0:00:02 > 0:00:10All over Britain, hundreds of precious historic buildings are in danger of being lost forever.
0:00:14 > 0:00:20The tragedy is that these are far more than just bricks and mortar. They're the keepers of our past.
0:00:20 > 0:00:27I love the idea that people stood here discussing the Battle of Waterloo and Battle of Britain.
0:00:27 > 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 > 0:00:46by creating their own 21st-century dream home.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49- She found it. - I think it's an adorable building.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54There's a lot of work to be done, but it needs to be cared for and will be.
0:00:54 > 0:01:02As our owners get down to work, architectural expert Kieran Long and historian Dr Kate Williams
0:01:02 > 0:01:09will help me unearth the fascinating secrets hidden deep in each building's past.
0:01:09 > 0:01:14I love old buildings and I've spent many years restoring various properties
0:01:14 > 0:01:18in an attempt to create the perfect family home.
0:01:18 > 0:01:24So I know from personal experience the hard path that our families have chosen to follow.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28I don't think we'd ever buy another listed building. Ever.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35It's Restoration Home.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47Number 10 Downing Street, probably the most famous door in the world,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51the nerve centre of British politics for nearly 300 years.
0:01:51 > 0:01:57Some of the most important people on the planet have stood on this very spot.
0:01:57 > 0:01:58So...
0:01:59 > 0:02:04it may surprise you to learn that this house was built
0:02:04 > 0:02:09by what can only be described as a very dodgy property developer.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14The builder of Number 10 was George Downing,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19a 17th-century courtier, spy and get-rich-quick developer.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23Perhaps not the most salubrious start for a Prime Minister's home.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27Downing set about building this to make a quick profit.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31He used the cheapest materials on boggy land with poor foundations.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36He even painted lines on the front of the building
0:02:36 > 0:02:39to make it look like it was made out of posh bricks.
0:02:39 > 0:02:44Downing's thrifty building methods contributed to it being
0:02:44 > 0:02:49on the verge of collapse by the 1950s. It was only saved
0:02:49 > 0:02:53by a massive restoration project that took three years to complete.
0:02:55 > 0:03:01But Number 10's dodgy original construction gives it much in common with our restoration home -
0:03:01 > 0:03:04Stanwick Hall in Northamptonshire.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12It's a fine-looking building, but parts of this house
0:03:12 > 0:03:16also seem to have been built on the cheap.
0:03:16 > 0:03:22Just one of the reasons why it now faces an incredible battle for survival.
0:03:23 > 0:03:29This Georgian listed building is serene and beautiful... on the outside.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37But inside, her beauty is no more than skin deep.
0:03:37 > 0:03:44Years of neglect have left fungus growing on walls running wet with damp,
0:03:44 > 0:03:51roof tiles broken and timbers so rotten that one good storm might bring it all down.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02Bad times, then, for Stanwick Hall.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06And seemingly getting worse.
0:04:10 > 0:04:16That is until the day that Simon and Gina Russell first arrived looking for a house.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22I remember the first time I drove into the drive.
0:04:22 > 0:04:28It was almost surreal, thinking how perfect the shape was and the chocolate box look of it.
0:04:30 > 0:04:37It just made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and it was just love at first sight.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42The bit I remember most is we walked round the garden.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46Only when we got to the gate and looked back
0:04:46 > 0:04:53and saw the house with the sun reflecting off it against the stone, it was like a sledgehammer. Wow!
0:04:53 > 0:04:57"That's going to be our home. That is our house."
0:04:57 > 0:05:01So they bought it for just over £1 million.
0:05:01 > 0:05:08And now they've got another half million to turn Stanwick into their dream home.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13In just over a year's time,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17Simon and Gina want to move into a beautifully finished family home
0:05:17 > 0:05:20with seven bedrooms,
0:05:22 > 0:05:24five bathrooms
0:05:24 > 0:05:27and five reception rooms.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Plus all the extras, like a gym and a wine cellar.
0:05:31 > 0:05:37They also want to demolish the ugly Victorian extension and replace it with a huge new kitchen.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41It's going to be a lot of work.
0:05:43 > 0:05:48It may be tough because the Russells are already very busy people.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54They run financial services businesses, managing the money of the super-rich,
0:05:54 > 0:05:59and in their spare time they also run a charity for children.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04And Simon and Gina live in East London, with 18-month-old son Jude.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09To project manage the restoration, they'll have to commute 70 miles each way.
0:06:10 > 0:06:15But Simon has two other children from a previous marriage - Harry and Madeleine -
0:06:15 > 0:06:22and they already live in Northamptonshire, so the move will make seeing them much easier.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26I think we should start with the Harry Potter front door.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31If you look at it from here, it just looks like a normal front door.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35But then when you go and stand next to it, it suddenly...
0:06:36 > 0:06:39..becomes an enormous front door!
0:06:41 > 0:06:45I don't think we'll get a replacement in B&Q easily.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48Right.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52Simon and Gina bought Stanwick Hall in 2007,
0:06:52 > 0:06:58but as an historically important house, this is a Grade Two Star listed building.
0:06:58 > 0:07:04So they have to get their plans approved by the heritage authorities. That took two years.
0:07:04 > 0:07:08Now, at last, they're ready to go.
0:07:08 > 0:07:12The budget for the restoration is half a million pounds,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15but will that be enough?
0:07:15 > 0:07:21A lot of that money is needed just to make the essential repairs and stabilise the building.
0:07:21 > 0:07:28For example, it's going to cost £120,000 just to make the roof safe and watertight.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32In fact, Stanwick is on the Buildings At Risk register,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36as one of the most endangered structures in the country.
0:07:38 > 0:07:43'It's in an absolutely appalling state. There are big cracks,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45'gaping holes,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47'lots of damp.'
0:07:47 > 0:07:52Actually, it's in worse condition than it might appear at first sight
0:07:52 > 0:07:58'and it's only when you start to tour the interior that you realise just how bad things have got.'
0:07:58 > 0:07:59Oh!
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Christ! You can hear the floor.
0:08:02 > 0:08:07That would be a good bit of footage if I plummeted through the floor.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12It's not going to be a walk in the park.
0:08:12 > 0:08:16It's a combination of excitement and fear.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20Excitement that we can now start after two years of waiting
0:08:20 > 0:08:24and fear that we can now start after two years of waiting!
0:08:28 > 0:08:31The first priority is the roof.
0:08:31 > 0:08:35It's not just leaking, but also sagging dangerously.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40The heavy stone tiles must be stripped off to repair the timbers.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43The roof is completely wrecked.
