Episode 5 A Pembrokeshire Farm

We're restoring this 200-year-old

Our goal has been to keep as many original features as possible

Sadly, the roof was just too

absolutely pouring in there.

I've never seen that happen before.

We have had a fair share of delays

and they forced us to extend

We're 17 months in. We have a month left before we open for business.

The idea that there's a pipe missing or somebody hasn't delivered stone,

this adds three months to the workload, doesn't square it with me.

than we had when we started.

need first of all to finish work

original Pembrokeshire stone,

this isn't how it was meant to be.

The house would have been covered in a protective layer of lime render,

painstakingly applied by hand.

Ready to take the lime-wash.

whitewashed with no pigment added.

of the house, the posh bit.

We've got quicklime in here.

You'll see why in a minute.

the plaster deep into the joints.

Some of the joints are hollow

The hot lime-wash is reputed

than an ordinary putty lime-wash.

it goes on a little bit thicker but it whitens up immediately.

The house will need several coats.

who has been busy in the garden

you look out at St David's.

It's my own personal rubble tump

This is just accumulated stuff

where would we put all this stuff?

We have to put a notice on it

the much-debated carbon neutral heating system has arrived.

which is a big textile tank.

The bag will be filled with wood pellets which will fuel the boiler.

It will be two fills a year,

the lorry will come and blow

As the pellets go in, the air comes out through the fabric.

Yes, we've got to get the heating up and running as soon as possible

so the house can start drying out,

especially as my oak flooring

we've got rid of all the damp.

it's going to take a little time

We're trying to be realistic here.

If you've got some dehumidifiers...

Given the schedule, perhaps I ought to get my own hands dirty.

the big gaps, like these ones,

Then we're going over it again to give it a smooth finish.

I got carried away already.

We do, to give it a lovely finish.

There's a sort of sculptural quality

I'm putting it on too thick. Upward movements, to spread it out.

has been going so smoothly.

The ancient crafts may be complex, but modern ones can be catastrophic.

Apparently, this 21st-century,

We found a hole behind this patch.

It was just slowly dripping down.

Then we found the multiple holes.

Once we'd filled it up with water, it was spurting out.

We don't know if it was watertight

from the guys who put it in to start with, but we don't know.

Never mind, it's only money.

Ah, yes, that very expensive oak flooring stuff. Isn't it lovely?

Of course, it was a bit of a gamble

The heating has only been on

It's still a wee bit damp in here.

But I'm eager to keep things moving on. So they're going to lay it now

Let's hope that under-floor heating

will help dry out the place

Both Gill and I said to Griff,

First, because there's no damp-proof

They're insulated lime floors with under-floor heating in them.

to use timber on these floors

and timber moves and swells

how much moisture there is.

appropriate to this type of house.

it's a bad idea now, do they?

It was a good idea to try an oak floor because oak is very soft

Very durable, hard wearing,

but let's just fingers crossed

Especially since the place is beginning to look like a house

and not an archaeological dig.

Somehow, the best of intentions are held up by missing parts.

And then something slots into there,

don't do any of this any more.

of screwdriver, now you need two.

They should send it with the BLEEP bracket already screwed on,

There's a lot of wood around,

Perhaps it's that that helps

Nathan is making the staircase up to the sleeping platform

It used to be where you slept, and you had the cattle below you

The cattle and sheep were at the

Why don't they just send you

the soot and tar is bleeding through the plaster. So we need to seal it.

We have never done this before

We're going to use cow dung,

dilute it a little in order

and we can lime-wash it then without any soot discolouring the lime-wash.

but it's definitely hit the fan

The moisture left in the ground has come up through the floor.

It's swollen...three inches.

I can't see it working. The

We need to look at it and decide if we want to go ahead with it or not.

I sent him an e-mail to say

Good. Let's look at the floor

We needed something to take rainwater away from the house.

Gill tells me concrete would have been the traditional material.

couldn't be delivered on time.

So we went to India instead.

Apparently, the experts say you can't tell it from York stone.

and delivered the next working day.

We can have the wrong materials

If we want the right materials

it takes a lot of energy and time.

Alas, the local builders' yard

We still have rather a lot to do.

We don't have any kitchen cupboards,

equipment, nothing here yet.

what they've done with this door.

This, I'm not so sure about.

the heating unit, the boiler.

It wouldn't look out of place

It's the sort of thing you see in old science-fiction films.

When I first asked about it, I was

Of course, the boiler is this big,

I intended to knock this shed down. Now I have to build another shed

to accommodate the monster.

carpet-layers, like Paul here.

So I'm doing the simple jobs

I've found another solution

and allows the damp to escape.

are coming back to haunt me.

It's wrong to bring this to here,

But we've added to the complications

What's that for? Weird, isn't it?

Inaccessible plug - sort of thing you'd find in a '30s house.

But it's just been all redone.

But after months of hard work

it's the last-minute details

But while we worry over every detail

Because surely, it cannot be beyond the measure of human beings now

This is a standard smoke-detector

I asked my surveyor why it was going off and he said, "It's your farts."

We've tried to source simple,

To me, to me. To me, to me, to me. Let's try that against there.

We're gonna have to watch the light!

I think it was better where it was,

Everything is coming together.

They've done a fantastic job here.

We've got a wood with a little curly-whirly path. I love the gates.

Everything is now fenced off

I imagine that there may still be

quite a long time to dry out.

whether people want to rent

I'm filled with zeal to get on

they're different problems.

to its house-like qualities.

The other buildings we approach will have different problems.

It's the first time I've been here in six weeks. I am so shocked.

so I missed the end of the event,

I am so pleased to come and see

I knew it would look good. It was

but this really has blown me away.

Quite a few semi-pioneering efforts

For example, the peg-slated roof.

will be pleased when they see it.

I'm particularly glad they've kept

They've kept all the panelled

of the jigsaw came into place

and you see the finished product.

Which, of course, is a great reward.

than was initially envisaged.

A privilege to be able to do

This is the most exciting part now, seeing the whole thing come together

and people staying at the property.

Alas, I won't be able to live

want the house to stand empty.

It's been divided into two.

for the croglofft side arrive,

to demonstrate to them the delights

and that's the parlour end.

'The farm end has the cegin fawr.'

Now, this is the little tin...

The croglofft has been furnished

in keeping with its simple origins.

the bedroom for mum and dad.

Come and have a look at this boys. It's where mum and dad are.

This is just pine, I think.

It's lovely, it's really nice.

I suppose it's how I'd imagine

This part would be ideal for us

because it's for two adults

so if there were two families

who didn't know each other, you won't get on top of each other.

My only comment would be to have

Oops, Nina has spotted that we just haven't managed to fit it yet.

The house has been beautifully done

it's been a labour of love.

on cash registers and invoices

and receipts, on how much it's cost.

Not because those things aren't

with the idea of turning a buck

I hope that we've put the house

and I hope the house is going

I have restored houses before.

All the time there are little

and things that don't quite

Probably the most annoying thing about it is that it involves

a considerable amount of waiting.

There's a frustration about

But somebody once described it

It is slow building, all building is slower than you want it to be.

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