0:00:03 > 0:00:07All over Britain, hundreds of precious historic buildings
0:00:07 > 0:00:10are in danger of being lost forever.
0:00:14 > 0:00:16The tragedy is that these buildings
0:00:16 > 0:00:19are far more than just simply bricks and mortar.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22They are the keepers of our past.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24I love the idea that people have stood here
0:00:24 > 0:00:27discussing the Battle of Waterloo and the Battle of Britain.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32I'm following the fortunes of six properties.
0:00:32 > 0:00:37Each of these six fragile buildings has found a would-be saviour.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41New owners desperate to breathe life into these crumbling ruins
0:00:41 > 0:00:44by creating there own 21st century dream home.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49- Well, she found it!- I just think it's an adorable building.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51I know there's a lot of work be done,
0:00:51 > 0:00:55but I think it's a building needs to be cared for and will be cared for.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57As our owners get down to work,
0:00:57 > 0:01:02architectural expert Kieran Long and historian Dr Kate Williams,
0:01:02 > 0:01:05will help me unearth the fascinating secrets
0:01:05 > 0:01:07hidden deep in each building's past.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11I love old buildings and I always have.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13And I've spent many years
0:01:13 > 0:01:16restoring various different properties in an attempt to create
0:01:16 > 0:01:18the perfect family home.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21So I know from personal experience
0:01:21 > 0:01:24the hard path that our families have chosen to follow.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27I don't think we'd ever buy another listed building.
0:01:27 > 0:01:28Ever.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35It's Restoration Home.
0:01:44 > 0:01:45This is Chatsworth.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50One of Britain's finest stately homes.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56It's been lived in by the aristocratic Cavendish family
0:01:56 > 0:01:59since the 1500s.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03Now, thankfully, Chatsworth doesn't need rescuing.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06But it is a rare surviving jewel in a part of England
0:02:06 > 0:02:10that used to be teeming with incredible country houses.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16The bad news is that hundreds of our grand houses
0:02:16 > 0:02:20have been lost over the last century or so.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Many that have managed to survive are teetering on the brink.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28And, tragically, just eight miles up river from here
0:02:28 > 0:02:31there's an extraordinary country house
0:02:31 > 0:02:34that's in desperate need of being saved
0:02:34 > 0:02:38before the cruel ravages of time finish it off for good.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44And this is our Restoration Home.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48Stoke Hall in Derbyshire.
0:02:48 > 0:02:50A 30-room Georgian mansion
0:02:50 > 0:02:54whose future has been dangling by a thread for decades.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05With every month that passes, the leaking roof and widespread dry rot
0:03:05 > 0:03:10make saving the building more difficult and more expensive.
0:03:12 > 0:03:16At risk of being lost is the original 18th century decor,
0:03:16 > 0:03:20which gives Stoke Hall a Grade II* listing.
0:03:21 > 0:03:23That means it's considered
0:03:23 > 0:03:27a building of more than special historic importance.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30And that the conservation bodies responsible for protecting
0:03:30 > 0:03:34our national heritage must approve restoration plans.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41For Stoke Hall, new owners now offer new hope.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45Meet Steve and Natalie Drury and their children, Tom and Laura.
0:03:45 > 0:03:49The Drurys bought Stoke Hall in 2009
0:03:49 > 0:03:53after a search for their perfect family home.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55This one was the one we loved.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59This was the house, so listen for going to be our home.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02- This was the house to bring the family up in.- Yes, definitely.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Childhood sweethearts Steve and Natalie started married life
0:04:06 > 0:04:07in a three-bed semi.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12Since then, Steve's become a self-made millionaire
0:04:12 > 0:04:13with a successful business
0:04:13 > 0:04:16supplying hi-tech products to the energy industry.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Full-time mum Natalie is also from a modest background.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23Her dad's a plumber.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26They see their listed mansion as a home for life.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30You do get a very good feel when you drive over the hill
0:04:30 > 0:04:33and you can see it in the distance and you see the striped lawns
0:04:33 > 0:04:36you do think, "Actually, you've done well."
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Stoke Hall's last owner had started to restore parts of the building,
0:04:41 > 0:04:45but sadly he died with work still in progress.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Potential buyers were afraid to take on such a massive project,
0:04:49 > 0:04:53until Steve and Natalie came along.
0:04:53 > 0:04:55I could see what put a lot of people off.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59The water running in, the buckets catching all the rainwater, dry rot everywhere.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02But if you saw past that, you're left with these views
0:05:02 > 0:05:06and this position, which is as good as it gets in Derbyshire.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12They paid 2.5 million just to buy Stoke Hall.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16This restoration certainly isn't going to come cheap.
0:05:16 > 0:05:20We're looking to spend £4 million in total.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23An extra £1.5 million over on what we bought.
0:05:26 > 0:05:31They've already spent 150,000 making the leaking roof watertight.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36And there's a further 350,000 budgeted for plastering,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39decoration and new electrics.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42While work goes on around them, the family will live in
0:05:42 > 0:05:44the house's handful of habitable rooms.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48They love having the workmen here, Tom especially because he likes to help them.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54And Laura likes them to be here because...
0:05:54 > 0:05:57she's a little bit bossy!
0:05:57 > 0:06:01You have to work extra hard or you're fired!
0:06:04 > 0:06:08They've set themselves an ambitious restoration schedule,
0:06:08 > 0:06:11aiming to get most of the work done by Christmas 2010.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16That's just over a year away.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21The rooms they plan to transform include the two ground-floor rooms
0:06:21 > 0:06:25on the south side of the house, with their Georgian decor.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28A first-floor room with its original ceiling
0:06:28 > 0:06:31which will become the master bedroom.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36And the 1980s kitchen which will be revamped.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Some of the rooms are slightly daunting
0:06:38 > 0:06:43and we just don't have a clue where to start.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45- We'll get there.- We will.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51This room is going to be the grand dining room.
0:06:51 > 0:06:58And, as you can see, it's got a lot of intricate work and detail.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02This is the room that gives me the most apprehension about the house.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05I'm used to the painted walls and the plain ceilings
0:07:05 > 0:07:09and modern lights, so when I first came in this room, I thought, "Oh, my goodness!"
0:07:09 > 0:07:14I don't think we'd ever take anything away from the house. The house is amazing.
0:07:17 > 0:07:21But we just want to make it more ours, more of a home.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24The smaller room next door,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28originally the Georgian morning room, will become a study.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30This is going to be Steve's little domain.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33A happy little domain hopefully
0:07:33 > 0:07:36and we're going to really have it quite masculine. You know?
0:07:37 > 0:07:41Over in the east wing, there's more intricate decor to save.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45On the top floor is the room with the original ceiling
0:07:45 > 0:07:48which will become Steve and Natalie's master bedroom.
