The.Great.House.Revival.S05E07
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00Our past is alive in our old buildings.
00:04They speak of our history and offer solid solutions
00:08for today's housing needs.
00:11I'm following restorers as they battle through the good,
00:15the bad...
00:18..and the awful challenges of rebuilding ruins
00:22to create homes fit for the future.
00:31At the southernmost tip of Cantycarlow,
00:35on the high slopes of the valley of the River Barrow,
00:39a collection of ivy-infested walls on either side of a field
00:44marks the last trace of a long-abandoned farmstead.
00:49He grew up just next door,
00:52but now graphic design lecturer Tommy MacDonald,
00:57his partner, primary school teacher Emily Lewis,
01:00and their dog Logan are renting nearby.
01:04They have a big dream.
01:07With no building experience whatsoever,
01:10they want to DIY fix up these roofless ruins as their home.
01:16I do have an emotional attachment to the buildings.
01:19We grew up here as kids and we were playing in all the buildings
01:22and my uncles would have farmed the land here
01:25and I've been driving sheep and cattle with them.
01:28It's nice to try and build back up the land that I would have grown up on.
01:32When I first met Tommy, he told me about this place.
01:35It's always been on his cards and I loved it as well.
01:39I'm from Wales originally.
01:41My parents came to visit it and they said,
01:44well, this is exactly like home.
01:46I'm from a house with beautiful stonework,
01:49so that's one thing I wanted for my home.
01:52It's March 2023 and Emily and Tommy are meeting me to share their plans.
01:59They've cleared away decades of briars,
02:02but for now their future home is just a field with a few extra walls.
02:12You're going to make this into your delicious home?
02:15Yeah.
02:16It hasn't been lived in in over 100 years anyway, as you can see.
02:20So you grew up here, played here, you had the orchard to nick the apples.
02:26How much did you pay for the property?
02:2845 for the site.
02:29And a bit of land, so a couple of acres.
02:31So it's 0.7 of an acre for the whole thing.
02:33Great. And you're in the process of planning?
02:36We've got planning.
02:37Oh, you've got planning?
02:38We're planning, yeah.
02:39Well done. That's a great start.
02:41So when I walk up here, what am I going to be met with?
02:46We've met with a very modern new build that's going to be really white and clean.
02:51What colour?
02:52White.
02:53Yeah, we'll discuss that.
02:56We chose Stimmerframe because it's something I'd probably be able to do and save a bit of money on.
03:01So you're a bit of a carpenter?
03:03Try to be.
03:04Watch a few YouTube clips and then you manage it.
03:08As well as restoring the ruins without any relevant experience,
03:14Tommy and Emily plan to construct a large modern timber frame building linking them.
03:20What size is the house when it's finished?
03:222,000 square feet.
03:23Big house.
03:24Yeah.
03:25It's a big house.
03:26And the great big question, what's the budget?
03:31320, including the price of the site.
03:35But we don't want to spend them.
03:37The site costs €45,000, which they bought with savings, leaving €275,000 of a mortgage to spend.
03:47But they aim to finish for less.
03:50OK, so you're going to have to phase it.
03:52This is a half a million on a good day.
03:57Plus 2,000 square feet is a half a million euros today.
04:03The price he said it might cost did kind of shock us a bit,
04:08but not too much because we know that we were really scraping with what we had already.
04:16Tommy and Emily are hoping to spend just €275,000 on their 185 square metre future home.
04:27But as well as restoring and re-roofing the six crumbling structures,
04:32they aim to construct a whole new wing linking them.
04:36An entrance hall near the old gate will open onto a generous kitchen living area
04:42with a large window framing the valley views.
04:47A utility plant room and spare room will also be new built,
04:52as well as a corridor linking a wardrobe, en-suite and main bedroom within the old walls.
04:59The original buildings which skirt the lane will house a bathroom,
05:03sitting room, another bedroom and an office.
05:08I'm concerned their budget will barely cover the cost of the new build,
05:12let alone restoring structures which have been exposed to the elements for decades.
05:20So the lime has gone, as you can see.
05:24The rain and water has actually been seeping in through the wall.
05:28So how do you keep the walls?
05:31So far we've been thinking of lime render and hemp.
05:35You have a dilemma here that the cost associated with lime mortaring these walls
05:43is going to be very expensive.
05:46And the reason it's expensive is because it's all labour.
05:49And if we deliver ourselves?
05:51You'll be able to lime mortar that wall, but you won't be able to point it.
05:54And that will reduce your cost.
05:56Taking on the lime rendering work themselves will be crucial,
06:00but the extent of the work here is not to be underestimated.
06:05The mortar between every stone in each of the six existing buildings
06:10will need to be scraped out by them and then replaced by a professional.
06:16I believe they need to scale back their plans.
06:20You have to save money. It's as simple as that.
06:24Now, in my opinion, based on your budget,
06:28you will only be able to afford to do your extension
06:33and that portion of your building.
06:37You're going to have to think about this.
06:40So you're going to have a fabulous home.
06:43That work can take place at another day.
06:46I know that we are trying to do an awful lot with the budget we have.
06:50Huge.
06:51But I'm so bullheaded that I try my best everywhere I could to make it.
