kevin McCloud vuelve a visitar a Adrian y Corrina, quienes decidieron que su primer hogar sería una ruina de 300 años de antigüedad. La antigua cabaña ha pertenecido a la familia de Adrian durante generaciones y está ubicada en el Parque Nacional Brecon Beacons.
kevin McCloud revisits Adrian and Corrina, who decided their first home was to be a 300-year-old ruin. The former cottage has been in Adrian's family for generations and is set in the Brecon Beacons National Park
#architecture #art #desing
kevin McCloud revisits Adrian and Corrina, who decided their first home was to be a 300-year-old ruin. The former cottage has been in Adrian's family for generations and is set in the Brecon Beacons National Park
#architecture #art #desing
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00:01You have bought a wreck.
00:03Where's your nearest neighbour?
00:05Roughly there all a mile away.
00:08It was so extreme.
00:09You've got to be here to sort of understand how bad it can be.
00:13The tree and the land there is cracked again
00:16and probably end up against the house again.
00:18I'm amazed to still find you here.
00:21It's been going on a week now
00:23and we're not allowed up to our house.
00:30Building your own house can be a real struggle.
00:49A constant fight against rising costs, even rising tempers.
00:53But this week's build is all that and more.
00:57It's a fight against the elements.
00:59The couple I'm going to meet have got a site
01:01that's in a really inhospitable climate
01:04and which is totally isolated.
01:07There's not even a road there.
01:09It's up that mountain.
01:15The site is in the heart of the Brecon Beacons National Park
01:19on the border of England and Wales.
01:21Adrian and Carina are going to restore a 300-year-old ruin.
01:29To get to it, there's a 15-minute drive up a dirt track.
01:36How far can you see from here?
01:38On a good day.
01:39On a good day?
01:40Supposedly, you can see seven counties.
01:43And from here, I can hardly see another house.
01:45There's the old farm on the other side of the hill.
01:47Where's your nearest neighbour?
01:49Actually, down to the trees there, roughly they're all a mile away.
01:54Roughly, isn't it?
01:56It's quite nice, yeah.
01:57It's a long walk for a cup of sugar.
02:01So, is this your first home together?
02:03It is.
02:04Yes.
02:05So, all in all, I mean in every way, it's going to be quite a change for you, isn't it?
02:11Oh, very much so.
02:12How you're going to live is going to be very, very different.
02:14Carina's very lucky.
02:15We may even get married, but...
02:17I don't know if you're that lucky or not.
02:19No, probably not.
02:20Go on.
02:21Oh, my goodness.
02:24What are you going to do with this place?
02:27Well, we're hoping that eventually it is going to be rebuilt, as it formally said, into a cottage.
02:34And how did you find it?
02:36I mean, were you just walking along the path one day?
02:38No, it's been in the family for...
02:40In your family?
02:41Yeah, it's my dad lived here, his parents lived here.
02:44So, basically, he was looking to sell it and I couldn't let it go, so I bought it five years ago.
02:50When it came up and it's taken us till now to actually get organised, get some planning permission.
02:55Why five years, though?
02:57We're at National Park here, in the Brecon Beacons National Park, so we've got a problem.
03:01They don't like many buildings being put up, so they've actually just changed the directive at the start of the year.
03:06What does the new directive say?
03:08Basically, it's to bring former dwellings back into use.
03:11This one, for example.
03:12It was perfectly written for what we've got here.
03:15And what they're going to do is rebuild their ruin into the cottage it was when first built 300 years ago.
03:24The walls and roof will be rebuilt using original materials that are just lying around the site.
03:30They're also building a new kitchen extension along the full length of one side of the house.
03:36Inside, the main living space will be open planned with a huge open fire at one end and an exposed stone wall leading to the new kitchen.
03:45This will have flagstone floors and an oil-fired range which will heat the whole house.
03:55Upstairs, there's a master bedroom, a bathroom and next to it a small second bedroom.
04:00Adrian and Carina will need to be self-reliant.
04:04They'll have no mains water and no electricity.
04:07They bought the house with 12 acres of land from Adrian's father for 15,000 pounds.
04:14And estimate that the build will cost 60,000, which is all coming from a mortgage.
04:18So the total cost of the project is 75,000 pounds.
04:24I mean, when some people say, I bought a wreck, what they mean is they bought a house in a rather sad state of disrepair.
04:31You have bought a wreck.
04:33But it gives us a little bit of freedom in what we've got afterwards, doesn't it?
04:42Big old job.
04:43Yeah, it's not for the faint-hearted.
04:47What about the weather? I mean, the weather here is not the kindest, is it?
04:50No, our main aim is to get the roof on by at least the end of September.
04:56There's no way we'll be up here on a roof after that time.
04:59Eight weeks isn't a long time to build an entire elevation in stone, is it?
05:03Put all the lintels in and get up to roof height?
05:08Not at all, no, because there will be days, as you can tell, middle of July now,
05:12and it's not exactly the most hospitable day today, is it?
05:15No, and moreover, the work hasn't started yet.
05:18I mean, there's no one here.
05:20I'm sure they'll turn up sometimes.
05:22When are they going to start?
05:25I'm sure they will.
05:29Adrian has found his builders, but at the beginning of August they're still tied up on another job,
05:35so he's decided to start work on site without them.
05:38Hey!
05:39Now it's sort of reality, and I don't like living in reality,
05:42because, like, we've told everybody what it should look like
05:45and how it's going to be and all the rest of it,
05:47and now it's got to end up that way now.
05:53The first job is to repair the front wall,
05:56where four tonnes of stone are supported by one worm-eaten oak lintel.
06:01I think that was a big one.
