Episode 1 The Manor Reborn

There's nothing the British like better than a day out at a stately

home. It can be really disappointing. There are so many

rules - don't touch that, no entry beyond this point, don't sit on the

chairs. Wouldn't it be fantastic to throw all those rules out of the

window and start again? And that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm

Penelope Keith. I'm on a mission to change the way we visit stately

homes. It strikes me it's going to be quite a task to get it

altogether in the amount of time we have. And I'm not alone. On his way

to meet me is Mr Flog It! Himself, Paul Martin, who knows a thing or

two about antiques and old houses. So far, my team is myself and

Penelope Keith. So wish us luck! I have never met Penelope before. I

don't know what she is going to think of me. I was a good fan of

hers, I can tell you that. We are about to face the ultimate stately

home challenge. It all happens here at Avebury Manor in Wiltshire.

National Trust has given us six months to reinvent the manor before

it opens to the public with a cash budget of �225,000 - a lot to you

and me - and we are going to have to move fast. We want to create a

house rich and colourful and full of marvellous things to rival any

other stately home. This is impressive. The difference at

Avebury, nothing will be so valuable it can't be touched. So

delicate it can't be used. This is marvellous! There will be some

antiques rk things we pick up for a song. -- antiques, things we pick

up for a song and have to repair. Mostly, we will be making things

from scratch. Furniture, fabrics, made so well they rival real

antiques. Selling now. Get yourself comfortable. Right. We want to

create a bed fit for a Queen. Travel to far-off places to learn

about the lives of people who lived in our house. That is absolutely

brilliant. And bring a lost garden back to life. One has to be

optimistic as a gardener. If you are not, don't become a gardener.

It's going to be a journey of discovery and laughter. But

passions will run high. We have to deliver this project on time.

don't deliver, we have failed on The Wiltshire village of Avebury

sits pretty as a postcard in the spring mist. Avebury is famous for

its prehistoric stone circle. Lots of people visit all year-round. The

trouble is hardly any of them makes it to the village's other

attraction. The 500-year-old manor house. So Avebury Manor sits empty

and neglected. A few people visit its gardens, but the manor house

needs to make money if it is to have a future. Wow! It's dark.

is. Shall I leave the door open? would. Torches. One for you and one

for me. That's good. Gosh! Many stately homes stay in the same

family for generations. But Avebury's changed hands lots of

times. From a Tudor courtier to a Georgian soldier, a Victorian

champion polo player and a 1930s playboy archaeologist. That's nice.

Oh yes! What a beautiful room. A marble fireplace surround. It's a

gent's room. Does that need cleaning? Does it need cleaning?!

It does a bit. Who is it? The smoke has got to that. Oh dear. She is

upset. What about this - I'm old and badly damaged, please don't

touch me. Thank you. LAUGHTER This is better! That is more like it.

That is much nicer. Yes. Tudor. has a proper Tudor feel about it.

You like that? I do. You are Lady of the Manor. I like the light

behind me. Oh! Jolly nice. Is this Georgian? Yes. This definitely is.

Gosh. What room is this? Is it dining? I think it is a dining room.

It's a formal entertaining room. is. And the mouldings are beautiful.

This is in quite good nick. What is the fireplace? Is that... Stone it

looks like. That is beautiful. Any little boys up there?! LAUGHTER It

is the kitchen! That is nice. is nice. That is a lovely dresser.

It's got a good feel. A hub of the house feel. Here is the staircase.

So many people have known and loved this house. Even a Queen of England

came to stay. Oh! Wow! You see, it is like an Aladdin's cave, every

room is different. Look at that. is glorious. It bears no relation

to the rest of the house. doesn't. It's a bit of a

rollercoaster ride so far. Some rooms do it for me and others don't.

