as well then, that the first concrete walls of 443 00:22:03,040 --> 00:22:05,880 the bedroom wing are ready to be admired. 444 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:07,240 Oh, my God. 445 00:22:08,440 --> 00:22:11,840 It's nice, isn't it? Yeah, that is absolutely amazing. Feel it. 446 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:13,360 Touch it. 447 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:15,280 Yeah, it's lovely, isn't it? 448 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:16,840 So soft, it's incredible. 449 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,320 I'm so excited for the whole... 450 00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:20,640 Do you like it Leo? 451 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,400 It's going to be your nursery. 452 00:22:22,440 --> 00:22:26,280 Compared to brick and mortar, it's about ten times the price. 453 00:22:27,520 --> 00:22:29,520 You get what you pay for, though, I suppose. 454 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,520 I just want to get it finished now, get in here and live here with him. 455 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,560 Do you know what I mean? We've obviously sold the house 456 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,480 and moved in with Rosa's mum now, so it's more of a reason 457 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:40,400 to get this done on time 458 00:22:40,440 --> 00:22:43,720 and kind of move in and have our own space with Leo. 459 00:22:47,080 --> 00:22:51,480 By May, a mere six weeks since Darren's team started, 460 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:53,800 the concrete extension is complete. 461 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:57,000 So, what does Rosa's mum, Tessa, make of it? 462 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,840 Who would ever have thought that that has been buried 463 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:02,320 for all those years? 464 00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:04,200 I know. And it's part of our family 465 00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,920 and I look at that as the older generation. 466 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:08,800 Then what's to come is, you know, 467 00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:11,320 represents the new life, the next generation kind of thing. 468 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:14,080 Exactly, because my heart is in here. 469 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:16,440 Yeah. I look at that... 470 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:20,960 ..and I can't quite feel 471 00:23:21,000 --> 00:23:24,920 the connection what I feel to this building. 472 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:26,640 Now, what do you think Leo, 473 00:23:26,680 --> 00:23:29,160 were he around now, would think of this? 474 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,560 Oh, my goodness he would have probably thought like me. 475 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:37,480 Yeah. I mean, I'm sure Leo wouldn't perhaps have liked that. 476 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,800 Just looks like, um, a bunker. 477 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,800 Ever more pressure, then, on getting the renovation 478 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,080 of Leo's beloved reservoir right. 479 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:51,560 Rosa and Craig are going to have to make this place 480 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:53,600 true to Leo somehow. 481 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:11,000 Over 18 months 482 00:24:11,040 --> 00:24:14,760 since Rosa and Craig began their Herefordshire reservoir project, 483 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:18,800 the concrete extension is being buried under 200 tonnes of earth. 484 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:22,000 Lift your end up there Craig. 485 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,920 Meanwhile, the reservoir's transformation into 486 00:24:24,960 --> 00:24:27,760 a serious bit of contemporary architecture kicks off 487 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:30,600 with the installation of the first-floor steel frame. 488 00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:33,920 It'll be the jewel in the crown of the new reservoir, 489 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:36,560 creating the dramatic entrance, the bridge, 490 00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:39,680 and the steel staircase to the living space below. 491 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:43,600 The pressure's now on for Rosa, Craig and baby Leo 492 00:24:43,640 --> 00:24:45,360 to move in in six months. 493 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,760 Until then, they're living with Rosa's mum, Tessa. 494 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:53,520 That looks like chocolate! 495 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:58,200 Oh, I know - it looks like them gold bullions, doesn't it? 496 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,360 Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, that's disgusting. 497 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,280 It's proving to be a bit of a squeeze. 498 00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:05,640 I'd have tiles. 499 00:25:05,680 --> 00:25:07,160 We're not having tiles. 500 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,360 We've gone through that. It's not your house. 501 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:10,880 No. True. 502 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:12,760 You can't have tiles, can you? 503 00:25:12,800 --> 00:25:15,160 No. We're so grateful, 504 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,160 but at same time we are living on top of each other. 505 00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:20,040 It's very... 506 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,800 Every conversation is a three-way conversation. 