0:07:49 > 0:07:54We are hoping to keep this ceiling,
0:07:54 > 0:07:58although it is being sort of held up by poles at the moment.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01I think it's beautiful. Apart from the brown colour.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03# One, two, three, four. #
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Turning an 18th century pile into a 21st century home
0:08:07 > 0:08:08is a huge challenge.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11And for the new Lord and Lady of the Manor,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14the restoration journey is only just beginning.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17I don't come from this kind of background,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21so it's hard to know if you're doing it properly.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23It's just hard.
0:08:24 > 0:08:27The 18th-century room that will be Steve's study
0:08:27 > 0:08:31helps give Stoke Hall its Grade II* listing.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34The builders have been preparing the foundations
0:08:34 > 0:08:37to install a new oak floor.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40And they've found evidence left behind
0:08:40 > 0:08:43by one of their Georgian counterparts.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46This is like his tally mark
0:08:46 > 0:08:50that he'd have put on for maybe the end of a week or two weeks' work.
0:08:50 > 0:08:55I think this one is probably the same chap
0:08:55 > 0:09:00who's put his own little bit of graffiti on. 1762 or 1769.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05But... We all like to leave our marks, us builders.
0:09:05 > 0:09:10But Steve and Natalie can't install the floor in their study
0:09:10 > 0:09:13until local conservation officers approve their plan.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17Their building's Grade II* listing
0:09:17 > 0:09:21even affects the floor they choose to modernise the 1980s kitchen.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26It's not a formal or not really a listed part of the house.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29It's going to be our home part of the house
0:09:29 > 0:09:35and they're going to make us put a planning application in for the floor that they could well reject.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Learning more about the history of their Georgian home
0:09:39 > 0:09:43is going to help with the restoration journey that lies ahead.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46We want to know as much about the house as possible.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48It's been here a long time.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50How it came to be designed, built as it was.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52Because we've got decisions to make
0:09:52 > 0:09:55on decor and things we want to do in the house.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02While I keep an eye on Steve and Natalie's massive restoration,
0:10:02 > 0:10:04our investigators are going to
0:10:04 > 0:10:07help me uncover the story of their building.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Historian Dr Kate Williams,
0:10:10 > 0:10:14will track down Stoke Hall's owners through the centuries.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20And architecture expert Kieran Long gets our investigation
0:10:20 > 0:10:25underway by looking for clues in the DNA of the building itself.
0:10:25 > 0:10:32So it's a just simply beautiful old Georgian mansion in the landscape.
0:10:32 > 0:10:36A really, really, really beautiful Palladian villa in Derbyshire.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43The Palladian style of architecture was all about using
0:10:43 > 0:10:46classical symmetry in the design of grand houses.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50The style originated in Italy in the 1500s,
0:10:50 > 0:10:55but it became all the rage in well-to-do 18th-century Britain.
0:10:56 > 0:11:00When you see the building, it looks almost like a perfect cube.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02Quite a grand ground floor level,
0:11:02 > 0:11:07where each window has corbelling and has cornice work and so on.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12And then, as your eye scans up the facade, you see that there's slightly less decoration
0:11:12 > 0:11:15and then finally the attic storey with smaller windows.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18That is absolutely a hallmark of this kind of architecture -
0:11:18 > 0:11:21of an understanding of a classical arrangement.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27It's all too easy for Kieran to see
0:11:27 > 0:11:31why Stoke Hall has been a building at risk for so many years.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35Well, this is the corner that faces the valley
0:11:35 > 0:11:37and it's the corner that's taken
0:11:37 > 0:11:41a buffeting of 250 years of wind and rain and sleet and snow.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44And it's showing it, to be honest.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47This is a solidly made building, but you can see on this facade in particular
0:11:47 > 0:11:49it's gone almost black with weathering.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56Inside, he examines the room that presents Steve and Natalie
0:11:56 > 0:12:00with one of their biggest restoration challenges.
0:12:00 > 0:12:05The Georgian morning room, earmarked as Steve's 21st-century study.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09It's just amazing to see a room in this state.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13What you see here is the various layers of the construction of the building.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18Remarkably, reeds used to build these 18th-century walls
0:12:18 > 0:12:19still have their seeds.
0:12:21 > 0:12:25Reeds or rough wooden batons were used by Georgian builders
0:12:25 > 0:12:28as the base for each wall's original plaster covering.
0:12:28 > 0:12:32This is the back of house stuff - the stuff that no-one was ever supposed to see.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36And we see just how there's no fineness to the making of this.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38The timber batons are just picked off the floor
0:12:38 > 0:12:40and not even cut to be the same size.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42That's how construction works.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45You want to hide your dirty laundry away, and we're embarrassing
0:12:45 > 0:12:49the Georgian craftsman by revealing it here and showing it to the world.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51But it's about giving yourself a solid base
0:12:51 > 0:12:53to make beautiful things on.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58If Steve and Natalie succeed in restoring this room,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01they'll have rescued a rare piece of our national heritage.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06It's made of reeds and wood. It's made of almost nothing.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Somehow it's survived. That makes it all the more precious.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13You see so many of these interiors deteriorating until they are
0:13:13 > 0:13:16unsalvageable or have to be replaced by modern equivalents,
0:13:16 > 0:13:21but this is the original stuff and it has to be saved.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24Kids still leave the bikes out.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26Steve and Natalie have no idea
0:13:26 > 0:13:29who the original Georgian owner of their house was.
0:13:29 > 0:13:31I imagine they'd be very well-to-do,
0:13:31 > 0:13:37maybe, you know, aristocracy sort of thing. Lord of the Manor.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Had to go and open garden fetes, or something like that, you know!
0:13:42 > 0:13:45But our private eye of the past, Kate, has discovered the man
0:13:45 > 0:13:50who built Steve and Natalie's mansion wasn't an aristocrat,
0:13:50 > 0:13:52he was a man of the cloth.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54A Reverend John Simpson.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59She's traced his origins
0:13:59 > 0:14:02to the country parish of Babworth in Nottinghamshire.
0:14:02 > 0:14:0530 miles from Stoke Hall.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09And she hopes to learn more about the reverend, if she can find his grave.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13So, I wonder if any of these graves are Simpson family graves.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18They're all so old and it's so hard to see because they're covered in all this moss.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24She's looking for a Simpson gravestone from the late 1700s.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28So long ago that any useful information could well be obscured
0:14:28 > 0:14:31by the passage of time.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33What have we got here?
0:14:33 > 0:14:39William Bridgeman-Simpson, born 9 September 1813, died 1835.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43So, these ones are all a bit later, these are all Victorian.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46It's when Kate steps inside the church
0:14:46 > 0:14:50that she eventually finds what she's been looking for.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53A memorial in prime position close to the altar.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00Here's our man.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02"Within the family vault of this church
0:15:02 > 0:15:06"are deposited the remains of the Reverend John Simpson.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09"Late of Stoke Hall in the County of Derby."