I know. I keep feeling we are going into different houses. It doesn't

seem to be part of one. There is no rhythm to it. No. How are you

feeling about this? I wouldn't know where to begin. I don't, to be

frank. It will be a long, drawn-out process. I think we can call it a

challenge! A challenge indeed. But is it one

the Trust is going to take on? afternoon. The Trust has owned

Avebury Manor for the last 21 years, but for most of that time it was

let out to tenants because there's never been money to do it up. After

the last tenants left, there were only two options - rent it out

again or do something completely new. We own all these extraordinary

places and people love them and they have enjoyed visiting them for

many decades, but they were getting to be a bit predictable, a bit

staid, and people were feeling it was a process that you walk around

looking at things. Our whole mission now is to bring up Avebury

to life, to involve people in the experience but what goes with that

is the reputational risk that you go too far or you are too

extravagant, or you don't reflect the spirit of the place and its own

stories. For me, the absolute core of it is two things - first, are we

being honest about the place, its people and the stories? We must not

be making them up. Second, are we honouring the spirit of the place?

That magic ingredient that makes Avebury what it is. Here we are

with the fairy dust. But we know we are going to have to argue our case

with the Trust every step of the way. What are you like in a fight?

I tell you what, we will upset a few people along the way. I shall

stand behind you! I shall smile. And say, "He says he knows what he

is doing!" What we need is a team of experts. Imagine living in that

part of the house. Interior designer, Russell Sage. Russell's

opulent interiors at the Goring Hotel in London impressed Kate

Middleton the night before she married Prince William. At home in

the world of restaurant hotel chic Russell's vision will be key.

Russell also has the vital job of persuading many of his crafts

people and suppliers to donate materials and expertise. You have

done this before. Not for 25 years! With a limited cash budget, if he

doesn't manage to persuade them to help, the whole project will fail.

Surely there's set designers who have got tapestries? Unlocking the

building's emotional past is social historian, Anna Whitelock. Fertile,

healthy and... Anna teaches history at the University of London. So

she's our people person. Anna is an expert in the Tudors and she wants

the lives of people who loved Avebury reflected in what we are

going to do. From a Tudor merchant on the make, to an English Queen

who came to stay. From people's sleeping arrangements to the very

best in bathroom facilities! William III's bottom, I guess! It

would have been sitting right there. This is history in the bath. Indeed.

Completing the team is architectural historian, Dan

Cruickshank. Dan has travelled the world in search of its most

spectacular buildings. When he is back home, his love of the British

country house has made him a one- man guardian of the nation's

heritage. Together, the three of them will invent the new look for

Avebury. Russell wants an interior as far away from a museum as

possible. At the moment it feels so brown and it should be so colourful.

Absolutely. We would have a massive bed... Anna wants the lives of

former occupants reflected around the house. In this room, we are

talking lavish, dining, we are talking plenty of booze. Dan will

see that architectural and design history is accurate to the letter.

This scheme has lots of challenges. One is to create characters who

lived in the house, reveal them, reveal their stories and have

dramatic decorative schemes all within the realm of historical

possibility. We have to respect the nature of the building. It is like

whether you are going to listen to Dan, or whether you are going to

listen to me! It is fantastic to see it through Dan's eyes and

Anna's eyes and see the kind of real history of how things should

be done. I'm excited because I feel like to me it is an emotional

experience of trying to re-live some of the lives we have talked

about and maybe build it from a human perspective rather than

historical perspective. A real sense of arrival to the room for

anybody visiting... The exciting challenge will be able to make this

project come alive and really experience what it would have been

like to have been in this house throughout the last 400 years.

Russell has just two weeks to pitch his design scheme to the toughest

judges from the National Trust. Lots to do. Always lots to do. But

the project will be delivered. Simple as that. It has to be. There

is always a deadline. We always have to work to deadlines. There

can't be any nerves because if there was, we wouldn't be doing it

in the first place. For the kind of challenges we get thrown, this is a

slightly above average challenge, This is Polesden Lacey in Surrey.