06:04Adrian and his 15-year-old nephew have to take down the masonry above the lintel.
06:09It's a dangerous job.
06:11One push on the wrong stone could bring the whole lot down.
06:15It's a funny feeling, just, like, having to start to take it down, I suppose.
06:22I quite like the charm of the place as it is, is my problem.
06:25I just...
06:27I quite like showing people around my ruin
06:29and telling all the tales now.
06:31I don't think it'll ever be quite as good again.
06:34The boys are supposed to be in Monday.
06:37And, erm, if they are, I'll still be quite happy we're not far off schedule.
06:45Adrian has some free time to work on the build.
06:48The activity company he runs with his brother is mostly busy at weekends.
06:53Mountain Mayhem basically suits me down to the ground,
06:57because that's what I do.
06:59That's what I've always done is drive cars,
07:01anything I can get my hands on fast.
07:04Carina works shifts as a nurse,
07:06which doesn't give her much spared time for the build.
07:10Working here is my priority.
07:12Weekends and things are spent up at Mountain Mayhem
07:14and then sort of any bit that's left over really is spent up at the build.
07:24We haven't really got a home as such.
07:26We're sort of in between Adrian's parents and my parents.
07:30So it's sort of, erm, we're gypsies really aren't we at the moment.
07:33For a long time now it's been an itching need to get out of home and have,
07:40well it's basically to have a place of our own.
07:44The builders are still tied up on other jobs at the end of August,
07:48when the materials for building up the walls arrive.
07:51That's officially the first lorry that's ever got up here.
07:54I think the coal lorry once got to the end of the drive,
07:56but there's never been a wagon in here since.
08:00So, erm, yeah, may many more make it now.
08:05We have got worries because it is very, very steep.
08:09It gets very bad down this path.
08:11It's not raining, it's snowing.
08:13It's just, well it's just so far out the way.
08:16But when you're up here, well there's no place on earth like it.
08:19But he's mad.
08:22With a month to go before the weather's likely to break,
08:24Adrian decides to get started without the builders,
08:28even though he's never done anything like this before.
08:31Erm, somewhere is passing by,
08:34so I decided that it can't be that much to build in a wall,
08:37so I started on myself.
08:39I started on it a couple of weeks ago,
08:41put the lintel in and built the wall on earth.
08:45As this is a listed building,
08:48the Brecon Beacons National Park insists that it's rebuilt
08:51using traditional materials.
08:52Adrian's using the original stones and a lime mortar,
08:56which, unlike cement, takes a few days to harden.
08:59So if a stone looks out of place, he can rearrange it the next day.
09:03I just feel a lot better for it.
09:06I mean, it doesn't bother me.
09:08All the time I'm saving money as I'm that tight as it sort of suits me.
09:11I almost don't want them to come in now,
09:13because every day that goes by I'm actually saving money.
09:16I've got Country Living, and I just buy a few magazines every month to,
09:22you know, to just get ideas, really, for the house.
09:25Erm, and, you know, cut bits out that I particularly fancy.
09:29And I keep them in folders.
09:31And then I think, you know, perhaps it'll help me get ideas for the kitchen or the dining room.
09:38The outside, I'll leave it to Adrian.
09:41But the inside, I think.
09:43Yes, that's my domain.
09:46But interior decoration is still a long way off.
09:50Carina and her brother are only just starting to collect the original roof slates that are scattered about the land.
09:55We're just, erm, measuring the tiles and putting them into piles so that they're sort of at hand, really, for the builders,
10:03and then they can pick out whichever size they need.
10:08It's the beginning of September, and with four weeks to go before Adrian's deadline for getting the roof on,
10:15the builders have finally arrived.
10:18Pete and Chris are experienced in traditional building, and they're used to working off the beaten track.
10:23But this job goes beyond anything they've done in the past.
10:27We were talking to the farmer yesterday, and he was at one area, when the rain runs down the track,
10:32it just freezes solid.
10:34And you don't get up here in a four-wheel drive, even.
10:36So, we'll have to just wait and see what happens, you know.
10:39The summertime would be great.
10:41But I don't know, you know, would you get fed up and keep going up and down that track every day, you know, day in, day out.
10:47But, I don't know, I think, you know, it's a lovely spot.
10:50If the weather does turn in the winter, it's a...
10:54I mean, let's be fair, he's got no electricity up here yet, or water.
10:57So, I mean, I think, if that's all done, and the generator's in and everything,
11:01I think it might be a bit... make life a bit easier for him, but...
11:04Yeah.
11:05Until then, I think it's going to be pretty tough.
11:07All I can say is, I think he's got a very understanding girlfriend, as well.
11:09Every piece of stone that's going into this building is recycled.
11:17Now, that's not just for financial or aesthetic reasons, or because the Brecon Beacons National Park insists on it,
11:24but really because there's no other option.
11:27Every building in this valley was built using local materials,
11:30because you just can't get big, heavy lorries full of stuff up these hills.
11:36So far, they've got enough stone on site.
11:39There's a quarry up the hill behind the house where the stone originally came from,
11:45so they shouldn't have a problem if they run out.
11:47So, if you're short of stone, if you need some more, you run out,
11:52can you just nip up here and bowl some down the mountain from the quarry?
11:57Well, in theory, years ago, you would have been quite happy to,
12:01but the National Parks wouldn't be quite as enthusiastic now as...
12:05Oh, what? They prevent you?
12:07Well, yeah, it's... they own the mountain.
12:10Oh, so they own the quarry? Yeah, I mean...
12:12But your house originally came from the quarry.
12:14The quarry hasn't been used since the 1930s
12:18and is now completely overgrown,
12:20but it does provide a stunning viewpoint.