0:15:09 > 0:15:12Simpson gets to sit right in the middle of the church
0:15:12 > 0:15:15and to be seen by all. He's arrived.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20Not like those people outside who are sitting in the chilly old earth.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23Kate's investigation is only just beginning.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27But her picture of the 18th century clergyman
0:15:27 > 0:15:31who built Steve and Natalie's house is starting to take shape.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35To find out more about John Simpson,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38she needs to dig deeper into his past.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44Over 200 years later, the new owners of Reverend Simpson's mansion
0:15:44 > 0:15:47have other things on their minds.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52Four months into Steve and Natalie Drury's restoration, things are not going smoothly.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59Does just goes everywhere. Seeps in every nook and cranny we've got.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06The builders go home, and I quickly Hoover and clean what I can
0:16:06 > 0:16:11before I fetch the kids, and then I get the children home and feed them
0:16:11 > 0:16:13and homework and bath and everything,
0:16:13 > 0:16:17and when they're back in bed, I carry on cleaning for another hour or so.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21So, normally by about 8:30pm, 9pm, I'm exhausted.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24She's never lived in such a big house
0:16:24 > 0:16:28and Natalie does all the domestic work on her own.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32The idea of hired help simply isn't in her make-up.
0:16:32 > 0:16:36The thought of having staff, like, it shouldn't happen to me.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42I've not grown up with anything like that, you know. It's my job.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44It's... It's who I am in the family.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48As well as overseeing the restoration,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Steve's business demands over 60 hours a week of his time.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53What time's Louise get in?
0:16:53 > 0:16:55He is copping quite well,
0:16:55 > 0:17:00but he does like the order and tidiness when he comes home.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Because he's got a stressful job, so coming home to a very dirty house
0:17:04 > 0:17:06would stress him out a bit more.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12Owning a listed building gives Steve and Natalie a huge responsibility
0:17:12 > 0:17:15to our national heritage.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17The Peak District National Park Authority,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20the local conservation body overseeing the restoration,
0:17:20 > 0:17:23expects work on the study to be sympathetic
0:17:23 > 0:17:26to the original 18th-century materials.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31Some of the rotten oak timbers have been replaced
0:17:31 > 0:17:33with a different kind of wood.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38This is the piece that originally came out
0:17:38 > 0:17:39and we were asked to replace them,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42but after inspection by the Peak Park,
0:17:42 > 0:17:45the timber wasn't the right timber,
0:17:45 > 0:17:49so it's taken out and done again but in oak this time.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52It's a bit frustrating when you're doing jobs twice,
0:17:52 > 0:17:54but you have to do as you're told, I'm afraid.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Conservation officers also want to be sure plans for
0:18:02 > 0:18:06the study's new oak floor are sympathetic to the room.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10There's been a delay while they consider Steve and Natalie's plans
0:18:10 > 0:18:14for the height of the floor as well as the type of wood.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18Everything's ready, but we can't cut the wood to size
0:18:18 > 0:18:24because we don't know how high the floor's going to be, what kind of floor it's going to be yet.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27We have to wait for a decision to be made,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30so we're in Limbo Land really at the moment for this room.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37In the kitchen, they want to replace the 1980s vinyl tiles
0:18:37 > 0:18:39with a polished limestone floor.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44But this was once part of Stoke Hall servants' quarters
0:18:44 > 0:18:48and the conservation officers prefer a different floor covering.
0:18:48 > 0:18:50They think it should be
0:18:50 > 0:18:52flagstones because that's what would have been down.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56But that turns it back round into a servant's quarters.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01Putting the flags down would just make it feel really cold
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and, you know, I really think
0:19:04 > 0:19:06it would totally change the dynamic of it
0:19:06 > 0:19:10and it would really, really upset me, to be fair.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15Conservation bodies do their best to protect our heritage,
0:19:15 > 0:19:20but their views don't always coincide with those of the owners.
0:19:20 > 0:19:26There's all this bureaucracy around a Grade II* building. Grade I and II are quite clear cut.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31Grade II* is somewhere in-between. Where in-between I'm still trying to establish.
0:19:33 > 0:19:39Agreement on restoration plans often become a matter of negotiation.
0:19:39 > 0:19:44But just four months in, Natalie's thinking, "Never again".
0:19:44 > 0:19:48We've never own a listed building before.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50And...
0:19:50 > 0:19:53if we did have to sell this house, for whatever reason -
0:19:53 > 0:19:55and it would not be our choice - but if we did,
0:19:55 > 0:19:58I don't think we'd ever buy another listed building.
0:20:00 > 0:20:01Ever, so...
0:20:03 > 0:20:06I think the worst part is the dampening of the enthusiasm.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10There are people I know that would have packed in by now.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Kate has been trying to find out how the Reverend John Simpson
0:20:17 > 0:20:21came to build Steve and Natalie's mansion.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25The fact is, some 18th-century clergyman could accumulate considerable wealth
0:20:25 > 0:20:29through income from church land alone.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34To be a vicar in this period could be incredibly lucrative -
0:20:34 > 0:20:36if you got the right church -
0:20:36 > 0:20:39and this one, here in Babworth, was a goldmine.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44The son of the local squire, John Simpson,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48was a member of the English gentry.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52A class with land, and money, but no aristocratic title.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59But, in the 18th century, the gentry was on its way up the social ladder.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02The Reverend made a very good marriage to the granddaughter
0:21:02 > 0:21:04of English naval hero Admiral Benbow,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07and inherited the Stoke Hall Estate,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10as part of his marriage settlement.
0:21:11 > 0:21:17He started work on his fashionable new mansion in the 1750s.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19Kate has tracked down the Reverend's will
0:21:19 > 0:21:21in the National Archives -
0:21:21 > 0:21:24the country's largest collection of historical documents.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27This was a country clergyman
0:21:27 > 0:21:31who made material, as well as social, progress in his lifetime.
0:21:34 > 0:21:37The Reverend Simpson is utterly aware of everything he owns.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40He's listing every type of possession he has here,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42from his cattle, to his jewellery,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45to his furniture, to his clothes, and, by the end of his life,
0:21:45 > 0:21:47he's an incredibly wealthy man,
0:21:47 > 0:21:52dispensing huge amounts of possessions and money
0:21:52 > 0:21:56and land to his relations, his friends.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59Reverend Simpson's wealth exemplifies the sea change
0:21:59 > 0:22:03in the 18th century, the rise of what we call now the middle classes,
0:22:03 > 0:22:06the people who had money, who were going to spend.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11This is Reverend Simpson's life exemplified.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Our architectural expert, Kieran, has noticed
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Reverend Simpson's mansion was built
0:22:17 > 0:22:20very much with appearances in mind.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25You arrive from the South and you see the corner of the building.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27And all the money, all of the design effort,
0:22:27 > 0:22:31was spent making those two facades as impressive as they can be.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34Making the building seem more grand, perhaps, than it is.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40The miniature portico over the main entrance is another clue
0:22:40 > 0:22:44that Stoke Hall was an 18th-century gentleman's mini version
0:22:44 > 0:22:45of a stately home.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49It should be another few feet out into the street,
0:22:49 > 0:22:54in order that you could drive a carriage into it and descend from the carriage under cover.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58So this is, in a way, a little bit of bourgeois pretension, this portico.