In many ways, it's a typical National Trust property. So, what

works for visitors here and what doesn't? Russell and I have come to

find out. There are definitely some horrors we want to avoid. The Trust

was lucky in Polesden Lacey. It came to them glittering and finely

furnished. It is beautiful. But the Trust has also arranged the house

so as to reflect the personality of its owner. Do we think this is Mrs

Greville? It must be. Quite a wonderful portrait. It is. Rather

demure Scottish face. Definitely. This is good... We too want to

decorate and furnish Avebury to reflect the personalities of people

who lived there. To give a real flavour of previous owners'

lifestyles and tastes. Like them or not, good or bad. We don't want

this in Avebury. No. And having just noticed, I don't want these at

Avebury. This is the old National Trust for me. Exactly.

A library. I knew that, there's books! Quite a relaxed library.

What I like about this room is the lack of ropes and the feeling of

the objects and things around to touch. Marvellous and the... ALARM

SOUNDS They have some kind of alarm. I don't know how it works. ALARM

SOUNDS Sounds like a dog-whistle! It does! Here we have - these are

all people she knew? Yes. Isn't it wonderful?! I love the hat and the

telephone. Wonderful. ALARM SOUNDS I feel like they are going to put

electricity through it. It is nice to see you can touch things. It is

more relaxed. The sofa is lovely. So comfortable. If we have a reason

to do something like this, down at Avebury, I am keen people should be

able to sit down. We will have books. Yes. Definitely. Books that

people can read and hold. Exactly. We need to put together a house

that people can touch and feel and the fact there was one room in

there with a barrier, that is not what we want. We want to make sure

people can use our house and get in the beds and jump up-and-down on

the furniture. Not sure how we will do it, but we will. We want people

to enter this house and have as much fun as we have had putting it

together. Yeah. The house is only part of what needs to be done here

at Avebury. Of course, with every big house comes a big garden. Now,

this is the topiary garden - it is lovely. I am very fond of topiary.

Marvellous cut boxes and the pheasant, I think he is supposed to

be. I think he's supposed to be a sheep. And they need a trim. Behind

this door is something that looks a bit like a secret garden. I'm here

to meet David Howard who is going to bring back to life a lost

Victorian kitchen garden. Hello. Nice to see you. What a mess!

It's a garden that's had many lives I think. Obviously, it was a

productive walled garden... what? Vegetables? Mainly for

vegetables, yes. David is no ordinary gardener. For ten years,

he was head gardener at Highgrove. This is the Gloucestershire home of

the Prince of Wales where David helped make Prince Charles' organic

dreams come true. Now we want him to create a garden for us, growing

vegetables and fruit in decorative borders. A garden both beautiful

and productive and, of course, organic. It's a huge task, but

unlike the house, we have the go- ahead from the Trust to begin work

right away. What I would like to do in creating a new design is not be

constricted by the plants and their positions. Right. I would like to

remove them all and give myself a free space. There's two pines that

won't be here? No, the pine trees are very incongruous. They are

relatively young trees. They are only 15 or 20 years old. They are

not for this garden. No, they are not. When I look around, it's quite

big with an awful lot of work. a huge amount of work in a

relatively short space of time. But I think I can do it. Bravo. Good

luck. It's auction day in Berkshire. Even though Russell is working on

the scheme for the house, there's an opportunity he simply cannot

afford to miss. We won't be buying many antiques for Avebury, but we

need a few special pieces. Today, we are interested in one lot - an

antique bed. It's not the four- poster Russell was hoping for but

maybe it could be adapted. The trouble is there's also a lot of

other people after it. AUCTIONEER: Lot 184, an oak bed

frame circa 1660 and later. And where are we with this? 550. �550.

600 at the back. 650? No more. 700, the gentleman standing. 700. 75 0.

800. 850. 900. 950. 1,000 with you, Sir. 1100 now. Now... The price is

rocketing. My goodness! Can Russell go any higher? 1,500. 1,600. 1,700.

1,800. At 1,800, the gentleman standing. 1,900. 2,000. At 2,000.

The gentleman at the back there. I'll split it once for you. At

2,100. 2,200 is bid. At 2,200, the gentleman at the back then. Selling

now. I'm in trouble with the budget!

Back in Avebury, we need to drum up some volunteer labour to help David

get going in the garden. It's Paul. Do you mind if I put a poster up in

the pub? Would you let us do that? We are trying to recruit a load of

volunteers to help out in the manor house. People can read that when

they are ordering a pint. Let me leave one of these with you. Do you

live locally? If I leave you that, OK? You don't need any equipment,

just turn up. I heard you, I'm passing through. Are you? Lots of

vegetables, herbs... Can you stick it in the window for a few days?

Yes. Can you put one of our posters up? Take a look at this. Are you

green-fingered? Definitely. You want to put it up in the window

yourself! I do. Getting volunteers and villagers involved in the

garden is our only hope of success. All we can do now is wait. It's the

first big day for the garden. Is David going to be disappointed? Or

will it be full steam ahead? We needn't have worried. Lots of

people have turned up. Local agricultural students, Trust

volunteers and villagers. Good afternoon, ladies, gentlemen,

students. Welcome. Thank you very much for giving up your time freely

to help me transform this disused walled garden into a Victorian

kitchen garden. Victorian kitchen gardens were a feature of most

large country houses supplying fruit and veg to the household. We

need to clear the garden of shrubs but not kill them in the process.

Are you going to re-plant them? I want you to lift them all. I want

this to be clear of plant material. It is quite a tricky operation. We

really don't want to kill anything. A big old root down there. Trying

to get it out. You have to keep the roots in tact otherwise the plant

will die. It is hard work. It is a challenge. It is hard. The ground

is actually quite full of gravel which makes it really compact. That

is the challenge. Walled to create a microclimate and laid out in

symmetrical beds and paths, the Victorian kitchen garden was a

thing of beauty so we have a way to go. Most of what's here would be

out of place in a kitchen garden and the two pine trees have to come

But nothing will go to waste in our garden. The branches will be used

to support runner beans. The great thing about having 50 people to

help is you have 50 man hours. If they are here for two hours, that

is 100 man hours. That is like me being in the garden for three weeks

on my own. You can achieve an awful lot. All the uprooted plants are

going at the end of the garden, leaving the rest free for David's

ambitious plans. This is looking good. Are you pleased? Yes. I am

pleased! It is fantastic. It is a pleasure to see people working as

enthusiastically as this, wanting to create a new garden in a

beautiful place like Avebury, creating something for the future.

Girls and guys, let's stop for a moment - tea break. You have done a

sterling job. Time to have a break. Thank you. And well deserved it is,

too. Back in London, at Russell's design

studio, there are days till the pitch to the National Trust.

imagine it would be the same fabric or would it be a poorer fabric?

is a frantic phone-round to his suppliers to get props and samples

to illustrate his new take on this old house. The house has got to be

this thing that fires people's imaginations so it is me playing

history with a light touch, adding bits in that are quite unusual, or

inspiring, or curious. That will keep all visitors happy. At last,

the day of the pitch has arrived. Russell has been at the manor night

and day preparing the rooms. quite a lot to do this morning.

Probably an hour-and-a-half to go. We need to keep working through the

rooms, dog a few last minute things. It will be -- doing a few last

minute things. It will be fabulous. The Trust has a duty to protect

buildings. It also has a bigger duty to bring them to life and this

building hasn't been alive for a At the Avebury Estate Office, the

National Trust team is gathering. Sarah Staniforth is one of the

Trust's bigwigs. And without her approval, the whole thing will be

off. If we were doing this from scratch, then we would do much more

research into the sort of the structure of the building because

we tend to base our restoration on precedent and whether it is from

documents or from physical evidence that we can find so this is a

rather different approach to what the National Trust would normally

do. Russell will also be seeing a lot of Lucy Armstrong. She has been

brought in by the Trust to approve day-to-day decisions on what is

historically acceptable. It really is huge. It's not how we would

normally work. It is not how I would work. It is exciting. It is a

fantastic opportunity to work in this way. It is also nerve-wracking

because you want to get it right. If we stop that for a second?

needs to be historically accurate and sympathetic to the building. If

it is not, then you have to go back and change it. The bigger

challenges are simple red tape, of you are not allowed to do that to a

wall, you are not allowed to change the architecture. We totally

understand Grade-I listed but we can change buildings without

affecting what they are and what is important about them. Don't get

confused! Avebury's General Manager, Janet Tomlin, won't have a veto on

what Russell does, but she is the one who needs the manor to start

earning its keep. I hope what we get is a really good idea where we

might be going with the transformation. We have all been,

not kept in the dark, but none of us really know. We have

expectations. Today we see what the designer is thinking. Also here are

Anna and Dan. Armed with historical evidence to back up Russell's

proposals. We are minutes away from our presentation to the National

Trust. I hope Russell's all right, he hasn't slept for the last two

nights. He is a worried man - well, we all are. And enthusiasm? Indeed.

This is what the whole thing is about. It's a lot to pull off. How

are you feeling? I was all right till a minute ago! It is going to

be great. The National Trust haven't seen it since Russell's

dressed the room. The last time they saw it, it was an empty house,

empty rooms, and we have to hope... Oh my God! We have to hope that

what they see they are happy with! This is your big pitch, Russell.

feels like that at the moment. We will see how big it is in half an

hour! It is the moment of truth. We are all here to give Russell a

boost. I think he's going to need it. I'm apprehensive because I know

it means so much to everyone. There's still lots to learn about

the house. Looks like they are coming soon! LAUGHTER Looks like a

School Report! Hello. I'm Russell. Nice to meet you. Lucy. Sarah.

Lovely to meet you. Jan. Well, at least the numbers are even - five

against five. Shall we have a look at a few rooms? I have forgotten

their names already - I'm sorry! The pitch starts in the oldest room

in the house. We wanted to take it back to the time of our Tudor

courtier, William Dunch, a social climber and a self-made man.

Obviously, this is a beautiful tie dor room. Everything in the room

needs to re-- -- Beautiful Tudor room. Everything in the room needs

to be done. We are picking a date of around 1660 for it when it was

seen as a very kind of flashy room. It was a new statement of opulence

for the owners and the things were quite gilded, there was a lot of

colour at that time. To think about somebody doing this to their house

today is quite a crazy thing. To think of it happening then was a

real show of wealth and... Come on, Russell! Let's be honest. You want

some Tudor bring! Tudor inspired furniture... He wants the Dunch

coats of arms painted all over the walls. I want people to go wow, was

it really like this? I can see what he is trying to do factually here.

Historically, bringing colour into the room, lots of golds because it

was a way of reflecting light. How would you propose doing the

painted walls? Obviously, I would like to paint the walls. But you

are not going to let me do that. would be a real issue for us if

that was straight on to the panelling. If you could find a way

of actually doing that on something that's in front of the panelling...

Whether we could find a piece of panelling to mount above the

fireplace, hung like a picture, and go through the process of painting,

gilding and really hung like a picture but true to the state of

the walls. That would look really nice. So Russell's colour scheme

has got a lukewarm reception from the Trust which is worrying.

Upstairs, he's talking even more colours. I have done a few samples,

both in the window and there is one here of the frieze which is picked

up on some of the historical colouring. The frieze is beautiful.

We have found various examples that it could potentially be coloured

and have more colour... The ceiling, these emblems have to be picked out

in colour? I think that ceilings simply for the very simple fact of

reflecting light back into the room... They don't like that.

very cost of trying to re-paint this every year, when the candle

fat had blackened it and when the soot from the fire had blackened

it... Are you saying the Tudor Rose would have been whitewashed?

think so. It is an economy as much as anything. You have the

fabulousness of the plaster, it is there. I think what she is saying

makes sense. I wouldn't paint the freezes, would you? Yes. You would?

-- The friezes, would you? Yes. would? Brace yourself, Lucy, you

ain't seen nothing yet! Welcome to the biggest and most exciting

bedroom for me in the house. As you know, this room has been referred

to as the Queen Anne bedroom. We would like to bring that image to

life. She is reported to have been here in 1704. For me, I would like

to bring that to life for you by going to town on the biggest bed

that really is a statement for the house and something I would love

the visitors to talk about before they even get there. My thoughts

are whether the bed could go in the middle of the room. In a sense,

that would be to work against the room itself. The back of the

headboard, it is a typical space that is never decorated because

they do expect it to be against... There aren't free-standing state

beds. I think that in a sense this is a space that we have. I want the

bed against the wall. That is interesting. Obviously, if you

lived here, yes. But I think... know, we are trying to give people

the impression that people do live here. It should be there. Putting

the bed in the middle of the room hasn't gone down well. So what

about the colour scheme? Marble effect walls and a sky effect

ceiling. I see a worried face. worried face was about the sky with

the marbling. Can you think of another room where there's that

sort of marbling and in a bedroom? I'm not keen on the marble

panelling. I love the blue ceiling. I want that all... In that coving

area, that would look stunning. That is so Queen Anne. It's all too

showy for the Trust. That's quite palatial decoration. A lot of the

ideas the Trust does like. This is almost like Harry Potter, isn't it?

The Governor of Jamaica, who lived in this house, died in this very

room. I'm with it. I love the idea of capturing the Governor of

Jamaica in this room. This feels as if we are on a journey now. I love

it. Absolutely love it. I do think it would be wonderful to have a

dramatic carpet covering most of the room. The more daring the

better. Can I get one of these? Let's take a big risk. Let's not go

half-way and regret that we didn't do the whole thing. If we are going

to do something brave, I would like us to be courageous. Ten rooms and

several hours later, what's the verdict? Has it all been too much

for the Trust? You have seen the rooms now, there's been a lot of

talking. A lot of talking! Are we in business? I think there are some

matters of detail that we need to... Many matters of detail? Erm...

Actually fewer than I expected. When is it full steam ahead or

partly steam ahead? I think what we have been given so far is very

broad strokes. Now is the time to next couple of weeks we can do.

not quite a green light, then. hope you won't be pulling in the

reins on Russell too much. Do you think he was holding back today? I

felt... I felt very comfortable. don't think he was necessarily

holding back. Absolutely, he's the creative type. He's got all these

fantastic ideas. If he had it all his own way, then it becomes

personal taste and this isn't about personal taste, this is about

historical accuracy and that little bit of fairy dust on top. Let's

make it work. We need to get that rubber-stamped within the next two

or three weeks so we can start. don't know whether we can agree the

whole. We can agree aspects of it. So we can get started? We would

want to get moving. But it has to be right. I was excited and I loved

all your things. I found them fascinating. I don't want the bed,

Paul and I were saying, I would prefer the bed against the wall. I

wasn't that keen on the marbling in that room? There's a wonderful

sense of adventure to materials like marble. We are not talking

about real marble, just painting that effect and I love it. I love

the clouds. Yes. We must have that. I'm trying to win the marble and

lose the clouds. Are you? We won't get it all. We will keep...

wonder - I will have a bet with you that they will take the clouds and

not the marble? OK. What's the bet? A fiver. No problem. LAUGHTER Our

plans for the house and the garden will mean a big change of gear por

the Trust. -- for the Trust. I'm not sure they are ready. After the

hottest May since records began, there's a nasty surprise for David

in Our Vic torian kitchen garden. - - in our Victorian kitchen garden -

no-one has watered the shrubs. They are looking very sickly indeed.

This is what I didn't want to happen. This border looked rather

lovely when we re-planted all the material. It hasn't rained for a

good while. No rain at all. These plants obviously haven't had the

water that they require. And quite The trouble is the full-time

gardens at Avebury, who tend the rest of the garden, have told the

Trust they are too busy to help David out. I'm not happy with the

situation with the National Trust at the moment. I don't feel they

have bought into the idea of re- creating this garden and it leaves

me a little bit uneasy. It's been a join it to the rest of the existing

garden. It's a fortnight since the pitch. The Trust is still chewing

over our dramatic proposals. Until they have agreed our plans, nothing

can happen in the house. The problem is we want to decorate the

manor in vivid colours using other historic houses as our model. While

the Trust wants us to use only colours they can prove were once on

the walls and ceilings at Avebury. So Lucy has commissioned paint-

scrapers to find out what colours lie beneath the modern paint and to

prove she's right about the Tudor ceiling only ever being white.

think it will be really worth analysing to see what lies beneath.

We don't know yet. By gently scraping away, you can reveal

slightly larger areas that you can possibly start to understand the

archaeology beneath the surface of what we have presently. It's bad

news for us if they don't find any evidence of colour. So is there

colour on the Tudor ceiling? Or not? I have taken about ten samples

so far. From various areas on the ceiling. And I haven't been able to

find any evidence of colour. I will set them in resin and make cross-

sections and then have a closer look at them under the microscope.

Certainly the main body of the ceiling from visual examination

today looks like it was white. That Maybe the Trust is right to be

worried. Lots of people care about the fate of Avebury Manor. Back in

the 1980s, there was another attempt to breathe new life into

Avebury Manor and it all went disastrously wrong. Before the

Trust took it over, Avebury Manor was owned by maverick property

developer, Ken King. Like us, he wanted to re-launch it as a visitor

attraction. Ken's vision was a kind of Elizabethan theme park. And it

did attract visitors. But the transformation of the manor enraged

the villagers of Avebury. NEWSREEL: I think we would all

agree that the Avebury Manor scheme represents the unattractive face of

the enterprise culture. We are determined to exercise our

democratic rights to resist it. That is our aim. Eventually, the

Elizabethan experience was forced to close. And the manor was bought

Hello. 20 years on, the locals want to make sure we don't get it wrong

as well. You are not flogging this? No. We enjoy your programme. Thank

you. Villager Sir Hugh Jones led the 1988 campaign. NEWSREEL:

attractive face of the enterprise - - an unattractive face of the

enterprise culture. Now he is back. Thank you so much for giving up

your Sunday afternoon. I know this means a lot to you. It is great to

see some young faces here as well. Your opinion really counts. It

really does. I expect some of you have been through this meeting

before with Ken King, have you? ended up in jail! LAUGHTER Well,

don't send me to the Tower just yet! What is there to prevent it

becoming the Elizabethan theme park that it was once? We are not

creating a theme park. That is for sure. It won't be a theme park.

This is still a National Trust house. Will any of the existing

rooms be left as they are? Yes. It's been lived in. That makes it

quite interesting? We are going to try and retain that. We want it to

be lived in. We want that lived-in look. It's all that social history

experience which we want to capture. I think it's an achievable project

but we need the help of everybody. It sounds to be an imaginative

project. One has to be careful not to develop an artificial promotion

for tourism here. Is it going to be helpful in teaching people about

the past? Or is it going to cause friction in the village again? We

will have to wait and see. Avebury welcomes visitors, but we don't

At nearby Wiltshire Agricultural College, an army of students are

working hard to provide David with seedlings and young plants ready

for our kitchen garden at Avebury. Carrots. We are going to put the

peas into these. David was quite lucky to find a willing local

college that has the facilities and the will and the students to carry

it all out. It is a massive job to undergo by yourself. You couldn't

do it in the time space he's got. So he needs as many hands as

possible to get the job done. all, about 500 seedlings will come

from here to our garden. We've got lettuce, Brussel sprouts, carrots,

tomatoes, beans, peas, and this particular one is a runner bean

called Painted Lady. The seedlings will germinate and grow faster here

in the glass houses than they will in the open ground. Back at Avebury,

You will see very rapid transformation. The machines have

only been here ten minutes. You can see what they have achieved. If you

leave them in here all day, most of the day, you will see the paths dug

out, the beds creates and literally within the space of a day we will

have created the bones of this There is a long way to go before

David will be ready for planting. Now, it is time to begin work on

the paths and create the borders. The plan for today is to get our

granite scalpings in. The nice bit is putting the edging boards in

place and creating the shapes of the new bed. That is the plan.

Fingers crossed! The paths will need 120 tonnes of gravel and

limestone chips, all laid by hand. Most of the people here are amateur

but extremely enthusiastic volunteers. What I am looking for

is some fit and strong young men with big muscles! David wants

everything to be right. If that is the centre where the board finishes,

I want you to put them two inches that way and two inches that way.

have watched this garden for the last 20 years, and I came in here

today and I could not believe what's happened in this short space

of time. It is a great opportunity for lots of different people to get

involved from different backgrounds and here you've got people from the

college, you've got school-children, you've got people from the National

Trust. And you've got people like myself from a local gardening club.

It will be interesting to see what it does in five years' time.

trick will be to ensure this hard work is sustained and let's hope

that in ten years' time we will think, wow, what we are doing now

here today, this week, has all been It is fantastic the way it is

coming together. Of course, not everybody on the ground can see it

all coming together. You come up here, you get a bird's-eye view and

you can see it happening. It is like somebody painting a picture

and eventually the artist completes the picture and it is like that.

The more activity, then all of a sudden the picture is complete.

It's been a long and successful day. The borders are marked out, ready

for planting. Where shall I go? Over here? Pretty hard work. Very

rewarding to see all that we've done. Just to see how other people

work as well. It is great. Very tiring, but I shall sleep well!

While work in the garden is well under way, the house is still on

hold. We can't wait any longer or we will never open the manor on

time. We have dispatched Dan and Anna to argue our case for colour,

regardless of the paint-scrape results. I am perplexed. We are

going to use relevant examples from around England. We cannot be

expected to have all the information. This is one thing. I

thought we had agreed it. We need to hit home that this is all about

what is it that gets visitors through the door? There's lots of

talk about heritage tourism and staycations. Legoland in Windsor

has God knows how many visitors a year. How do you get visitors into

heritage properties? Absolutely. We are trying to help them realise

their own aims and ambitions, really. Everything hangs on our

experts convincing Lucy and Sarah from the Trust. Hello. Hi. Nice to

see you. Come in. We meet again after that epic day touring around

the house explaining our vision to you. The purpose of today is to

perhaps re-state that vision and clearly, it's a different kind of

thing for you. It's not a traditional National Trust project.

It is not a traditional re- interpretation. It is about

ambition and also, I think, what excites us about this project, and

I think hopefully you, too, is the fact we can be experimental. How do

you make things real for a visitor? How do you choreograph that

experience? We are suggesting an interpretation. That's right.

That's what's so exciting about the project. I think it's inspiration

rather than re-creation. We agreed some way back that the references

we would use and apply wouldn't be specifically from Avebury but from

buildings of the right period, the right location, the right time.

That is the agreement? Yes. If the paint-scrape comes back with paint

- brilliant. If it doesn't, given that time is pressing, can we paint

the ceiling? It's crunch time. If the Trust says OK, we can brighten

up the house from top to bottom. If they say no, it's back to square

one. What we are saying is that from the point of view of our

visitors next year, we would explain to them that there is no

evidence there was ever coloured paint there. But for the purposes

of this project because there are precedents from other places, you

know, we have gone ahead with a reversible paint scheme so we are

saying yes. We are open to it. Brilliant. Let's give Russell a

ring! He better get busy! At last, we have the green light from the

Trust and work on the house can Next time: Setting Avebury alight.

Are we allowed to have real fires in the house? Most of the smoke

will probably leak. Keeping fit and healthy, the 18th Century way.

Secrets of the Tudor bed. yourself comfortable. As Anna and I

get cosy. Good night, Penelope. Victorian kitchen range saved in

the nick of time. It can be repaired. It is disappointing.