06:57When Hugh said about not doing this side, I don't know.
07:02I kind of want to do that side as well as the new build,
07:06just because our bedroom is going to be there.
07:09So, yeah, we have a lot, a lot to think about again,
07:12even though we've thought a lot anyway.
07:14But, no, yeah, we're back kind of to the drawing board now again.
07:19So what's your time frame?
07:22We're in no hurry to move from where we are, renting.
07:25You're renting.
07:26But we obviously want to free up that rent money to spend it on this.
07:30So we were thinking of maybe getting a mobile home in.
07:34As well as reducing their living costs by decamping to a mobile home,
07:39they plan to supplement their budget
07:41with the vacant property refurbishment grant for empty or derelict buildings.
07:48We've applied for a derelict building grant as well.
07:50Oh, I think you're in with a chance.
07:52Hopefully.
07:53What do you think?
07:55And have you set out your budget item by item?
08:00No.
08:01OK, so you have to get your Excel sheet and put stuff down.
08:06Honestly, because you can't go into this in a wing and a prayer.
08:11No, that's...
08:13That's usually what we do do.
08:14Yeah, that's what we usually do.
08:16You've got so much money, you do need to put some manners on it,
08:19otherwise it'll become overwhelming.
08:24OK.
08:25This is something we can't wing, really, is it?
08:27No.
08:28I don't want to chip this big, dreaming couple's wings,
08:31but this field of ruins presents one of the most challenging projects
08:36I've encountered.
08:38My concern is actually the size and scale of the project,
08:42and I believe that the budget isn't there.
08:45I'm concerned that each one of these old structures
08:48needs careful restoration, which will take time
08:52and require professional skills.
08:55They're going to have to trim their sails
08:57and focus on which elements of this project
09:00they can deliver within their constraints.
09:06Emily and Tommy's daunting restoration plans
09:09are driven by the need for a permanent home.
09:12They're renting part of a barn a short walk away from the site.
09:17At the moment, we're living in a converted barn.
09:20It's very small.
09:22I think we've outgrown it now with a dog and a cat and all our things.
09:26We just don't have much storage.
09:28It's a long time renting it,
09:30so we're just excited to get our own place
09:32and see what we can do with it, put our own stamp on it.
09:36To date, Emily and Tommy have chalked up restoration practice
09:40by doing up their camper van
09:42and souping up their compact living space.
09:46I put in a new kitchen unit,
09:48so countertop, presses, put in a few shelves,
09:51and then we put in a breakfast barn in as well lately.
09:54I'm tired of renting. Everyone's tired of renting.
09:56You know, you're going to put money into something that's not yours
09:59and you have to ask permission about doing things,
10:01and just can't wait to do that with our own.
10:04Yeah, so working on the kitchen of the place we're renting at the moment
10:07and the camper van has given us a taste of this big project,
10:11and I think we can do it.
10:13It does give me confidence in what I can do on the house itself.
10:17Yeah, our friends always say that we're just crazy
10:20and why are we doing this?
10:22But at the end of the day, it's just who we are.
10:25We just love hardship, I guess.
10:29Three weeks after my visit, as March comes to an end,
10:33the project is springing into action.
10:36Graphic designer Tommy's donning his hard hat
10:39to knock ruined walls at the edge of the site for access.
10:44Oh, it's exciting, and it's kind of freeing as well.
10:46I've just drove in a digger and started digging up me own site.
10:51Tommy's looking for fast progress.
10:53Once that's done, we can actually start putting in the new pieces then
10:56and start digging out for the foundation.
10:58I'm ready to get digging.
11:00But almost straight away, the building puts the brakes on.
11:04I had to stop digging because we found these old carved stones
11:08and we need stones to save the other building.
11:11If Tommy's not careful today, though,
11:13the fragile walls of their future bathroom and bedroom could also crumble.
11:18Today's job could go wrong if I start moving those blocks
11:22that the main building that we want to keep might fall down.
11:25I'm going to do the rest by hand.
11:27It's a little bit too delicate to put for the digger now,
11:30but seeing how easy that came down,
11:32the rest of it might be able to be saved.
11:35Tommy cares about protecting these walls
11:38because they've always been part of his life.
11:41His parents, Joan and PJ, live alongside the site.
11:46So we built here, and the lads played down there the whole time,
11:49in and out through the rooms, and Tommy just always loved it.
11:52But there's a photograph of Tommy standing very pensive
11:54with a small tie tractor, and he's about three standing down there.
11:59He amazes me, like, that he can do a lot of stuff himself.
12:06The scale of this project requires superhuman optimism.
12:11Even clearing the site is a tall order.
12:16Back on ground level, the walls of the buildings
12:19need careful tending and support
12:21if they are to stand a chance of being saved.
12:25Emily now spends her evenings after school
12:28scraping out the dead mortar so that new pointing can begin.
12:33I'm just trying to get all the lime out of the stonework
12:37so we can repoint, or the builder can repoint it.
12:41That's one job I'm not going to do.
12:44The more Emily scrapes away, the more apparent it is
12:48just how much work the walls need.
12:52The worry I have is when you can see through to the other side,
12:56that's never a good sign,
12:58because that might mean that the wall is quite unstable,
13:01and so we'll see what the builder says about that.
13:06We're no experts in this.
13:08We're basically winging this as we go along,
13:11and most of the reason is we do love hardship and we love a challenge.
13:15Despite Emily's enthusiasm, for now,
13:18they have to put some brakes on progress.
13:21We're applying for, it's called a vacant home grant,
13:24and we're applying for that.
13:26The worry with the grant is that it'll slow us down.
13:29We can't touch the old buildings, as in moving forward
13:32and building them back up until the grant is approved.
13:35So we're kind of stuck to just cleaning up around them for the moment.
13:39While they wait for sign-off on the grant, they can't work on the buildings.
13:43But Tommy and Emily keep busy on an entirely separate project,
13:48laying out a festival-style chill area.
13:53By mid-June, they've also made room for a significant new arrival,
13:58their mobile home.
14:01So we bought the mobile home for 7,500, a little bit more,
14:05and it works out the same as our rent for the year,
14:08so we still have a good kind of lifestyle,
14:11as well as being here and working quicker on the site.
14:19She's in.
14:23A month later, in advance of their vacant property grant being signed off,
14:28the council have now viewed the site so work can start.
14:32They've installed their well and roped in Tommy's dad, PJ.
14:37So today we've rented a minidigger and a little dumper,
14:40so we're going to go inside the buildings
14:42and start clearing out the floors of the house.
14:45I said my dad were racing as we came down.
14:51Don't want to be in a hurry. Is there a second gear on that?
14:54I help Tommy out when I get a chance, you know, when I'm able to.
14:57He's the boss. I just do what I'm told.
15:00School's out for summer, so teacher Emily's able to spend more time on site.
15:06Yeah, I am impressed with how we're getting on.
15:09We're learning something every day.
15:11Our career has nothing to do with us, but we're loving it.
15:14Today's about finding the depth of how far the walls go down
15:17so we can find where we can start pouring our floors.
15:20The deeper, the better for us so we can get a bit more headroom inside here.
15:24Unfortunately, it's not a happy finding.
15:28I was hoping the wall would be deeper than this,
15:30give us at least one more block,
15:32and it would have given us a bit more headroom.
15:35It's a risky business.
15:38There's always the worry of messing with the integrity of the walls.
15:41If we dig too much or we grab a stone that's holding the walls,
15:44they could fall down.
15:46Even spinning around with this, if it touched one of the walls,
15:49it could put a crack in them and stuff.
15:51I'm after doing it in one of the sheds.
15:53But with their love for the old stones
15:55and passion for developing the garden around the site,
15:59distractions slow progress.
16:02We keep trying to find flat rocks for the garden piece.
16:06I'm like, oh, that's a nice rock.
16:11It's mad how building a house makes you a weirdo!
16:15A month and a half later,
16:17as August and the school holidays come to a close,
16:21I've come to visit.
16:23But I'm not seeing significant progress.
16:26Morning. How are we?
16:28Good. Beautiful, sunny day, look.
16:31I hear there's news about the grant.
16:34So we're conditionally approved of 70,000.
16:37But that gives you a year.
16:39Yeah, basically a year.
16:41So that puts you under time pressure?
16:43It does and it will, but I think we need it,
16:45because so far I've been doing an awful lot of work myself.
16:48I think we'll need to start pushing on with it a bit quicker now.
16:51Let's go over there now. Come on.
16:54I agree with Tommy that they need to push on
16:57in order to be in within a year.
17:00So you've 320,000. How is that funded?
17:04Hopefully within a month or less we should have a mortgage.
17:08We did get a small home renovation loan
17:11on the buildings we have here,
17:13and that's what's been keeping us moving.
17:15Funding it? Funding us.
17:17The bank won't sign off their mortgage
17:20until the grant is approved.
17:22But at some point you'll run out?
17:24Yeah, I'd say within the next month and a half,
17:27we'll probably run out.
17:29So that mortgage is really critical? Yeah.
17:32If they don't give us approval, we'll figure out something else.
17:36Love that. Love that comment.
17:39I hope they have a more solid plan
17:42for hitting the grant's one-year deadline.
17:45So what's your timeline?
17:49That's a worrying silence.
17:52Not clear yet.
17:54Your guess is as good as mine.
17:56So now a couple of things you need to bear in mind.
17:59The winter's going to come, the rain's going to come,
18:02and it will actually get in to the walls,
18:06and if you have frost... It'll crack.
18:09It'll crack. OK.
18:11Ideally, where you want to be is to have the roofs
18:14on those buildings by October,
18:16and that means that you can work inside.
18:19I believe roofing the building is an urgent priority.
18:23It's tough love time.
18:25OK.
18:28OK? Mm-hm.
18:30Honestly, Tommy, come on now.
18:32None of that now giggling.
18:34If you do that, you can spend the winter in there.
18:37Yeah. At the moment, you can't do any work over the winter.
18:40No, no.
18:42So you have to order the steel and the timber and everything.
18:45Yeah. You're not going to put the timber on, are you?
18:48No. It will be.
18:50But so far, everything we've gone to do
18:53has just cruised through similarly, so...