507 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:24,880 You can have garden floor tiles. 508 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:26,120 We don't like any. 509 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:28,000 Well, use ordinary bricks. 510 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,080 We've just covered that about two minutes ago! 511 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:34,480 It will be so great to have our own space. 512 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:37,000 I do also think how we're going to afford 513 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:38,640 to get to the end of the build, 514 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:40,920 and whenever I speak to Craig about it, 515 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:43,600 he always says that's "future us" problems. 516 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:47,320 Money worries are a big part of their lives now. 517 00:25:47,360 --> 00:25:50,000 They're spending 50 grand alone 518 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:52,600 on the reservoir's new steel-framed roof, 519 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:55,600 being fabricated 15 miles away in Hereford. 520 00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:00,520 Oh, my God. That is very thick. 521 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:02,120 That's pretty big, isn't it? 522 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:05,280 I don't think the roof's going anywhere any time soon with those. 523 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:07,800 Is this a roof or a bunker? 524 00:26:07,840 --> 00:26:10,840 I reckon we could survive a hurricane with that roof 525 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:12,040 the way it's been built. 526 00:26:12,080 --> 00:26:13,720 Yeah, that's where your money's gone. 527 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:16,560 Indeed. 528 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:18,880 Financing a 950 grand project, 529 00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,880 PLUS fees, is starting to take its toll. 530 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:25,880 So, that's where we're at with the figures. 531 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:28,880 It's pretty sickening - 720,000 - and we've got no windows or doors. 532 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:30,680 Or roof! Or roof. 533 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,480 I've got no windows door, or a roof for that! 534 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:35,240 You know when like you've always said, 535 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,120 this is "future us" problems? 536 00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:40,160 I feel like "future us" is now current us. 537 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:43,040 There's nothing we can do. We can't change anything now. 538 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:47,400 Like you say, we are fully committed but it's spiralled. 539 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:49,480 We could have bought three houses for that. 540 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,600 I just don't see how we've spent that much money. 541 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:56,320 But proper architecture rarely comes cheap. 542 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:03,360 Come the autumn, the roof's curved steel frame is ready to go in. 543 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:08,080 With the help of the odd podger or two. 544 00:27:08,120 --> 00:27:11,120 A podger is a marvellous invention. 545 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:12,520 It's a pointy spanner, 546 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,800 so when you've got sort of half a hole lined up, 547 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:19,040 you can put podger in and just use it to wiggle the steel around 548 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:22,160 and align the hole, so the bolts slide straight through. 549 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,320 Looks wonky. It does look wonky, doesn't it? 550 00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:27,760 I was actually just thinking that. 551 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:29,440 Maybe it's just the way we're looking at it. 552 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,680 If you stand at this angle, it looks all right. 553 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:38,360 By November, almost two years since they began this scheme... 554 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,040 Inside's amazing, honestly. 555 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,480 ..the reservoir's vaulted roof has been skinned out 556 00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,440 with plasterboard, to epic effect. 557 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,200 Oh, my word! 558 00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:51,720 A world of pink! Yeah, look at it! 559 00:27:51,760 --> 00:27:54,440 What do you call this area? Airborne snug? 560 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:57,400 Airborne snug. Somewhere to sit and watch the sun go down, isn't it? 561 00:27:57,440 --> 00:27:59,600 Yeah. Yeah, I mean it's lovely. 562 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:02,280 Have a coffee in mornings up here, looking out there. 