Episode 2 Second Chance Summer: Tuscany

Maurizio's farm in the southern Tuscan hills is up for sale.

Before he sells,

he's handing over the running of his business to ten strangers.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Bottoms up.

They all share the same dream...

I am too young to go in my rocking chair quite yet.

..of starting a new life in Italy.

Being a farmer, living in Tuscany, is what I should be doing.

But this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes with responsibility.

-What have you done all morning?

-You will not get an answer from me.

By taking over the whole farm, they must tend the 13-acre vineyard...

It's just really, really hard work.

..and five acres of olive trees.

The little babies are starting to be made into oil.

As well as breathe new life into the bed and breakfast...

I can't quite believe this is happening.

..and serve food to paying customers.

Come with us to our...ristorante.

This is their chance to put their dreams to the test.

MESSAGE IN ITALIAN: Nove, due, zero, due...

We perhaps need someone who speaks Italian to know what that's saying.

After two months, will any of the group decide to buy the farm together?

I'd never be able to afford to do this sort of thing on my own.

Or will they find other ways to make Tuscany their new home?

What could possibly go wrong?

This is beautiful scenery.

It's the beginning of the group's second week at the Banditaccia farm

and they're settling in to their new way of life.

Every day, walking the electric fence at six in the morning,

I get to see the light, the dawn break over Tuscany.

It's wonderful.

So the dream I have...

..is happening.

This is why I like getting up early because...

..it's just beautiful.

Hello, girls.

Look at the colours on that one.

-They're beautiful.

-I am actually bowled over with Tuscany.

I love it much more than I thought I would.

This is magical.

-Hey!

-Have you found one?

-Oh, wow.

-It's only tiny.

-Morning.

-Buongiorno.

Freshly laid chicken eggs.

Yeah, these eggs are from our chicken.

Two yesterday and one today.

Yay, look at that!

LAUGHTER

It's truly fantastic here.

Kind of a little bit like I'm back in time.

Like, seeing tractors on the roads with all the grapes on and,

you know, understanding this part of the world.

It's phenomenal.

It's harvest time in Tuscany and on farms all across the region,

grape picking is underway.

Only days ago at La Banditaccia,

Rob and the group harvested 20 rows of Merlot grapes.

It didn't go that well, but it's kind of given us insight

into the bigger picture and how much work is involved.

It's backbreaking work.

Now 55,000 square metres of Sangiovese vines are days away

from being ready to harvest and owner Maurizio has entrusted

the group to bring in the farm's largest crop.

For former hotel manager Rob,

taking charge of the grape harvest is a step closer to his dreams.

To make your own wine and sell it and export it and be able to walk

into a shop and go, "I made that." Like, how cool would that be?

The thought of it just... It makes me really emotional.

Like, you know, to be given this chance,

why would you not give it a go?

The farm's entire crop has been bought in advance by an

award-winning winery, banking on making over 9,000 bottles

from their investment.

-Hi, guys.

-Ciao. How are you? Ciao.

-Yeah, I'm good. How are you?

-Ciao.

-Arrivederci.

Ooh, this is very posh.

Yeah.

To ensure the grapes make a high-quality wine,

they must be perfectly ripe at the moment of harvesting.

Rob and Andy are visiting the winery to discuss the condition of the crop

and learn about the craft of making wine.

90% of the things we want to extract are in the skins.

-Yes.

-They are not in the fluids,

and so you need to take the wine from the tap and pump it over,

over the skins because otherwise it gets dry and it produces a cappello,

like a hat, a hat of skins.

-Crust on the top.

-Yeah.

I love the wine. I love Italian wine.

I just want to immerse myself in the wine industry.

As a younger guy, I didn't have a plan.

Did warehouse work for a while and then I fell into sales.

I was selling garden decking as a Saturday job, and I was good at it,

and I thought, I could probably make a go of this and then I got

into recruitment and from there more sales, telecoms,

and then from there into hotels,

hospitality and sort of got into wine, and something I was passionate

about and I wanted to do. But Italian wine, it's the passion.

This winery makes fine wines from grapes harvested all over Tuscany,

including a Brunello di Montalcino,

a red wine exclusive to this region and regarded as one of the best

in the world.

We noticed they harvest a lot by machine here, don't they?

Is it all done by machine on this estate, or...?

No, no. The brand-new machines are very good to harvest.

-Yeah.

-Because they are really delicate,

but the hand is a different thing.

If you harvest handily, you can choose.

The machine can't choose.

Well, like you said, cos we can pick the good and the...

-Yeah.

-This is good - this part is good, this part is not good.

-Bunches, yeah.

-With the scissors, you can just take the right part.

It's a very good area, as I explained to you, because of the climate,

because of the wind, because of the exposure.

So it's one of the best soils you can find in Tuscany.

What I've picked up, it's not just winemaking.

Here, it's more than just a process, it's actually life.

For me the ultimate thing would be to grow the grapes,

harvest them and then do what we've seen today.

The fact-finding for me was important.

The weather's a big thing. I hadn't really thought about that when he said,

"Look at the weather a couple of days before planning a harvesting."

It needs to be dry.

Then look at during the harvest.

We need at least a good, you know, six or seven days, I think,

of sunshine.

-Lovely. Thank you very much again.

-Thank you. Bye.

Right, come on. No, you don't use your gloves,

cos you're picking leaves, you don't need anything.

The main task today is pick all the leaves off the Sangiovese

because it's not maturing fast enough.

Before harvesting commences,

the farm's Sangiovese crop needs more time to fully ripen.

If you think we're closing in on rainy season, you know,

the last thing we want is to be thinking,

"We've got to harvest these grapes" and it's raining every other day.

So by picking these leaves off,

you can see now the sun's getting to them all and it'll help them ripen

a lot quicker. This is a prime example.

So at the moment, the sun's hitting here and it's not getting to

the grapes, so what we need to do is completely expose it.

So it's about making sure these grapes can ripen at a faster rate.

Ce voila. Now the sun is going straight onto the grapes,

and that's what we need to do.

So if we just take one each, yeah?

So one on this side, one on that side, one on that side,

one on that side and then we just work our way down.

The stage I've hit in my life, I'm looking to build something.

I'm looking to kind of almost leave my stamp on the world.

It's not going to be a family cos I'm single at the moment,

but mum and dad left me some money,

so maybe I want to start my own business.

Buy a house, build a house.

You know, do something that I can say, you know, "I made this."

Gavin, how come you're so fast?

I can't do it slow, I've got to really rock on with it.

-I don't know.

-Remember, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

The harvest isn't the only venture underway.

-Done.

-Thank you.

Like many farms in Tuscany, La Banditaccia has

agriturismo status, meaning it offers

bed and breakfast accommodation.

In peak season, the best agriturismos can earn

over 100 euros per room, per night.

I love, I just love getting my hands into something like this.

Owner Maurizio has always hosted paying guests,

but with the group occupying every room in the farmhouse, the plan

is to convert the empty annexe into a brand-new guest room.

Oh!

Everyone has things that they're particularly interested in.

The only thing I'm thinking about is the bed-and-breakfast.

You know, this was something I wanted to do years and years ago

and it's never left me and suddenly I've got to this point

where I really want to do it.

-Is that enough?

-Yeah, that's perfect.

And there's cobwebs on the back, masses of them.

Eugh! Eugh!

'There is no reason not to give it a go.'

If it goes wrong, at least I've tried,

and I think that's what you realise as you get older.

You have to step out of your comfort zone sometimes,

but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work.

It's the most beautiful place.

Woo! This is the kind of thing I love to do.

We're trying to whitewash the wall,

but still retain the character, and as long as we can do that

to the best quality that we can with what we've got,

then we would be able to capture that luxurious sort of feel.

Oh, it's fairly...

Look at this, what do you think?

I've never used such cheap paint.

We'll have two-star paint and then five-star bedding,

cos we've actually got some nice bedding.

I really like the idea of turning this property

into a bed-and-breakfast

and actually have something tangible to show for this experience.

I think when you start, just be as generous as possible,

but move as fast as you can.

I definitely know that I want to do something new at this stage in my life.

I don't have a commitment that, you know,

has me tied to London.

So for me, this is one great option.

With the first booking already taken,

the group have agreed to charge 50 euros a night for the en-suite room.

Lesley, you are honestly doing such a brilliant job.

It looks fantastic. Really looks fantastic,

and it's obvious that this is what you love doing at home.

Well, my home's immaculate.

I can tell. I can tell.

We do have issues in here.

When you come to the shower...

OK. Right.

Well, obviously, the hot water doesn't work.

That goes without saying really, doesn't it?

Oh, OK.

But when you put the cold on,

it actually turns the tap on over there.

-How does that work?

-Now I can't actually turn...

-Now you can't actually turn it off?

-..either of them off! Oh, you've got off.

Good, good. Let me see if I can get off as well.

Unbelievable. That is amazing.

Oh, my God!

How are we going to call...

an Italian number, OK?

Because I don't claim to know everything.

With the arrival of their first guests imminent,

Tracy and Chi search for someone to help solve the broken bathroom.

-I don't know if you just dial that...

-I think so.

It's Chi.

'Chi is my favourite person here.

'She's so funny.'

We seem to bounce off one another.

I don't know if this is a recording cos I have no idea how Italian phones work.

It was telling you something before.

I don't know Italian but he did say...

"Zero, zero." So he's obviously saying,

"To dial this number from that phone, you have to put 00..."

-So listen again.

-So you want me to just ring the number?

-Ring again, yeah.

-Don't look at me like that. You better know what you're doing.

Ay-ay-ay.

Right, listen. Listen.

-Write it down.

-What's "due"?

It was definitely numbers she was giving us.

So hot. You know, it's physical work as well in the sun and the heat,

and none of us are used to it.

It don't bother the dog, he loves it.

He don't care what he does, as long as he's with me.

And vice versa. Eh?

It is almost midday.

Rob and his team have been picking leaves off the vines for three hours.

91, 92, 93...

194 rows of Sangiovese.

They only grow 25.

That's... Yeah, astronomical amount of work.

Was I on that one?

I had to go back there and I've lost where I was.

I think it was the next one.

The vineyard is planted on 5.5 hectares of fertile Tuscan farmland,

an area the equivalent size of seven football pitches.

So much for...

getting any sleep at night, I think it's going to be a few

sleepless nights thinking about this.

Do you know what's important to me about making it a success to live here?

If I can take myself, mentally,

to the place of having to go back to England,

it actually makes me want to be sick.

I'd feel like a failure.

I've got nowhere to live, I don't have a job.

But isn't that what this is all about?

You don't get a do-over with life, you don't get another go.

You don't live forever.

Like, my mum was 57 when she died, that's...

She'd barely lived half her life, you know.

So I'm not afraid to give it a crack and see what happens.

In some ways, it's dawning, it is coming home to roost that,

hang on,

we're responsible for a lot here.

If we don't get the harvest in for Maurizio...

..it's going to cause him a massive financial hardship.

I was working on farms at 12.

When we broke up from school, I was out working on the farms,

doing the harvests.

Starting at 7am, finishing at 9pm.

I used to work side-by-side with my dad.

It's coming back full circle.

That's what I did when I was young and that's what I want to recapture.

With the annexe bathroom out of action,

Chi and Tracy are looking to reclaim a room originally used for

bed and breakfast by Maurizio.

Right, let's open this door now, cos I haven't even seen this.

But it's currently occupied by harvest manager Rob.

Oh, you're having a laugh.

-What?

-This is a suite, not a room.

Oh, wow. Come and have a look in here.

This is not even funny. This is our best option.

Yeah, yeah. The problem with Rob is that his priorities were simply just

the grapes, the wine and all of that.

-Yeah, I get that.

-So he's not really thinking...

the same way that we are.

At the end of the day, as far as I'm concerned,

I came here for us to get something done.

And I think, now that we have assessed this room,

I think Rob would be 100% fine about moving out.

Where he moves to, that's his prerogative.

-Yeah.

-Just do a clean sweep, measure up the mattresses...

-It's quite easy.

-Take some things out.

-Yeah.

Rob will be like, "What happened to all my things?"

Right, there's a white pillowcase.

Yep.

Did you not know about your room?

No.

-Oh.

-Ugh!

The hits just keep on coming today, don't they?

It's all right.

The girls have kind of, like, stole his room and didn't tell him.

-Oops.

-I'm going in there for a shower in a minute,

so you'll have to leave.

That's what you want, you want to come home and find out you've got nowhere to sleep.

Wasted my life...

-Nice stew, love.

-Good work.

-Really nice.

-Good.

It's very, very good, to be honest.

It's a bit made up.

-What time is it now?

-We actually get a bit of a lie in tomorrow,

-don't we?

-Yeah.

-We're not starting till 9.30.

-Wow.

-Some of you are.

CORK POPS

Uncertain of where he'll stay tomorrow, for tonight,

Rob remains in his old room.

I know we've said all along, the B&B is not going to make us money.

It's not. This is like a...

Like another revenue stream.

But you have to be ready for people to come and stay here.

I don't want people to go, "Go and stay at this farm, it's like Fawlty Towers."

-At this moment...

-But it is called La Banditaccia,

which is where the bandits hide, and that's what we'd be, bandits.

-Come and stay...

-Come and stay with a shower of bandits.

-Hug time.

-Hug time.

Good morning. Did you want some breakfast?

I've only had one cup of coffee and I can't actually think straight yet.

Not in here. Outside. Come on.

Not in here, take it outside.

We're not having fighting in here, boys and girls.

Yes. Go on.

-Have you got a watch on, do you know what time it is?

-No idea.

-OK.

So another busy day.

You've got the B&B people to look after and...

Yeah. I think it's better to be busy.

With B&B guests due to arrive this morning,

working out the farm's sleeping arrangements is top of the agenda.

I think, in fairness to Rob,

he is going to be doing a lot of work at the farm,

so we need to strip my bed and change it,

-cos Rob's going to have my room now.

-OK.

And that was my process as to what I want to do with that.

No, it's not sweet, it's just sensible.

I think he definitely deserves it.

Tracy's quite kindly given up her room for me to move into,

which is honestly probably one of the most lovely things anyone's done since I've been here.

While Tracy takes up residency in the incomplete annexe...

I have no hot water, I have no shower.

So how are you going to go with no hot water?

I'm just going to stink until somebody says, "You can use my shower."

Any time. But not yet, until I've cleaned it.

LAUGHTER

..Jill is sprucing up the B&B room, ready for the imminent arrival.

I think we've left it to the last minute, to be honest.

I didn't realise how much work was to be done.

See all these bins? We need a binman.

Why didn't they take them this morning when they went out?

To make matters worse, the driveway is full of clutter.

All this stuff needs put back in the house.

When these B&B guests arrive, they'll be seeing this stuff...

That's what I'm saying. That's what I said, but it's...

Old mattresses out there. What...? You know, you can imagine the first impression.

You drive down the beautiful drive and the first thing you're going to see is Steptoe's yard.

My part in the B&B is I'm going to be one of the people legally capable

of preparing food. Other than that,

I have no participation in the B&B at all, really.

I'm trying to do like I saw in hotels I've been to abroad,

where they always fold back the toilet roll.

I think they're going to be quite blown away.

I think it's going to be a bit of a wow factor.

I've got to be honest, if I turned up to a B&B and it looked like this,

I'd turn right round and go out of the gate again.

There's a new bit there. I don't know why that is.

'They're in the middle of Tuscany,

'they're on a farm and they've got lovely people from Great Britain'

there to be able to share their time with them.

What we've got here is a semi-derelict farm with a bunch

of people who are total amateurs. It's just a nonstarter.

Give us a hoist with this, bud. At least it will look presentable.

Uh-oh.

GIGGLING

We have no bed linen.

This isn't going to work cos it's not a double.

It's two singles put together, which means it's king-size

and we can't find anything to fit it.

I can't quite believe this is happening.

Shit the bed.

The guests are here and we've got stuff scattered all over the table.

Let's pack everything in the fridge.

Hello.

-I'm Altaf, pleased to meet you.

-Pleased to meet you.

-You are?

-Fabio.

-Fabio, pleased to meet you, sir.

-Welcome to our house.

-Do you want to follow Altaf

-and he'll take you through?

-OK.

-Absolutely breathtaking views here.

-Wow.

Make yourself at home.

Indeed. OK.

OK. Give us two minutes.

OK. We will wait.

Thank you.

Karen, your guest has arrived, love.

Karen.

We just speak English, yes?

The Italian is not good.

One week here only.

OK, OK.

-Very good English. Thank you.

-We try. We try.

OK. So can I show you to your room?

Would you like to see your room?

OK. Would you like to come this way?

Yeah, thank you.

So come through.

-Do you just want to walk through and have a look?

-Oh, this is nice.

Yes, really. Really comfortable, too.

This is something I wanted to do years ago and it's never left me.

Actually, to be in a position to do it is amazing.

There's some towels in here for you.

If you'd like to go by the pool there's some towels.

My daughters don't need me any more.

They're at university.

So now I can give it a go and just see if it is what I want to do.

Please come and find me if you want anything.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Or any questions.

-OK. Thank you. Thank you very much.

-Bye.

-Bye.

-There's loads of rocket.

-That's not rocket. Rocket's...

Oh, don't look.

You dropped the lot.

OK. So five-day forecast.

It just makes me think of The Fast Show when you see this.

This is just like... Sunshine.

OK, so it looks like it's going to rain.

Yeah, that's a bit of a bummer, really.

That really is a bit of a bummer.

For a successful harvest,

Rob needs to find the balance between allowing the grapes time

to fully ripen in the sun and picking them

before the onset of bad weather.

Seeing what it's like here, when it rains,

it just honks it down and then stops.

If it does that, there's going to be a lot of water on the ground.

Then we need to think, there's got to be two dry days

before we can start again.

It's obviously coming in that way, it's coming south, the rain.

It clears up again.

It seems like it might just be showers.

If we're lucky, it will kind of stay that side and not come down and get us.

We might miss it.

Hopefully we do.

It's late morning and Dr Santini, the winery's grape expert,

has arrived to meet Rob.

-Good morning.

-Good morning. How are you?

-Fine, thanks, and you?

Yeah, very well. Good to see you.

So the grapes are OK.

-OK.

-The ripening is good.

So we have very good, good quality of grapes...

-Yeah, OK.

-..in order to produce a very good quality wine.

-OK.

-But actually, I have to tell you about the news, because...

-OK.

-The weather forecast says...

-Rain on the weekend.

-Yeah, not just rain, a storm.

-Oh.

-A very...hard rain.

-OK.

-At the weekend.

-OK.

So we have to harvest...

before it rains.

-That's a problem.

-Yeah. Yeah. OK. So...

So we have just three days to prepare and to harvest.

So you said prepare and harvest?

So today's going to be preparation.

Getting the crates clean, getting them laid out.

-Tomorrow, we will start.

-Yeah.

You have to hurry up, because we really don't have time.

OK. So in realistic terms, we've got two days of picking, right?

Yeah, because if we leave the grapes on the plant, the storm can destroy.

-Yeah, I understand.

-We have to harvest everything or we lose.

I think the shock is that we've got to do it in two days.

We need a week to do it.

Unless they're going to floodlight the entire field, it's going to be

a real stretch, a real stretch.

But at the same time, we can't fail.

Rob begins harvest preparations immediately

and, with thousands of kilograms of grapes to be picked,

a small mountain of crates need sterilising by ex-detective Andy.

It might be a boring...

..nothing job, but without this boring, nothing job,

the big jobs can't be done.

The gorgeous thing about this is, there's no trauma in this job.

Nobody's going to die, or get lost, or...

Out of this.

I am proud of being a police officer.

It's making a difference.

When I was on the kidnap squad at Scotland Yard,

you just can't pack up and go home

because a hostage is still out there,

therefore you don't go home until the hostage is rescued

and the bad people are locked up.

It was cops and robbers. I loved it. It was living.

Unfortunately, for those who are at home, my wife at the time...

..I guess I wasn't there.

When I learned that we were breaking up,

it was very painful and it really upset me.

Yeah, talk about a dagger to the heart, but...

..it was also...

Yeah, painful.

And does make you...

..look at yourself and it

did make me look at myself.

But by that time, I was already...

..single and living in my flat in Hemel Hempstead.

Have I ever felt lonely?

Sometimes, yes.

Getting into bed at night on your own with nobody to cuddle,

that's when I realise I'm missing out on things.

Now, Leslie, did you order a mushroom?

I did, yes.

You can have that one.

-A mushroom...

-That's the bresaola one, isn't it?

-Yeah, with the rocket.

-Oh, a bit of chilli flakes.

Over dinner, Rob briefs the rest of the group on his plans

for the harvest.

-We've got two days to do it.

-Kicking off at...?

7am. Need to be there at, like, 6.50, 6.55.

And it's going to be a bit of a mess.

I really hope that Rob can control this.

He's got to manage it. He's got to manage the people.

Rob feels the pressure.

It's not a laugh, it's serious work, it's hard work.

It is worrying, because there's so much work.

I honestly think...

...there's more work than we can handle.

We don't have experience in doing this.

We don't have enough people to do this.

We don't have enough time to do this.

I haven't heard from Dr Santini.

I need to chase him up and see if he can give us some people to help us out.

But I know tomorrow everyone will get up at the crack of dawn

and we will go and just work.

I think it's quite a big deal for him.

He does appear confident, but I think he's probably nervous.

-Good night, guys.

-Good night, everybody.

-BANGING ON DOOR

-Come on. Roberto.

In the fields.

Chi, see you in a minute.

Come on, rise and shine!

Do you feel like you're in shellshock about how much we're going to have to do?

It has all come at once. It is like it's...

Like, real work time.

-Yeah.

-And it's quite daunting, really.

-Stand by.

-Hold on!

-Whoa, whoa.

-I didn't realise it was on, sorry.

-Bloody hell.

-Sorry.

With the storm set to arrive in 48 hours,

the group and five farm hands begin the race to harvest 195 rows

of grapes.

It's nice to be out here.

It's what we came for, lad.

-Oh, yeah, yeah.

-Less talking, more snipping.

Rob and Gavin are working a line, Altaf and I are working a line,

Karen and Jill are doing a line.

Andy's washing the boxes and that's it.

So there's the six of us up here.

When the guests, kind of, have their rooms serviced at the B&B,

then Tracy and Chi are going to come up and join us as well.

So everybody here but Leslie today, so we'll have all hands to the pump.

Buongiorno.

Thank you. No problem.

Would you like anything to drink?

Some coffee, tea?

We are fine.

-Have a beautiful day.

-Yes, you, too.

-All right, then.

-OK. Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

I'm enjoying it. It's out in the fresh air.

Never thought I'd hear me say that.

"Out the new fresh air, it's good."

God, these are just perfect.

You know, when you get one like that, that is just perfection.

It's amazing.

Are there empty crates down there?

I'm going to go up to the top to get some.

They've only got one, two, three more rows and they are out of baskets.

So as soon as we run out of baskets, that's it, it's tools down.

With clean crates running low,

Andy's up against it, working on his own.

I'm trying to wash as fast as I possibly can.

Unfortunately, we seem to be light in numbers.

I can understand Leslie is looking after the farm so my question is,

what are the other two persons who are not here doing?

Having a coffee break.

I can't believe they are all up there like mad and we are down here,

we've done nothing, really.

So they've got two days to get the harvest in

because it's got to be done before the weekend storms.

So once we get that done... I'm sure one of those guys, if I said,

"OK, let's do a sewing class," trust me, they would.

-They would?

-Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

LAUGHTER

Right, we'll catch up later.

That's it. Oui, si, si.

With the help of some local workers,

Rob and Andy safely stow the fruit of the morning's labour

into the cool of the cantina.

It's just, get everyone out of the midday sun and get some chow

and then we'll crack on again.

Thank you so much for this, girls.

-Good work.

-Who made it?

-Leslie.

-Oh, bless her.

-I tell you what, that's lovely soup, is that, beautiful.

-Right, yeah.

It's just like my mama used to make.

This is very good, Leslie. Seriously, thank you so much, we really appreciate that. It's good.

-I love that little kick in there as well.

-It's lovely.

-You like that?

Good, well, I thought this is great stuff because it's full of all your

proteins and your lentils and stuff.

Plus, it's got the chilli which is also good for you, the heat, as well,

because it actually helps your body to expel so it's really good stuff.

-It's the first chance she's had to cook.

-Do it again, soon.

Who else is coming...?

They are all up there, some of them took their own lunch up with them

so they're sat in a dusty field eating a dry sandwich.

That's a bit tough.

We've got a lot left to do.

When you sit down...

-I'm not sure I want to get back up again.

-Thinking about getting back up again.

So what are you guys going to need us to do this afternoon?

Come up and clear the weeds or what?

We're just cutting grapes, all of us.

It's one o'clock and in the vineyard,

Rob has two new farm hands, Tracey and Chi, to bolster his workforce.

So the plan of attack for this afternoon,

is that somebody needs to stay up here with Andy and give him a hand.

-Anyone want to volunteer?

-We're in a race now, pressure's on.

-Yes.

When you say, "Stay up with Andy," to do what?

-To wash the rest of the crates.

-Basically, we've got that lot to wash.

It's basically a race because they are picking them faster than I'm

-washing them.

-You probably need more than one person.

Oh. Chi, did you want to help wash boxes or do you want to pick?

I really don't care, I'm just here to help.

Break the girls in easily.

-Do we need to change this water now?

-I'm just changing it now.

So are we just tipping it over?

If you can lift that, you're a stronger man than me, Gunga Din.

-If we all go on one side, surely we can.

-We can just tip it.

-It's very heavy.

-Let's have a go.

Isn't that going to affect...? Make that whole grass...?

-Yeah, don't worry.

-Just do as you're told.

-Ideally.

-I'm sorry? Is this a serious conversation you are having?

Yes, because what have you been doing all day?

-Are you having a laugh?

-No, I'm not having a laugh.

Oh, OK. Shall we go down on a picket?

-Are you having a laugh?

-No, I'm not,

I'm seriously asking you, what have you done all morning?

-You want me to answer you?

-I'm asking you.

I'm not actually going to answer that.

We have been working all day and what have you been doing?

-Right.

-It's a serious question, what have you been doing all morning?

A very simple question.

You will not get an answer from me if you even paid.

No, because maybe you can't... Maybe you are too embarrassed to tell me.

Embarrassed about what?

I can't actually believe this is a serious conversation.

You let me... I was hurt by...

You let me... I'm not even having this stupid conversation.

OK, you carry on, just go.

Go and do some work.

-Tell him to not talk to me.

-Ssh.

-Andy, Andy, Jesus Christ.

-Criticising who?

Hang on, hang on, hang on. Go get in the field. Leave it be,

-I'll sort this.

-No, no...

-OK.

-I'm not having this.

-Come on.

-But he...

-Come on, girls.

I knew we could tip it.

-Yeah, yeah.

-Get the hose and fill it up.

-We're wasting time.

-I'm not going to stand here and have to defend what I

was doing. I came up here to work.

And maybe Andy thinks I came up here to have a dance, I don't know.

Where has she been? This is the most important day of this project.

Priorities. The priority is the harvest.

Hopefully, when things have settled down,

I'm going to go and apologise because of possibly the way I spoke

but not for what I actually asked.

And how she takes that, that is entirely up to her.

I need to start taking Valium or something, I think, to calm me down.

With the storm due in just over 24 hours,

the group can't afford to take any more breaks.

It's actually so much harder than I imagined.

Eight hours straight working in the fields in the sun.

My feet are so hot, it's unbelievable.

My back is killing me.

Apart from that, it's another day in paradise(!)

After ten hours toiling in the vineyard,

Rob has called the group together.

Well, we've done 45 rows today.

-That's not bad.

-Is that good?

-Out of 195.

LAUGHTER

OK.

Erm... Yeah.

'It was pretty soul-destroying today.'

If the storm hits and we haven't finished the harvest, the wine's knackered.

You know, Dr Santini was here yesterday - I'll give him a call tonight,

I'll see if he can call some of his guys and say,

"Look, can you hustle any troops together?" Cos it's manpower

and boxes, that's the only way you get through this.

Thank you very much for today, people, it's been...

-Interesting.

-Horrific.

-Yeah.

-No, it hasn't.

-It's not been that bad.

-It's not been that bad.

No.

-You all right?

-I'll get there, lad.

OK. OK.

The last job of the day is to pack up the winery's van and deliver

the grapes to the press.

Look at that, calluses.

Real working man's hands.

There is an amazing line in one of my favourite songs and it's about

having hands like my father's and that's what I feel like -

gnarly, old, calloused hands.

Sitting in the field thinking about my dad,

I realised how much like him I am.

Dad was from a really poor home and for him, it was... He worked.

We were growing up and he would work in the military and in the time off,

he'd go and bale hay on the farm.

Andy and I were chatting about our hands and...

I've got old, calloused hands like my old man,

from working in the field.

Yeah.

Don't know, there's just a lot of stuff reminded me of him.

I miss... I obviously miss my mum but it's been a lot longer.

Dad will be three years on the 5th of November.

For him to see that I'm trying to make a change and do something else,

would be important.

Yeah, I miss him.

He's my hero.

Oh, dear, cheers, thanks, Leslie.

Pleasure.

Is anybody feeling as tired as me?

-Much more.

-More?

-Much more.

-I just feel like I could go like that.

-Has Chi gone to bed as well?

-No, she's in the kitchen.

Is she? I couldn't see her.

'I did get frustrated with Chi.'

I didn't like it, cos that's not me.

It's probably since I left the police that I'm trying to be

less confrontational.

Unfortunately, I maybe do explode and therefore that's what I find

embarrassing about myself and what I should work on.

Just two quick things - I want to thank you all for today.

It's not easy terrain, it was hot and I know tomorrow's not going to

be something to look forward to when you bounce out of bed in the morning all happy and joyful,

but can we all be up there for 7am again, please?

-Yeah.

-Is that all right?

It's literally just all hands to the pump, picking.

-Can I go to bed now, please?

-Yeah, as I say...

Do you want breakfast now, or in a minute?

-I just think we need to get going before it gets too hot.

-Yeah.

So maybe a coffee and then go.

Yeah.

It's 7am and under cloudy skies,

nine of the group are back in the vineyard and ready for work.

There's a lot to do today.

We did 45 rows yesterday out of 194.

It's almost a superhuman feat to try and do the rest of it today

but we'll give it a fair old crack, that's what we'll do.

Can you just work your way along to the very end and then head that way?

I do feel responsible for the grape harvest and ensuring it works

and ensuring we pull it off.

Two girls I think are two rows ahead of you so then just hop like a row

ahead of them and you just overlap each other all day.

I don't want to be a... "I almost made a success of my life in Italy,

"I almost took this opportunity and did everything I could to make it happen."

Cos at the end of the day, when this all comes to an end and I've got nothing to go back to...

Rob, the cavalry's here!

Amazing, that's really going to help us out today.

Guys, do you want to come with me?

We'll go and find some rows to pick.

Thanks a lot, guys, it's good to have you here today.

Having only covered a quarter of the vineyard yesterday, this morning,

ten extra workers have arrived to help Rob complete the harvest

before the weather breaks.

There's ten professional pickers, there's eight of us.

They start at this end, they are going to work all the way around this side of the hill

and then from there, we'll go,

work our way along the bottom of the hill down to the bottom right-hand corner.

And that's us done. Makes it sound so easy when you say it like that.

These local workers - incredible.

I thought we were moving on quite well but these...

Swarmed over the top of me.

Thank God!

It's hot now, it's really hot, it's, like, 26 degrees.

Everyone's been out since seven o'clock this morning so

they haven't stopped all day.

The strain of working 18 hours across 13 acres of vineyard...

It's absolutely backbreaking work.

..carrying crates weighing up to 20kg...

Not a chance in hell would I ever want to buy a vineyard.

..is starting to show.

I don't see any romance in this now.

-No.

-I'm going to go round and make sure everything is OK,

make sure everyone's got water.

Make sure no-one's sitting down.

Give them a last pump to the end.

They are motoring.

It's late afternoon and the storm is on the horizon.

The guys that are coming up from the bottom of the field...

-Yeah.

-They are four rows away.

-Really?

-So this whole bottom field is going to be completed

in the next half an hour.

We are going to have this cracked.

-Finito?

-Si.

-Oh, OK.

-That's it.

With the extra help,

the group have completed the harvest and brought in enough grapes to make

over 9,000 bottles of wine.

From panicking and thinking we weren't going to do it,

to hitting it with a load of people today,

it's nice. It would be nice to have a couple of days of not thinking

about grapes and harvesting and just, like, relaxing.

That'll be good.

I can't actually put one foot in front of the other very well.

It's quite emotional, actually, cos when I finished, I thought,

"Hmm, just a couple of swallows, just fight back the tears."

I felt very proud.

You can tell there is a bit of weight in the back.

As the sun sets,

Rob and Andy head to the winery to personally deliver the final batch

of grapes.

It's eight bottles to a 20 kilo crate, isn't it?

So on here, we are virtually carrying...

A good night out.

I'm not going to bad-mouth the UK, but there's always been something

in me, an itch in me, that knows I'm not meant to be there,

I'm not meant to live there.

I'm too good at this kind of lifestyle.

So we must ask her if they can put x-amount aside for us.

We're not going to see it for a couple of years. It's not going to be good for a couple of years.

But, actually, it would be a reason for a wee get-together.

I think you'll have to come out here and get together with me, though, cos I don't plan on going home.

It would be amazing to buy a vineyard with a plot of land

with a little house on it and just live off that.

If you can pull out a pretty good harvest,

you can survive off that for a little while and then you look at

the other revenue streams - you go down from there.

Their final resting place before they go off and make a nice bottle of Sangiovese.

When I first came here, I wasn't really sure, but now,

it seems like it would be good fun.

-Do you want to shake or high-five?

-High-five.

Let's pretend we're young. Good work, man.

As the storm arrives, the annual Cinigiano wine festival

continues regardless.

Local wineries open their cellar doors and welcome in

weary grape pickers to enjoy a tipple of the latest vintage.

-Christ, what's this?

-Buonasera.

-Buonasera.

Are you buying, old man?

I can imagine being sat in here with some friends on a Saturday night,

drinking wine and talking shit.

I could be happy here.

This is really nice.

It's Sunday morning

and while some of the group sleep off a big night...

-Oh!

-Buongiorno.

-Yay!

-..the bed and breakfast guests are up early,

having reached the end of their stay.

How was your stay? It would be lovely if you would come back.

We might even be able to do you a deal on the room,

being as you were such a good guest.

-Thank you.

-Lovely to meet you, I hope you have a good journey.

-Goodbye.

-Arrivederci.

-Ciao.

-Arrivederci.

Full English breakfast, but as we can't get bacon,

I'm going to use pancetta.

I must admit, it's nice to have the harvest of the grapes behind us

because it's taken a lot of pressure. I actually had a lie-in

this morning, I got up at 8.30, which is...

I tell you, you've no idea how welcome that was.

With the harvest complete, the group take a well-earned break.

They've returned to the town of Cinigiano for the main day of

the Festa dell'Uva - the town's traditional wine festival.

That's not bad, that's not bad.

Go, quick, quick!

The high point of the festival is a huge street parade.

Taking part is an honour reserved for residents and, this year,

there is a new addition among the ranks.

Here's Rob in his tights.

Where? Oh, there!

LAUGHTER

CHEERING

You've got a ladder in your tights now!

UPROARIOUS LAUGHTER

I've said the wine is my focus and my challenge and something I want

to do, so I think more and more,

I'll be thinking of making plans of how I can pursue my passion

and potentially my career out here.

I feel totally better. I feel lighter,

I'm now down to the last notch on my belt.

Possibly being a farmer, living in Tuscany, is what I should be doing.

I know he told me orange was his colour but I did not expect that.

Not like that.

Maybe I'm looking at things through rose-tinted spectacles but I think

we actually bonded over the grape harvest because it was such a massive effort.

We've all realised that we can work together

and do something successfully.

It's a nice sensation of everyone kind of feeling like they are part of one, big, happy family.

However, it's a slightly dysfunctional family.

Come with us to our ristorante.

The group are under pressure on restaurant night,

when they invite their first paying guests.

I can't find the tagliatelle, where is it?

I have no idea, doll. I don't know where you got it from.

That's what I'm saying, somebody needs to find it.

I have never worked so hard in my life.

But the light at the end of the tunnel, which is not quite

the oncoming train, but very close,

is the fact that I've actually made the dessert.

And the realities of farming hit home...

Oh, look. This is the beginning of the attack.

..when a potential fly attack blights the farm's valuable olive crop.

Stavros was saying we've caught it early but we have to wait

for the results to come back and take it from there.