12:23Whoa!
12:27What a view, eh? Isn't it?
12:30Uh-huh. Fantastic.
12:33You can see miles, can't you?
12:34You can see a long way from here, yeah.
12:36Dozens of counters, I should think.
12:38It's very, very beautiful, very wooded.
12:41Very much so, yeah.
12:42Rainbows.
12:44You can lose hours on end just sat there watching it go by.
12:47If you were to have to buy stone to rebuild your house,
12:51rather than using the stuff that's just sitting there,
12:53I mean, how much would it be costing you?
12:55Well, it'd be roughly, what, £60 a tonne.
12:58Mm.
13:00Plus the cost of getting it up the hill.
13:02The logistics of getting it up there is worse than buying the materials, basically.
13:05Mm. Just...
13:07So you've got to use what you've got on site?
13:08Well, it makes a lot more sense, yeah.
13:09There it is, isn't it, really?
13:10I mean, there it is, it's a stone house, built from this quarry.
13:13You can't get the stone from anywhere else, but you can't use the stone from this quarry.
13:18Yeah, that's, erm...
13:20Mm.
13:21...the usual sense.
13:22So what happens if you run out?
13:24Erm...
13:25We shouldn't.
13:26But...
13:27But...
13:28What happens if you do?
13:30Erm...
13:31We'll have to...
13:32I mean, we have all the boundary walls, everything else we've got to do,
13:35and I'll have to have a word with the national parks.
13:39They finish building up the walls by the end of September,
13:43but the building's nowhere near watertight.
13:46Then their worst fears are realised.
13:49The heavens open.
13:50It rains for two weeks.
13:53The oak roof trusses are ready, but they can't get any vehicle up the muddy mountain track,
13:58let alone eight tonnes of wood.
14:00A break in the weather lets the ground dry out a bit,
14:04but even then there's only one way to bring the trusses up.
14:06The trusses have been cut from newly felled green oak.
14:25Before the timbers are set into the stone walls,
14:28Pete distresses them with a chainsaw to get a pit sawn effect.
14:32That's how they would have looked 300 years ago.
14:36THE END
14:39Hello, guys.
14:41How are you getting on?
14:42Good.
14:43Yeah? Yeah.
14:44Working hard?
14:45As always.
14:47Now, I remember you saying to me that if you didn't get the roof of the building on
14:53by the end of September, you were in trouble.
14:57Now, I don't see a roof.
15:00And it is the 12th of October.
15:03So we're in trouble.
15:04No, what we're going to do now, we're going to put a ply board and put the roof up.
15:11You're going to cheat?
15:12Yeah, basically.
15:13And just grab the weather when we can to tile it.
15:16So when does the roof go on then?
15:17Well, we've got one truss up.
15:20Well, one bit of the truss.
15:22One piece of wood.
15:23I would give the boys a few days and it'll hold.
15:26Yeah? So it shouldn't take too long to get it up?
15:28No, I would...
15:29Providing you've got the weather.
15:31Within a week, you should see a big difference.
15:33We're going to get all the tie beams on.
15:34There's only a couple of trusses on it.
15:36Get the purlins on and get it all rafted, hopefully.
15:39Can I mention budget?
15:41Yeah.
15:42Do you have any idea?
15:43Well, as soon as we didn't start with one, yeah, it's going well.
15:45Yeah.
15:47We haven't got a clue.
15:48So you're in a position where, let me get this straight, you've got no roof on, yeah?
15:53No windows in, yeah?
15:55A load of timber here outside getting wet.
15:58It's October.
15:59Winter's setting in now already here in Wales.
16:02Been filthy weather this week.
16:04You've had to lay the boys off several days this week.
16:07You need yet to determine whether or not you can borrow the money from the mortgage company that they say you can,
16:13but that is dependent on the roof being on.
16:15Yeah, that's about right. You forgot the finger.
16:17Queen's broken finger.
16:18Shut it in the gate.
16:19Oh, only broken finger.
16:22But, with no roof, no money, and the prospect of a fierce winter, how long can their optimism last?
16:32It's November.
16:33England and Wales have just experienced the worst rainfall for a hundred years.
16:38There's a fear that we could be looking at more flooding in Wales early next week.
16:42Many roads are still closed, thousands of acres of land underwater,
16:46and hundreds of households lie ruined.
16:51Adrian and Carina's worst nightmare has come true.
16:55They've got a moat.
16:56But, it just doesn't seem to phase them.
17:04So, the weather got to you then, didn't it?
17:06It was wet, yes.
17:08A bit.
17:10A bit, yes.
17:11Um, and you started terracing the slope at the back I've seen.
17:14It seemed, yeah, it seemed to come a little close to the house front, wasn't it, Sean?
17:19Yeah.
17:20So, did it really, really affect you?
17:21Badly?
17:22We thought it was going to be like, you know, ten times worse, and it wasn't because it'd washed the drive.
17:26Yeah.
17:27Well, you couldn't get the car up.
17:28Well, you couldn't get the car up.
17:29We couldn't get the car up, and we thought we wouldn't have a roof left, basically.
17:32So, did you have the boards on? Were these boards already on, then?
17:34Luckily, the boards weren't on, so the wind...
17:37Weren't on?
17:38Weren't on, so the wind could literally go straight through.
17:40Right.
17:41That's the only thing that actually saved it at all.
17:42Did it slow you down a lot?
17:43It put us back a week, didn't it, really?
17:46Because we didn't do anything, didn't have any movement at all for a week.
17:51After being forced to take another week off, Pete and Chris are now in a race to get the insulation and battens on.