18:55Well, now, can I give you a bit of advice? Yeah.
18:58Don't. OK.
19:00Don't burst our bubble. I'm not.
19:02I'm just... You need to...
19:04You need to do out a building programme.
19:08Because some things take ages to order.
19:11Windows take ages.
19:13You're looking at 12, 14 weeks delivery of things like that.
19:18Yeah. But there'll be other items that have long lead times,
19:21and you need to be aware of them. OK.
19:24So I doubt you'll get your roof.
19:28Because you haven't ordered.
19:30But you have to get out of the floors
19:33and really engage with how you're going to build the building.
19:37It's just very important, because otherwise you are overwhelmed.
19:41Yeah. No, we do get overwhelmed.
19:45Now we're even more overwhelmed. Thanks.
19:48That's cool.
19:50Emily and Tommy have a hard deadline of a year
19:53to finish this ambitious project.
19:56They need to make a solid plan and spring straight into dynamic action,
20:01or I believe they'll lose their grant,
20:04and this project will remain unfinished.
20:11Restoration first-timers Emily Lewis and Tommy MacDonald
20:15have just one year to complete
20:18their ambitious transformation of ruined farm buildings
20:23in order to access a crucial derelict property refurbishment grant.
20:28It's November, two months into the countdown,
20:31and after a slow start,
20:33they've brought in builder and Tommy's school friend, Keane Doyle.
20:37We're going to hop on the digger soon,
20:40get the wall down for the utility room,
20:43and when that's done, we're hopping on the scaffold behind me here,
20:46and we're going to start stripping the gable right down to the ground.
20:49Keane believes the walls are in a worse state than they first appeared.
20:54When it was completely in ivy, everything looked hunky-dory.
20:57It just looked proper, like a standard wall,
21:00but, like I say, when Tommy stripped it back for us,
21:03as you can see, it's just in terrible condition.
21:06It's horrendous. It's crumbling like hell.
21:08The lime is completely dead.
21:10Without lime to hold them in place, the stones are potentially dangerous.
21:14We have to really be careful in what we do here today.
21:17Concentration is a must.
21:19The stability of the wall will be the major issue when we're up there,
21:22because if you put a hand wrong or a foot on the wall,
21:24like I say, it could press it the wrong direction on you,
21:27and if one of us are on one side and someone's on the other,
21:30that's when catastrophic things can happen.
21:33Oh!
21:37That was safe.
21:39The whole wall is supposed to come down,
21:42but I wasn't expecting it to come down that quick or easy.
21:45It's progress, but there are still no firm plans in place.
21:49Since Hugh's been here, he kind of made us think
21:52that we need to plan ahead a bit more,
21:54because we're a bit like, oh, yeah, we'll just do that,
21:57but we don't think ahead, so talking to the builder
22:00and seeing what the next steps are,
22:02not just doing what needs to be done now.
22:04So we did do that.
22:06We had a big chat with Keane
22:08and he's told us exactly what the steps are,
22:11so we've done that and we haven't done an Excel sheet
22:15like he recommended, but it's on the list, the never-ending list.
22:20For this live-in-the-moment couple, admin is not popular.
22:25The mortgage has been the most stressful part of the build.
22:28It's still kind of ongoing to get the first draw down.
22:31Paperwork has taken over a lot of our time
22:34and, like, mentally, like, it's been so draining
22:37that it doesn't suit me and Tommy at all.
22:39We'd rather just be hands-on and just see the progress.
22:42So most of my evenings now with me and Tommy
22:45just sitting down and going through paperwork,
22:47that's been our life for the last few weeks.
22:52To give them a break from sight,
22:54I've organised for them to find out more about their building's history.
22:59Tommy's dad's cousin inherited them
23:02when he married into the family living there.
23:05There are no precise records of when their buildings were constructed,
23:09but they are first officially recorded in 1850,
23:12as part of the townland of Bahanna,
23:15on land owned by the Kavanagh family, who were based at Boris' house.
23:21Tommy and Emily are meeting Boris' resident and academic Edmund Joyce,
23:26who has an in-depth knowledge of the Kavanagh's family records.
23:31So it's known that your house appears on the first OS map,
23:34which was surveyed in 1838,
23:36and we have earlier records of the townland of Bahanna.
23:39That's around there, isn't it?
23:41And this is, like, the old rooms
23:43that we go down through the forest to the river.
23:45Yeah, we walk down here.
23:47The maps were commissioned by Lady Harriet Kavanagh,
23:50who ran the estate after her husband's death.
23:53So in 1831, Lady Harriet gave birth to her fourth child, Arthur,
23:57and he was born without arms or legs.
23:59She was determined that he would lead a normal life,
24:02so she brought him on her travels.
24:04Young Arthur let nothing stop him.
24:06As well as mastering horse-riding using a specially adapted saddle,
24:11which still sits on his children's rocking horse,
24:15he embarked on epic travel adventures,
24:18but had to return to Boris when his three elder brothers died.
24:23These estates then passed to Arthur.
24:26That's actually amazing that he outlived everyone,
24:29considering that he was born with the most challenges.
24:32Exactly, yes.
24:33Despite his extreme physical challenges,
24:36Arthur and his mother proved to have a flair for dynamic leadership.
24:41So both Lady Harriet and Arthur were extraordinary
24:44in terms of landlords at the time.
24:46Like his mother, Arthur was committed to supporting industry
24:50and rights for his tenants.
24:53He built the local railway,
24:55which ran near to Tommy and Emily's cottages,
24:58including an impressive viaduct.
25:02Arthur also proposed a fund for tenant farmers
25:06to purchase their property.
25:08So in the 1860s, Arthur became an MP,
25:11and he was an MP initially for Wexford, then for Carlow.
25:14Cavanagh is still celebrated as the first quadriplegic Westminster MP.
25:21He was unstoppable in his ambition for himself and his tenants.
25:26And he strived for tenants' rights,
25:28and although he wasn't actually still in politics
25:31when the Land Act was implemented,
25:33it was actually based on the suggestions that he had made.
25:36And it's probably during that point
25:38that your land transferred into the ownership of your family.
25:41Yeah, it's very exciting.
25:43Thanks to Arthur, in 1915, Mary Murphy,
25:47the great-grandmother of the last tenant,
25:50was able to purchase her home, Tommy and Emily's cottages,
25:54eventually bringing their ownership into Tommy's family.
26:01Back in the 21st century, with the new year,
26:04they finally get sign-off
26:06and are able to draw down on their mortgage.
26:09This allows builder Keane
26:11to begin constructing block walls for the new build,
26:15and with help from Tommy, to jigsaw together stones,
26:18constructing an exterior which matches the old buildings.
26:23Meanwhile, Emily is just back from Wales with big news.
26:27I went home for two weeks for Christmas, which was lovely,
26:31and this year was extra special
26:33because we had some exciting news to tell our parents.
26:37So, in June, we're expecting a little baby,
26:40so that's really exciting.
26:42I think there's going to be more emphasis on trying to get it finished.
26:46We know we're going to still be in the mobile
26:48until probably the end of summer,
26:50maybe even until Christmas,
26:52but there'll be more of a push on it to get it done.
26:55If it was just the two of us, we'd be a bit more relaxed.
26:58I think another person in there and buggies and everything else
27:02is going to get tight.
27:04But three months of bad weather later,
27:07there's little progress on site.
27:09There are still no roofs on any buildings.
27:12Since we started here, we've only literally worked one whole week proper.
27:17It's all been two, three days.
27:19Today, Tommy and Keen have decided to brave the rain.
27:23The end gable of their planned bedroom has become dangerously unstable.
27:28The roof was off for too long.
27:30Even a strong wind or gust, that wall was so poorly structured
27:33that anything would have blown it down.
27:35With no protection from the elements,
27:37this gable was not the first to go.
27:40The number of original walls is decreasing rapidly.
27:45During the week, we were working on the digger back there
27:48and the bucket just happened to touch the wall
27:50and it waved like a wave crashing in the sea,
27:52so we just decided that it had to come down structurally unsound.
27:56On the other side of the yard, another gable has also fallen.
28:01Johnny and Keen were starting to put in the new doorway for the bedroom
28:05and they moved one stone and the whole thing just sagged down on top of itself,
28:09so we're kind of left with half a gable in there at the moment.
28:13So it's going to be half stone, half block with a nice, I don't know,
28:17skimmed render on it.
28:19I think if we lose any more walls,
28:21we're not going to have much of the old buildings left,
28:24but it's important to me to keep these old buildings here.
28:27It would be amazing to see it all brought back to life.
28:30While the rest of the project stalls and fails,
28:33Tommy's sped ahead with bringing life back to an old shed.
28:38We prioritised the sheds because, first, we needed storage for any of the stuff we had.
28:43The other thing was that I'm hoping to do most of the work myself on the house,
28:47roof-wise, and so the shed was going to be practised.
28:50So I put the roof on the shed and put the windows on the shed
28:53and I don't know if you can see it, but as it went along, it got better and better.
28:57The first window's actually sideways.
28:59Going on and doing the roof myself is kind of a bit mad to think that I could do it,
29:04but financially it's the way we have to go in it,
29:07so hopefully I won't make mistakes on it.
29:11May comes with improved weather.
29:14Foundations are laid, but plans are not.
29:19So Hugh told us that we should get ahead on ourselves
29:22and start ordering windows and stuff.
29:24We still haven't done that and we're still on the same approach
29:27to things as they appear to us,
29:29but the pipes need to start going in, you need to start making decisions
29:32on where taps and sinks and toilets and everything are going.
29:36So I think we have to lose that approach fairly soon
29:39and really change our attitude.
29:44Emily, however, is in full planning and nesting mode.
29:48So the baby's due in two and a half weeks, so not long to go now.
29:53So the last week I've been back in Wales to see my family and friends,
29:56which was really nice.
29:58A lot of baby prep, my mum washing the clothes
30:01and just making sure I have everything.
30:04It looks like something out of Star Trek or something.
30:09It's all a bit daunting.
30:11What?
30:12Just come home from the hospital and look after another little human being.
30:16We can barely look after ourselves, can we?
30:19It's all baby stuff in the house now.
