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Grand Designs (Channel 4, Wednesday, 9pm) stepped back in time this week as it revisited a property that made its show debut in 2003.
Yep, more than a decade has passed since Kevin McCloud first met Denise Daniel and Doug Ibbs, and their dream to restore a manor house in rural France.
With the programme going back to where it all started and telling the story from the very beginning up to present day, it was amusing to see McCloud visibly age on screen.
Ten years is a long time after all, but in that period the English couple have truly made their mark in the French countryside, setting up a successful bed and breakfast in a gorgeous property that was once a dilapidated manor house.
Indeed, when the pair did purchase the 19th century site it was revealed that the build had actually been destroyed during World War Two. As such, all that remained were crumbling walls and half a roof, with the local residents worrying that the Brits had taken on an impossible challenge.
Coupled with the duo’s lack of French, it was surely a disaster waiting to happen?
Have a look at Grand Designs’ eco home:
But the expats proved their worth as they upped sticks and poured their time and effort in to the project. Seriously, they were devoting 100-hour weeks to the building and lived on site in a log cabin.
And whilst McCloud did have to play translator for them on a number of occasions, they never came across daunted by the mammoth task of restoring the property. An incredibly admirable quality when you consider how much needed to be done, from rebuilding walls and roofing just to name a few.
Heck, they even took on tiling, plumbing and built their own staircases to quicken the timescale and stretch the budget.
With the project lasting around 18 months and £150,000 ploughed into the £36,000 site, many of the rooms within the five-storey plot remained unfinished upon the presenter’s last visit. But ten years down the line and it’s a different story altogether.
The couple are now fluent in French – très bien – and well and truly a part of the community. Better still, they’ve got a beautiful home that welcomes guests from across the world – they’ve even renovated the barn to accommodate more visitors.
Grand Designs Revisited is always a great watch… even if it’s just to see McCloud age years and years in the space of an hour.
Grand Designs is on Channel 4, Wednesdays at 9pm