0:08:43 > 0:08:49As the stain shows us, the water simply pours through. Mother Nature's doing its damage.
0:08:49 > 0:08:54So I do worry. I hope now we're just about going to nip it in the bud in time.
0:08:56 > 0:09:03The house hasn't been helped by a previous owner coating historic oak panelling with white gloss.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07And some other unusual interior decoration.
0:09:07 > 0:09:12OK, this is the room that we like to keep our mushrooms in.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Much easier to have them on the ceiling than in the fridge.
0:09:15 > 0:09:22This room is an absolute winner(!) I want to keep the bold orange. Particularly good for hangovers.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26And the hand-painted pheasant. Awesome.
0:09:26 > 0:09:29There's nothing more to do here!
0:09:30 > 0:09:36I'm joking about it now. I won't be when I get the bill for the plastering.
0:09:37 > 0:09:42'While I keep tabs on Simon and Gina's ambitious restoration,
0:09:42 > 0:09:48'our investigators are going to help me uncover the remarkable story behind their building.'
0:09:49 > 0:09:54Historian Dr Kate Williams will be digging deep in the archives
0:09:54 > 0:09:58and trying to track down the hall's original owner,
0:09:58 > 0:10:03while architectural expert Kieran Long heads straight to Stanwick
0:10:03 > 0:10:07to search for clues in the DNA of the building itself.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16I think it's just the most charming little early Georgian house.
0:10:16 > 0:10:22There's something very modest about it. It has the simple brick domestic architecture
0:10:22 > 0:10:26that English people love to imagine speaks so well of our nation,
0:10:26 > 0:10:30but it's mixed with things that scream out quality
0:10:30 > 0:10:34and that's the stones on the corners.
0:10:34 > 0:10:40Just a few touches that show that whoever built this building wanted to make a beautiful home,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44but was in touch with fashionable architectural tricks.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51At the back of the building, Kieran discovers an odd mix of rural domesticity
0:10:51 > 0:10:54and high architectural fashion.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58An elegant Georgian window is in the style of a grand country house,
0:10:58 > 0:11:03while elsewhere the workmanship suggests more humble origins.
0:11:03 > 0:11:08Not the highest quality stone, not cut that beautifully.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11So this isn't the finest masonry you'll ever see.
0:11:11 > 0:11:18It has more of the farmhouse than the chi-chi London palace of the same era.
0:11:19 > 0:11:25Kieran's also finding tell-tale clues that Stanwick Hall was once devastated by fire.
0:11:27 > 0:11:32So we can see some strange discolouring of the limestone,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35up here where it's gone red.
0:11:35 > 0:11:42It suggests to me that there's... there has been a fire here and the stone has suffered accordingly.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47We don't know. We'll have to do a lot more digging to find out.
0:11:47 > 0:11:52Digging deep into local history, we found a lady born and bred in the village
0:11:52 > 0:11:56who remembers Stanwick Hall as it used to be.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01In Betty Morris's day,
0:12:01 > 0:12:06the hall was very much the centre of Stanwick village life.
0:12:06 > 0:12:12We used to have parties along there and things going on in the gardens, you know, fetes and that.
0:12:12 > 0:12:18We did have brass bands and we used to have quite enjoyable dances.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20That was good fun.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25And Betty can remember when the fun stopped at Stanwick Hall.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31She was there on the night the hall caught fire in 1931.
0:12:33 > 0:12:38There was nothing in our way then. We could see quite clearly.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42We may have stood on this gate. There were no apple trees then,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44so we had a very good view.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47It was blazing quite fiercely.
0:12:47 > 0:12:51The two bottom windows to the right here,
0:12:51 > 0:12:57they're where we saw the flames. A horrific sight.
0:12:57 > 0:13:02Must have been awful. And I remember it quite vividly.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08Armed with Betty's childhood memories,
0:13:08 > 0:13:14Kate has unearthed old newspaper cuttings that reveal the true horror of that night.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Oh, goodness.
0:13:19 > 0:13:24"Georgian home gutted in fierce early morning fire.
0:13:30 > 0:13:37"The occupants awoke to find the bedroom filled with smoke and the heat unbearable.
0:13:37 > 0:13:42"They escaped in night attire with their hair singed,
0:13:42 > 0:13:46"a short time before the old oak staircase collapsed.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52"A blackened shell, only the bare walls remained."
0:13:52 > 0:13:58Look at this - 1931, picture from the local newspaper
0:13:58 > 0:14:02about how Stanwick Hall appeared after the fire.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07It has been utterly decimated. It's ruined. It's a blackened shell.
0:14:10 > 0:14:16Amazingly, no one died in the destructive 1931 blaze.
0:14:16 > 0:14:20But, as Kieran's discovering for himself,
0:14:20 > 0:14:24the biggest casualty was the original Georgian staircase.
0:14:24 > 0:14:29So we're in the most incredible stair hall here
0:14:29 > 0:14:35with really amazing light coming from 45 degrees above me.
0:14:35 > 0:14:41But what we're faced with is the most abject piece of joinery that you've ever seen, really.
0:14:41 > 0:14:47A really poor quality staircase which is clearly nothing to do with the Georgian roots of this building.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Who knows where it comes from? It's not right here.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55A crucial piece of evidence is still missing.
0:14:55 > 0:15:02To understand the roots of Stanwick Hall, Kieran needs to discover what the original staircase was like.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07You can bet your life that there was a magnificently crafted, turned staircase
0:15:07 > 0:15:12that has been lost. It's really important to look at what that may have looked like,
0:15:12 > 0:15:17but also to think about how one might do that today.
0:15:17 > 0:15:22The more he explores the inside, the more worried Kieran is becoming.
0:15:22 > 0:15:27I'm looking upwards now and I can see the sky. That's not a good sign!
0:15:27 > 0:15:34Back on the ground floor, Kieran's discovered something that might just be an original feature.
0:15:34 > 0:15:40I somehow feel like it's in its place here. It has the right character for the room.
0:15:40 > 0:15:45It's really difficult to understand what's original and what's been added later.
0:15:48 > 0:15:54By the end of his initial investigation, Kieran's been left with more questions than answers.
0:15:54 > 0:16:01Such a mix of things going on here at Stanwick. A very strange hybrid of a house.
0:16:01 > 0:16:09It's hard to tell what the original plan was. The next step is to find out about who commissioned it.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13I want to know who this guy was, who the landowner was.
0:16:13 > 0:16:21I think when you look at Stanwick Hall you see a building that's been through so much in its history.
0:16:21 > 0:16:28It's held together with very little. It'll be a lot of money to replace all the fabric that is crumbling.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Yet it's just about standing.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35My real concern is that it's only just standing
0:16:35 > 0:16:39and is this just one restoration too far for this building?
0:16:39 > 0:16:42Only time will tell if it is a restoration too far,
0:16:42 > 0:16:47but for now it's a restoration in the nick of time.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51Just a few weeks after work started,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54the country was hit by heavy snow.
0:16:57 > 0:17:01Luckily, they'd already taken the heavy stone tiles off the roof.
0:17:01 > 0:17:07If they hadn't, the combined weight might easily have been too much for the ageing timbers.
0:17:07 > 0:17:13It was said that one good snowfall might have brought the roof down
0:17:13 > 0:17:20and last night we had one good snowfall! That could have been it, had the tiles remained.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25At last, it's becoming weathertight, waterproof and progress is being made.
0:17:25 > 0:17:31But removing the roof slates has revealed that more of the timbers will need to be replaced
0:17:31 > 0:17:33than originally thought.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38Even with my limited structural knowledge, this isn't right.
0:17:39 > 0:17:45The weight of the roof has pushed down on this and split it in the middle there.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52I mean, this is major work. The contract for the roof alone is £120,000.
0:17:52 > 0:17:55If we stay on budget...
0:17:55 > 0:18:02then £600,000 for the whole refurbishment will be...will be a result.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06But as everybody knows, numbers don't always pan out as you think.
0:18:06 > 0:18:12Even worse, Richard Whitehead, a builder who has been on the project since day one,
0:18:12 > 0:18:19finds evidence that walls carrying the weight of the roof are far, far weaker
0:18:19 > 0:18:21than they ought to be.
0:18:21 > 0:18:27This is the construction of the wall underneath. It's just rubbish, really. It really is.
0:18:27 > 0:18:32It's just like mud and odd bits of stone mixed in with a bit of hay.
0:18:32 > 0:18:33Not good.
0:18:35 > 0:18:39And you can grind it into... into dust.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43Quite a bit of cutting of corners done on this building, I think.
0:18:43 > 0:18:49You've just got to worry with the weight of the roof bearing down on these walls,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53it would have got to the stage of collapsing like a pack of cards
0:18:53 > 0:18:58and it could have been a major collapse of the top of this building.
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Not good, really.
0:19:00 > 0:19:07It's a potentially disastrous combination, which could be blamed on the original Georgian workforce.
0:19:08 > 0:19:14A huge heavy roof pushing outwards on poorly-constructed walls.
0:19:15 > 0:19:22For the first time, everyone's realised this house is truly teetering on the brink.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25It's scary.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29Of course it's scary. Financially, it's scary. Emotionally, it's scary.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34Spinning all these plates and not dropping them is scary,
0:19:34 > 0:19:38but, like I say, if you over-analyse you just become paralysed,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42so...we'll just decide to get on with it.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45And with costs mounting,
0:19:45 > 0:19:52the family now faces an added, but very happy complication to their frantically busy lives.
0:19:52 > 0:19:57We have a baby on the way. It's coming in about six months.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Um...so that was an interesting development.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04Obviously, we're overjoyed,
0:20:04 > 0:20:09but I do feel slightly fearful about how much we've got on our plate.
0:20:09 > 0:20:13We've both got busy careers, we've got a family to look after,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and in addition to all of that
0:20:16 > 0:20:21we've got a pregnancy, a birth and a new baby to handle as well.
0:20:24 > 0:20:25- Oh!- No!
0:20:25 > 0:20:27Tragedy!
0:20:29 > 0:20:31Poxy thing!
0:20:32 > 0:20:34It's fallen apart!
0:20:34 > 0:20:39Despite mounting problems, Simon and Gina remain convinced
0:20:39 > 0:20:42the restoration is on track.
0:20:42 > 0:20:48Fingers crossed, OK, a year from now, I'll put my life on the line and say,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51we would be preparing
0:20:51 > 0:20:53to have Christmas in the hall.
0:20:53 > 0:20:59We have Christmas next year firmly in our sights.
0:21:16 > 0:21:23Back in London, Kieran is trying to identify the architect who designed Stanwick Hall.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30If the house was built by an unrecognised provincial architect,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33this could well be mission impossible.
0:21:33 > 0:21:40It might look like a needle in a haystack, but we're lucky to have the Buildings of England books,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44better known by the name of its author Nikolaus Pevsner,
0:21:44 > 0:21:51who wrote this encyclopaedic account of all the important buildings in every county of England.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54So...Stanwick.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57And Stanwick Hall. Here we have a mention, very brief.
0:21:57 > 0:22:02"Stanwick Hall, quarter of a mile southwest, also early 18th century,
0:22:02 > 0:22:08"five bays, two storeys." That's all we get from Nikolaus Pevsner on our building.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12Despite the fact he was encyclopaedic in some senses, he had his tastes.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17He's clearly less interested in Georgian houses in the countryside.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21Maybe it was a bit too far for him to walk.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25Undaunted, Kieran switches tack
0:22:25 > 0:22:29and searches lists of architects working in the early 18th century.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Let's hope it's a bit more factual and less dismissive.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40Here we are. Stanwick Hall. Under the entry for William Smith.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44The eldest surviving son of Francis Smith of Warwick.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46Architects and master builders.
0:22:46 > 0:22:52So here we have the individual who designed and built Stanwick Hall.
0:22:52 > 0:22:57I've never heard of them, but maybe I should have done. There's a long list of works here.
0:22:57 > 0:23:02Churches, large houses. It suggests the architect is somebody of note
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and makes the building that bit more important.
0:23:08 > 0:23:15With further investigation, Kieran even manages to find the architect's 18th-century bank records
0:23:15 > 0:23:21from the 1740s, which reveal a key piece of our Restoration Home jigsaw puzzle.
0:23:22 > 0:23:27Under the entry for Stanwick Hall, it mentions who the client was.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30James Lambe.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35He's found a payment was made for work on Stanwick Hall in 1742.
0:23:36 > 0:23:42What we see is the first payment from James Lambe. Here it is on March 12th.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46£200 here is quite a substantial amount of money.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50The entire budget for the project was £750,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54so £200 is probably enough to complete drawings and start building.
0:23:54 > 0:24:00What's really exciting is Simon and Gina can really say this is when their house was conceived.
0:24:00 > 0:24:06So now we know the original owner of Stanwick Hall was a man called James Lambe.
0:24:06 > 0:24:12We also know that in this period £750 was a lot of money.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14So where might it have come from?
0:24:19 > 0:24:26To answer that question, Kate is on the money trail, tracing the source of the Stanwick Hall riches.
0:24:29 > 0:24:37Amazingly, she's uncovered evidence linking the modern-day financial services jobs of Simon and Gina
0:24:37 > 0:24:41with the hall's original owner, James Lambe.
0:24:41 > 0:24:48I found a really fascinating piece of evidence on where the money to build Stanwick Hall may have come from.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53Stanwick Hall, it appears, was built on what was
0:24:53 > 0:24:59the biggest financial scandal and stock market crash of the early 18th century -
0:24:59 > 0:25:01the celebrated South Sea Bubble.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08The South Sea Company's investors lost fortunes when the slave trading company first boomed
0:25:08 > 0:25:11and then bust.
0:25:11 > 0:25:17Robert Walpole, then First Lord of the Treasury, knew just who to blame.
0:25:17 > 0:25:22Robert Walpole suggested that bankers should be put in sacks full of snakes
0:25:22 > 0:25:26and then thrown into the Thames. A really horrific fate.
0:25:26 > 0:25:31The South Sea Bubble was the sub-prime banking crisis of its day,
0:25:31 > 0:25:39but after the crash the South Sea Company started up again, shipping more slaves to South America,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41and this time it made fortunes.
0:25:42 > 0:25:47This little document here shows us that James Lambe bought stock
0:25:47 > 0:25:50from the South Sea Company in 1729.
0:25:50 > 0:25:53Nearly £3,000 worth, which is an incredible sum.
0:25:53 > 0:25:58This is really interesting. The South Sea Company was a disaster,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01but James Lambe is a very canny man.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06All the stock was finally sold to the Spanish Government at a great premium,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10so he was one of the few who made money out of the South Sea Bubble.
0:26:10 > 0:26:16Rather like the owners today, James Lambe had an eye for financial success.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29One of the costliest elements of this restoration
0:26:29 > 0:26:35will be reinstating a staircase fitting of this beautiful house, and work has finally begun.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39It's a lovely smell. Real old timber.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Yeah, sorry!
0:26:45 > 0:26:49There are big changes happening in London, too.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51Simon and Gina are moving house.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00That's my handkerchief collection.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04We are no longer going to be London residents.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08Jude, are you going to take your cards to Daddy?
0:27:08 > 0:27:09Daddy.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14The baby's just about to be born at any moment, maybe even today!
0:27:15 > 0:27:19So we want to be in Stanwick for all time.
0:27:23 > 0:27:29With the hall still far from finished, Simon and Gina are moving into a two-bedroom cottage
0:27:29 > 0:27:33in the old stables that came with the house.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36It's a tight squeeze when all the children are there.
0:27:39 > 0:27:44But as our historical sleuth Kate is discovering in the National Archives,
0:27:44 > 0:27:50too many children is a problem the first owners of Stanwick Hall would love to have had.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56She's found the last wills of James Lambe and his devoted wife, Esther.
0:27:56 > 0:28:01And these wills tell such a moving story.
0:28:01 > 0:28:07The desperation of James and Esther Lambe to have children. They had everything, but not a child.
0:28:07 > 0:28:13James's will makes it clear that even late in life he still hoped for a child.
0:28:13 > 0:28:17He writes here that he leaves everything "to my said dear wife,
0:28:17 > 0:28:23"unless I shall have a child by her at the time of my death or born after my decease".
0:28:23 > 0:28:30He's hoping so much that he'll have a child, which really is very unlikely by this point, 1753.
0:28:30 > 0:28:35The lack of an heir was a serious problem for any wealthy gentleman of the time.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38Childlessness was not an option.
0:28:38 > 0:28:44A man of great property and stature would expect to have a huge family of children.
0:28:44 > 0:28:48Children were a way in which a man proved his virility.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53But for wealthy couples like the Lambes, desperate to have children,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57the 18th century offered them a few things they could try.
0:28:57 > 0:29:01Most of them now seem odd and even lurid.
0:29:03 > 0:29:10Respectable couples were sometimes drawn into a strange world based in London's West End
0:29:10 > 0:29:16of sex therapy, fertility cures and the very quackiest of quack doctors.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20One of them being the great Dr James Graham.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24He sold electrical ether, electrical pills
0:29:24 > 0:29:29and he also sold a night on the celestial, electrical bed.
0:29:31 > 0:29:37The celestial bed, surrounded by tubes of so-called liquid electricity and erotic paintings,
0:29:37 > 0:29:41claimed to guarantee conception.
0:29:41 > 0:29:47It sounds absurd now, but Dr Graham had some famous and influential followers,
0:29:47 > 0:29:53amongst them, the leading socialite of the day - Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire.
0:29:55 > 0:30:02The electricity and the magnets inside the bed would fuse and the bed would give a great jolt
0:30:02 > 0:30:05and convince you you'd had great pleasure.
0:30:06 > 0:30:12Needless to say, it's unlikely that Dr Graham's bed ever helped anyone have a child.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19'But back in the 21st century, Simon and Gina have a happier problem.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23'Their baby's arrived almost too quickly.'
0:30:24 > 0:30:26- Hello!- Hello!
0:30:26 > 0:30:32- Please...- Hello, Lily. Say hello to everybody, Lily. They know you already.
0:30:32 > 0:30:37So come on, how's it gone? Tell me the truth. Tell me the truth.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42- God, it's been seriously hectic, hasn't it?- Has it?- Yeah.
0:30:42 > 0:30:48Gina stopped work on Thursday and we moved here on Friday, then Lily arrived on Monday.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52And you appear to be upright. That's absolutely awesome!
0:30:52 > 0:30:55- How are you feeling?- Knackered. - Are you?- Very.
0:30:55 > 0:30:59Any moment when you thought we might have done this differently?
0:30:59 > 0:31:03Maybe when I've knocked a cup of coffee all over myself
0:31:03 > 0:31:08and there's food all over the floor and nothing's done and the builders are asking questions
0:31:08 > 0:31:12and someone's ringing from the office and the children are screaming.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15Just those moments. Apart from that, no.
0:31:15 > 0:31:22Apart from that, it's fine. The odd plate is getting dropped. We can't get them all spinning, but we're OK.
0:31:22 > 0:31:26And things do seem to be moving very swiftly over the way.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29Have you got any idea when you're going to be in?
0:31:29 > 0:31:33Um... Our original goal was the end of this year.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35- Christmas '10.- Yes.
0:31:35 > 0:31:41- But it's difficult to guess now. - I don't know how much further behind than Christmas.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44- I think we're probably in total four months.- Yeah.
0:31:44 > 0:31:49So you'll be in here still for Christmas. Will that be quite a tight squeeze?
0:31:49 > 0:31:52- Yes.- It's a tight squeeze now.