30:21It's kind of overwhelming, really, to see it all,
30:24but it's, like, oh, so exciting.
30:26It's going to be a little kid in this now in the next two or three weeks.
30:30Yeah, I'm really excited about the baby coming.
30:33Yeah, Tommy's saying that we'll be in by Christmas
30:37and I keep asking him, Christmas for what year?
30:40I'm not sure whether we'll be in for this Christmas, but if we are,
30:43I'm so excited.
30:44With the baby on the way,
30:46the couple are pushing themselves to make decisions.
30:50Door into the bathroom, door into the kitchen.
30:54Do we need to figure out what we need to do in there?
30:57I think the bathroom looks tiny.
30:59It's massive.
31:01I can't picture where everything will go,
31:04because it just looks so small.
31:06But you're thinking of the shower as, like,
31:08the little bloody plastically floor things.
31:11It's not going to be that.
31:13No, I know.
31:14It's going to be one of these open, kind of wet-room ones
31:17that you could, like...
31:20..have a glass piece coming out of here, and now it's that long.
31:24But it's really narrow, isn't it?
31:26Yeah, we're sure. How big are you?
31:28I'm quite big now.
31:30Want to try?
31:34Like, it's just too small.
31:37Not much we can do about it now, is it?
31:39There's plenty of room. We'll wait till the wall's gone.
31:42They'll be happy out.
31:43But the arrival of the baby is focusing Emily's mind
31:47and she's keen to reduce the scale of the plan.
31:50At present, against my advice,
31:52they're still working on the old buildings
31:55on either side of the site.
31:57So we'll have to focus on this bit and that bit,
32:01because the grant is due...
32:04They want it to be liveable in five months,
32:09and it doesn't...
32:12We can't focus on the rest of it,
32:14because we won't have time or the money.
32:16Yeah.
32:17Well, we're under pressure.
32:19Five months to get this done, and then financially,
32:22we don't know if we have to build the whole thing.
32:25No, and we really need that grant to be able to...
32:29Definitely.
32:30..get it done.
32:31I don't know.
32:34There is an awful lot of pressure,
32:36especially when you're kind of guessing what you're doing
32:39as you go along, so...
32:41The end of May brings joyful new beginnings
32:44with the arrival of baby Alice.
32:48A few weeks and no rest later,
32:50I'm calling by to meet the brand-new Baba.
32:53How are you? Good, thank you.
32:55Congratulations. Thank you very much.
32:57Are you all excited? Yeah.
32:58And check in on progress.
33:00They've raised the wall levels,
33:02but there's been no progress on roofing the buildings,
33:06and the plants are having a field day
33:08on the walls Emily spent so much time on.
33:11While Alice takes a nap, I've asked Tommy to update me on plans.
33:16So how do you roof this?
33:18I'm still trying to figure that out.
33:20Thankfully, there's some good news.
33:23The grant is up in October,
33:25but we just got clarification that we have an extension on it.
33:29Which is great. Yeah.
33:30Their grant deadline has been extended by six months to April 2025.
33:37But with so little done, that still presents a significant challenge.
33:42You're gassed, Tommy. You're chilled out.
33:45I have to when you're doing something like this.
33:48So I think we should put ten to paper
33:52and see what a programme looks like and also what money looks like.
33:56Yeah. Will we do that? I'm all for that, yeah.
33:59Right.
34:00The time has come to make firm plans.
34:03Emily and Alice are joining us under the finished roof of the shed.
34:09Budget. Yeah.
34:11So what is the budget?
34:14£200,000.
34:18Their planned budget has now dropped from £275,000 to £200,000
34:25to reduce what they have to pay back in the years ahead.
34:30And I've spent how much today?
34:32£70,000.
34:33That's doable.
34:34Sorry? That's doable.
34:36In my opinion, it's not.
34:42They need to itemise specific costs.
34:45So how much is the floor?
34:51I'd say £3,000 for the floor.
34:53Right. Block work? Yeah, that's a lot.
34:56The labour's a lot, so...
35:01It's going to be expensive to do the block work.
35:04That's a good answer, isn't it?
35:06So how much is the roof?
35:08Don't tell me it's going to take a lot.
35:12Don't...
35:15No, I'd say if we go down...
35:17But you'll have to get to know.
35:20We're doing fairly well already, though.
35:22Well, you aren't, actually, but go on.
35:24Now, on to the programme of works.
35:27So how long will the roof take?
35:29I can't touch this till the block work's done,
35:31so that'll be August.
35:33End of September? Yeah.
35:35How long?
35:37I'm getting quicker at it.
35:43Don't underestimate it.
35:45You underestimate it, and he does.
35:48Well, I don't, Tommy, but I do think you have to be realistic.
35:51We are trying to be realistic,
35:53and we know that it's very expensive to do everything we're doing.
35:57So I understand that that one is not realistic,
36:00but if I stick to it as far as I can,
36:03throw everything at it now...
36:05No, I know that, but, Tommy, that might be costing you money.
36:08In what way?
36:10Well, you see, you haven't worked out the roof details.
36:15At this point, the non-planned learning-on-the-job approach
36:19is blocking getting roofs on,
36:22which could mean further damage
36:24to the ever-diminishing old walls,
36:27and, ultimately, money wasted repairing,
36:30or worse, replacing them.
36:32So we have 10K left.
36:35I'm not worried.
36:37I know you're not, Tommy, but I'm just saying to you,
36:40you know, you're a year at this already,
36:43and things haven't moved along as you'd hoped.
36:47But what you don't want
36:50is to actually get to February or March
36:54with a fabulous shell finished,
36:57but you're not in there,
36:59and you lose the 70 grand.
37:04A year and a half of bad weather and delays
37:07since I first visited Tommy MacDonald
37:10and Emily Lewis's ambitious restoration
37:14of ruined farm buildings.
37:16Builder Keane and his team
37:18are at last able to move block work on fast.
37:21I'm keen to see Emily and Tommy again as soon as I can
37:25to ensure that they are now planning in advance with the roofing
37:29and re-inspire them to push to reach the finish line.
37:33I brought you here today to Longford
37:35because I just think this is an amazing collection of buildings
37:40which now form a quadrangle,
37:42and you've got the mix of the old and the new,
37:45which is what you're going to have.
37:47Yeah.
37:49I want Tommy and Emily to see
37:51that an apparent small difference in the window height
37:54can make a big difference to the way a house feels.
37:57Well, what are your first impressions?
38:01No, I like it.
38:03I like the windows, the height of it.
38:07Yeah, it's a good size. It's nice.
38:10Now, you need to reflect on this.
38:13Is ours the same height now?
38:15You see the shelving unit? Yeah.
38:17It's actually at that height,
38:19so all of a sudden this room will be lower.
38:22Yeah.
38:24But the reason the room works is a couple of reasons.
38:27It's a lovely proportion.
38:29The height of the ceiling,
38:31the fact that the doors go right up to the ceiling.
38:35So a standard door is 2.1,
38:38which is the height of the door behind you.
38:41So if you could imagine that door being there,
38:45it changes the whole proportion of the room,
38:49and all of a sudden all the canopy of the trees would be gone.
38:56You're losing a lot of light as well.
38:58Huge amount of light.
39:00It's kind of dark enough in here as well, I think.
39:03Well, Tom, wash your mouth out!
39:06My goodness!
39:08As well as window height,
39:10they want them to pin down their design plans
39:13for how their house will meet the garden.
39:18Isn't this great? Lovely.
39:21So what's interesting about this overhang
39:25is you're proposing an overhang,
39:28and that's actually why I'm delighted to have brought you here.
39:32They need to think about and finalise every part of their plans.
39:37So you need to know how you achieve that threshold, Eda,
39:42so you don't have a step.
39:46Yeah, these are things that we would never think of.
39:49Yeah, but by not having a step,
39:53all of a sudden this is all one room,
39:56and particularly with the overhang.
39:58Yeah.
40:00And imagine your view.
40:02Yeah.
40:04Sunlight coming in here in the evening.
40:07Yeah.
40:09Could be just magnificent, looking out from the mobile home,
40:13and it's still not there.
40:16How do you feel about that?
40:18That is daunting sometimes,
40:21especially with the weather and, you know, it's hard.
40:26And it's hard to kind of still have the love for the build,
40:31but today has definitely helped.
40:35But help can only go so far.
40:38Months pass with painstaking progress
40:40on what has become a taller roof than planned.
40:44Finally, in November,
40:46with only three months to the end of their extended grant deadline,
40:50Tommy and Emily shell out for a roofer
40:53to tackle the complicated flat area of the new-build central section.
40:59With December comes a significant step forward.
41:03Windows at last.
41:06This is huge progress now for us.
41:08We can't believe that this day is here.
41:11Based on our trip to Longford,
41:13they chose a ceiling-to-floor sliding door
41:16for their kitchen living area
41:18to make the most of their phenomenal views over the Barrow Valley.
41:23However, the house is still far from liveable,
41:27and their grant deadline hits in just four months.
41:31Yeah, so the hardest part of this project is that it is never-ending.
41:35So you get to a point in a job that you have to get it done,
41:38and the next minute there's a hundred more things after it
41:41that has to be getting done,
41:43and you feel like you're never going to get to the end of it.
41:46Like, the windows was amazing part to get in,
41:48but then it was like, oh, now it's dry,
41:50and we have to get everything that's inside the house started.
41:53And then it starts, oh, the expense of that
41:55and the amount of work you have ahead of you.
41:58It just feels overwhelming sometimes,
42:01and it's good to get away from it when you can.
42:04Yeah, we are a little bit disappointed that we're not in by Christmas,
42:08but I don't even know what we were thinking.
42:12It's not even close to being it.
42:14But we're all going back to Wales for Christmas,
42:17so that'll be exciting, and his first Christmas will be back home.
42:22A cosy Christmas within secure walls is in order.
42:26However, before December's out, Tommy and Emily face an unwelcomed shock
42:31when Storm Dara hurls a tree onto the mobile.
42:36A new year dawns.
42:38Emily's dad, Keith, and nephew, Josh, lend a hand with the roof.
42:44In the middle of January, I'm returning to St Mullins for my final visit.
42:49The roadside buildings are beautifully pointed,
42:52but that's as far as the finished work goes.
42:56Hello! Hiya!
42:57How are you? How are you?
42:59Emily, come here. Lovely to see you.
43:01Nice to see you.
43:03Lovely to see you.
43:05It's great arriving up here. Not quite finished.
43:09Oh, no.
43:11This will be my last visit.
43:13This home is not complete two years in,
43:17but I am moved by its scale and promise.
43:20Will we have a look at the inside?
43:22Come on, Tommy.
43:24Like the colour of the door? I love it.
43:26This pair took on a huge challenge.
43:29They've saved tumbling rooms and constructed a gigantic new build.
43:35But DIYing on a budget with limited support
43:38means there is no certainty as to when they will complete.
43:44Look at the size of this. You can get your caravan in here, can't you?
43:47We actually could, yeah. It's just fabulous.
43:50Yeah, even when it's unfinished.
43:52After two years of work, they need and deserve praise
43:56for the scale and imagination behind this as yet unfinished grand plan.
44:02Even at this rough stage,
44:04the old walls within new walls approach is fresh and effective.
44:09Who else will ever have a gem of a wall like that?
44:15I just love the window, the cut stone.
44:18Like, look at the granite.
44:20Yeah, we like that it's internal as well.
44:23You can see it throughout the house.
44:26I wonder whether, if they had followed a more structured plan,
44:29they'd be in by now.
44:31You've done a huge amount of work.
44:33Would you have done it differently?
44:35No.
44:37No, I think we still would have done it the same way.
44:39Maybe a bit more planning ahead.
44:41Ooh! Ooh, a novelty!
44:44But then if that plan doesn't work out, then you're disappointed.
44:47I just don't see the point in planning ahead.
44:49We've done it, and we've done it our way, and it's worked.
44:52Yeah.
44:53I appreciate that not everyone's in a rush.
44:56However, to get their derelict homes grant,
44:59this place must be liveable by April.
45:02When do you see this room,
45:04that you can get out your mobile home, come in here,
45:07have your bathroom and your bedroom and all done?
45:10June. Yeah, June. Start of June.
45:13If you're finished in June,
45:15how are you going to get the grant?
45:17They said they'd probably give us
45:19another little bit of an extension if needed.
45:21They'll come back and assess where we're at.
45:23While we're on the subject, how much have you spent today?
45:26180.
45:28A thousand. Yeah.
45:30But now you're into the expensive bit. Is that fair?
45:33Yeah, it is.
45:35Yeah, there's a lot of expense all at once now.
45:38And how much have you left?
45:4150. 50 left.
45:43So I think that will be a challenge.
45:45Yeah, we know.
45:47Well, you got this far. Yeah.
45:49Let's have a look around now at the rest of the house. Come on.
45:56Beyond what will become the new utility,
45:59the last remains of the buildings on the far side of their land
46:03are now protected by a high A-framed roof
46:07which will house their wardrobe and en-suite.
46:11So your bedroom has turned out to be just fabulous size.
46:16And your view is spectacular, isn't it?
46:18Yeah, straight up under my brand in there.
46:20So would it be fair to say
46:22you underestimated the scale of the project?
46:25Oh, 100%, yeah.
46:27And I'm sure it wasn't that easy to get here.
46:30There was days that you're like, will we ever finish?
46:33Before Christmas, I fell out of love with it,
46:35because I was just here every day.
46:37A project on this scale needs people power.
46:40But there have been some advantages to the slow and steady approach.
46:45I think because of the way you've gone about the building,
46:48interestingly, there are other opportunities arriving.
46:52Yeah, yeah, yeah.
46:53Because the old gable crumbled,
46:55their bedroom will be much larger than first planned.
46:58And the view is just smashing.
47:01Yeah, that's what we realised as well.
47:03As we're doing it, we can see more options.
47:06We were meant to be in a storm building here,
47:08which was too deteriorated to keep.
47:10And it would have been a lot smaller,
47:12an awful lot smaller this room would have been.
47:14But no, we like the fact now that the building is actually inside.
47:17Yeah.
47:18Like you're going to end up with the most spectacular home.
47:22Yeah.
47:23Yeah.
47:24Yeah, it's very exciting.
47:25Tommy and Emily have been on a very individual journey
47:28in terms of how they've managed this project.
47:32I'd have to tell you, I was very concerned
47:35if they'd ever get the roof on this project.
47:37But they have.
47:38And in fact, as I look at it now,
47:41their home has much greater promise than I first imagined.
47:46The stonework is just exemplary.
47:49They have a genuine eye for detail.
47:52Which Emily's mum, Brenda,
47:54is taking in for the first time as they visit.
47:57Oh, it's huge.
47:59Wow!
48:00So different.
48:02I worried they would lose the essence of the site.
48:07But they've actually enhanced and celebrated it,
48:11for Ellis and for generations to come.
48:15I hoped they would be in and finish sooner.
48:18But ultimately, they did it their way.
48:21I think they rather enjoy their festival-chic life
48:25in their mobile and camper van.
48:28I'm quite sure that Tommy and Emily
48:31are going to deliver their dream home,
48:34but in their timeline.
48:58¶¶
49:28¶¶