563 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:03,640 Yeah, for sure. 564 00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:06,560 It's amazing, like, how your love for the building 565 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,080 and everything changes, 566 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:09,640 and how it's actually progressed, 567 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:11,240 with how the building has come on - 568 00:28:11,280 --> 00:28:13,600 you form a different connection with it. 569 00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,920 That's what I feel - we formed a new connection as a family, 570 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,400 the way that it's started to come together now, 571 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,120 and even though it's the shape of the old reservoir, 572 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,360 we've almost put our own take on it. 573 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:25,800 Of course, 574 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:28,920 Rosa and Craig won't be moving in by Christmas as they 575 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:32,360 dearly hoped - the house is nowhere near watertight yet. 576 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:34,840 But that's the least of their worries. 577 00:28:34,880 --> 00:28:36,680 So, how is the money? 578 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:38,840 As in, how much it's going to cost to finish? Yeah. 579 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:40,400 250,000 I believe. 580 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:43,200 It's all within your reach, this? You can afford it all? 581 00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:45,520 There's still a deficit of about 50,000 582 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:49,760 because the kitchen and bathrooms weren't in the contract, 583 00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:51,840 so we've had to pay for that on top of contract. 584 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:54,040 We've used the mortgage money to pay for that, 585 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,880 which means that when it gets to last month of paying for the site, 586 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:00,360 we're going to have to have around 50,000 to pay for that. 587 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,640 That problem's eight, 12 weeks away, so... Oh, right. 588 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,480 See, this is part of the curse with legacy, isn't it? Yeah. 589 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:08,600 That you inherit something very beautiful, 590 00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:11,280 and you have to honour it. Yeah. And you have to do something 591 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,800 properly because the site demands it. 592 00:29:13,840 --> 00:29:16,520 If I'd known how much this was ever going to cost 593 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:18,320 in the first place, we'd have never done it. 594 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:19,920 But we're committed now. 595 00:29:19,960 --> 00:29:22,040 Live with our decisions. 596 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:26,880 Alas, the project is entering its perilous phase. 597 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:28,360 Right, let me boom out. 598 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:32,160 86 grand's worth of hi-spec glazing 599 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:34,440 starts getting installed in December. 600 00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,040 If I move that back now, it's going to pull the top out as well. 601 00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:40,200 We want to start bringing it back up now, don't we? 602 00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:44,040 The picture window for the living space is the largest. 603 00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:47,040 While between the reservoir's original brick piers, 604 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,080 12 rectangular slot windows are going in. 605 00:29:50,120 --> 00:29:53,120 Yep, right. To your right. 606 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,560 Meanwhile, on top of the now insulated steel roof, 607 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,480 they're fitting new curved aluminium sheets 608 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:01,440 to match the reservoir's original ones. 609 00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:09,560 But, come the new year, 610 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:13,320 green shoots on site bely troubling news. 611 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:16,360 Rosa and Craig have run out of money. 612 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:20,040 We couldn't pay one of the bills which we owed the builders. 613 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:23,480 There was a misunderstanding around the VAT situation for the build. 614 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:25,240 Last month, just before Christmas, 615 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:29,240 we were told that the whole build would have to pay 5% VAT - 616 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,120 about 50,000 that we've had to find on top. 617 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:36,840 They've been forced to borrow an additional 80 grand from the bank. 618 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:40,360 But there's so much this won't cover - oak flooring 619 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:42,400 and a balustrade for the mezzanine, 620 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,040 the steel stairs, decorating, 621 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,240 and the courtyard landscaping. 622 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:50,440 The amount of debt that we've taken on is horrendous. 623 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,160 I never thought I'd take on this amount of debt 624 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:54,680 to be able to finish the project. 625 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:56,080 It's actually sickening. 626 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:57,600 For the whole time of the build this has been 627 00:30:57,640 --> 00:30:59,320 the most stressful point for us. 628 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:05,600 1843 and 1840 we've got. 629 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:07,720 You don't want it tight tight, do you? 630 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:09,560 One, two, three... 