0:31:52 > 0:31:56It's a two-bedroom cottage and there's six of us some weekends.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00It's disappointing, but as long as you can see progress,
0:32:00 > 0:32:04you're getting closer to what we're trying to achieve.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06- I can't wait to have a look inside. Is that OK?- Yeah.
0:32:07 > 0:32:14- The scaffolding coming down will be a fabulous day.- Yeah.- When is the scaffolding going to come down?
0:32:14 > 0:32:16Any week now!
0:32:16 > 0:32:20'As I set off to check on progress at the Hall...
0:32:21 > 0:32:27'..50 miles away, Kieran is discovering more about its original architects -
0:32:27 > 0:32:30'the Smiths of Warwick. Here in their home town,
0:32:30 > 0:32:35'he found evidence of an astonishing architectural achievement.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40'The Smiths didn't just design houses like Stanwick Hall.
0:32:40 > 0:32:46'After a devastating fire in 1694, they re-designed the entire town of Warwick.'
0:32:46 > 0:32:49What the Smiths did that was so revolutionary here
0:32:49 > 0:32:54was to rebuild the centre of the town which had been medieval streets,
0:32:54 > 0:32:59narrow lanes, half-timbered buildings with overhanging upper storeys, that medieval character,
0:32:59 > 0:33:03and replace it with a completely new character of the Georgian city,
0:33:03 > 0:33:06so the streets are wider, more ordered and straight.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10Even at the time, people said, "This is the way our town should be."
0:33:10 > 0:33:16It's not often in British cities that you have an opportunity to re-make a whole town centre and they did.
0:33:16 > 0:33:22It seems the Smiths of Warwick were far more than mere provincial builders.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27They must have had a huge reputation locally after that time.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32They would have been the biggest name in, let's say, property in that era,
0:33:32 > 0:33:36so they would have had many offers of different kinds of commissions.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41Everywhere he looks, Kieran is finding buildings the Smiths created...
0:33:42 > 0:33:46..and echoes of their architectural skill at Stanwick Hall.
0:33:53 > 0:33:58This is intended to be one of the most special buildings on this street, the court house.
0:33:58 > 0:34:04I think it's really interesting that the town is displaying proudly the name of Francis Smith,
0:34:04 > 0:34:08the elder Smith of the Smiths of Warwick.
0:34:08 > 0:34:13Stanwick Hall is a much more relaxed building, but you can see the stylistic relationship.
0:34:21 > 0:34:25What a fantastic room! What's really nice to see is a complete interior.
0:34:25 > 0:34:32At Stanwick Hall, they're all lost. We can only speculate about what the interior scheme was like.
0:34:32 > 0:34:39Although this isn't a home, we still can tell a lot about their taste in terms of interior decoration.
0:34:39 > 0:34:45But Kieran has spotted something that shows a direct link to Stanwick Hall...
0:34:47 > 0:34:52..confirming his suspicions that not everything was destroyed in the fire.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02The fireplace is almost completely undecorated.
0:35:02 > 0:35:07That reminds me of one of the few original fittings in Stanwick Hall.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12You start to think there really is a stylistic link between Stanwick Hall
0:35:12 > 0:35:16and this kind of grand project of rebuilding Warwick.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20The one thing Kieran hasn't found
0:35:20 > 0:35:25is what the Smiths of Warwick's staircase might have looked like at Stanwick Hall.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27Until now.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Just five miles outside Warwick,
0:35:31 > 0:35:36Kieran has identified another private house designed by the Smiths,
0:35:36 > 0:35:39albeit on a slightly bigger scale.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46This was the Smiths' crowning glory,
0:35:46 > 0:35:52creating the west wing of Stoneleigh Abbey for their most aristocratic customer, Lord Leigh.
0:35:52 > 0:35:56Here we see the Smiths of Warwick bringing out all the toys.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00They're bringing all the architectural tricks they've learnt.
0:36:00 > 0:36:04It's a grand house for a very prestigious client.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07What's really exciting is that Gina and Simon have a house
0:36:07 > 0:36:13that is connected through its architect to one of the major pieces of architecture in the country.
0:36:21 > 0:36:23Fabulous.
0:36:25 > 0:36:32Inside Stoneleigh Abbey, Kieran at last finds the grand staircase he's been seeking.
0:36:33 > 0:36:38It's an important moment because the staircase in any building
0:36:38 > 0:36:43is far more of an architectural statement than simply a means of getting upstairs.
0:36:43 > 0:36:48At Stanwick Hall, we have no idea what the staircase was. It was destroyed in the fire.
0:36:48 > 0:36:52Here we have a Smiths' staircase, a real, original one
0:36:52 > 0:36:56that we can make connections about what may have been there at Stanwick,
0:36:56 > 0:37:00the shallow treads making this a kind of processional stairway.
0:37:00 > 0:37:04You walk up this stair slowly. It's not just for getting you upstairs.
0:37:04 > 0:37:09It's an experience. It's about the procession around this incredible double-height space.
0:37:10 > 0:37:18The elegance and style of Stoneleigh Abbey enhanced the Smith dynasty's already glowing reputation.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23Their grateful client even commissioned a portrait of the elder Smith,
0:37:23 > 0:37:27now placed to forever gaze on the staircase he created.
0:37:29 > 0:37:35When we looked at Stanwick, we thought maybe this is just the work of a pretty jobbing builder,
0:37:35 > 0:37:41but clearly, standing here, seeing some of this work, we can see they are of a completely different order.
0:37:41 > 0:37:47They were high quality, talented architects. They understood the architectural styles of the day
0:37:47 > 0:37:50with elegance, style and a certain showing-off quality
0:37:50 > 0:37:54which shows that they could deliver what rich people wanted,
0:37:54 > 0:37:58as well as much more modest houses on the scale of Stanwick.
0:38:04 > 0:38:06'Almost three centuries later,
0:38:06 > 0:38:12'Simon and Gina's restoration of Stanwick Hall has made a significant step forward.'
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Oh, the new staircase!
0:38:15 > 0:38:18Oh, it's fantastic!
0:38:18 > 0:38:20- Pleased?- Delighted.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25- It's fantastic.- It's really quite a major thing seeing this in place.
0:38:25 > 0:38:30- Yeah.- This is the first time I've seen it in situ. I'm amazed. It's beautiful.
0:38:30 > 0:38:37The detail I love is this little bevelled edge here. It's just like a little point. Beautifully made.
0:38:37 > 0:38:42'OK, so it's not quite on the scale of Stoneleigh Abbey, but it is a Georgian design.'
0:38:42 > 0:38:47So hit me with it, Simon. How much does a Georgian staircase cost?
0:38:47 > 0:38:51A Georgian staircase for you? £40,000.
0:38:51 > 0:38:55Which I'm just thinking is about £1,000 a step, as you go up it.
0:38:55 > 0:38:59Probably slightly more. Which is refreshingly expensive. Great!
0:38:59 > 0:39:03- It is lovely. - It's worth every penny.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06Oh, now, I know this space.
0:39:06 > 0:39:10- This is the fungal museum, isn't it? - LAUGHTER
0:39:10 > 0:39:14- Actually, no, this is... - The former fungal museum.
0:39:14 > 0:39:20- This is improving.- It is.- This used to run with water.- It did.- It ran with water and grew mushrooms.
0:39:20 > 0:39:24- Was this due just to the roof being absolutely shot?- It was.
0:39:24 > 0:39:30Again I hope not an indelicate question, but how much did it cost you to put that beautiful roof on?
0:39:30 > 0:39:35An absolutely huge amount. You could have bought another house for it.
0:39:35 > 0:39:37It's scary.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43'The original budget for the roofing work was £120,000.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46'But then this is no ordinary roof.
0:39:46 > 0:39:51'It's covered not with slates, but with a special kind of limestone
0:39:51 > 0:39:57'that gets its name from the local village of Collyweston in Northamptonshire.
0:39:57 > 0:40:02'When Stanwick was built, it was widely used, but it's no longer quarried
0:40:02 > 0:40:06'and virtually the only remaining source now is reclaimed salvage.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10'Collyweston tiles are also really difficult to work with,
0:40:10 > 0:40:15'not least because they're all irregular shapes and sizes.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20'Richard Elliott is one of the few who are keeping the craft alive.
0:40:20 > 0:40:24'He comes from a long line of Collyweston tilers.'
0:40:24 > 0:40:31Sometimes you'll pick a slate up and you automatically know it doesn't sit next to that one very well,
0:40:31 > 0:40:36so you put it down and get another one until you get the right... so the roof flows.
0:40:36 > 0:40:42'So you can see, as we were saying, a roof like this doesn't come cheap.'
0:40:42 > 0:40:44100,000?
0:40:44 > 0:40:48- More than that.- Keep going. - 200,000?- About that.
0:40:48 > 0:40:53- I think we broke through the £200,000 mark.- Yeah. - It's a great roof.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55It is really beautiful
0:40:55 > 0:40:59and it's actually saving the life of a very, very beautiful building.
0:40:59 > 0:41:04- The house is in a more precarious condition than we had imagined. - Definitely.
0:41:04 > 0:41:10It sounds like it was a kind of five minutes to midnight scenario for this place.
0:41:10 > 0:41:16- You were just catching it before it collapsed.- I think, without being too melodramatic, we probably were.
0:41:16 > 0:41:21'For Simon and Gina, the new roof has taken a weight off their minds.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24'How are the children feeling about the place?'
0:41:24 > 0:41:30- Are you happy at Stanwick Hall? - Yeah.- What's the best thing about it?- It's massive.
0:41:30 > 0:41:37- What are you most looking forward to when you move into the house next year?- Playing hide and seek.
0:41:37 > 0:41:44'The children are getting excited at the thought of finally moving into the Hall.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47'And it turns out, in one way and another,
0:41:47 > 0:41:51'that children have played a big part in the history of the house.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56'Kate's discovering that, although sadly they couldn't have a family of their own,
0:41:56 > 0:42:01'James and Esther Lambe were still involved in caring for children.'
0:42:01 > 0:42:05They were great philanthropists and particularly to children.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09She gives a very sizeable donation here to the Orphan Working School.
0:42:09 > 0:42:15Philanthropy was a very important part of the 18th century man. A good man was a philanthropist.
0:42:15 > 0:42:20It was a responsibility of the upper classes to help the lower classes.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24There were no state benefits, no state assistance, no state schools.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28Often it was people like James Lambe who paid so much attention,
0:42:28 > 0:42:32so much care, and this incredible donation here from Stanwick Hall.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39The Lambes' help for poor children resonates through the centuries
0:42:39 > 0:42:42to the charity work of Simon and Gina today.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46- The absolute priority is Rajbiraj. - Yes, we absolutely have to go there.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50Simon has been involved with aid projects in Nepal for over ten years
0:42:50 > 0:42:54and Gina has done voluntary work there too.
0:42:54 > 0:42:57They now run a charity to help the country's poorest children.
0:42:57 > 0:43:02Our lives are made up of segments, quite distinct segments.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06There's the work segment, then there's the family segment,
0:43:06 > 0:43:11then there's the house segment, then there's the Nepal segment.
0:43:11 > 0:43:17There are four significant plates to keep spinning there and every now and again one of them wobbles.
0:43:19 > 0:43:24Despite their over-busy lives, Simon and Gina have managed so far
0:43:24 > 0:43:27to keep on top of what's happening inside the Hall.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36If you half-close your eyes
0:43:36 > 0:43:42and shake your head a little bit, this looks exactly as it would have done when it was first built
0:43:42 > 0:43:45with the scaffolding and swarming with workmen,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49but then it would have been divided up into small parcels of land
0:43:49 > 0:43:54where people could grow a few crops to feed their families, a few chickens and sheep.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58The lord of the manor would let them use that land, which is nice,
0:43:58 > 0:44:03but in the 1800s, a new family was about to move into Stanwick Hall.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06Things were about to turn nasty.
0:44:06 > 0:44:10In the Northamptonshire Record Office, Kate has dug up the details.
0:44:11 > 0:44:1580 years after James Lambe built Stanwick Hall,
0:44:15 > 0:44:19it had a new owner from a different era in British history.
0:44:19 > 0:44:21His name was George Gascoyen.
0:44:22 > 0:44:28So I'm here in the record office with this amazing map of Stanwick before the Gascoyen family.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32This is exactly how land was farmed in the 18th century
0:44:32 > 0:44:35before the advent of the Enclosure Act.
0:44:35 > 0:44:40The way in which the land was divided was very fair.
0:44:40 > 0:44:44There were little strips of land. You can see them here.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48And this is where the peasantry would cultivate their crops.
0:44:49 > 0:44:54And that's how it had been for the past thousand years or so,
0:44:54 > 0:44:57but to landowners in this era, tradition was nothing.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02Because, strictly speaking, the land was owned by the lord of the manor,
0:45:02 > 0:45:06all he had to do to get the peasants off his common land
0:45:06 > 0:45:09was to apply to Parliament for an Act of Enclosure.
0:45:09 > 0:45:16There was a lot of money to be made from grazing cattle and sheep on big, modern farms.
0:45:16 > 0:45:20And what happened to Stanwick was repeated all across the country.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25The average village man, he had a rather miserable choice.
0:45:25 > 0:45:30He could either work as a labourer on someone else's land
0:45:30 > 0:45:32or he could go to the city.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35There was nothing here in the village for him.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38He was absolutely bereft.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42The rich became much richer. The poor became much poorer.
0:45:42 > 0:45:49Stanwick Hall itself is emblematic of the changes occurring in early 19th century Britain.
0:45:52 > 0:45:58The medieval world of arable farming, the common ground, that was all over.
0:45:59 > 0:46:05The early 19th century was a time of large farms and mechanised equipment, of big factories,
0:46:05 > 0:46:10and most of all, of huge, extensive, beautiful houses.
0:46:10 > 0:46:15The money George Gascoyen gained at the peasant villagers' expense
0:46:15 > 0:46:19financed extensive changes at Stanwick Hall.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24Today, other changes are still happening here.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28The brick extension that was added in Victorian times
0:46:28 > 0:46:32is being demolished to make way for the new kitchen.
0:46:32 > 0:46:38But Gina has finally had to admit defeat with her plan to move in before Christmas.
0:46:38 > 0:46:44I do remember sitting here last Christmas going, "Oh, Christmas next year is going to be amazing!"
0:46:44 > 0:46:50But it's not like we've missed it by a whisker. We've missed it by a mile.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55But you know... That's life.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00Wahey!
0:47:00 > 0:47:03Well done. And no-one got killed!
0:47:10 > 0:47:17And as Christmas 2010 approaches, the finishing date slips further and further away.
0:47:17 > 0:47:22One of the coldest winters on record brought building work to a stop.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29But a couple of months later, progress is slowly being made.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33This is the new kitchen. It's going to be a monster kitchen
0:47:33 > 0:47:37with light pouring in from every direction.
0:47:37 > 0:47:42Nothing about this property is a stress-free exercise and the kitchen is no exception.
0:47:42 > 0:47:49At the moment, the big issue is finding stone to go on the outside of the kitchen
0:47:49 > 0:47:52that matches the Hall.
0:47:52 > 0:47:55Because Stanwick Hall is a Grade 2 star listed building,
0:47:55 > 0:48:00every restoration decision has involved negotiations with planning officials.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02The builders sourced some.
0:48:02 > 0:48:08There were three different stones. The planner picked one and said, "I really like this one."
0:48:08 > 0:48:12It's from a quarry 30 miles away, but he wants it from a local quarry.
0:48:12 > 0:48:18The latest plan is we'll buy it from the quarry 30 miles away, bring it here, bury it in the field,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22then dig it back up again and that should be local enough, hopefully.
0:48:22 > 0:48:27So the latest challenge is sourcing local stone that matches the Hall.
0:48:29 > 0:48:33Initially, I always wanted to stay in the cottage,
0:48:33 > 0:48:36finish the Hall, make the Hall perfect,
0:48:36 > 0:48:41every room, every carpet, every curtain, every piece of furniture,
0:48:41 > 0:48:45have it completely perfect and then move in in a grand ceremony.
0:48:45 > 0:48:51Now, a couple of years later, with six of us in a two-bedroom cottage on occasions,
0:48:51 > 0:48:55it's cramped, it's difficult and now I want to be living in the Hall
0:48:55 > 0:49:01and feeling it and being part of it, rather than making it all pristine and perfect and then moving in.
0:49:01 > 0:49:03We're more pragmatic about it now.
0:49:03 > 0:49:10You know, as long as the main elements of the project are finished, we want to move in.
0:49:23 > 0:49:25It's now four months
0:49:25 > 0:49:29since Simon and Gina's most recent restoration setback
0:49:29 > 0:49:32and I'm on my way to find out what's been going on.
0:49:32 > 0:49:38But first, our investigators Kate and Kieran are bringing Simon and Gina up to date
0:49:38 > 0:49:42with all they've discovered about their building's past.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44We found some bank ledgers.
0:49:44 > 0:49:49These bank ledgers are ledgers of Francis and William Smith,
0:49:49 > 0:49:54who were very significant builders, contractors, stonemasons and latterly architects.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57They were the designers of your house.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01But also in that ledger, we found the name of James Lambe,
0:50:01 > 0:50:06the client for the job, the person who commissioned this house.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10He's one of the few people ever to make money from the South Sea Bubble.
0:50:10 > 0:50:16He didn't invest at the time. There's no record of him investing at the time when everyone else was.
0:50:16 > 0:50:18He invests when it's at the bottom.
0:50:18 > 0:50:24- Was he canny or was he just a bit slow?- I think he was pretty clever.
0:50:25 > 0:50:31The parallels are almost uncanny, that they were involved in financial services, as we are,
0:50:31 > 0:50:35they were in East London and came to Northamptonshire, which we did.
0:50:35 > 0:50:40- It's lovely to hear that they were great givers. - There is a parallel there as well.
0:50:40 > 0:50:46- We run a children's charity as well as our businesses, which is another bizarre connection.- Yes.
0:50:48 > 0:50:54The builders have commented that it was as if the money ran out when they got to the second floor
0:50:54 > 0:50:58because there was a huge change in the quality of the workmanship.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02I thought the same thing. There are lots of reasons why that might be.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05It might be cost, it might have been a dodgy builder.
0:51:05 > 0:51:12My feeling is maybe the Smiths were involved up to a point, then handed it over to a local contractor.
0:51:12 > 0:51:17- When you see the quality of the materials, it's clearly not... - There's quite a marked contrast.
0:51:17 > 0:51:23- A firm that could build this, you don't feel would tolerate that kind of quality drop.- No.
0:51:28 > 0:51:31As tricky builds go, Gina and Simon had it all -
0:51:31 > 0:51:34rotting wood, crumbling stonework,
0:51:34 > 0:51:38not to mention the legacy of a fire that nearly destroyed the lot.
0:51:38 > 0:51:41So, 18 months on, I'm here to find out
0:51:41 > 0:51:45if Stanwick Hall and Gina and Simon are still standing.
0:51:53 > 0:51:57- Hello.- Hello.- Hi.- Lovely to see you. - And you. How are you?
0:51:57 > 0:51:59- Really well. I...- Good.
0:51:59 > 0:52:04I'm just gazing up at your ceiling there and there's still a massive hole.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08Come this way. Come to my office. I want to have a word.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11I'm not a detective,
0:52:11 > 0:52:15but I don't think this house is finished.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19- Don't be fooled.- What makes you say that?- No, you're quite right.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24- There are a few subtle clues. Have you made huge headway that I can't see?- Yes.
0:52:24 > 0:52:26What have you been up to?
0:52:26 > 0:52:31The cellars have all been dug out by hand which was a monstrous job
0:52:31 > 0:52:34and the floor re-laid in there and the walls cleaned down.
0:52:34 > 0:52:38We've put a back door in where a back door used to be.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40Every window frame has been replaced.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45The Victorian kitchen has been demolished and rebuilt, admittedly not finished.
0:52:45 > 0:52:51The heavy structural stuff is done now. Once we get that cladding stone and the roof on,
0:52:51 > 0:52:53we're into plumbing and plaster.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56What happened with the stone? You had some issues...
0:52:56 > 0:53:00- The stone rumbles on. - It's still not settled?- No.
0:53:00 > 0:53:05- Which is one of our delays. - Last Friday, the amazing builders managed to come up with...
0:53:05 > 0:53:09- So we're hoping now... - We're hoping the one on the right.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13..that this is local enough for the planning officer to accept
0:53:13 > 0:53:16and the right colour and cost for us to accept.
0:53:16 > 0:53:19It's been some battle, but we're there.
0:53:19 > 0:53:25- May I come and have a look at the rest of the house, she said... - You may.- ..nervously, I have to say.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27- Very nervously.- Yeah.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30Do I need to wear a hard hat?
0:53:30 > 0:53:33- Probably.- No, you'll be all right.
0:53:34 > 0:53:39- I love what you've done with this hall. I really do. - It is the new thing.- Yes.
0:53:39 > 0:53:43- Acrow props, always a good feature!- Yeah.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47Oh, you've gone for the double use. That's very nice.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51'The family are still living in the cottage in the stable yard,
0:53:51 > 0:53:56'but there are definite signs of progress inside the house.'
0:53:56 > 0:54:02- Now, the staircase, I was here shortly after it had gone up to the next floor.- That's right.
0:54:02 > 0:54:07- And we didn't have the next bit, did we?- No, you didn't, but you have now.
0:54:07 > 0:54:13- From cellar to children's bedrooms all in one go.- Unfortunately, you can't see it cos it's all protected.
0:54:13 > 0:54:16Quite right. That makes sense.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20'When Simon and Gina bought the Hall,
0:54:20 > 0:54:26'the true beauty of the grand panelled room on the first floor was obscured under coats of white gloss.
0:54:26 > 0:54:32'Now they've prevented the house falling down, they've finally had a chance to remove it.'
0:54:32 > 0:54:36- This is completely different. This is stunning.- It's lovely.
0:54:36 > 0:54:41- Do you know what period this panelling is? - Apparently, it pre-dates the house.
0:54:41 > 0:54:45- This was shipped in from somewhere else?- Maybe Mr Lambe brought it.
0:54:45 > 0:54:51- Will this be your bedroom? - No, actually.- This is going to be our guest bedroom.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55- What a treat when you go visiting! You'd feel quite special.- Yeah.
0:54:59 > 0:55:06'Finally accessible on the top floor is what this restoration dream has been all about -
0:55:06 > 0:55:12'a place where the four children can have their own space to play and sleep.'
0:55:12 > 0:55:16- Whose room is this going to be? - This is Jude's.
0:55:16 > 0:55:20- And who will be in this one then? - This is Harry's room.- Harry.
0:55:20 > 0:55:26- So where's Lily going to be? - Lily's over there in the corner. - In here?- Yeah.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30They've each got their room, their own bathroom, which is healthy.
0:55:30 > 0:55:35A bit of open space. It's lovely. I really find it motivating, this floor.
0:55:35 > 0:55:41- I wish we could show you the finished result, but...soon.- Yeah, but you're nearly there.- Yeah.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43Very exciting.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49'Restoring the house that James Lambe built in the 1740s
0:55:49 > 0:55:53'continues to be an enormous and expensive task,
0:55:53 > 0:55:59'but since buying it back in 2007, its present owners are in for the long haul.'
0:55:59 > 0:56:03What's the greatest thing you've learnt from this experience?
0:56:03 > 0:56:07- Don't buy a listed building. - LAUGHTER
0:56:07 > 0:56:12It's not without its price, it's not without its consequences, it's not for the faint-hearted,
0:56:12 > 0:56:16but the rewards are all there if you put the time and effort in.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20It was in a terrible state. What do you think would have happened to it
0:56:20 > 0:56:24if you hadn't loved it as much as you love it and...
0:56:24 > 0:56:27- It would have fallen down. - Nobody knew how bad it was.
0:56:27 > 0:56:33- No-one appreciated how perilous the condition was. - It was very frail, wasn't it?- Yeah.
0:56:33 > 0:56:38- What was your budget when you started out?- We said it would probably cost half a million.
0:56:38 > 0:56:40- And has it?- No.
0:56:40 > 0:56:42LAUGHTER
0:56:42 > 0:56:45Nowhere near as much as that(!)
0:56:46 > 0:56:51In the broadest possible figures, a million to buy and a million to renovate.
0:56:51 > 0:56:57- When do you think you'll actually be living in the house?- Christmas. - This Christmas?- Yeah.
0:56:57 > 0:56:59We're committed to that.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03Do you love the house as much as when you first saw it?
0:57:03 > 0:57:06- Oh, absolutely.- Do you? - Beyond any doubt, yeah.
0:57:06 > 0:57:12I still drive down that drive and think, "Wow! Do we really own that? Is that really ours?"
0:57:12 > 0:57:15It hasn't lost its magic. Never in the whole process.
0:57:20 > 0:57:24OK, so Stanwick Hall isn't finished,
0:57:24 > 0:57:26but it is saved.
0:57:26 > 0:57:31There are so many similarities between James Lambe and Gina and Simon
0:57:31 > 0:57:35that I can't help thinking that perhaps they were the only people
0:57:35 > 0:57:39who could stop this place from ending up as a pile of dust.
0:57:39 > 0:57:45If anyone can finish this home, Gina and Simon can.
0:57:54 > 0:58:01Next time on Restoration Home, the secrets of a house on the verge of collapse.
0:58:01 > 0:58:08This must be just how Howard Carter felt when he was in Tutankhamun's tomb. Is the seal broken?
0:58:08 > 0:58:12As centuries of historic artefacts come to light.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15Someone with some wealth had a plate like that.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19We investigate a story of family intrigue, treason
0:58:19 > 0:58:22and murder.
0:58:45 > 0:58:49Subtitles by Subtext for Red Bee Media Ltd 2011
0:58:49 > 0:58:52Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk