1
00:00:05,520 --> 00:00:08,040
This country, being the cradle of

2
00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:10,240
the Industrial Revolution that
it was,

3
00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:15,680
is now littered
with old industrial hulks,

4
00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:17,720
buildings that don't serve
a purpose any more,

5
00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:19,520
but which are beautiful in
the landscape.

6
00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:21,640
We admire them, we love them,
and we visit them.

7
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:23,440
The question is,
what do we do with them?

8
00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:25,160
How do we look after them?

9
00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,640
Do we preserve, conserve, restore?

10
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:32,520
Or do we just let them fall into
the ground again?

11
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,400
I mean, buildings like this old
Cornish tin mine.

12
00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:38,040
What could they be? Five years ago,

13
00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:42,440
I met a couple who wanted
to preserve their building,

14
00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:46,800
and keep it from disappearing into
a pile of rubble,

15
00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:49,120
by turning it into a house.

16
00:00:50,960 --> 00:00:54,840
In 2017 Leigh and Richard went on
holiday to Cornwall,

17
00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:56,720
and returned determined to become

18
00:00:56,760 --> 00:00:59,880
the proud owners
of this derelict flour mill.

19
00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:01,360
We're complete novices.

20
00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:03,920
We just fell in love with it,
it was instant.

21
00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:08,040
The old girl was in a far worse
state then they'd feared.

22
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:10,280
Part of the floor did collapse.

23
00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:13,800
More damage than we would
have liked.

24
00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,440
It can tip clients over
the edge financially.

25
00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,000
The listed building quickly hoovered
up their spare change,

26
00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,680
leaving Richard and Leigh to provide
the muscle on site.

27
00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,720
How are we going to lift them out?
Magic.

28
00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:30,160
But in the absence of a magic wand,

29
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,240
the demands of the build soon took
their toll.

30
00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:36,000
I'm absolutely knackered.

31
00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,280
There isn't any money left.

32
00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:41,080
Two and a half years ago,

33
00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,640
Richard and Leigh had barely limped
over the finish line.

34
00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:49,640
And I've come back to find out what
life is like living in

35
00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,160
an old converted ruin.

36
00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,360
But first, here's their story.

37
00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:29,800
This is one of Blake's original
dark satanic mills, isn't it? Whoa.

38
00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:36,400
This old flourmill has been left
abandoned for almost 60 years

39
00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:40,680
but it was once a critical hub
for this rural Cornish community.

40
00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:45,400
These are the mill races that fed
the wheel I guess,

41
00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,520
or wheels, more than one.

42
00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:50,080
Holy Moley.

43
00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:54,080
There are now plans to convert this
listed old hulk into a home.

44
00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,040
I mean this is... This ain't no
domestic project, is it?

45
00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:01,520
This is an industrial building,

46
00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:03,480
probably never lived in,

47
00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:06,040
never designed to be lived in,

48
00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:10,080
and probably a building which is
going to resist being lived in.

49
00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:14,840
Wait there, Luna.

50
00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,720
The two behind this
high-risk project... Come on, Luna.

51
00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:22,360
..Leigh and Richard,
until recently, lived in Derbyshire,

52
00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,640
where they ran a small, rare plant
nursery,

53
00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:28,080
and Richard was
a part-time maths teacher.

54
00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,560
There's no trolley service on this
train, is there?

55
00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,680
They don't seem like big
risk-takers. Good girl, Luna.

56
00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,680
But oh, how looks can be deceptive.

57
00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,000
Because Leigh and Richard met
27 years ago,

58
00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:47,520
jumping out of an aircraft.

59
00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:52,120
Some of the things that we've done

60
00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,880
you might consider dangerous.

61
00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:57,880
We've both competed at
national level,

62
00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:02,040
both been part of record attempts.

63
00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,120
We don't tend to take
the easy option,

64
00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:06,560
you've got to push yourself.

65
00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:10,800
If you don't push yourself you don't
know how far you can go.

66
00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,000
These former daredevils have now cut
the ties

67
00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:19,880
with their old lives in Derbyshire,

68
00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:24,400
and have moved 250 miles away to
the wilds of the Cornish coast.

69
00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:27,640
I just love being down here,

70
00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,480
I think we're so lucky to have
a beach like this on

71
00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:32,320
the doorstep.

72
00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:36,040
Never lived by the sea,
this has always been a dream.

73
00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:38,920
Having sold their house
to finance this project,

74
00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:41,760
they're about to sink everything
they've ever worked for,

75
00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:43,400
and their future happiness,

76
00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,640
into a building on
the verge of collapse.

77
00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,000
The amount of work that needs
to be done,

78
00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,280
there has to be an element of risk.

79
00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,840
The biggest concern is running
out money

80
00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:59,080
and being Mrs Impatient,

81
00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,720
it not quite being ready when I
want to move in.

82
00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:05,760
We've never done anything on this
scale before.

83
00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,360
We're bound to make
a few mistakes but...

84
00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:10,200
Hopefully not expensive ones.

85
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,040
You've bitten off a big hunk of
building here

86
00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:18,520
to work on, haven't you?

87
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:20,880
It's a big project
but one we're looking forward to.

88
00:05:20,920 --> 00:05:22,000
Have you done this before?

89
00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:25,080
No, complete novices.
We just fell in love with it,

90
00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,240
it was instant.
We were on our way home to Derby,

91
00:05:28,280 --> 00:05:30,960
I picked up a free newspaper outside
an estate agent.

92
00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:32,480
You were supposed to be navigating.

93
00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,120
Yes, dear. I opened it up and went,
"That's it."

94
00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:37,920
What are you hoping to do with it?

95
00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,600
Well, it's been here
for several hundred years,

96
00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:42,920
and it's redundant as a mill,
so it's never going to be

97
00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,080
a mill again. So we're make it,

98
00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:47,320
and convert it into a beautiful
home.

99
00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:52,200
But, obviously, try
and maintain some of its heritage

100
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,400
and, you know,
show people that it was a mill,

101
00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:57,760
you know, we're not
going to rip everything out.

102
00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,160
Old buildings like this,
you fall in love with them.

103
00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:01,520
They often don't repay that.

104
00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:03,520
She's old and tired and sad,

105
00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:06,280
and I think she's crying out for
a little bit of help

106
00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:08,040
to nudge her into the future.

107
00:06:08,080 --> 00:06:10,720
We can't put off going in any
longer, can we? Come on in, then.

108
00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,760
Is it safe? It depends on your
assessment of risk, really.

109
00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:19,600
Hey, hey, this is rather nice.
I mean it's old.

110
00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:20,880
It's a big space, isn't it?

111
00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:22,960
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I like your floor.

112
00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:26,400
Yeah, these were laid down about
100 years ago.

113
00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:27,680
Were they?

114
00:06:27,720 --> 00:06:31,080
And I think it's things like that
that, you know, reflect

115
00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:33,400
the use that it's had in its past.

116
00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:37,040
Yeah, do these remain in this place
in situ? Not in this place. No.

117
00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:39,280
Because you've got very little head
height here,

118
00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:41,360
we are going to dig out
and go down.

119
00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,280
But the plan for these is
to use two of them to make

120
00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:46,880
the dining room table.

121
00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,560
I still want to make it look like
it's an industrial building.

122
00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:51,840
Yes.

123
00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:54,200
To me that's quite important.

124
00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,480
Looking at these beams,
their condition,

125
00:06:56,520 --> 00:06:59,160
the fact that they haven't sagged
too much or dropped at

126
00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:01,160
the ends, its... It's great.

127
00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:05,640
We're going to get them inspected as
to what can be saved and re-used.

128
00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,000
But what's your gut feeling about
how much you can save? 80%.

129
00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,800
I think you can save 80%
at least.

130
00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,000
Oh, great big floor.

131
00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:16,480
This is what? A milling
floor, presumably. Yes.

132
00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:17,800
Yeah. What's it going to be?

133
00:07:17,840 --> 00:07:20,640
It's going to be our living
room. Wow. Lovely space.

134
00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:22,720
What stays here?
So what about the hoppers?

135
00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:25,840
No, so the hoppers will be removed.

136
00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:28,120
And these posts supporting
this beam?

137
00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,080
So the big beam's staying in.

138
00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:33,120
We're not disposing of any of
the wood that's usable,

139
00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,440
it will be repurposed.

140
00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,760
I suppose my question here is, when
you start removing the details,

141
00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:40,960
you start to remove the character.

142
00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,080
But everything moves forward
it can't be stuck in the past.

143
00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:48,840
We've got to be realistic,
because it has got to be... A home.

144
00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:52,120
A home.
It's not going to be a mill again.

145
00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:53,520
And there's the rub.

146
00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:56,400
How to save every scrap
of this precious place,

147
00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:58,440
repair it sensitively and yet,

148
00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:00,840
convert it to live in comfortably,

149
00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:02,320
without trashing it.

150
00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:07,080
For just over 400 years,

151
00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,200
this building was grinding flour
and animal feed,

152
00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:12,480
and was still working in
the 1960s.

153
00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,000
But for over half
a century it's been left abandoned.

154
00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:19,240
Partial collapse has helped damp get
into the masonry,

155
00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:23,960
the windows and window lintels have
rotted out.

156
00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:27,800
Leigh and Richard 's most urgent job
will be to tackle the stonework,

157
00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:30,520
rake out every inch
of damp, rotten mortar,

158
00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:32,720
made from earth and lime,

159
00:08:32,760 --> 00:08:35,320
rebuild areas of wall near collapse,

160
00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,880
and restore some
structural integrity.

161
00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:42,000
Inside, the old timber workings of
the mill will

162
00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:44,560
need to be carefully treated, as
they're still helping

163
00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:48,520
to brace the walls.
Leigh and Richard want to keep them,

164
00:08:48,560 --> 00:08:53,480
but will jumble them up as they
reorganise the layout.

165
00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,000
All the slates will
need to come off,

166
00:08:56,040 --> 00:08:58,800
the trusses underneath
carefully rebuilt,

167
00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:03,200
and the building re-roofed,
to make it watertight again.

168
00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:06,640
An architect has helped them
reconfigure the layout.

169
00:09:06,680 --> 00:09:11,800
In the roof, there'll be two
en-suite guest bedrooms,

170
00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:15,760
and the second floor below will
house their bedroom suite.

171
00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,360
On the first floor, their open-plan
living room will

172
00:09:18,400 --> 00:09:20,200
retain some elements of the old
mill,

173
00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:25,680
and give them access to
the garden over the rear wheel pit.

174
00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,360
The ground floor will see
the most radical change,

175
00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:30,840
those beautiful millstones
get removed

176
00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:33,440
to be reused somewhere else,

177
00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,760
and a new concrete floor installed.

178
00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:40,280
A new kitchen and dining room will
be lit by two new windows

179
00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:42,560
for which they have permission.

180
00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:45,800
And ground-mounted solar panels will
help power this very

181
00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:48,720
21st century conversion.

182
00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:51,280
Leigh and Richard clearly have
the passion

183
00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,280
to create something
spellbinding here,

184
00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:57,520
but they have no experience.
Not of ancient buildings,

185
00:09:57,560 --> 00:09:59,200
not even of building.

186
00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:01,960
You have got your work cut out here,
I think, haven't you?

187
00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,640
I think so. How much did you pay for
the site? 235,000.

188
00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:07,800
£235,000 for this.

189
00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:10,800
How much is the project
going to cost? 250,000.

190
00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:16,880
I could put my money somewhere
slightly sounder than this.

191
00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,240
£250,000 is not enough.

192
00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,600
Nor is their small contingency
of 50,000.

193
00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,160
Old buildings aren't just smelly
and damp.

194
00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:29,160
They're also greedy and ungrateful.

195
00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:32,760
You two met falling out of
an aircraft, yeah?

196
00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,760
Which suggests
that you are not risk-averse.

197
00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:38,760
You are... You are risk enthusiasts.

198
00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:40,720
Ah, we're risk managers.

199
00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,920
But you are taking a risk here?
You are novices.

200
00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:47,840
But there isn't any reward without
an element of risk.

201
00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:50,520
Leigh and Richard have given
themselves a year

202
00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:54,280
to resurrect this broken building
but, of course,

203
00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,440
if they move too quickly,
they could destroy

204
00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,960
the very thing they've fallen in
love with.

205
00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:05,240
This newel post and this handrail
have been polished to a gloss by

206
00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:09,320
the action of thousands
of hands grabbing hold of it over

207
00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,240
the centuries it's been here.
The magic of the place,

208
00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:16,200
that magic lies in details
like this,

209
00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:19,160
in tens of thousands of them around
the place.

210
00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:23,360
Remove these, change, adapt and
actually, quite quickly, you begin

211
00:11:23,400 --> 00:11:26,640
to chip away at that magic
and that spirit of place.

212
00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:28,800
And there's a tremendous poignancy
in that

213
00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,560
because, once this is gone,
it's gone forever.

214
00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:39,280
By Spring, Leigh and Richard have
moved into

215
00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:43,120
a small holiday let just across
the road from their site.

216
00:11:45,720 --> 00:11:47,240
Where the scaffold is up,

217
00:11:47,280 --> 00:11:51,680
and the work of saving this listed
local landmark can begin.

218
00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:57,800
A quarter of the total
budget, £60,000,

219
00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:01,240
is being spent on a team of
conservation builders, who'll repair

220
00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:03,880
and rebuild the stonework.

221
00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:06,600
They start by removing the old
and broken pointing,

222
00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:08,680
and any hard cement repairs.

223
00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:13,720
Some people will look at this
and think, "Knock it down."

224
00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:21,040
Leigh and Richard have undertaken
quite an extensive amount of work.

225
00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,720
This is hard manual labour,

226
00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:25,520
but it needs to be judicious,

227
00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:30,040
so as not to disturb loose
and dangerous stonework.

228
00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:32,840
Only when these walls are secure can
they start on

229
00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:34,600
the timber structure inside.

230
00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:40,760
Which it seems is in far worse shape
than anyone thought.

231
00:12:40,800 --> 00:12:43,720
Part of the floor did collapse,

232
00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:45,960
one of the big joists just
dropped out.

233
00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:50,160
In places,
the floor really is quite unsafe.

234
00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:54,440
And these ancient timbers seem
to be suffering new stresses.

235
00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:59,320
Three days ago, the split in this
joist was a millimetre,

236
00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:03,120
we've now got cracks in it that
you can put your hand in.

237
00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:06,760
Every new problem discovered means
a new cost.

238
00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:09,280
We're only a short while into
the project,

239
00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:12,680
and I can see that it is already
going to run over

240
00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:16,440
the figure that we had in mind.
So somehow,

241
00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:19,080
we've got to claw that back from
other areas.

242
00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:23,280
Leigh is already projecting
an overspend of £15,000.

243
00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:25,200
They're only two weeks in,

244
00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:29,280
and there could be plenty
of nasty surprises yet to come.

245
00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:43,560
Leigh and Richard are three weeks
into their mill conversion,

246
00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:46,800
and the repair of
the crumbling stonework has gobbled

247
00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:49,520
a quarter of all their
cash. However,

248
00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:51,920
the work is beginning
to bear fruit.

249
00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:58,080
It's good to see the old beauty
being brought back to life.

250
00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:02,160
The restoration contractors
have found

251
00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:05,120
so many areas of serious damage,

252
00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:07,880
as well as some temporary
remediations

253
00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,040
made by
previous custodians.

254
00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:12,680
I daren't actually touch
a single stone in this

255
00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:16,640
for fear that the entire section
will fall out.

256
00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:18,720
It must have been like this for
the past 50 years,

257
00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:21,080
judging by the moss but, look, it's
sitting on a lintel

258
00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:22,760
which almost isn't doing a job at
all.

259
00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:25,000
And the best thing
of all is that someone has tried

260
00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,520
to affect a repair previously up
here, which is even better.

261
00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:35,320
So it's a two-part preventive
measure involving

262
00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:39,200
an old hinge and, above it, gas
pipe.

263
00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:43,240
What a fantastic piece
of improvisation that is.

264
00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:47,600
There will be no gas pipe lintels in
this renovation.

265
00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:51,360
48 new solid oak lintels are now
being fitted over

266
00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:53,800
the window and door openings.

267
00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:56,560
Presumably you're prepared
to sacrifice, you know,

268
00:14:56,600 --> 00:14:58,640
the beautiful kitchen
and the expensive fixtures

269
00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,680
and fittings in order to be able
to get the building sorted.

270
00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:05,320
The building being sorted is
the absolute priority,

271
00:15:05,360 --> 00:15:08,880
but there'll be no
sacrificial kitchens.

272
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:10,280
Well, good luck with that.

273
00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:17,880
Leigh and Richard's 250 grand is
ebbing away fast,

274
00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:21,840
and they haven't even begun on
the decaying interior.

275
00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:24,920
A job entrusted to their
highly-experienced

276
00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,920
conservation joiner, James.

277
00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:34,680
And his less-experienced jobbing
assistant, Richard.

278
00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:39,960
Richard is like my helper,
my apprentice,

279
00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,080
he's an extra pair of hands.

280
00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:46,680
It's unusual to have
a client assisting you in this way.

281
00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,920
The first task for this crack team
is to dismantle

282
00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:51,960
the charming ancient staircase.

283
00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:54,480
Ready, steady, go. You all right?
Yeah.

284
00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,600
Yeah, we'll see how he is at
the end, you know what I mean?

285
00:15:57,640 --> 00:16:01,240
He's learning a lot as he goes but
we've had no problems so far.

286
00:16:03,280 --> 00:16:04,880
I suggest you come down now.

287
00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,440
I wouldn't give him a job yet.

288
00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:13,800
Even my precious newel post
isn't safe...

289
00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:14,960
It's a nice bit of wood.

290
00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,440
..from the exuberance
of Richard's crowbar.

291
00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:19,200
There we go.

292
00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:25,080
They had hoped to keep 80%
of these timbers in situ.

293
00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:30,360
But the building hadn't told Leigh
and Richard the full story.

294
00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,360
Even though this beam, on
the whole, may look good and solid,

295
00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:37,080
the critical area of it is where it
goes into the wall.

296
00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,520
That's rotted away
and, as you can see,

297
00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:42,720
it's just turning to dust.

298
00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:44,160
So you can't use that.

299
00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:47,960
In the following month,

300
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,040
there is at least some good news
about the stonework.

301
00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,880
All the structural repairs
have been made

302
00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,480
and the restoration contractors have
begun repointing

303
00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:59,960
the walls with a traditional
lime mortar.

304
00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,160
Protecting it from sun wind rain,

305
00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:05,640
you know, everything,,
all the elements.

306
00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,560
Yeah, good for another
hundred years.

307
00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:13,400
But this careful approach of gentle,
slow repair and conservation

308
00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:15,760
won't
now be replicated inside.

309
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:19,080
Leigh and Richard have now decided
that almost every single beam

310
00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:22,640
and joist will be replaced
with new timber.

311
00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,320
It's a German softwood apparently,

312
00:17:25,360 --> 00:17:27,960
it's come from a local timber yard.

313
00:17:28,000 --> 00:17:31,360
The new, straight and somewhat
characterless timber

314
00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,000
goes in quickly. They use steel
tension ties to help strengthen

315
00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:37,520
the floors and lock
the building together.

316
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:39,400
This helps the structure,

317
00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:43,240
and the choice of softwood helps
the somewhat stressed budget.

318
00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:45,800
In a desperate attempt
to save even more cash,

319
00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,640
Leigh and Richard have now moved
out of the holiday let and into..

320
00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:51,960
Lily, come on.

321
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:54,000
..the world's tiniest caravan.

322
00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:58,160
It's a little cramped and cosy.
Luna!

323
00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:00,400
Normally, I like accommodation
with stars,

324
00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,440
and the more of them the better.

325
00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,320
I've no idea how long they'll call
this minute space home,

326
00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:09,320
that's up to the mill.

327
00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:14,280
A little over two months since
work began,

328
00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:15,960
the roofers are on site to tackle

329
00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:19,960
the last big structural element
of this building's salvation.

330
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,480
I'm not sure I'm brave enough
to do it.

331
00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:27,000
When they said it was coming off in
a day I thought, "No."

332
00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:31,080
Fingers crossed that, underneath
these slates,

333
00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:34,240
they don't find another
nasty surprise.

334
00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:43,560
Yeah, so, it's probably more damage
than we would have liked.

335
00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,640
We've got to see what it...
How deep it goes.

336
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:50,760
If these seven A-frame roof trusses
can be salvaged,

337
00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:53,040
they'll probably be
the only original timbers

338
00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:56,360
to survive Richard
and Leigh's renovation.

339
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:05,400
Oh, goodness me, bits of building,

340
00:19:05,440 --> 00:19:07,320
bits of building out in the rain.

341
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,160
Bits of building that maybe,
in some cases,

342
00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,000
should have stayed in
the building.

343
00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:19,320
Thousands of bits that made it what
it was.

344
00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:27,120
The speed of change on this project
brings undesirable impacts for me.

345
00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:29,960
All my life I have loved old things,

346
00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:32,400
and loved them for
their cantankerousness,

347
00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,040
and their wonkiness,
and their history,

348
00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,520
and the stories they tell,
and the narratives they weave,

349
00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:40,840
and here it's just been
ripped apart.

350
00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:43,200
I'm not sure what means anything
any more here.

351
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:49,800
The stonework showed just how
conservation repair work can be

352
00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:53,160
considerate and respectful.

353
00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:56,280
Inside, I think there's been too
much change,

354
00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:58,800
that's happened too quickly.

355
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,360
Balancing a modest £250,000
budget

356
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:18,720
with the authentic restoration of
an old Cornish flour mill

357
00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:21,720
has not been easy for Leigh and
Richard.

358
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:23,200
Can you hold the window?

359
00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:24,520
I've got the screw now.

360
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,840
They're now fitting 18 new
beautifully-made timber windows.

361
00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:37,640
It's cost 14,000 to repair
and clad the entire roof,

362
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,160
and an extra eight grand in
the end to retain

363
00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,320
the old timber A-frame trusses.

364
00:20:43,360 --> 00:20:45,920
Now, after a frantic six months,

365
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,640
this building is watertight for
the first time in 60 years,

366
00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,280
and the shroud of scaffolding can
begin to come down.

367
00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:56,440
I suppose it's like the butterfly
coming from the chrysalis, isn't it?

368
00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:59,240
Just beautiful. Bloody amazing.

369
00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:04,000
Hiya. Brilliant,
isn't it? Looking good.

370
00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,960
Over the years you've just watched
it slowly crumble away,

371
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:08,360
and now it's lovely.

372
00:21:09,960 --> 00:21:14,280
A positive reaction from the
community and, three weeks later,

373
00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,680
even the hardline conservationists
are changing their tune.

374
00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,600
Well, how picturesque is that?

375
00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:24,120
What a lovely thing.

376
00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,840
They've really used their judgment
with this pointing,

377
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:28,880
they haven't tried
to rebuild these walls

378
00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:31,880
to make them straight, they're still
wonky and wobbly.

379
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:36,000
And it's lovely.
It's got loads of personality.

380
00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:39,080
But these restored walls are only
a shell

381
00:21:39,120 --> 00:21:42,360
and now all the professional
craftsmen have left,

382
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,160
the completion of this project
rests solely

383
00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,200
with its inexperienced owners.

384
00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,200
You've been by yourselves,
on your tod, for how long?

385
00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:53,080
About three weeks now we've been on
our own. Yeah, about three weeks.

386
00:21:53,120 --> 00:21:55,240
Was that... It must have been
something of a shock?

387
00:21:55,280 --> 00:21:57,120
Yeah, I think the first morning you
wake up

388
00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:00,320
and realise no-one's coming
to hold your hand,

389
00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:02,760
it's like, "Blimey what do
we do next?"

390
00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:06,520
Now £30,000 over budget,

391
00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:10,240
Leigh and Richard take on
the rest of the work themselves.

392
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,520
Within the month, Richard makes a
start on the internal stonework,

393
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:18,120
using skills he's picked up from
working with the contractors.

394
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:20,920
But that still leaves
the insulation, rendering,

395
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,000
plastering and underfloor heating,

396
00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:26,120
all jobs that rest in their
unpractised hands.

397
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:35,520
You have so many jobs sometimes you
actually don't know where to start.

398
00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:39,200
The first monumental challenge they
tackle alone is

399
00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:41,480
the millstone floor.

400
00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:45,200
These stones need to be exhumed,
since they need to dig down

401
00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:47,680
to form more height in
the dining room.

402
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,320
How are we going to lift them out?

403
00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:52,200
Magic. You know, if we'd got

404
00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,800
a team of people in here now you'd
probably get this floor out in

405
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,600
a day, whereas it's going to take
me...

406
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:00,760
Probably take me a week.

407
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:05,000
Progress moving the stone floor is
going very, very slow.

408
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,200
A lot slower than I anticipated.

409
00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,720
I think Richard thought that it
would be quite simple.

410
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:13,280
They're really, really heavy

411
00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:16,680
and I think that we're going to have
to get people in to help us which,

412
00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,520
you know, is another expense that we
hadn't budgeted for.

413
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,760
You know,
there's no way that's going to move,

414
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:24,680
not much we can do about it.

415
00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:34,200
It's now four weeks since Richard
began excavating the ground floor

416
00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:36,960
and the cavalry have been called in
to help.

417
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:42,440
By the looks of it this one is
the main one, the heavy one.

418
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,400
Attaching a block and tackle to
a second-floor beam means

419
00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:48,960
Richard's new timbers are given
a real test.

420
00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:52,040
Yes, a very heavy piece of kit.

421
00:23:52,080 --> 00:23:54,280
The planning conditions

422
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:56,480
for this listed landmark mean that
two of

423
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:59,360
the millstones have
to be retained within the building.

424
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:03,800
They're clearly reluctant
to leave their ancient home.

425
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:07,640
We're all a little bit surprised
about the size of this millstone.

426
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:09,440
It is a bit heavy.

427
00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:12,320
Four men take four hours to remove

428
00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:16,720
the largest of these granite beasts
from the floor.

429
00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:20,480
I was dreading moving them, if
I'm being honest,

430
00:24:20,520 --> 00:24:24,400
but now they're out it's...
Yeah, you know,

431
00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,120
I think this bit will go
quite quickly.

432
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,440
As this project creeps
towards winter,

433
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,200
Leigh and Richard have given
themselves just four months

434
00:24:37,240 --> 00:24:41,080
to complete the interior,
and escape the dreaded caravan,

435
00:24:41,120 --> 00:24:44,200
which has now been moved into
the garage to offer

436
00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,880
a little more protection from
the elements.

437
00:24:46,920 --> 00:24:50,320
Life in the caravan,
generally chaotic.

438
00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:53,320
It would have been nice
to have had a bigger caravan.

439
00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:55,240
Hopefully, just a few more months

440
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:56,800
and we'll be in the mill.

441
00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:01,160
And I'm never, ever staying in
a caravan again, ever.

442
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,960
And Leigh isn't
the only one feeling confined.

443
00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:06,680
Luna, come here, sweetie.
Lily. Come here, Lily.

444
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:08,200
Lily, I can't believe you did that.

445
00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:13,600
Oh, you silly... Lily!

446
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:17,080
The dog's very independent.

447
00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:20,320
Lily! Lily! Lily!

448
00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:21,520
Right now!

449
00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,240
While Leigh manages the schedule
and the budget,

450
00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,880
it's left to Richard
to labour on site.

451
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:34,160
He's installing the latest
low-profile

452
00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:36,520
underfloor heating boards.

453
00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:41,160
It's a welcome relief from digging
out almost 25 tonnes of rubble from

454
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:43,920
the ground floor, but the demands

455
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:46,840
of this building are taking
their toll.

456
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,040
I'm absolutely knackered.

457
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:54,840
Just... tired.

458
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,920
The word I would choose
to use would be...

459
00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:02,360
Yeah, I'd say exhausted,

460
00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:05,160
but he has finally got
the ground floor lowered.

461
00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,520
Richard thought that might take
two weeks,

462
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:10,880
but getting ready for today's
concrete pour

463
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:12,400
has taken two months.

464
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,680
I'll let the guys do
the heavy shovelling,

465
00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:21,520
I'll make them a cup of tea in
a minute.

466
00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:23,680
All right? Terrific.

467
00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,040
But now this monster of
a job is complete.

468
00:26:35,640 --> 00:26:39,440
Progress on this project has been
so slow.

469
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:40,640
By the new year,

470
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:44,640
Leigh's moving-in date of March is
becoming more uncertain.

471
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:48,480
Hello, hello. Hello.
Hi, Kevin. Good to see you again.

472
00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:51,120
And you, how are you?
Fine, thank you. Good to see you.

473
00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:54,080
I still can't get used
to this idea. Winter residence.

474
00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:55,600
Yeah, it's our winter retreat.

475
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:57,880
It's one thing to live in
a caravan, quite another

476
00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,880
to live in a caravan in a box
with no views.

477
00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:04,120
It's been quite tedious at times,
with all the rain,

478
00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:08,000
and hopefully it won't have
to be there that long.

479
00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:09,880
When's that, then? Well.

480
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:13,680
I reckon we're about three
months late.

481
00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,920
So that's June, July time then.

482
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:18,400
Outside, you can read

483
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,720
the narrative history
of this building.

484
00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:25,640
Inside, however,
it's a work of fiction.

485
00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:29,640
New floor, new ceiling,
new joists and beams,

486
00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,120
new walls because you're plastering
them all, and new windows.

487
00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,680
I mean, internally it's
going to be a new building.

488
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,720
If you look at some of
the posts here,

489
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,480
these were original floor joists.

490
00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:42,840
The ones we've actually put back
into the wall.

491
00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:44,520
Has a floor joist become a post?
Yeah.

492
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:46,240
The purists will be horrified

493
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:49,040
but, actually, when you look at
them, they weren't usable.

494
00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:53,920
You know which camp I fit into,
don't you? It begins with a P.

495
00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:55,360
He's a purist. Purist.

496
00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:56,720
There is, of course, one part

497
00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:58,520
of this building that is more
in line

498
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,480
with my conservation stance,
the roof.

499
00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:03,440
This is all
going to be underfloor heating.

500
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:05,960
Yep. You've laid your boards in
readiness for it.

501
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,520
Originally it was meant
to be two definite bedrooms,

502
00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:11,200
but we loved it
so much we're actually

503
00:28:11,240 --> 00:28:13,440
going to leave it as one big
open-plan room.

504
00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:15,520
You like this beautifully
conserved roof.

505
00:28:15,560 --> 00:28:17,960
I love it.
This is one of my favourite places.

506
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,520
It's the best timber in
the building, by a long way.

507
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:22,360
I think it's the best timber in
the building

508
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:24,760
because it's the old
timber.

509
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,480
Most of that old timber is now piled
up in the garden,

510
00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:33,360
its final purpose,
to keep all those new timbers warm.

511
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:42,440
But as Leigh and Richard struggle
on, they're

512
00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,240
suddenly given their biggest
test yet,

513
00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,320
not by schedule or budget,

514
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,440
but rather an event
so huge not even remote corners

515
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:54,680
of Cornwall can hide from
the impact, the pandemic.

516
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:05,920
And so, after months of disruption
and chaos,

517
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:07,800
I paid them my last visit,

518
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:09,800
at the height of
the second lockdown,

519
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:12,200
with a sense of trepidation.

520
00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:15,560
Had they managed to fashion
a home from the rubble,

521
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,200
and had their blind optimism
paid off?

522
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:29,640
Well, I can't fault the outside.

523
00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:34,920
The outward appearance of
the mill had undergone

524
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,720
the most spectacular transformation.

525
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,920
But despite Richard and Leigh's
green fingers,

526
00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:42,920
they hadn't begun to landscape

527
00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:47,560
the thicket of weeds that might one
day become a garden.

528
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,840
And opposite the handsome frontage
of the house sat

529
00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,080
the ugliest of breeze block
garages.

530
00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:58,040
Hello. Hello, Kevin.
Hi, Kevin, how are you?

531
00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:00,000
I'm really well, thank you

532
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,640
but, more importantly, how are
you both? Tired. Busy. Tired.

533
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,360
I bet you are. I'm sorry about this
social distancing,

534
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:09,160
we're now filming at four metres
which is kind of... It's crazy.

535
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:11,080
Are you living in it?
Not quite, no.

536
00:30:11,120 --> 00:30:14,000
Still in the caravan still in
the shed? Yes, yeah.

537
00:30:14,040 --> 00:30:18,160
And how have you found lockdown?
How have you found the isolation?

538
00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:22,080
Yeah, it's been tough, hasn't it?
There's been a lot of challenges.

539
00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:25,600
We've had shortages of materials,
that sort of stuff.

540
00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:27,920
Do you mind if I look around
it by myself? No, no.

541
00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:32,360
Is that all right? I'm looking
forward to this. Just want to say.

542
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:36,680
Touring a house solo,
a Covid-inspired first for me.

543
00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:39,760
Nice.

544
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:43,280
Inside it wasn't so much
a new chapter for the building,

545
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,760
as an entirely new story.

546
00:30:45,800 --> 00:30:48,480
Although some traces remained.

547
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:54,000
What an amazing dining table,
it's bonkers.

548
00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,800
And, up in the first floor
living room,

549
00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:02,120
they'd managed to make a crafted,
home-spun, even cosy, space.

550
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,240
It's a really nice job.

551
00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,960
But further up,
it was a different story.

552
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,680
The guest bedrooms were still

553
00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:16,240
a pile of building materials.
And up top,

554
00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,800
the main bedroom was still empty
and unoccupied.

555
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,840
Leigh and Richard came here in
search of adventure,

556
00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:30,720
and were thus far £50,000
over budget.

557
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:33,240
With much still to do,

558
00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:36,880
I wondered how much drive they still
had left in them.

559
00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:39,320
You moved from the other end of
the country to do this,

560
00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:40,760
you changed your lives to do this,

561
00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,280
you put everything you had into this
one thing.

562
00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:45,040
It is everything,

563
00:31:45,080 --> 00:31:47,640
it's taken every penny of

564
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:52,000
the resources and time
and energy, hasn't it? Yeah.

565
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:54,720
You seem quite, both of you,
quite emotional about it?

566
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:00,480
Go on, you can answer that.

567
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:10,080
OK?

568
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:12,280
Hmm. Pillock.

569
00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:18,200
This project had clearly taken
an emotional toll.

570
00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:22,680
The heartbeat was again palpable in
these ancient walls,

571
00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:25,920
but the site wasn't yet fully born.

572
00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:31,080
It felt wrong leaving their epic
renovation prematurely,

573
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:33,240
I had to come back.

574
00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,240
I last saw Leigh and Richard two
and a half years ago,

575
00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:38,600
in the teeth of the second COVID
lockdown.

576
00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:40,400
Yeah,
they'd almost finished,

577
00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:42,960
but there were still bedrooms
and bathrooms to do.

578
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:46,640
They were green-fingered, but they
had this mud bath of a landscape

579
00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:48,640
to convert into a garden.

580
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,080
And they were still living in
the caravan,

581
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:54,240
which was inside the garden shed.
I mean, goodness me,

582
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:57,240
life must have improved since
then, surely?

583
00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,160
It was in 2018 that Richard and
Leigh set out to renovate

584
00:33:12,200 --> 00:33:17,120
an old watermill in Cornwall.
But on my last visit here,

585
00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,120
plans had been kiboshed by
the pandemic.

586
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,560
They hadn't moved in yet,
and were exhausted.

587
00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:27,680
I'm back to see if, at last,
they have a finished home.

588
00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:31,800
Yes, that's what this
building needed.

589
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:33,920
It needed the healing effects of

590
00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:37,600
the one thing that had kept it going
all these centuries.

591
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:39,960
It needed the passage of time.

592
00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:44,560
I was always impressed with the love

593
00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:46,960
and attention lavished on
the faithful repair of

594
00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:48,440
the exterior stonework.

595
00:33:48,480 --> 00:33:52,440
And how Leigh and Richard risked
everything to try

596
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,600
and save this wonderful old
workhorse of a building.

597
00:33:57,200 --> 00:33:58,560
When I last visited,

598
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,320
it was adrift in
a sea of building materials,

599
00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:06,800
brambles and collapsed
out-buildings. But now...

600
00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:12,280
All the smelly garages have gone,
and lo, there's a landscape.

601
00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:17,200
Well. This is all as it should be,

602
00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:21,280
surrounded by beauty and gardens.

603
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:23,760
A Cornish cornucopia.

604
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:27,800
Even the solar panels are nestled
among flowers.

605
00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:30,840
The mill is finally rooted in
its surroundings,

606
00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:35,520
and looks like it's flourishing
against this backdrop of abundance.

607
00:34:35,560 --> 00:34:40,200
I wonder if its occupants are too.
Hello. Hello!

608
00:34:40,240 --> 00:34:42,760
How are you? We're good, thank you.
Good to see you.

609
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:45,920
Good to see you. And you. And you,
hey. Hey, Kevin, how are you?

610
00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:48,720
Yeah, very well. Look at these two.
Now, this is a new addition.

611
00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,640
Yeah, this is Lola. We lost Lily,
didn't we? Earlier in the year.

612
00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:52,720
Oh, did you? I'm sorry.

613
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,040
Introduced some chaos into
our lives. Why not?

614
00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,320
Not that life is chaotic
for you, it seems,

615
00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,000
because look at this.
It's all exquisite.

616
00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,120
Thank you. This is not overnight
quick trickery.

617
00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:05,640
This is mature planting.

618
00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:09,400
This is... It's taken a while. ..two
years of heavy work.

619
00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,680
That looks like a drystone wall
behind that caging. It's beautiful.

620
00:35:12,720 --> 00:35:14,360
So I moved 30 ton of stone.

621
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,800
Wow. I think it works really nicely
with the mill as well.

622
00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:20,600
Of course. Yeah... Yeah.
It's industrial.

623
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:23,200
So you've got a car parking space
where the old garage was. Yeah.

624
00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:25,560
We managed to buy the old garage
and knock it down,

625
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:27,720
and that was my best Christmas
present, that was,

626
00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:29,880
knocking that down. And the shipping
container,

627
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:32,440
which I think is
a work of total majesty.

628
00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:34,960
It's makes it look better,
doesn't it?

629
00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:36,880
We're using up all
the materials on site.

630
00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:41,360
It's just brilliant. It's a kind of
object lesson on how to do it.

631
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,080
It just worked nice didn't it?
With what we'd got. Yeah.

632
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,640
Right. I'll bet you'd like
to come in, and... I'd love to,

633
00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:48,880
because the last time
I looked around your house,

634
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,520
it was in the teeth of lockdown.
I was by myself, on my tod.

635
00:35:51,560 --> 00:35:52,640
Yeah. I'll get the door.

636
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:54,600
Come on, let's go in.

637
00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:56,000
On the ground floor,

638
00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:59,080
the Fred Flintstone dining tables
still hint at

639
00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:02,120
the history of this place.
And the simple,

640
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:05,240
unfussy kitchen has remained
surprisingly cosy for

641
00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:06,920
an old stone building,

642
00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:10,200
I'd have thought it prone
to cold and damp.

643
00:36:10,240 --> 00:36:12,800
Talking of which,
how are you now heating it?

644
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:16,200
There's a biomass boiler in
the back of the dining room.

645
00:36:16,240 --> 00:36:18,880
Underfloor heating on every floor.

646
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:22,720
It's actually a low-cost building
to run. It's very energy efficient.

647
00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:26,560
The big thing for us is
the insulating lime render.

648
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:30,440
Yeah, it's a Cornish product...
Yeah, made from Bodmin.

649
00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:32,600
It's on an inch thick on the walls.

650
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:34,640
So you've got some fibre in it,

651
00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:36,360
and some foam glass beads,

652
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:40,120
and a lime product
and that effectively insulates.

653
00:36:40,160 --> 00:36:43,600
But any moisture that is in this old
stone building, it dissipates it,

654
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:45,800
and it's breathing,
it's breathing all the time.

655
00:36:45,840 --> 00:36:48,640
It can still breathe. What have your
energy bills been roughly?

656
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:53,160
We pay about £60 a month
for electricity

657
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:55,480
and that includes running
an electric car as well.

658
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:56,920
So I have no fuel costs.

659
00:36:56,960 --> 00:36:59,600
OK. That's... Congratulations.

660
00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:00,840
That's very cool.

661
00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:05,200
But what we're really saying is huge
stone building, really thick walls.

662
00:37:05,240 --> 00:37:07,760
And the right choices
of heating technologies here,

663
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:09,600
using a combination of underfloor,

664
00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:12,240
which is low temperature,
pellet boiler.

665
00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:13,960
Solar panels, a key component here

666
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:16,240
and that keeps your living
costs manageable.

667
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:20,560
I'm surprised, I don't
think we thought it'd be this good.

668
00:37:23,240 --> 00:37:25,360
Up a level,
the generous living room,

669
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,320
as busy and open plan as it would
have been when it was

670
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:33,080
the milling area,
is still as cosy as I remember it.

671
00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,280
This wall here, this is ancient.
Is that right?

672
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:41,720
Yeah. The archaeologists dated it
late 1400s, early 1500s.

673
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,560
Last time, I could see
a few traces of the past here in

674
00:37:45,600 --> 00:37:48,080
the old exposed timbers,

675
00:37:48,120 --> 00:37:50,920
but the stickler
for conservation in me still wants

676
00:37:50,960 --> 00:37:54,400
to ask them how much of it is
for real.

677
00:37:54,440 --> 00:38:00,000
So tell me, how much of this space
here is where it was?

678
00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,280
Not that post,
but a similar one was.

679
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:04,600
So this rail,
did this connect to this post?

680
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:06,560
Is this all new joinery?

681
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:07,840
It's new joinery,

682
00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,320
but with existing wood that was in
the mill.

683
00:38:10,360 --> 00:38:14,040
OK. It's that kind of thing about
puzzling over what's...

684
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:15,120
What's new and what's...

685
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:17,400
Yeah, but what was working in
the mill and what wasn't,

686
00:38:17,440 --> 00:38:19,080
and how it was doing it, you know.

687
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:23,200
We totally, totally understand that,
but the state of the timbers in

688
00:38:23,240 --> 00:38:26,120
the building was shocking.

689
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:31,080
So, to make the building survive.
I just likened it to,

690
00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,720
it's like somebody having
a major organ transplant,

691
00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:35,520
and that's what we had to do

692
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,000
to make sure she survived.

693
00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:41,880
I mean the building has always
evolved, hasn't it?

694
00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:44,280
It's... It's evolved masses,
hasn't it?

695
00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:47,320
How they used to add bits on
and floors and things.

696
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,320
The wheel originally was on
the roadside.

697
00:38:50,360 --> 00:38:52,160
And then when it got busier,

698
00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,040
they put a second wheel on this end,

699
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,240
so it has changed an awful lot.

700
00:38:57,280 --> 00:38:59,760
Right. So we're saying,

701
00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:02,120
there's been so much in
the way of alteration over

702
00:39:02,160 --> 00:39:04,600
the centuries, hasn't there?
Because it was industrial.

703
00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:07,440
I guess it's impossible to know
exactly what's always been where.

704
00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:09,800
Yeah. We saved what we could.

705
00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:11,440
And gave it a new purpose. Yeah.

706
00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:13,840
Good, good.

707
00:39:13,880 --> 00:39:15,520
Two and a half years on,

708
00:39:15,560 --> 00:39:19,080
I almost take Richard and Leigh's
point that they are merely

709
00:39:19,120 --> 00:39:22,080
the most recent in
a long line of occupants,

710
00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:26,360
to have tinkered,
tweaked and rebuilt this mill.

711
00:39:26,400 --> 00:39:29,400
There's one big improvement since my
last visit.

712
00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:31,480
The bedrooms are finished.

713
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:36,240
Two guest rooms occupy the second
floor, each with an en-suite.

714
00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,080
And up top,
Leigh and Richard's bedroom,

715
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:43,120
nestled under the beautiful old
trusses they managed to retain,

716
00:39:43,160 --> 00:39:45,600
complete with the original
grain pulleys.

717
00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:48,840
Gosh. This floor just benefits
so much,

718
00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:51,600
doesn't it,
from these hexagonal shapes?

719
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:56,240
You know, each truss is a repetition
of the next,

720
00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,640
and so nicely done
and properly repaired.

721
00:39:59,680 --> 00:40:01,840
The beams provide
the appropriate framing for

722
00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:04,560
the views out to the valley beyond.

723
00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:07,360
It's really nice.

724
00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:08,880
There's a bathroom too,

725
00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:11,440
with a surprisingly
appropriate bath,

726
00:40:11,480 --> 00:40:13,120
like an industrial tub.

727
00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:15,560
I get the sense that these two are
beginning to feel

728
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:16,800
a strong connection to

729
00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:20,760
the long lineage
of this mill's inhabitants.

730
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,840
Oh, I want to show you something,
Kevin, a lovely photo of the mill.

731
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:25,200
The miller! Is that him?

732
00:40:25,240 --> 00:40:27,600
Yeah, that's him.
That's him. And that's his wagon.

733
00:40:27,640 --> 00:40:29,680
I think about that every day.

734
00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:32,640
You know, what's happened here,
what it's seen.

735
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:34,120
An old guy came to see us

736
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,440
and he remembers playing here as
a child.

737
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:40,320
He said the millers used to chase us
and put flour sacks over our heads.

738
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:43,680
Perhaps not nowadays.
Perhaps not nowadays.

739
00:40:43,720 --> 00:40:46,960
So you're beginning to kind of feel
that you're

740
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,440
part of something bigger, longer?

741
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:52,480
We can trace the people that have
leased it

742
00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:55,880
and owned it back to 1610.
So really,

743
00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:58,280
we're just another name at
the bottom of the list,

744
00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:00,640
and there will be names after us.

745
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,600
The spirit of the ancestors
has infused

746
00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:06,640
the current inhabitants,

747
00:41:06,680 --> 00:41:08,040
a spell only a building

748
00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:11,640
with such deep roots has
the power to perform.

749
00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:13,320
And under their influence,

750
00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:17,320
Richard and Leigh have transformed
the garden to the rear,

751
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:18,760
with a pond for fish,

752
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:21,240
landscaping that sensitively traces

753
00:41:21,280 --> 00:41:23,680
the original water channels,

754
00:41:23,720 --> 00:41:27,160
and a clever means
of connecting back to the house.

755
00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:30,000
Eh!

756
00:41:30,040 --> 00:41:32,880
I thought I might fall into
the water, but no.

757
00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:36,600
No, no. Dog safe.
Big grill and, yeah, love this.

758
00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:39,880
It's clearly a piece
of modern industrial language,

759
00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:44,000
and it just suits a mill. It fits
it. Yeah, absolutely bang-on.

760
00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:47,920
Richard's sweat and toil has
transformed this old mill.

761
00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:51,920
I wonder if it, in turn,
has transformed him.

762
00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,800
Are you through
the emotional roller-coaster yet?

763
00:41:55,840 --> 00:41:58,160
When we spoke last,

764
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:00,920
you said you were sort
of emotionally overwhelmed by it.

765
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:02,440
It's changed me a lot, I think.

766
00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:04,560
Has it? Yeah.

767
00:42:04,600 --> 00:42:08,000
We had a wedding anniversary.
I cried.

768
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:10,000
We lost Lily. I cried.

769
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:12,000
Yeah... Yeah.

770
00:42:12,040 --> 00:42:13,640
Yeah. I don't know whether I find it

771
00:42:13,680 --> 00:42:15,480
a bit overwhelming at times,
but, yeah,

772
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:17,320
just everything about,
I just love it here.

773
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:20,960
Do you see it as
an admission of strength almost,

774
00:42:21,000 --> 00:42:23,320
that you're able to be in touch
with your emotions more?

775
00:42:23,360 --> 00:42:25,000
An improvement, I reckon. Yeah.

776
00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:26,480
An improvement.

777
00:42:26,520 --> 00:42:28,880
It's just getting used to it
because I'm not...

778
00:42:28,920 --> 00:42:30,960
That's not what I was. Mm.

779
00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:32,720
Being involved with
the building was,

780
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:35,040
it's got to be one of
the best things I've ever done.

781
00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:38,800
We saved her but, at the same time,
she...

782
00:42:38,840 --> 00:42:40,560
She's given us so much back.

783
00:42:43,080 --> 00:42:47,320
And for Leigh, who's now chairwoman
of the local gardening club,

784
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:51,360
has saving the old building helped
to build wider connections?

785
00:42:51,400 --> 00:42:54,600
People have welcomed us
with open arms

786
00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:58,040
and made us feel very welcome.
Because of what you've done.

787
00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:01,040
Yeah, I think because of what we've
done and because, you know,

788
00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:06,840
for 60 years, they saw
a significant building deteriorate

789
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:10,240
and, you know, at least someone's
put something back.

790
00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:14,280
The reanimating
of this old mill has been

791
00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:16,360
a sort of lightning rod,

792
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:17,680
jolting its occupants

793
00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:20,880
and all that surrounds it back
to life.

794
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:24,280
I get the feeling,
Richard, that you...

795
00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:29,240
Although, actually, you love the
zen, the flow of the work here,

796
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:31,400
and that was something you
particularly enjoyed,

797
00:43:31,440 --> 00:43:33,680
what emerged from that is
an emotional relationship

798
00:43:33,720 --> 00:43:35,880
with this place, which I can't
imagine

799
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:38,160
you quickly wanting to give up.

800
00:43:38,200 --> 00:43:39,960
That physical contact,

801
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:42,280
even if it was just sweeping
the floor,

802
00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:44,320
because we were involved in it...

803
00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:48,840
..it was a much more rewarding
experience. I think if you'd have

804
00:43:48,880 --> 00:43:51,080
just handed over the cash and let
somebody get...

805
00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,600
Well, you begin to own it.

806
00:43:52,640 --> 00:43:53,880
It wouldn't be the same.

807
00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:55,000
Yeah, I understand that.

808
00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:59,040
These are moments when you
feel physically, emotionally,

809
00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:04,160
spiritually, connected to something
other than just the everyday.

810
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,400
Yeah, it's not just four walls
and a roof, is it? No, it's not,

811
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:09,400
it's definitely a home now,
isn't it?

812
00:44:09,440 --> 00:44:11,480
I just think she's looking
after us.

813
00:44:11,520 --> 00:44:14,160
Yeah, we're happy.
That's all that matters.

814
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:20,240
The mill may have struggled
to get used

815
00:44:20,280 --> 00:44:22,840
to its new incarnation as a home,

816
00:44:22,880 --> 00:44:26,400
but it has embraced its new role.

817
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:28,320
Always a place of industry,

818
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:31,600
it has gone to work on its
latest occupants.

819
00:44:31,640 --> 00:44:36,360
Revitalising and embracing them
with warmth and comfort

820
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,760
and the resonance of its history.

821
00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:41,000
So I know I've given Leigh

822
00:44:41,040 --> 00:44:43,240
and Richard a hard time over
the course of this project,

823
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:46,600
but only because I was interested in
the best possible outcome.

824
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:50,680
And actually, I think the outcomes
here are pretty darn good.

825
00:44:50,720 --> 00:44:52,880
And what I thoroughly respect them
for is

826
00:44:52,920 --> 00:44:55,440
an approach which really respects

827
00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:57,200
the history of this place,

828
00:44:57,240 --> 00:44:59,760
the fact that they are
just custodians.

829
00:44:59,800 --> 00:45:03,000
The magic that, for centuries, has
flowed through

830
00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:06,040
the waters around this site,

831
00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:09,720
I think now courses through
their veins.

832
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:13,680
They are romantically attached
to this place.

833
00:45:13,720 --> 00:45:15,200
They've been seduced by it.

834
00:45:15,240 --> 00:45:21,400
And that cuts to the very essence
of what it is we do when we connect

835
00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:24,000
to old buildings
and want to repair them.

836
00:45:24,040 --> 00:45:28,160
You know, we love them rather like
children or pets,

837
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:29,440
unconditionally.

838
00:45:29,480 --> 00:45:33,160
We continue to love
them unconditionally.

839
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:35,600
They do not thank us,

840
00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:38,720
and yet we continue
to love them still.

841
00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:40,960
That is the nature of
the relationship.

842
00:45:51,320 --> 00:45:52,520
Three years ago,

843
00:45:52,560 --> 00:45:55,120
Olaf and Fritha took on
a crazy triangular plot.

844
00:45:55,160 --> 00:45:57,840
This is just our dream.
We can do whatever we want here.

845
00:45:57,880 --> 00:46:00,320
Olaf's carpentry skills were tested
to the max.

846
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:02,360
Can't fit that window in.

847
00:46:02,400 --> 00:46:05,280
With successful IVF spurring him on.

848
00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:07,120
But in the end, after
the baby arrived,

849
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,920
money had run out
to fully finish the house,

850
00:46:09,960 --> 00:46:12,920
as well as their mad double decker
bus workshop experiment.

851
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:16,120
Oh, Christ. Now, I'm back. Whoa.

852
00:46:17,800 --> 00:46:21,240
Subtitles by Red Bee Media