0:22:58 > 0:23:03It's kind of a domesticated version of a country house, shrunk to fit.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10Rather like mock-Tudor, in the 1900, mock-Palladian
0:23:10 > 0:23:14was the favoured choice of well-to-do Georgian homeowners.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17And it's likely Stoke Hall's builders and craftsmen
0:23:17 > 0:23:20were briefed to copy fashionable designs
0:23:20 > 0:23:22that Reverend Simpson liked.
0:23:23 > 0:23:29Well, at the time, in England, there was an explosion of house building.
0:23:29 > 0:23:31There was an emerging upper-middle-class,
0:23:31 > 0:23:33building buildings like this.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36There are details here which probably came from catalogues and books.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39Those details would have been copied from those books,
0:23:39 > 0:23:44and the craftsmen here would have been quite familiar with creating those ornamental elements.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49It's the surviving ornamental elements
0:23:49 > 0:23:51of Stoke Hall's largest Georgian room
0:23:51 > 0:23:56that owners Steve and Natalie are trying so hard to save.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00Wow! This is an incredible room.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04MUSIC: "Secrets" by OneRepublic
0:24:11 > 0:24:15The fire surround is of a really high quality, I think.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20This is timber carving, and to do this with this kind of fineness,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23whoever did this was a very fine craftsman.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Two other features of the fireplace suggest it was inspired
0:24:27 > 0:24:30by someone with rather racy artistic tastes.
0:24:30 > 0:24:37There's a pair of young men, one either side of this incredible fireplace,
0:24:37 > 0:24:38made of plaster,
0:24:38 > 0:24:41Who look, somehow, like they are in a kind of ecstasy,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43running their hands through their hair.
0:24:43 > 0:24:50This guy seems to have a moustache. Like a footballer, or a '70s porn star, I'm not sure which.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54The architecture of this era was all about being composed
0:24:54 > 0:24:57on the outside, and being incredibly rich and sensuous on the inside,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01and that, to me, says something about the English character.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04There's something about the English which is kind of, you know,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07we wear a suit, but have, these terrible perversions.
0:25:11 > 0:25:16Reverend Simpson's interiors were likely to have impressed his visitors.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21When your friends came here, they would have said, "That guy's been on the grand tour.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24"He's travelled to Italy, he's travelled to London,
0:25:24 > 0:25:27"and he's seen the fashionable churches of the age,
0:25:27 > 0:25:31"by Hawksmoor and so on, and brought a little bit of it to Derbyshire."
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Kieran suspects the hand of an influential 18th-century architect
0:25:34 > 0:25:38in some of Stoke Hall's designs, and aims to find out who it was.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40One of my big questions is,
0:25:40 > 0:25:44what's the house's relationship to the other great houses of the area?
0:25:44 > 0:25:46I hope we discover that some of the great craftsmen
0:25:46 > 0:25:49of this part of England, at that period, worked on this house.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00It's now five months since Steve and Natalie started the restoration.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04After weeks of delay, conservation officers have approved plans
0:26:04 > 0:26:08for new floors in the two Georgian rooms.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13We've been told we can put oak all the way through
0:26:13 > 0:26:16and take that pine up, so we can start doing those two rooms.
0:26:17 > 0:26:24And the 1980s vinyl floor in the kitchen can also be replaced.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28But Steve and Natalie won't be getting a polished limestone floor.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30It's going to be black slate instead.
0:26:30 > 0:26:35They did agree to the black slate. Not exactly what we wanted, but...
0:26:35 > 0:26:40We had to wait three months and argue about the floor we wanted, or we found a compromise.
0:26:42 > 0:26:43So...
0:26:43 > 0:26:44we compromised.
0:26:50 > 0:26:55At last, work on the new kitchen can begin in earnest.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08We hope there's going to be a beam. That's what we're really hoping.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11That would be great, to find a beam.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13Because, what else could there be under there?
0:27:13 > 0:27:16Why would you have a bump in the middle of the ceiling?
0:27:16 > 0:27:18Must be a beam.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Oh! We've got an oak beam!
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Yay!
0:27:25 > 0:27:30The kitchen gets its compromise black slate floor.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35Elsewhere in the building, it's a matter of making up for lost time.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40The Georgian morning room is finally on its way to becoming the study.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45And there's been no issue with the restoration of its precious original walls.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Steve and Natalie have always planned to restore the room
0:27:48 > 0:27:51as the 18th-century builders would have created it,
0:27:51 > 0:27:53using rough timber battens as the base
0:27:53 > 0:27:56for a traditional lime plaster covering.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01It's all hand-cut and hand-split.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04Because it's all rough, and hand-split,
0:28:04 > 0:28:08it's got a texture that the plaster can grip onto.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13Traditional methods require specialist craftsmen, and do come at a cost.
0:28:14 > 0:28:20Steve and Natalie are paying around £8,000 to replaster the study,
0:28:20 > 0:28:22and it's a lengthy process.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25If it was in a modern situation,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28it would be huge, great sheets of plasterboard,
0:28:28 > 0:28:31then it would just be a skim, and it'd all be done in a day.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34Whereas this takes up to a week to do a wall.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38It might be more time-consuming to apply,
0:28:38 > 0:28:42but the Georgians certainly knew how to make good plaster.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45It's a mix of hydraulic lime and sand.
0:28:45 > 0:28:47You can see animal hairs in it.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49The horsehair binds it all together.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52That's how it was done, and he wants it going back how it was,
0:28:52 > 0:28:53so that's how it's going to be.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02Kieran is searching for a vital clue, to help him identify
0:29:02 > 0:29:08the 18th-century designer of Steve and Natalie's house.
0:29:08 > 0:29:12Architects often leave behind a tell-tale signature
0:29:12 > 0:29:14of their work, and Kieran thinks he's found one.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20To me, the biggest clue is the central arch surround
0:29:20 > 0:29:23to the main central bay of the facade.
0:29:23 > 0:29:26Just the way that geometrically,
0:29:26 > 0:29:30the arch inter-wraps with these drapery-like surrounds on the sides of the window,
0:29:30 > 0:29:35there's something very geometrically pleasing about that. That doesn't happen by accident.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37The hunt is on to find the same detail
0:29:37 > 0:29:40on another mid-18th century building.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55The trail leads Kieran to London's Victoria and Albert Museum,
0:29:55 > 0:30:01where he tries to match Stoke Hall's interiors with the work of known Georgian designers.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13But it's in the library of the Royal Institute of British Architects
0:30:13 > 0:30:15that he clinches the link.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32This is almost identical to the window surrounds
0:30:32 > 0:30:34on the exterior of Stoke Hall.