18:00The foil-faced insulation boards are extremely effective.
18:04They're strong and thin, so they can be built into the roof structure.
18:09Was it my imagination, or were the windows going to be going in sometime recently?
18:15We're looking at, I would say, a fortnight now, hopefully the front windows will go in.
18:21Presumably now, you want to get this not only watertight, but also reasonably airtight, don't you?
18:26So you don't get snow blowing in, wind, so that you can start doing internal work.
18:30We're going to have to now, like, priority will be to make some covers for the windows,
18:34because if the wind blows this way, now it's covered in, it'll take the roof clean off.
18:38I mean, there'll be nothing to stop.
18:39Hey, hey!
18:40Well, it'll just be like a big sort of pump, it'll just sort of pressurise the whole...
18:44Well, there's nowhere for it to go, basically.
18:45It's not all going to go.
18:46It's not all going to go.
18:47The pressure builds inside the building, and the roof takes off.
18:49How is the extension? Show me the foundations.
18:51It's gone well, yeah, we're really pleased with the extension.
18:53Yeah?
18:54Yeah.
18:55It's not bigger than we thought.
18:57It's huge!
18:59Is this where a wall's going?
19:00Yes, that is the start of a footing.
19:02Or at the stream?
19:03So the footing, it comes to here, does it?
19:05This is the corner of the building?
19:06That's the corner of the little bit we're putting on.
19:09Yeah?
19:10Back to the wall.
19:11Okay.
19:12So...
19:13Doing well, then?
19:14Extremely.
19:15We're taking progress, yeah.
19:16When do you think, you know, you are going to get it done?
19:18If it'll stop water running in there for his start...
19:21Ooh, yeah.
19:23It'll be...
19:24Get the roof felted, and then we're going to concentrate on this.
19:29You might think that Adrian's going to absurd lengths building his house where it is, but it is the only way he can get a house in the area where he grew up and where his family have lived for generations.
19:41Around here, virgin building land in the national parks is just non-existent.
19:46And as for the existing houses, well, the locals just can't afford them anymore.
19:53Derelict ruins like this one can go for £150,000 if they've got planning permission for rebuilding.
20:00And once they've been restored, a two-bedroomed period cottage like Adrian's can be worth £250,000.
20:07Adrian took a huge risk buying his ruin cheap and gambling on getting planning permission.
20:12But once he got the go-ahead, his property went from being worth £15,000 to £170,000 overnight.
20:20But even if he does build it up, I can't imagine what it's going to be like to live in such isolation.
20:26So I went to see his father and his aunt who were brought up there.
20:31It's a pretty desolate place up there now, isn't it? It's pretty wild.
20:35Definitely so, yes.
20:36Was it always like that? Or was it a little bit more civilised then?
20:40Er, well, it was, I suppose.
20:41I mean, I think there was more people about because more people ran sheep on the mountain.
20:46Did you not have electricity there at the house?
20:48No, we never had no electricity, no.
20:50And water supply was what?
20:51Well, we carried it in a bucket.
20:52It was spring, yes, it was spring.
20:54From the spring there.
20:55From the back of the barn, from the back of the barn.
20:57Does it still have any appeal, getting up to that altitude?
20:59Oh, I'd love to live up the mountain.
21:01I'd live on top of the mountain.
21:02I always say I'd love to live on top of the mountain.
21:04There's something lovely about it up there.
21:07Adrian, I mean, it's in his blood, do you know what I mean?
21:09Yeah, yeah.
21:10I can see why he's attracted to the idea.
21:13But do you think they know what they're in for?
21:15No, I don't think...
21:17No.
21:18No, I don't think they...
21:19I don't think they do, really.
21:20But I suppose they'll get used to it.
21:22They'll build it up now and they'll get used to it, perhaps.
21:24I don't know.
21:25But it's like...
21:26It's a couple of coats colder up there than what it is down with us, innit?
21:31After the autumn floods, December brings gale force winds.
21:36They sweep across South Wales at 97 miles an hour.
21:41And Adrian's track finally gets the better of him.
21:44Pete and Chris, who've had several close calls driving up in Adrian's old car,
21:50are now unable to get beyond the second field.
21:53Eddie always used to say, you know,
21:54don't forget, it gets a bit rough up here, you know, in the winter.
21:57But, I mean, we worked on the side of a mountain before,
21:59but, I mean, the road was a bit different to this.
22:01We've actually been having bets with each other, you know,
22:03to see whether we will make it.
22:04And Pete's usually pretty determined to get up here, you know.
22:07One morning we were going up and there was a tree across the track.
22:10And Pete decided to go round.
22:12And I jumped out to move the tree,
22:13and the next thing the car sort of just spun round
22:15and it was rolling down the bank.
22:17So Pete just jumped out and left the car go.
22:28Hi.
22:29Morning, AD.
22:30Nice driving, mate.
22:31As you can see, we've had a bit of a problem.
22:35Lack of traction, I take it.
22:37Well, lack of track.
22:38Yeah.
22:39I'll tell you why that happened overnight.
22:42I mean, yesterday, we could just straddle it, you know,
22:45and get up here, but now...
22:47Not a lot left now, is there?
22:48No.
22:49I mean, if this one don't get you, there's a bigger hole up there.
22:52So, I think I'm going to call it a day, mate.
22:56Right.
22:57You know, see what you can do.
22:58Yeah, we'll give you a chance.
22:59OK, mate.
23:00Cheers, AD.
23:01Adrian now needs to see if his quad bike will make it up.
23:10He has got permission to build a drive,
23:13but to lay down a permanent one with heavy stone
23:16would cost him £10,000.
23:18And for the moment, that's out of his price league.
23:21Right now, his priority is to see how much damage
23:25the storms have done to his house.
23:28It looks like generally the house is still standing,
23:30which is the main concern.
23:32The worst problem I can see at the moment we've got
23:36is the tree and the land there is cracked again
23:39and there's water running in the crack,
23:41so that's going to give way
23:43and probably end up against the house again.
23:46There's nothing we can do to stop it at the moment,
23:48so that will be what happens.
23:50This has got deeper and has been running in the house,
23:53but that's not a real problem.
23:56Obviously, we could do without it.
23:58But generally, it's looking reasonable.
24:04Most reasonable builders would have left this job by now.
24:08Pete and Chris's loyalty to Adrian is such
24:11that they're prepared to be ferried up on a quad bike
24:14and left alone all day to work in freezing temperatures.
24:19Edie's been picking us up in the morning,
24:21bringing a couple of us at a time up on the quad,
24:24and then we walk down in the dark, basically.
24:28Yeah, yeah.
24:29At least they don't have to tile the roof until the spring
24:32and can concentrate on the interior.
24:35Pete distresses the upstairs floor joists
24:38in the same way as he did the roof trusses
24:40to give them that pit sawn look before putting them in.
24:44The window openings are all boarded up, so it's dark all day,
24:48and they're relying on a small generator to power their lights.
24:51You don't really think about the loneliness.
24:53It's just the fact that, you know,
24:54that when you're up here, you're isolated,
24:56and, you know, the next time you're going to come back down
24:59it's like five o'clock,
25:00so you've just got to put all your mind into motivation
25:03to get the job done, you know.
25:05We've sort of stuck at it, you know,
25:06which you've got to in this sort of situation,
25:08but when you think this property's been empty for 50 years,
25:12you begin to realise why it's so extreme up here, I mean...
25:15We know why they moved out now.
25:19It's the beginning of January,
25:21and here in the Brecon beacons, winter has truly set in.
25:27But at least I haven't got to come up on a quad bike today.
25:30Pete and Chris are putting the windows in,
25:37and round the back, I'm helping Adrian rake out the wall
25:41where the new kitchen extension will go.
25:43This wall's going to be inside your kitchen, isn't it,
25:45which you're building here?
25:46Yes, that's right.
25:47And this is going to be just exposed, is it?
25:49Well, to start off with, if you don't like it,
25:51we're going to plaster over it.
25:52Well, of course, yeah.
25:53It's easier to do it the other way around.
25:54Now, when I came last,
25:56that footing looked exactly the same as it does now.
25:59No, it was full of water last time.
26:01That's true.
26:02It's true, it has come on.
26:04But you've still got an awful lot more building work to do,
26:07haven't you, this winter?
26:08There's a lot of building to do, yes.
26:10So you've got an awful lot more work to do with?
26:12With lime?
26:13With cement?
26:14With water?
26:15We're cheating on this.
26:16It's going to be cement and breeze blocks, and then...
26:19What, the kitchen, here?
26:20Just this bit of an extension, and then we'll just...
26:22But it can't, it can't.
26:23You need to put an outer skin of stone on, aren't you?
26:25There'll be an outer skin of stone,
26:27and there'll be lime water on the inside plastered,
26:29so you won't see it, but...
26:31You'll do the conventional thing and hide the breeze blocks.
26:34Exactly, which hurts,
26:35but budget doesn't allow us to wall in completely in stone.
26:39Now these windows are going in,
26:41that should make it a little more airtight inside.
26:44Oh, yeah, yeah.
26:45And is it going to go anywhere, being oak?
26:47I mean, does it not warp?
26:48Does it not get the shakes a bit?
26:50Well, it's kiln-dried, this, so it's been...
26:52Oh, I see, right.
26:53There's not a lot of moisture in it.
26:54It's not green, then?
26:55No, no.
26:56So it's not going to go anywhere, really?
26:57It shouldn't do it, but...
26:58He wants to get a bit of treatment on the windows as soon as he can,
26:59just to stop the...
27:00I mean, this side catches the weather so bad.
27:03Yes.
27:04And it's just going to be driving against his wood all the time.
27:06So how are you fixing them in, then?
27:08I mean, we're just using the expanding foam,
27:11which you can put round...
27:12I mean, you can put some fixings in after.
27:13The stuff that's up there?
27:14Yeah.
27:15You're literally just gluing it with foam?
27:18Yeah.
27:19Oh, yeah.
27:20It's quite heavy, actually.
27:21It's not light, is it?
27:22No.
27:26That's it.
27:27That's kind of...
27:28That's got a little sort of half-inch gap on this side.
27:30That's...
27:31Yeah, I can come to you a bit.
27:32Come this way?
27:33Yeah.
27:34Should be about a quarter of an inch, should be.
27:36So, that's it.
27:37That's about it.
27:38Yeah, that's right.
27:39So just enough to get the foam in into that little bit of gap.
27:41It's very simple, isn't it?
27:42Yeah.
27:43I mean, big old, thick stone wall.
27:44Actually, yeah.
27:45Big old, thick window.
27:46Glue it in.
27:47Yeah.
27:48Yeah.
27:49And hope.
27:50They've boarded the floors upstairs,
27:52and put in the timber frames of the stud walls between the bedrooms.
27:56These are filled with the same insulation board they used on the roof.
28:00Adrian and Carina have got through half their mortgage,
28:04and despite not having started the kitchen extension,
28:07their ruin is beginning to look like a house.
28:11It's really coming together up here, though, isn't it?
28:14Now you've got this floor in, you know what I mean?
28:17It makes all the difference when you go and walk about upstairs.
28:20Exactly.
28:21You've got a first floor in the building.
28:22Yeah.
28:23And through here is the toilet, bathroom.
28:25Yeah.
28:26Don't go to the bathroom here.
28:27You'll have to...
28:28Great, isn't it?
28:29Nice open plan bathroom at the moment.
28:31This is bedroom and bathroom.
28:32There's some studs.
28:33All right.
28:34We're going to put some old oak stud in through there.
28:35Yeah.
28:36We're actually having the ceiling in the bathroom to put the water tanks above.
28:38Just a couple of doors in the panelling to get into there.
28:41Okay.
28:42It has come on quite a long way, though.
28:44I mean, I think putting the floor down and putting the windows in
28:48has made a huge difference to this place, hasn't it?
28:50Very much so.
28:51Literally, they come back.
28:53I think the boys were back on the third or something.
28:55Yeah.
28:56And from that there, I could see it was going to...
28:58The actual main structure was going to come together.
29:00And, yeah, today was the day when the windows went in,
29:03they finished the floor off, and it was...
29:05It's all...
29:06We've got the panelling.
29:07Well, I haven't quite finished, but most of the panelling in.
29:08So you can see the rooms and everything else.
29:09Are you hopeful that progress kind of cracks on?
29:12Yeah.
29:13As fast as it has done in the past week?
29:17The kitchen is...
29:18But it's very small.
29:19Do you know what I mean?
29:20Two blokes working on there, plus me coming in all as I can make it.
29:23We're going to make progress.
29:24It's breeze blocks.
29:25You're going to knock them up in a couple of days, in fairness.
29:27Providing it doesn't freeze and you have to knock it down again.
29:29Yeah, providing all the rest.
29:33This is the kind of ideal house that children draw, you know.
29:37Really simple.
29:38And putting in those windows today reminded me just how simple,
29:42how straightforward building a house can be.
29:44Mind you, up here it really doesn't need to be simple.
29:48A few weeks ago they couldn't even get men up here, let alone materials.
29:52And the worst winter weather is still to come.
29:56The calm after the storm.
30:06Last night, torrential rain flooded the site again.
30:10And gale force winds smashed down the new wall of the kitchen extension.
30:15The worst night is having to start building it again from scratch.
30:18Morale was pretty low this morning because me and Chris came up here
30:21and when we saw the damage, it's just soul destroying really.
30:24Because the wind got up in the afternoon.
30:26But in the night it must have got even worse because it did a lot of damage.
30:29It knocked all this wall down.
30:31A piece of wood fell over and hit it.
30:33And we got severe flooding around the site as well now.
30:35It was so extreme.
30:36It's like you've got to be here to sort of understand how bad it can be.
30:42Last night we lost nine pieces of 8x4 3-inch thick insulation foam.
30:49I've seen one stuck in a pencil.
30:51Yeah, it's about 100 quid's worth.
30:52Gone to somewhere.
31:01Hardly worth the effort.
31:05Just found two more sheets down in the gully down there.
31:09But they're bigger than this, but they're reasonably broken up.
31:14And there's one way down through the trees down there.
31:18They are about, but I don't think they're very valuable.
31:21But it could be a lot worse.
31:22We've still got a roof on there.
31:24Should be a lot more of a worry than a few sheets of foam.
31:31In early February, it's colder than ever.
31:34Conditions are now freezing.
31:36But the boys are making good progress on the wall.
31:38They're building a double skin of breeze box with a cavity for insulation.
31:43This will be faced with original stone.
31:45So from the outside, it'll look exactly the same as the rest of the house.
31:51It's icy underfoot and a 30-minute walk to get up there.
31:55How did you manage to do any kind of concreting or cement work in this weather?
32:01It's quite difficult, isn't it?
32:03Yeah.
32:04I mean, the frost this morning, it's milder now, but the frost was appalling.
32:07Yeah, it was quite a bad one this morning, yeah.
32:09But we can put up with the frost.
32:11It's just the wet weather, that really sort of holds you back more than the frosty weather, really.
32:15Really?
32:16Yeah.
32:17It just slows you down, really, and it just gets very messy.
32:19Wow, you can see what it's like.
32:20Yeah.
32:21Yeah.
32:22On the whole, I mean, if you'd known how it was going to be up here, would you have said
32:24yes to the job in the first place?
32:26We were talking about that the other day, actually, weren't we?
32:29Yeah.
32:30You never know how these jobs are going to turn out, and when we came to see the job,
32:34it was in the summer.
32:35It was very clever, actually.
32:37It was in the summer, and it was a lovely evening.
32:40We came up, had a little walk up the mountain, you know.
32:42We thought, yeah, I could live with this, you know.
32:44And I just thought it was going to be a pipe dream.
32:46I didn't think it was going to happen, to be honest.
32:47And then when he finally rung us up and said, right, it's going to happen, I was quite shocked.
32:51Yeah.
32:52They stunned.
32:53Yeah.
32:54Yeah.
32:55So you are behind, aren't you?
32:56Oh, yeah.
32:57Yeah.
32:58By about how many weeks?
33:00Oh, I don't know.
33:01I mean, up to Christmas, Adia reckoned that we'd add 60 working days on it.
33:05But how many weeks do you think there are before you finish?
33:09Well, I mean, I'm hoping in the next three weeks to get the roof on this part.
33:15We're hoping to do that, aren't we?
33:16Yeah.
33:19I would say 10 to 12 weeks.
33:23Yeah.
33:24Three months.
33:25Yeah.
33:26Yeah.
33:27Yeah.
33:28Meanwhile, Adrian's making a start on the interior.
33:31He's found a highly fashionable Belfast kitchen sink.
33:34The sink's been in the field probably for years now, feeding mineral supplements.
33:40I presume we'll have to give it a bit of a wash before we use it.
33:43And I'm sure it'll be fine.
33:44Ideal.
33:45How much have you got set aside for interiors?
33:46Have you got a budget for it?
33:47No.
33:48Not as such.
33:49We're going to...
33:50Well, okay.
33:51You could have any money for it.
33:52Hopefully.
33:53Yeah.
33:54Well, what we thought, we always wanted to do like the, you know, the windows, the doors,
33:55all that sort of thing, right?
33:56Because that's more difficult to replace.
33:57Whereas the interior, I think as long as the kitchen's sort of all put together, we sort
34:00of budgeted a bit for the kitchen.
34:01And the rest will come really, I think.
34:02Yeah.
34:03But you've got some stuff already, haven't you?
34:04I've got bits and pieces, yeah.
34:05I've got rooms full at home with the...
34:06The sofa.
34:07No, haven't got a sofa.
34:08I've got like china and cups and stuff like that.
34:12Anything to sit on?
34:13Yeah.
34:14Yeah.
34:15Yeah.
34:16Yeah.
34:17Yeah.
34:18Yeah.
34:19Yeah.
34:20Yeah.
34:21Yeah.
34:22Yeah.
34:23Yeah.
34:24Yeah.
34:25Yeah.
34:26Yeah.
34:27Yeah.
34:28Yeah.
34:29or stuff to sit on no well yes so no budget for furniture and no furniture no
34:36no but a kitchen but a kitchen and some kind of table and a table well that's
34:42something to put the cups on that's good all right that's you don't I can't
34:48believe that it's never got you down I wouldn't say that I've had my bad days
34:52but I mean it it's the it's the guys up there that have the real rubbish I mean
34:57I'm gonna live here that's I can I can keep keep my motivation up some days it
35:05is a couple of weeks ago very bad weather very bad wind I come up here and the
35:11guys were very down in the mouth and I was worried about losing my builders know
35:15that's seriously yeah I thought what good they didn't say they were gonna leave no
35:19but you can see it in their eyes broken spirits for the day and that concerns
35:25me because who else do I get to finish off half a project half at the main well
35:29the answer to that is of course no one at all because if I say they say what
35:33happened to last builders they couldn't put up with the conditions anymore it's
35:37not a great advert for the next guys this is doing what this is you're providing
35:41your water supply this is the to the house the first crude of tech this is for
35:45the builders basically it will be this is going to be our drinking water supply yeah
35:48but obviously we probably need to get rid of some of the rubbish out of there
35:51before we start drinking it yeah and so you're gonna pump it back and back up I
35:56wonder about the other services they how you gonna heat it you're heating it with
35:59what we've had to compromise a little bit and we're gonna heat with them we're
36:03gonna buy a Rayburn which does the domestic supply and your central heat in
36:08yes and that's powered by what and that's powered by oil oil and then under
36:13floor heating underfloor heating powered by the Rayburn oil oh yeah and water from
36:19here and sewage is a hole in the ground yep more or less so you're putting in a
36:25septic tank septic tank at the top
36:31they may not be able to afford mains electricity but they are getting a
36:36telephone line laid up the mountain
36:41the reclaimed oak beams they'd ordered for the extension roof turned out to be
36:46completely rotten so they're waiting for replacements this time in new oak
36:51meantime they're plastering and there's a palpable sense of progress but yet again
36:57forces beyond their control are about to intervene there are two more cases
37:03tonight of foot and mouth in Wales a cattle farm in Llantho has been affected
37:07along with a sheep farm in st. Mary's foot and mouth has now hit the Brecon beacons
37:15it's an exclusion zone that means that the locals can carry on as normal but we
37:19can't get anywhere near the site but we have managed to get a camera to Adrian and
37:24Carina well as you can see from the sign foot and mouth is in Hereford we're having to do our own shooting for the next however long this goes
37:37on because the team can't make it down we just thought that we'd show you what
37:40was going on really see the mountain today we had a nice bit of snow it's
37:49about minus 50 at points it's freezing and although it's a bit of an ordeal to get
37:56here as soon as you do you know what it's all about there we go home sweet home
38:06in here we've got the main bedroom which has just been virtually finished
38:14blasting in the end there it's about minus four in the house at the moment now we're
38:21cooking lunch this is our Saturday lunch the weather is so cold you can't use
38:29the cement basically the water in the cement expands and it grumbles so it's
38:34no good same with the lime so we've called a halt to it at the moment but
38:39there's plenty going within the house so it's no disaster it's absolutely freezing
38:45up here at the moment there's too cold it's not even snowing anymore and even
38:51our drinks are freezing over
38:54the room today now is actually looking quite good it's looking yeah like there
39:03is an end to it and that we will actually live here one day
39:09today I finished putting the bleach on the fungus on the board the oak arrives
39:18that we've been waiting for to put the kitchen roof on on Monday about dinner
39:23time so hopefully the boys have probably gone plastering Monday it'll take me all
39:28day to get it down here and then from there on there'll be weather permitting
39:33putting the roof on the or the beams up ready to put the roof on the kitchen two
39:39weeks later at the end of March they're hit by the worst news yet foot and mouth is
39:46suspected on agents cousins land that surrounds the house and until it's
39:51investigated no one not even Adrian and Karina can go anywhere near the site it's
39:58a four thousand pound fine if we're caught the other side of this gate they were
40:02talking I think my truck is impounded because it was basically sat in there
40:07when they come out last time so I haven't driven that since yeah there's
40:13because from the house at the bottom he's allowed to go around the farm but he's
40:18not allowed out and we're not allowed in so that's the situation well the house
40:22was motoring along reasonably well well for us it was anyhow we got the rafters on
40:29the roof we've got a green oak in which we hadn't I was really pleased with the
40:33way that went basically we were a day away from making it dry after a week the
40:39decision is taken to cull the sheep and disinfect the land now there's no telling
40:45when they'll be allowed back up to the house mother nature has thrown virtually everything she's got
40:58at this project driving winds rain bitter cold landslides floods and just when agent and Corinna
41:06thought that things couldn't get any worse along came foot and mouth now because of that it's been
41:12nearly four months since I was last able to come here so I'm wondering are they now finally on the
41:20home stretch hello you two hello I'm relieved to see you you haven't been culled oh yeah
41:30I'm fine how are you well yeah you're not extremely well I'd like to make the effort yeah yeah and
41:36your house looks almost finished almost yeah but you're still here and you're still you're still
41:42fighting and you're still building yeah oh we'll make it now it's late at the end of the tunnel next
41:46week week after soon it looks great and you've got you cleared out the floor like I can see slabs of
41:53stone original are they staying or not what are you doing they're coming up for the underfloor heat
41:57and then they're going into the kitchen oh I see you're going to recycle them on site yeah what's
42:02this going to be this will be oak flooring oak floor nice and you put in a table and chairs yes
42:07sweet of you to find you even though you haven't got a front door or windows so this is going to be one
42:13big living space isn't it this is all one you're going to have a staircase going up here isn't it the
42:17spiral stairs going against the side yeah and the the plaster is um very rough cuts at the moment
42:23isn't it what is it is it is it again it's lime plaster lime plaster you put hair in it Chinese
42:29goats hair in it of course nothing but the best for you and you leave all the oak the lintels and
42:36the oak frames the windows and the bench that all gets exposed yeah left as it is and the fireplace
42:42as it is yeah it's great now when I was here last your kitchen wasn't a kitchen wasn't a kitchen
42:50it was foundations it's moved on has it you can't really cook your dinner there yeah please yeah now
42:59this is what a lovely home now this is what it's all about this has got in you got a roof on it
43:04though a roof it's dry and this is your kitchen stroke what utility what's going to happen here
43:12no no straight dining room right so why is the dining table in there then it's a bit uneven
43:18okay so that goes over here yeah yeah next door some of the walls are plastered some are exposed
43:26what happens in here um in here this this will be left to stay this one yes one and the um exterior
43:35walls so that's these three yeah those three will be um plastered apart from the bit around the bake
43:41oven which will be left oh sweet very that's nice you've plastered these uh these panels it looks
43:47like some merchant's house interior from the 1450s remarkable have you stained this oak yes now why
43:58have you done that did you want to do a darker oldy worldy color yeah just a bit darker than it was so we
44:03just stained it and then oiled it back yeah it's like a natural stain yeah it's very subtle much more
44:11like how the house would have been when it was first built when it was first built rather than 50
44:16years ago or even 100 years yeah yeah you see the uh the wall plate running around the whole building
44:20so what you see is the structure of the building wherever you look it is all exposed it's very honest
44:25in that way isn't it and this fireplace is very um god this is extraordinary it is like this plaster
44:32is weird it looks 500 years old isn't it bizarre so the principal reason for using those materials is
44:39because they're practical yeah and since you're using them and they look so good you might as well
44:44just leave them exposed exactly definitely so your your spare bathroom and your spare bedroom
44:51stroke junk room it's going to be today that this house should resemble a medieval one is no coincidence
45:01it's been rebuilt plastered and finished using ancient building techniques and materials
45:08that lend a simplicity and honesty to the house this is no frills farmhouse architecture
45:15timeless practical durable if you were to do it again carina would you do it exactly the same way
45:27yeah i would actually yeah knowing what you know what you've learned over the past year though
45:33um you know i wouldn't do it in the winter again but i would yeah the build i would do the way it's
45:41been built then i would do the same thing when you're living here and it's all done you're still
45:47going to have to cope with that hill aren't you coming home every evening so what happens if say
45:53in december carina you you're doing a night shift you finish at one o'clock in the morning you know icy
45:58fog bit of snow hail terrible visibility you've got to go up the hill how are you going to manage
46:02now that you've crashed the subaru i can always buy another subaru it's never been a real issue i mean yeah
46:10you have bad winters you i mean i'd look forward to looking out the window and god we can't go
46:15anywhere today what a bummer do you know i mean what's the problem it's uh yeah it was when that
46:19when that's nine or ten months of the year that must get me down no seriously from now on how long do
46:25you think it's going to be before you finish say october time i'd i'd be hopeful i wouldn't want to do
46:31another winter no i wouldn't do no i don't you don't want to do another winter i'm just thinking what happens
46:35if you have to well no because we can get it watertight realistic by october we can still do
46:41so if you're going to want to borrow any more money how much do you need we think we're about 10 to 15
46:51short to okay to finish the structure so 75 000 pounds for the structure all in it's going to be
46:58worth 250 400 000 i don't know it's a very very tempting idea isn't it that you could sell it and
47:05double your money instantly what you buy back
47:11we can never buy this back
47:12i have enjoyed every single trip to this site even in the depths of winter i mean this view the
47:29location this house are all things that many people would kill for whether you'd go through
47:36what they've been through is another matter of course but then again adrian corinna are pursuing
47:42a very special dream here the chance to stay in the valley where their families have lived for
47:48generations they're building a dream home in a place where they feel they really belong
48:06it's pretty much different than the last time i've seen in any of these
48:12Thank you very much.