631 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,520 One thing they can still afford is the curved glazing 632 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:15,880 for the reservoir's gable ends, 633 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:19,360 which means the building is finally watertight. 634 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:24,640 And Rosa, Craig, and no-longer-a-baby Leo, 635 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:27,920 are able to move into the far from complete home. 636 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:29,520 It's not ideal. 637 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:30,960 Come on, climb under! 638 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:33,320 It does make me more aware of time passing 639 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:34,640 because Leo is growing up 640 00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,200 and I feel like the build is at a standstill. 641 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,000 Your priorities in life change. As Leo's come along, 642 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,080 I'm more focused now on spending time as a family, 643 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:45,200 doing this with Leo, and not thinking, 644 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:47,920 "I need to paint that wall tonight or today." 645 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:50,720 But painting is exactly what they have to do. 646 00:31:50,760 --> 00:31:52,600 It's fun though, isn't it? It's fun painting. 647 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:53,880 And lots of it. 648 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:55,960 Tickle tickle on his tummy! 649 00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,280 It's not how it was meant to turn out. 650 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:00,240 And we still look at the amount we've got to do on the house, 651 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:02,080 and we don't have the money to finish it at the moment - 652 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,520 having that looming over us is quite... Yeah, it's daunting. 653 00:32:10,280 --> 00:32:13,120 But, come the summer of 2023... 654 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:14,440 Yeah, forward. 655 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:17,320 ..there's a sudden flurry of activity. 656 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:21,600 A steel staircase with oak treads is being fitted in the reservoir. 657 00:32:23,120 --> 00:32:25,760 And the courtyard is getting landscaped. 658 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:28,560 So, we went to our family 659 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:31,480 to try and get more money basically and everybody's chipped in. 660 00:32:31,520 --> 00:32:33,680 That's going to allow us to finish the project 661 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:35,040 hopefully to a decent standard. 662 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,880 And to save money, Craig's getting stuck in as well. 663 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,840 The builders wanted 25,000 to fit the flooring 664 00:32:41,880 --> 00:32:44,760 and by doing it myself and using my friends to help me 665 00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,480 with the labour, I think I've bought it in at about 14,000, so... 666 00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:49,560 That's better, isn't it? Yeah. 667 00:32:49,600 --> 00:32:52,000 It's been nice to be able to get my dad, who's an engineer as well, 668 00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:53,720 to actually come up and give me a hand 669 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:54,760 and do the flooring with me. 670 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:56,560 It's hard work - I think he's found that out today. 671 00:32:56,600 --> 00:32:58,720 I have put oak flooring down in my own house 672 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:00,520 but nothing like the thickness of this. 673 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:03,760 This is another level. This is industrial level. 674 00:33:03,800 --> 00:33:05,880 It's been that long since we started, 675 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:08,200 I just want to enjoy the house and relax now. 676 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:10,240 Looks amazing, doesn't it? Yes. 677 00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:13,760 After three and a half tortuous years, 678 00:33:13,800 --> 00:33:18,040 will grandad Leo's legacy finally be realised? 679 00:33:30,400 --> 00:33:34,000 This secluded corner of Herefordshire is magnificent 680 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:36,760 and it's where Rosa and Grandad Leo 681 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:39,840 long ago dreamt of transforming their abandoned 682 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,600 and much-loved railway reservoir into a home. 683 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:46,360 It's nearly four years since Rosa 684 00:33:46,400 --> 00:33:49,160 and her partner Craig set out to do just that, 685 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:53,640 so has the reservoir's radical reinvention finally come good? 686 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:58,120 Well, I could swear 687 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,920 that when I first came here all those years ago that roof was green. 688 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,000 Of course, it was green. That's a new roof! 689 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:10,080 That's not an industrial structure any more. That is a new building. 690 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,720 Yet one that, in honour of its heritage, 691 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,920 looks from outside much like it did when I first came here. 692 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:21,160 Well, I say it's a new building, but actually I think the brickwork 693 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:22,880 and stonework, that was always here. 694 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:27,560 And, as for the roof, I mean it's an exact reproduction in crinkly tin. 695 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:31,800 So, this building, it appears really, really modest. 696 00:34:31,840 --> 00:34:33,960 Until you turn the corner, 697 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:36,680 and then it starts getting really interesting. 698 00:34:36,720 --> 00:34:38,720 Look at that. 699 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:46,280 The great, curving black shapes of the roof gables 700 00:34:46,320 --> 00:34:49,920 now form a powerful viewing frame for the landscape. 701 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,680 And they tease glimpses of the interior too. 702 00:34:54,720 --> 00:34:56,960 Hello, you two. 703 00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,760 Hi! Look at you. Look at your house! 704 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,320 You must be dead chuffed. Yeah, so happy. 705 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:06,000 It's so nice to be in and finished. 706 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,320 We have to pinch ourselves when we pull up on the drive 707 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:10,640 and walk down here and get that view every single day. 708 00:35:10,680 --> 00:35:12,480 Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't feel real. 709 00:35:12,520 --> 00:35:15,560 It doesn't feel like an old building. It feels like a home. 710 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:17,720 Interesting. It feels like we've lived there forever. 711 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:19,400 Like it was completely meant to be. 712 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:20,800 Well, look, congratulations, 713 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:22,680 because there's something about this building which I think 714 00:35:22,720 --> 00:35:25,600 is very spectacular, which bears no relation to how it was. 715 00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,520 And that is that you can look through what appears to be 716 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:31,480 a glass building, supporting a tin roof. 717 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:35,680 It's very simple, but it's very, very elegant. 718 00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:37,360 It's like a sort of black rainbow. 719 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:39,320 The curved roof's amazing and it looks amazing - 720 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:40,680 even better inside as well. 721 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:42,680 Well, come on then. Let's have a look inside. 722 00:35:42,720 --> 00:35:44,200 Oh. 723 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:47,120 Oh...wow! 724 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:48,600 That's epic. 725 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:52,560 It's so clear and clean. 726 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,080 Beautiful sheer surface. 727 00:35:55,120 --> 00:35:57,120 To have this sort of uninterrupted view 728 00:35:57,160 --> 00:35:59,120 without kind of bracing or anything like that - 729 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:00,800 just this curve of the roof. 730 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:04,600 But there's plenty of fun here, 731 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:07,360 I mean, the balustrade is just a transparent piece of glass, 732 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:08,400 nothing else. 733 00:36:08,440 --> 00:36:11,640 And that thing - the magnificent ballcock... 734 00:36:11,680 --> 00:36:14,120 And actually, it's a really weird talking point. 735 00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,440 Everybody that comes round asks about it, 736 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:19,280 and it's just a reminder of what the building once was 737 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:20,840 and what it has become now. 738 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,120 It's actually quite nice when you come in here - 739 00:36:23,160 --> 00:36:25,720 people don't even see the staircase because of this view, 740 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,200 it draws the eye almost across the bridge. 741 00:36:28,240 --> 00:36:30,240 Yeah, it's like a runway this, isn't it? 742 00:36:30,280 --> 00:36:32,480 Kind of inviting you to land. 743 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:34,320 Taking you to...what's this place called? 744 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:35,720 Takes you to the airborne snug. 745 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,640 Airborne snug. That's very nice. 746 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:42,600 It's all about that uninterrupted view out. 747 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:43,960 Brilliant. 748 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:45,920 This is my favourite spot of the house 749 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:47,840 because I can see where my grandad grew up. 750 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:49,360 I can see where my mum grew up. 751 00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:51,920 Goodness me. So it's so meaningful. 752 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,320 I just don't think there can be many families 753 00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:55,800 who can look out of their window 754 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,560 and have these memories planted into the landscape 755 00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:00,360 and associated with it. 756 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,080 It stops just being a beautiful place 757 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:05,560 and becomes a meaningful place, doesn't it? Yes. 758 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:07,560 When he was cleaning out the reservoir, 759 00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:09,880 this is where he used to sit and have his lunch every day. 760 00:37:09,920 --> 00:37:12,520 So, this was his part of the reservoir, 761 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:14,840 so that is why it's also so important. 762 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:17,440 Yeah, wow. Feel the energy, eh? 763 00:37:17,480 --> 00:37:19,040 I do miss him so much. 764 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:21,520 But there's so many reminders every day. 765 00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:27,680 The mezzanine triumphs in honouring this family's personal history, 766 00:37:27,720 --> 00:37:30,720 but how has their architect, Chris Loyn, fared 767 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:33,480 in transforming the reservoir's once dark, 768 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:36,560 dank lower reaches into something habitable? 769 00:37:36,600 --> 00:37:39,320 OK. Down we go. The next chapter. 770 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:40,680 My goodness me! 771 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,440 It's another world down here, isn't it? 772 00:37:44,480 --> 00:37:47,440 I thought it would feel a little bit subterranean 773 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:49,120 but it's the opposite. 774 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,800 You come down and the building actually opens out more. 775 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:57,000 And not a hint that you're in any way buried. It's really terrific. 776 00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:59,960 This space is better than I ever imagined it to be down here. 777 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,840 I think having that double height space makes it as well, 778 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:06,040 having the open air, being able to see the roof from down here still. 779 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:07,800 Yeah. That's an important point, isn't it? 780 00:38:07,840 --> 00:38:09,360 If the bridge were a mezzanine, 781 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:11,360 if it were covering half of the ceiling, 782 00:38:11,400 --> 00:38:13,480 you wouldn't get the light in from the ends, 783 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:16,280 or from the both sides, from these clerestory windows. 784 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:17,560 It would be darker. 785 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:21,840 And that marble. My goodness me! 786 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:23,400 Where's that from? 787 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:25,640 I mean, which weird mountain? 788 00:38:25,680 --> 00:38:29,200 I think it's Italian. It is Italian. Yes, yes. 789 00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:31,280 In the black bat mountains, somewhere! 790 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:34,440 The Urals, whatever it is. It's crazy, isn't it? 791 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:36,360 I love it. It's so striking. 792 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:39,000 And it really gives you the wow factor when you walk down. 793 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:40,400 What's really interesting, though, 794 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,200 is that sometimes people take old buildings 795 00:38:42,240 --> 00:38:45,160 and they do them up and they kill the building. You know what I mean? 796 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:47,720 But here, what Chris has done is basically just knock 797 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,160 the building around, punched big holes in the side walls, 798 00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:53,040 create open garden spaces where there were none, 799 00:38:53,080 --> 00:38:55,200 and yet still the building says, "No, I'm still here". 800 00:38:56,640 --> 00:38:59,160 It's as if Chris knew what the buried power 801 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:00,600 of the old structure was - 802 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:03,160 knew it needed the courtyard to humanise it, 803 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:05,960 and the new connecting spaces like the dining room. 804 00:39:06,000 --> 00:39:07,840 It's very generous, you know? 805 00:39:07,880 --> 00:39:10,200 It is, isn't it? It's the connection point. 806 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,880 Yet, the most startling views are out, 807 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:17,800 back to the reservoir, to the stone walls, 808 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:19,960 so carefully repointed. 809 00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:22,680 And to the superb courtyard garden. 810 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:25,560 Well, what a delight that is. 811 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:29,600 You've put these great gabions in, a wall of them. 812 00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:33,080 Yeah. 11 metres of gabion baskets. Oh, wow! 813 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,040 All that stone came out of here when we dug out. 814 00:39:36,080 --> 00:39:37,760 Seriously? 815 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:42,760 I have to remind myself that a whopping 3,000 tonnes of stone 816 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,840 and earth were excavated to make way for the courtyard 817 00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:47,880 and the concrete extension. 818 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,480 So, down the corridor 819 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:55,160 into this - this is properly the new wing, isn't it? 820 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:57,920 Yes. All in poured concrete. 821 00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:00,360 It's sheer and perfect. 822 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:03,240 Like a hotel. 823 00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:04,320 THEY CHUCKLE 824 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,080 Rooms off here include a spare room, 825 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:11,360 and, of course, a bedroom for the toddler, Leo. 826 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:17,440 But the highlight is Rosa and Craig's. 827 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,680 This is your room at the end, yeah? Yeah. 828 00:40:19,720 --> 00:40:21,720 Oh, with its own walk-in... 829 00:40:21,760 --> 00:40:25,360 What's that? A kind of rainy-shower... It's built in. 830 00:40:25,400 --> 00:40:27,240 Yeah. Yes, it's rainfall. 831 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:29,960 Wow, and what's the other side? Is that the loo, is it? 832 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:31,520 Yeah, that's the toilet. Nice. 833 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:32,920 I do love this room. 834 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:35,120 It's the most concrete that you can see in any room. 835 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:37,920 We just walked in here and were like, you can't cover that up. 836 00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:40,280 Ha. It's too good! Yeah, it's too good. We love it. 837 00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:43,160 Yeah, yeah. No, this is generally a better quality 838 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:44,920 than you find in your average car park, 839 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:48,760 and I'd be really happy waking up to that in the morning. 840 00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:52,120 And you step out onto a beautifully polished concrete floor. 841 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:55,360 This is super glamorous, particularly this side, 842 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:58,280 you know? I mean, in fact the whole thing is bloody, 843 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:01,440 super glamorous the moment you walk in. It's glamorous! 844 00:41:01,480 --> 00:41:04,600 There's so many things that make you feel... 845 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:07,520 just better and more... Do you know what I mean? More... Yes. 846 00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:11,640 I'm just happy to be in here, and living here, just enjoying it. 847 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:12,760 Yeah. 848 00:41:12,800 --> 00:41:14,560 Sitting back and taking it all in. 849 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,360 Remarkably, they've done it. 850 00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,920 Thanks in no small part to Grandad Leo, 851 00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:25,800 whose generosity contributed so much 852 00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:28,480 to the construction of this remarkable home. 853 00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:31,200 Leo, he loved this building. 854 00:41:31,240 --> 00:41:34,320 He knew every stone in this building. 855 00:41:34,360 --> 00:41:36,440 He lived and he breathed it. 856 00:41:36,480 --> 00:41:39,240 So, what do you think he would have made of it now? 857 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:43,640 He would have been absolutely over the moon with it. 858 00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:47,480 When we last talked, you were quite dismissive of the concrete. 859 00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,280 I was, but now I understand. 860 00:41:50,320 --> 00:41:52,720 It represents our family. 861 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:56,920 I feel that Leo and I are in this old bit, 862 00:41:56,960 --> 00:42:02,160 and I feel that, tucked in beside it there... Yeah. 863 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:06,520 ..looks a cheeky building with a big smile on its face 864 00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:11,040 and it's shining, and it reminds me of Rosa, 865 00:42:11,080 --> 00:42:14,840 and it reminds me of how Rosa and Craig met, 866 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:16,920 captured each other's hearts. 867 00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,040 And along came Leo. 868 00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:23,360 Yeah. And I think the courage and determination that 869 00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:27,240 they have shown to see this building through 870 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:29,440 is absolutely wonderful. 871 00:42:29,480 --> 00:42:31,640 I am so proud of them. 872 00:42:31,680 --> 00:42:34,560 They've given this building its life back. 873 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:38,200 And what greater gift can you give than that? 874 00:42:38,240 --> 00:42:40,560 Yeah. Indeed. 875 00:42:42,240 --> 00:42:46,760 But my, pulling it off has exacted its toll on Rosa and Craig. 876 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,880 Nearly four years to get to this point - 877 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:51,840 three more than anticipated, 878 00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:54,480 and a stomach-churning financial burden. 879 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:56,720 First of all, congratulations for finishing 880 00:42:56,760 --> 00:42:59,520 because I think anybody who can finish a house these days 881 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:01,600 is a miracle worker. Thank you. 882 00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:04,120 Tell me though about the money. 883 00:43:04,160 --> 00:43:07,160 You thought originally 700,000. 884 00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:10,880 I think build cost alone is just over a million. 885 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:12,840 Plus, all your prelims 886 00:43:12,880 --> 00:43:15,200 and your architect's fees and your engineers... 887 00:43:15,240 --> 00:43:17,800 That takes us up to about £1.2 million I think, 888 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:21,840 including that. Yeah. And a mortgage of 600 and... 889 00:43:21,880 --> 00:43:25,600 600,000. We then borrowed another 80,000. 890 00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:27,680 Put in about 100,000 of our own money. 891 00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:31,920 Then unfortunate circumstances around Rosa's grandad passing away 892 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,480 helped us basically to finish build. 893 00:43:34,520 --> 00:43:37,440 So, were you able to make up all that you needed, 894 00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:40,800 thanks to Leo, or have you had to go elsewhere as well? 895 00:43:40,840 --> 00:43:42,960 We've had to go elsewhere as well! 896 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:47,080 Every friend and every family member on both sides of the family. 897 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:48,400 Yeah. 898 00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:53,440 So, you're spending a few grand a month at least on your mortgage. 899 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:55,560 Yeah, it's a ridiculous amount of money. 900 00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:57,400 It's way more than we ever thought we would spend or wanted to spend. 901 00:43:57,440 --> 00:43:59,640 It's horrendous, because I think if you'd said to me 902 00:43:59,680 --> 00:44:01,160 four or five years ago, 903 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:03,840 this is the amount of money that you're going to spend, 904 00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:05,680 I would have said, "No. No way." 905 00:44:05,720 --> 00:44:08,680 It's not a decision we've made lightly, having to get ourselves 906 00:44:08,720 --> 00:44:11,880 in this much debt, but it's worth it, definitely. 907 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:14,520 Yeah. It's so nice having our own bubble here. 908 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:16,440 It really does feel like that. 909 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:19,200 Seeing how happy little Leo is running around... 910 00:44:19,240 --> 00:44:21,480 Just getting to chase him and see his face. 911 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:26,120 I'm just like, this is it - this is why we've done it, I think. 912 00:44:26,160 --> 00:44:30,200 Yeah. And actually, little Leo is starting to learn. 913 00:44:30,240 --> 00:44:31,600 We tell him about my grandad, 914 00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:35,560 and we actually tell him about the buckets of slurry that he dug. 915 00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:38,880 And we've got a picture that my grandad wrote of it. 916 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:43,000 And actually, if you ask Leo, he'll say, "Grandad did that". 917 00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:47,760 Thanks to Rosa and Craig's epic efforts, 918 00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:51,720 the family's relationship with this beguiling landscape 919 00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:54,560 has been safeguarded, with a home. 920 00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:58,880 You know as long as I've known this project, 921 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:01,120 I've thought there's a problem associated with it, 922 00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:03,760 to do with the fact that it was Leo who planted 923 00:45:03,800 --> 00:45:05,760 the original idea in Rosa's mind 924 00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:09,160 that something magical could be done with this site. 925 00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:12,880 And, as a consequence, I think she felt the burden 926 00:45:12,920 --> 00:45:16,920 of having to do something important here, of remembering him. 927 00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:20,760 Of honouring his memory in architecture, 928 00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:22,760 and producing something of real worth. 929 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:25,040 And you know, in doing that, 930 00:45:25,080 --> 00:45:28,680 it nearly broke her and Craig financially. 931 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:32,640 But I'm so pleased they succeeded. 932 00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:34,360 I'm so pleased they finished. 933 00:45:34,400 --> 00:45:38,680 Because what it does so brilliantly is not simply 934 00:45:38,720 --> 00:45:42,200 remember the man whose idea it was, 935 00:45:42,240 --> 00:45:49,440 but also embody the imagination of Craig and Rosa. 936 00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,400 Amazing what families can do, isn't it? 937 00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:08,080 The house is about the site. A treehouse concept we've gone for. 938 00:46:10,360 --> 00:46:12,600 There seems to be a serious design error somewhere. 939 00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:15,080 I'll be interested to know who's expected to pay for it. 940 00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:17,120 I've literally just run out of money now. 941 00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:19,280 If somebody says to me, "I need some money", 942 00:46:19,320 --> 00:46:21,320 I think I'm going to have to do a few little delaying tactics. 943 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:24,360 Things can run away very quickly if you don't keep control. 944 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:25,720 So when do you think you'll be in? 945 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:27,240 About ten years. 946 00:46:27,280 --> 00:46:28,760 Oh, that's nice!