0:30:34 > 0:30:40He's found a book by 18th-century architect, James Paine.
0:30:40 > 0:30:44His latest house designs were the talk of a Georgian high society.
0:30:44 > 0:30:49Just like an architecture magazine, a design magazine today,
0:30:49 > 0:30:51these publications had subscribers.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53The status of Paine's work is proven
0:30:53 > 0:30:58by the fact that, at the top of the list of subscribers, is the king and queen.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02And we also know the Reverend Simpson was a subscriber, and here we are.
0:31:02 > 0:31:07"The Reverend Mr J Simpson, Stoke, Derbyshire."
0:31:07 > 0:31:11James Paine was one of the hottest architects around.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13As a subscriber to the book,
0:31:13 > 0:31:17Reverend Simpson could pick and choose from his trendy designs.
0:31:18 > 0:31:22It's likely the Reverend hired a local man, a Mr Booth
0:31:22 > 0:31:23to build Stoke Hall.
0:31:25 > 0:31:28It's his craftsmanship and Paine's designs
0:31:28 > 0:31:30that Steve and Natalie are trying to save today.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33Lot of work to do.
0:31:33 > 0:31:34Hmmm.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40It's the designer Paine and builder Booth who connect Stoke Hall
0:31:40 > 0:31:42to one of the grandest houses of all.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50Chatsworth. Just a few miles away.
0:31:52 > 0:31:57Paine and Booth built Chatsworth's grand stables around the same time
0:31:57 > 0:32:02and the estate's elegant Georgian bridge is also the work of Paine.
0:32:02 > 0:32:06What we have down the road is one of the most important houses
0:32:06 > 0:32:09in this country, or any other country, in Chatsworth,
0:32:09 > 0:32:12which Paine and Booth were involved in, so it's a great discovery
0:32:12 > 0:32:18that Stoke Hall has this link with one of the greatest works of architecture in the country.
0:32:21 > 0:32:26Steve and Natalie have been working on their house for months now.
0:32:26 > 0:32:28I'm going to go inside
0:32:28 > 0:32:34and find out how they're coping with this massive, massive refurbishment.
0:32:36 > 0:32:38But, before I can get my foot in the door,
0:32:38 > 0:32:41Steve nabs me with a bit of a bombshell.
0:32:42 > 0:32:47Natalie is expecting a baby and, by November,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50we'll have filled another one of the bedrooms.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54Congratulations! That's really fantastic!
0:32:55 > 0:32:58A 30-room mansion should be the perfect place
0:32:58 > 0:33:00to expand your family.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04But the baby's due in four months' time, and over in the east wing,
0:33:04 > 0:33:08it's by no means certain Steve and Natalie's master bedroom
0:33:08 > 0:33:09will be ready.
0:33:09 > 0:33:14So, this, we're going through now, to the bedrooms?
0:33:14 > 0:33:18Yeah, to my future bedroom, I keep calling it.
0:33:18 > 0:33:22'In the east wing, restoration work has also fallen behind schedule.'
0:33:22 > 0:33:27Still quite a lot to do, I'm thinking, Natalie,
0:33:27 > 0:33:29getting slight palpitations, actually!
0:33:32 > 0:33:34This is known as the Corridor of Doom,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36because it was full of dry rot.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39Watch the wire.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42'It's dry rot that's delaying work to save the original decor
0:33:42 > 0:33:44'in the master bedroom.'
0:33:44 > 0:33:50This is the ceiling that's caused you all the grief, isn't it?
0:33:50 > 0:33:53Yeah. We're not sure if it's going to stay up.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56There's still a long way to go, isn't there, Natalie?
0:33:56 > 0:33:59Er... Ah, do you know...
0:33:59 > 0:34:01I mean, it looks that way.
0:34:01 > 0:34:03It looks that way.
0:34:03 > 0:34:08You look around, see the exposed stonework here and there, and everything, but it'll be fine.
0:34:08 > 0:34:10It's going to be absolutely fine!
0:34:10 > 0:34:11SHE GIGGLES NERVOUSLY
0:34:13 > 0:34:16Is that fear? Was that hysteria?!
0:34:16 > 0:34:20'Natalie is still coming to terms with the crumbling legacy'
0:34:20 > 0:34:25of a building that's seen 250 years of British history.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30By the early 1800s, the house Reverend John Simpson built
0:34:30 > 0:34:34had entered a new era and was in new hands.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41In Stoke Hall's first 50 years of existence,
0:34:41 > 0:34:45Britain had changed almost beyond recognition.
0:34:45 > 0:34:50People's lives were transformed by the Industrial Revolution.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57Richard Arkwright was the man at its epicentre.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02The machines he invented made laborious hand-made processes redundant,
0:35:02 > 0:35:06and the Arkwright family filthy rich.
0:35:06 > 0:35:10In 1816, Richard's grandson, Robert, was living at Stoke Hall.
0:35:10 > 0:35:13As a member of British industrial royalty,
0:35:13 > 0:35:18Robert Arkwright would have been expected to marry a PROPER lady.
0:35:18 > 0:35:21You know, the sort of girl that would sit in the corner
0:35:21 > 0:35:26and gently sew a fine seam, or quietly finger her harpsichord.
0:35:26 > 0:35:29But Robert followed his heart.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31As we found out,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35Robert married the very worst sort of 18th-century woman,
0:35:35 > 0:35:39worse than a harlot or a prostitute.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42Robert married an actress.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48Kate has found evidence that Robert Arkwright's marriage
0:35:48 > 0:35:52to Frances Crawford Kemble, from a well-known theatrical family,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55was a real cloak-and-dagger affair.
0:35:55 > 0:36:00It seems the Arkwrights wanted to stop Robert and Frances getting hitched.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04This was shocking. Actresses were utterly beyond the pale. They were practically courtesans.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07And they would do anything they could to split them up.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Richard, the older brother, the goody-two-shoes,
0:36:10 > 0:36:15went storming off as fast as he could to try and separate the pair.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18They applied for an emergency licence so that they could
0:36:18 > 0:36:22get married quickly, and it was really a big love story.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26According to older brother Richard's letters, he was too late to stop the wedding.
0:36:26 > 0:36:29What's more, he believed Robert and Frances
0:36:29 > 0:36:33had engaged in skulduggery, to marry as quickly as they could.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36When he finds out that Robert was married to Miss Kemble
0:36:36 > 0:36:40on Thursday last, he is sure that the marriage is illegal,
0:36:40 > 0:36:45and he writes, "We inspected the register and found that
0:36:45 > 0:36:48"the licence had been granted by an old clergyman of 84,
0:36:48 > 0:36:54"whose handwriting was so shaky, it was as if he was very infirm."
0:36:54 > 0:36:57So, what Richard is saying here, is that Robert and Frances
0:36:57 > 0:37:01have paid off this infirm clergyman for hire.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05Kate's travelled to the northeast of England,
0:37:05 > 0:37:07where Frances and Robert's wedding took place.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14She wants to track down the 200-year-old marriage register
0:37:14 > 0:37:19to see if there's any truth in the Arkwright family's conspiracy theory.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24Here it is - the terrible marriage, in writing.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27Robert, the scion of the industrial family,
0:37:27 > 0:37:32and Frances are married, and there's nothing Richard can do.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36He's right, it's not the most clear handwriting, it is rather shaky, but it's here in black and white.
0:37:36 > 0:37:40Just cos the handwriting's bad doesn't mean he can finish this marriage.
0:37:40 > 0:37:45He is going to have to put up with the fact that his brother has married an actress.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47No matter what anyone could do,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51Stoke Hall had a new lady of the manor.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58Back in Derbyshire, Kate discovers
0:37:58 > 0:38:02Mrs Arkwright had some very influential friends.
0:38:02 > 0:38:08This is Frances' scrapbook, full of her letters, poetry.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12Here's a letter from Robert Burns, the poet, to her. My goodness.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15And here's a letter, "Affectionately yours, Byron."
0:38:15 > 0:38:20Mrs Arkwright is also swapping letters with one of the most powerful men in Britain -
0:38:20 > 0:38:25her neighbour at Chatsworth House, the sixth Duke of Devonshire.
0:38:25 > 0:38:26I can hardly believe it!
0:38:26 > 0:38:30It's flowers collected by the Duke of Devonshire, the greatest aristocrat in the land.
0:38:30 > 0:38:35He was her neighbour, but he was inestimably rich, so famous,
0:38:35 > 0:38:39and what does he do but pick flowers, press them,
0:38:39 > 0:38:42put his seal on them, and send them off to her.
0:38:42 > 0:38:50But Frances Arkwright's scrapbook is the key to Stoke Hall's most amazing connection of all.
0:38:54 > 0:38:58What we have here is Princess Victoria,
0:38:58 > 0:39:03the future Queen Victoria, visiting Chatsworth.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05Victoria was 13, it was 1832,
0:39:05 > 0:39:09it was her first great tour of Britain with her mother,
0:39:09 > 0:39:13and she heads to Chatsworth, in the Midlands, on the way to Wales.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18We've discovered Frances Arkwright was one of a very select group
0:39:18 > 0:39:21of the Duke's friends who hosted the young Victoria,
0:39:21 > 0:39:23in October, 1832.
0:39:25 > 0:39:26I invited Steve and Natalie,
0:39:26 > 0:39:30the Arkwrights' successors at Stoke Hall, to come to Chatsworth
0:39:30 > 0:39:34and find out what happened when Frances met Victoria.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40So, I thought I'd bring you here to the theatre at Chatsworth House,
0:39:40 > 0:39:45because this house has a connection to yours, to Stoke Hall.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49'Our researchers uncovered a nugget of evidence,
0:39:49 > 0:39:56'written nearly 170 years ago, by the sixth Duke of Devonshire himself.'
0:39:56 > 0:39:59I'm going to show you something, I'm a bit over-excited.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02The archivist here at Chatsworth House
0:40:02 > 0:40:06has very, very kindly let us borrow, briefly,
0:40:06 > 0:40:10the genuine pages out of the sixth duke's diary
0:40:10 > 0:40:15- for the time when Princess Victoria was here visiting.- Oh, right.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18"Morpeth sat by the princess at dinner.
0:40:18 > 0:40:20"She was very merry.
0:40:20 > 0:40:26"At night, Mrs Arkwright..." there we are, "..sang to them."
0:40:26 > 0:40:29- Ah!- That's very interesting.
0:40:31 > 0:40:35The duke's diary reveals the 13-year-old Victoria sang too.
0:40:37 > 0:40:42Mrs Arkwright sang her a compliment to the princess "very successfully".
0:40:43 > 0:40:48"The princess sang... the princess sang her little song."
0:40:48 > 0:40:51That's it. That's it, she...
0:40:51 > 0:40:54- She sang her little song back to Mrs Arkwright.- Very good.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57It is interesting to find out
0:40:57 > 0:40:59the history of the house and the people behind it.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03This person, not upper-class in the slightest,
0:41:03 > 0:41:04living in Stoke Hall.
0:41:04 > 0:41:07We're not upper class, last time I looked we weren't.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11Arkwright, they made their money with their mills and everything else,
0:41:11 > 0:41:13and we've built a business up.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16There are quite a lot of similarities between those two,
0:41:16 > 0:41:18and probably ourselves.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30150 years after the Arkwrights were at Stoke Hall,
0:41:30 > 0:41:35self-made millionaire Steve Drury is putting his own stamp
0:41:35 > 0:41:37on his 23-acre estate.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43- So this is the back of the house. - Yes.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Why is it that whenever there's building work going on,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49that glove is always there?
0:41:49 > 0:41:53- That glove follows me around. - I wonder if it's a corn circle thing.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55- SHE LAUGHS - Exactly.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57- Do you inherit a title with this house?- No.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00- Is there a title that comes with it?- No.
0:42:00 > 0:42:03Because you are sort of the lord of the manor
0:42:03 > 0:42:05of Stoke Hall in a way, aren't you?
0:42:05 > 0:42:07Um... No, not really.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11That said, I've cut my cricket wicket, have you seen?
0:42:11 > 0:42:13So you will have villagers playing on your land?
0:42:13 > 0:42:16There's the inaugural match being set up
0:42:16 > 0:42:19- for bank holiday Sunday in August. - Hurrah!
0:42:19 > 0:42:21Hunting, shooting fishing?
0:42:21 > 0:42:26I go shooting, not so much hunting, and I'm just starting to go fishing.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Are you? Brilliant. You've got a river near here, haven't you?
0:42:29 > 0:42:31Yes, just there.
0:42:31 > 0:42:34SHE LAUGHS
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Oh! I promise you, I honestly did not...
0:42:37 > 0:42:39I knew there was a river in the vicinity,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42I didn't know it was at the bottom of the hill.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46- Can you fish in that?- Yes. - What's in there?- Trout and grayling.
0:42:46 > 0:42:48You've got it all.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54Stoke Hall's days as a grand country mansion
0:42:54 > 0:42:57with a staff of housekeepers and servants are long gone.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01Remarkably, there is someone who remembers the house
0:43:01 > 0:43:04in the Upstairs Downstairs age.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10It's 73 years ago.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13I was 18 years old.
0:43:14 > 0:43:17I'm just looking at them windows at the top.
0:43:17 > 0:43:20One of them I slept in, I think.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24Kit Sollitt, now in her 90s,
0:43:24 > 0:43:28worked in the house before the Second World War
0:43:28 > 0:43:29as a French polisher.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33She finds her old room in what was the servants' quarters.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38The fire's still there. Fireplace.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40And the memories come flooding back.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42The creepy butler.
0:43:42 > 0:43:44He used to call up every night,
0:43:44 > 0:43:47he'd knock and walk straight in with his bucket.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50Very familiar with his hands.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54Very. You got to watch him like a hawk.
0:43:55 > 0:43:59In fact, I finished up putting me,
0:43:59 > 0:44:02me big armchair at the door before I got to in bed.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10In Kit's time, Stoke Hall's owners were the Viner family.
0:44:10 > 0:44:13Super-rich cutlery manufacturers.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16There was sunken baths, all in mother of pearl.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19All the walls mirror,
0:44:19 > 0:44:23it was something I'd never seen before.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen the same since.
0:44:26 > 0:44:32Now, I gather a family has come to live in it once again.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34It is looking good, what they have done.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38But they've hard work and a lot of money to get it to the state it was in.
0:44:41 > 0:44:42One year into the restoration,
0:44:42 > 0:44:45Natalie has overcome her resistance
0:44:45 > 0:44:49to having staff at Stoke Hall, and taken on a housekeeper.
0:44:49 > 0:44:54I didn't want people to think, "La-dee-da, got a housekeeper."
0:44:54 > 0:44:56Because I'm not like that.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00I didn't realise how much pressure I was putting on myself
0:45:00 > 0:45:02by not having someone to help me.
0:45:02 > 0:45:05Oh gosh, he does everything.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08He does all the cleaning and if you think how big this house is,
0:45:08 > 0:45:11just keeping on top of it, just the windows alone, you know?
0:45:12 > 0:45:17But Stoke Hall's restoration continues to throw up nasty surprises.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20It turns out the east wing with its original ceiling
0:45:20 > 0:45:25in the master bedroom was at risk of falling down altogether.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29We didn't realise at the time,
0:45:29 > 0:45:32but there was supposed to be tie bars underneath the floor
0:45:32 > 0:45:36and above us holding this house together.
0:45:36 > 0:45:41The bolts had been cut off outside so they were literally doing nothing.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43So this part of the house was moving.
0:45:43 > 0:45:45To save the east wing,
0:45:45 > 0:45:49they've had to reinstate the structural metal tie bars
0:45:49 > 0:45:52and tackle a series of other unexpected problems.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54I don't think we realised how much rot
0:45:54 > 0:45:57and everything else there was in the house.
0:45:57 > 0:45:59That's put us back.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02Um, probably a bit optimistic.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06But we've saved the ceiling, which is beautiful.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09Full marks to Steve and Natalie for managing to rescue
0:46:09 > 0:46:12one of Stoke Hall's most precious original features,
0:46:12 > 0:46:16but it will be a while before they can enjoy the views
0:46:16 > 0:46:18from their master bedroom.
0:46:18 > 0:46:22If there was one thing we probably underestimated a little bit,
0:46:22 > 0:46:24was the amount of time and effort and research
0:46:24 > 0:46:26and thought that goes into a room
0:46:26 > 0:46:29that you just don't have to do on a normal house.
0:46:29 > 0:46:32If you paint it a colour, you don't like the colour,
0:46:32 > 0:46:35you get another tin and paint it a different colour.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38It's not like that on a house like this.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42It's the same tricky restoration story
0:46:42 > 0:46:45with the two main Georgian rooms on the ground floor.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48Steve and Natalie's grand dining room with all Reverend Simpson's
0:46:48 > 0:46:51intricate 18th-century decor,
0:46:51 > 0:46:54is proving an even bigger challenge than they thought.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59Countless coats of paint applied over two-and-a-half centuries
0:46:59 > 0:47:01need to be very delicately removed.
0:47:02 > 0:47:06It's just been painted in loads and loads of layers of paint.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09It's like a lot of the finer detail
0:47:09 > 0:47:12is now really being filled with paint.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15What we're trying to do is trying to strip it,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18to get back to the fine detail again.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24The cornice above one of the doors is encased with a chemical stripper
0:47:24 > 0:47:29to see if it stands up to having 250 years of paint
0:47:29 > 0:47:30removed in one go.
0:47:31 > 0:47:36If things go wrong, there'll be more painstaking restoration to do.
0:47:38 > 0:47:43It should come off with the paper and strip all the paint off.
0:47:46 > 0:47:47We shall have a look.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52We've got to be very careful.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11That's right down to the original plaster.
0:48:11 > 0:48:16And this piece here, it's not damaged anything,
0:48:16 > 0:48:18so I'm not as nervous now.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24It's going to be a huge job to reveal
0:48:24 > 0:48:28all the decorative detail in this extraordinary room.
0:48:28 > 0:48:30But the designs uncovered so far
0:48:30 > 0:48:33show evidence of beautiful 18th-century craftsmanship.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40I think it was fantastic, the designer that designed it all.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42When you look the detail in the mouldings,
0:48:42 > 0:48:47it's not only the designing it's the chap that's originally
0:48:47 > 0:48:50carved for the mouldings and everything that's...
0:48:50 > 0:48:53It's... It's superb.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02The restoration might be taking longer than expected,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05but Steve and Natalie's other big project
0:49:05 > 0:49:08has delivered bang on schedule.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12His hair's all puffed up. Don't! He likes it puffed up.
0:49:14 > 0:49:19This is our newborn. Stanley.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22Just to make it a little bit more interesting, restoring a house,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26working full-time, having a hectic life with the kids,
0:49:26 > 0:49:30and we have an additional baby to look after
0:49:30 > 0:49:35just to fill those hours between ten and six which aren't filled at the moment.
0:49:40 > 0:49:44They had hoped to get most of the restoration work done by Christmas 2010...
0:49:46 > 0:49:49..but it's clear things are going to stretch into another year.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54I feel slightly that I could have done more
0:49:54 > 0:49:58and done it quicker and been a bit more organised.
0:49:58 > 0:50:00But maybe I'm just harsh on myself.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03I think we've done quite well in a year,
0:50:03 > 0:50:06but you don't see that when you're in the middle of it.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11It's been a tough old restoration journey.
0:50:11 > 0:50:13- How's that?- That's good.
0:50:15 > 0:50:17But at least Steve and Natalie
0:50:17 > 0:50:20are closer to the end than the beginning.
0:50:22 > 0:50:27Three months later, I'm going to pay my final visit to Stoke Hall
0:50:27 > 0:50:30to see what they've managed to achieve.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34But first, Kate and Kieran
0:50:34 > 0:50:36are bringing Steve and Natalie up to date
0:50:36 > 0:50:40with all they've discovered about their building's past.
0:50:40 > 0:50:43They went to the Babworth Church which is so beautiful.
0:50:43 > 0:50:47They've dug deep into two-and-a-half-centuries of Stoke Hall's history.
0:50:47 > 0:50:51I wonder how the Reverend would have dealt with a conservation officer.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54Steve and Natalie are impressed.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56Everywhere you've been,
0:50:56 > 0:51:00it's quite surreal that there's things relating to the house.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02And how important the house actually is.
0:51:02 > 0:51:04And what you're doing is adding another layer
0:51:04 > 0:51:07to that incredible 250 years of history.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12When Steve and Natalie took on Stoke Hall
0:51:12 > 0:51:14they didn't just get a fantastic house,
0:51:14 > 0:51:16they also got a nasty case of dry rot,
0:51:16 > 0:51:19Georgian plasterwork hanging off the walls,
0:51:19 > 0:51:22and wrangling with the planners
0:51:22 > 0:51:25that would try the patience of a UN peacekeeper.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28It's a year and a half later, let's find out
0:51:28 > 0:51:32whether the place is fit for lord and lady of the manor.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39Remember how the inside looked before the restoration began?
0:51:39 > 0:51:43Have Steve and Natalie succeeded in turning
0:51:43 > 0:51:48their crumbling Georgian mansion into a 21st-century family home?
0:51:49 > 0:51:53'I'm going to start my tour in what was their old kitchen.'
0:51:53 > 0:51:57With its 1980s fittings and pine ceiling.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01- Do you want to have a look?- May I? - You may.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05Yay! This is fantastic!
0:52:20 > 0:52:24A whole series of other family rooms have been transformed.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29And Steve and Natalie have put their own stamp on all of them.
0:52:35 > 0:52:38Oh, this is looking great.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41It's so light. It's lovely.
0:52:41 > 0:52:43Natalie, it's very feminine here.
0:52:43 > 0:52:45- Have you enjoyed using the floral prints?- Yes.
0:52:45 > 0:52:49I fell in love with the wallpaper, actually,
0:52:49 > 0:52:50and did everything from there.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55But it's Reverend Simpson's original Georgian rooms
0:52:55 > 0:52:56on the south side of the house
0:52:56 > 0:52:59that had given them the biggest restoration headache.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07After months of work, the Reverend's intricate decor
0:53:07 > 0:53:10in their grand dining room has been saved,
0:53:10 > 0:53:13but there's more to do before the room is ready to use.
0:53:15 > 0:53:18Reverend Simpson, he's costing you a fortune, isn't he?
0:53:18 > 0:53:22Because it's all his stuff that needs to be renovated, isn't it?
0:53:22 > 0:53:25Perhaps it is expensive, but that's where the value of the house is.
0:53:25 > 0:53:30Because we understand a lot of the history now,
0:53:30 > 0:53:32I think doing it right is what matters.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36We're not quite ready to fully decide what colours...
0:53:36 > 0:53:40- Before we commit to colours we need to research it a little bit more.- We do.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43They think they'll need another nine months
0:53:43 > 0:53:46to do justice to this amazing room.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50And they want more time to get the decor right
0:53:50 > 0:53:54in their master bedroom where they had saved the original ceiling.
0:53:56 > 0:54:01But Steve and Natalie's biggest challenge from the start
0:54:01 > 0:54:03has been Reverend Simpson's morning Room.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05A complete wreck 18 months ago,
0:54:05 > 0:54:09it was meant to be Steve's 21st-century study by now.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13So, have they pulled it off?
0:54:24 > 0:54:27This is completely different!
0:54:28 > 0:54:30This had mud on the floor...
0:54:32 > 0:54:36There was nothing on the walls, the walls were just bare stone.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43Go and sit in the chair, come on.
0:54:49 > 0:54:52Ready to take banker managers.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56This is a huge desk.
0:54:56 > 0:54:58This is like a ship's desk.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02Steve's desk is custom-made with a carved pattern
0:55:02 > 0:55:05that echoes the 18th-century design
0:55:05 > 0:55:08on the study's restored dado rails.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13And this is the Reverend Simpson's design, is it?
0:55:13 > 0:55:15I believe so.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19If you go to Chatsworth, the pattern is the same as you get in Chatsworth.
0:55:19 > 0:55:22I reckon this desk would have gone down a storm in the 18th century.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25If only they'd had the technology back then.
0:55:25 > 0:55:28- This is a drawer? - It's a drawer.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33- My secret button there. - Am I about to explode, Mr Bond?
0:55:33 > 0:55:36SHE LAUGHS
0:55:37 > 0:55:39And, um...
0:55:39 > 0:55:40I have a ...
0:55:44 > 0:55:47I have to say, I didn't expect that to happen.
0:55:49 > 0:55:54Steve has also given a high-tech 21st century spin
0:55:54 > 0:55:57to other parts of the Reverend Simpson's house.
0:55:58 > 0:56:00Like Stoke Hall's first owner,
0:56:00 > 0:56:04the present one likes to live in some style.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08The state-of-the-art desk didn't come cheap.
0:56:08 > 0:56:13It's quite a complicated bit of kit. What did it cost?
0:56:13 > 0:56:15Um, it cost...
0:56:15 > 0:56:19It cost over £10,000.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25It's definitely not been your average restoration.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28But they're on course with their 1.5 million budget
0:56:28 > 0:56:31to save the building and make it their home.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35And one former lady of Stoke Hall
0:56:35 > 0:56:39has had an influence on Steve and Natalie's choice of decor.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43The ornate mirror in Steve's study may once have belonged
0:56:43 > 0:56:46to Frances Arkwright's close friend down the road,
0:56:46 > 0:56:48the sixth Duke of Devonshire.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53- You bought this, it wasn't here. - I bought it, yes.- It's lovely.
0:56:53 > 0:56:57- It's beautiful.- Where did you get that?- I went to Chatsworth sale.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01- Did you?- Yes.- It is 200 years old. - It's lovely.- Beautiful.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11Steve and Natalie have saved the fragile,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14crumbling interior of Stoke Hall.
0:57:14 > 0:57:16They really are restoration heroes.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20Just like the original owners, they have fallen under its spell.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23The social-climbing Reverend Simpson,
0:57:23 > 0:57:25and the industrious Arkwrights
0:57:25 > 0:57:28have something in common with Steve and Natalie.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31They too were creators of their own wealth.
0:57:31 > 0:57:33The creators of their own destiny.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36And that is why Steve and Natalie
0:57:36 > 0:57:41really are the rightful heirs to Stoke Hall.
0:57:46 > 0:57:49Next time on Restoration Home...
0:57:49 > 0:57:51a perfectly beautiful Georgian building...
0:57:51 > 0:57:54It was love at first sight.
0:57:54 > 0:57:56..that's hiding some dark secrets.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58It's scary.
0:57:58 > 0:58:00In a house on the verge of collapse,
0:58:00 > 0:58:06we investigate a tale that changed the landscape of Britain for ever.
0:58:25 > 0:58:28Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:28 > 0:58:33E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk