Berkshire Escape to the Country

I thought we'd start today's Escape To The Country in this gorgeous rural churchyard.

But why, and where are we?

Well, join me in just a few moments and I'll tell you.

Today I'm on the trail of a property for a sporty couple ready to make a new start,

and it's an Escape To The Country first at one of our properties.

A friend of ours has got a house here that's for sale.

-We've never had that before!

-That's hysterical.

In over 400 house tours that I've done, that's never ever happened.

And there's fun and games at the mystery house.

Why are you laughing?

-We've seen a tennis court.

-Ah! You see!

Today we're in Berkshire and this is the church at Lower Basildon,

and it's thought that, hidden in the ground here somewhere, are the remains of Jethro Tull.

Not the '70s rock star that most of you are probably thinking of,

but rather a man who came to revolutionise farming in the early 18th century.

He was the son of a farm worker, but he hated manual labour,

so he set about designing a machine that could do the hard work for him.

In 1701, he came up with the very first horse-drawn seed drill.

Not only did it mean that crops could be planted with far more accuracy, but far faster as well.

What followed were a string of inventions

that went on to revolutionise the agricultural landscape.

Located in the south-east of England, Berkshire is bordered by five counties

including Oxfordshire, Surrey, and Hampshire.

The Thames, which is the UK's second longest river,

runs along Berkshire's north-eastern county border.

Formerly a major trade route, nowadays you're more likely

to find leisure boats making pleasure trips along this scenic waterway.

As a county known for its sheep farming, it's not surprising

that one of the largest sheep fairs in the country

was regularly held here at East Ilsley during the reign of King Henry III and James I.

And of course it's home to the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world,

the Queen's official residence, Windsor Castle,

which explains why it's also known as the Royal County of Berkshire.

Berkshire's great road, rail and air links,

and of course its proximity to London,

have a dramatic effect on its house prices, as you might imagine.

To be honest, they're eye watering.

Take, for example, the area around Windsor and Maidenhead.

Your average detached will set you back £331,000 - wait for it -

above the national average, so, as you can imagine,

house-hunting here requires some pretty deep pockets,

as you can see by this selection of what's on the market right now.

This charming two-bedroom cottage in the village of Chaddleworth

is on the market for £395,000.

It has a wealth of original features, a kitchen with a range cooker,

and is set in a mature garden adjoining open fields.

£625,000 would buy you this three-bedroom thatched cottage in Three Mile Cross.

Grade 2 listed, its 17th-century history shines through

in its exposed beams, latched wooden doors, and open fireplace.

And if your wallet stretches to just under £900,000,

you could be the owner of this five-bedroom house in Silchester.

Dating back to the 19th century, it boasts a dining room with York stone floor

and has been updated with a conservatory.

As you can see, when it comes to value for money,

Berkshire may not be ideal.

It's certainly not a place to come house-hunting if you're remotely fainthearted,

but I think today's buyers have got just what it takes.

Company director Christopher and his wife Avril were work colleagues who fell in love.

Married for 23 years, they now have two teenage children

and live in a six-bedroom house in Buckinghamshire, which they designed themselves,

but a move to the country has always been on the cards.

The long-term plan has been going for about 10 years,

so we always knew that we were going to move once the children had both finished their schooling.

We live in a busy town at the moment, and although it's a lovely town and it's beautiful,

I'd just like to live somewhere with a bit more peace and quiet,

somewhere quieter with a rural outlook

so you can look out and see birds and trees.

Last year however,

there was a major hitch in their ten-year plan to escape.

One of the reasons the move has been delayed slightly

was Avril was diagnosed with breast cancer just before Christmas.

We're looking forward to perhaps starting a fresh life,

realising what we have, and moving ahead

and a change of scenery I think will do us both good.

Yes. It's made us realise, hasn't it,

-we need to spend more time together and be together.

-Mm-hmm.

Cherish the time we have together.

And they're looking forward to spending that time together by indulging in their favourite sports.

The hobbies I enjoy most I guess are playing tennis

and croquet perhaps, it's always an interesting thing to do.

I'd like to carry on playing tennis, I play a lot of tennis,

and I'd like to get more involved with a tennis club that way.

Like Christopher, I'd like to play croquet.

We used to have a croquet lawn and I loved it.

They've pinpointed the Berkshire countryside as their ideal location

and have some definite requirements for their new house.

Ideally in our next property I'd like something similar

to what we have now with large open reception rooms,

large entertaining areas, light-filled rooms,

but with a bigger garden and in a more rural area.

If we could find a house with a cellar, that would be marvellous

because I like keeping my wine in a cellar,

and I think we'd be happy to take on a project or renovate somewhere

if the opportunity arose.

So their demands are nailed down and they've got their finances nailed down too.

Our budget for the next property will be in the region of £1 million,

but, depending on how much we sell this property for,

it's likely we could increase that to £1.2 million.

There's no doubt that today's buyers have had a pretty challenging few months,

but the good news is that they've come out of the end of it.

Avril has bettered her illness, they want to move,

start a whole new chapter, and they've got £1.2 million with which to do it.

My only concern is that, having designed and built their current property,

will they be open-minded when it comes to viewing places that aren't exactly made-to-measure for them?

As ever, we'll just have to wait and see.

Christopher and Avril's house hunt sent us on rural areas within reach of Windsor and Ascot.

We've got three fantastic houses to tempt them, and as usual

I'll be asking them to guess the price of each before I reveal it.

Our final property is our mystery house,

and I think it'll provide them with an advantage

when it comes to one of their favourite pastimes.

-Christopher, Avril, very nice to see you.

-Thank you.

-In Berkshire!

We're living in Marlow at the moment and it's really busy in the town.

We want to move out more into the countryside.

Not necessarily too far away from our friends and family,

but just something with more of a rural outlook, a quieter pace of life.

Marlow may be a busy town centre, but Berkshire is a seriously busy county.

We've got flight paths all over it, we've got roads criss-crossing it.

Finding anywhere that is absolutely needle-droppingly quiet is quite difficult.

But we have got a pretty good budget of £1.2 million,

three properties for you to look at.

-Shall we?

-Looking forward to it.

-Follow me.

-Thank you.

So, with their very generous maximum budget of £1.2 million,

Christopher and Avril are looking for a property with four bedrooms,

lots of reception and entertaining space, a cellar,

and a lawn large enough to play croquet on.

We've travelled to the pretty Thameside village of Dorney Reach,

close to Dorney Lake, home to Eton College's prestigious rowing centre.

Our first property is an Edwardian detached house

built in around 1908, whose main selling point is that it has direct garden access to the River Thames.

This is what we're going to start our series of house tours with this week.

-What do you think of that one?

-From the outside, it looks good.

Proportions-wise, as you'd expect, everything is quite big,

it's quite sumptuous.

-The only issue...

-A bit of road noise.

The road noise, but in terms of property, bricks and mortar and square feet...

-It's a beautiful house, a very attractive house.

-There's a lot of it.

An attractive house indeed, and it's equally appealing on the inside in a very warming way,

but will it be to their tastes?

Right.

In you come.

We'll start in here because obviously it's the thing that's going to greet your guests.

In terms of finish, it sort of tells some of the story.

-Is this what you were expecting?

-Erm, no! Not quite!

THEY LAUGH

-It's bright.

-It is very bright!

-Let's have a look at the kitchen.

Come through here. There you go.

It's traditional on the outside, but contemporary on the inside.

The kitchen is all new as of the last couple of years or so, the floor and all the rest of it.

It's a nice size. I'm not sure about how contemporary I'd make it.

-A bit more traditional.

-I think I'd go more traditional.

-Yep.

It does go on and it's quite a slick job.

-I know that, Christopher, you're into wine.

-Yes.

-They'll be useful.

-True, yes. I like it already!

-There you go!

And around the corner here, we've got a whole range of microwaves, steamers, etc.

Right.

And then down there,

which leads on to a big downstairs office.

You've got fridge freezers and everything built in again

in something of a sort of utility area, if you will.

While Avril's not convinced about the contemporary feel of the kitchen,

I think she'll be impressed by the lounge and entertaining space this house offers.

In terms of main living space, this is it.

I think that it works with the kitchen next door and then going out onto the garden,

so, from an entertaining point of view, it's good.

-Good sizes.

-Yes, it's a good-sized room.

-I can see us having dinner parties and so on.

And in terms of how you both relax after a hard day on the court

and a hard day at work, Christopher, we've got the snug next door

and of course the conservatory, you know, the other side of that,

and again makes full use of what the garden has to offer.

It's facing west so you get sun for most of the day,

which is quite nice.

It's a nice aspect out of there, definitely.

It's encouraging that they can picture themselves entertaining in here.

Now let's see what they think of the layout upstairs.

This is the master bedroom.

It overlooks the back of the garden.

Quite small windows, it's more to do with the architectural design of it.

We've got the first two bedrooms of the four here, off the other end of the stairs, which you saw.

And then this one, a master suite but it does lead to the rest of it,

-although we have got three staircases in all...

-Right.

..To get you up to various parts of the house. You can access all four independently.

I mean what have you got at the moment? I imagine it's pretty extensive.

We've got a suite, yep, so we have an en suite bathroom, shower room.

So has this. Follow me through here. This is what we've got.

Your en suite there, you get a bit more storage and so forth,

and then follow me into here because what you've got here, Avril,

-which is quite handy, you've got a dressing room area.

-Right.

And again, views out there. And then this,

the spiral staircase that comes up from the snug,

-that arrives there.

-Yes.

Come and have a look.

There's a very unique set-up on this floor,

which I'm not convinced our buyers are quite ready for.

The garden has socialising potential that they could enjoy straight away.

OK. Come down here.

As you see, you've got loads of entertaining space out here.

The conservatory obviously that we talked about that we've just come through.

And then the kind of formal garden.

And another view of our lovely Arts and Crafts house.

Loads of patio area, as you can see.

In terms of lawns and croquet, we've got four small lawns here.

Do you think that will work for you with the croquet?

-I mean it's not a tennis court, to be fair.

-No.

It's probably a bit too small, but that's OK.

In terms of it being manageable, you know, the planting is very mature.

It's just a case of cutting that back and mowing these lawns.

The big event is the river, down there,

which I'm going to let you loose on in a little while.

The other big issue, I guess, is what we can all hear.

-No getting away from it.

-There's no getting away from it, which is a shame,

because otherwise I think it's a very interesting property.

The price is clearly going to have an influence on that.

Let's have I think about it, shall we?

-I think it's on just over 1 million.

-Mm-hmm.

-Maybe 1.1?

-1.1, yes.

-I'd go a little bit lower than that, I think I'd go 995.

-995?

-Yep.

-OK, well...

-Not a good sign!

This is on the market at 1.25 million.

-Wow.

-It's that part of the country.

-OK.

-The cost of property here is staggering.

-And it's on the river.

And of course the river is a huge, huge premium on any property like this in this area.

So there it is, property number one.

It's a lot of money but you get the river!

The Thames is right down there, go and check it out.

-I'll find you later.

-Thanks.

At 1.25 million,

this house is over their generous budget by £50,000.

It is of course on the river, and does meet many of their demands.

It has four bedrooms, a massive amount of space to entertain,

room for storing wine, which would keep Christopher happy,

and four lawns which could be re-landscaped for a game of croquet.

Yeah, very pleasant.

I didn't know this was here actually.

I think, if I'd known it was going to be here, I'd probably have suggested a bit more money.

I really like the river. I thought it was beautiful.

It was a lovely surprise, I wasn't expecting that.

I think you get a lot of value from there,

you could eat out and enjoy that in the evenings.

The road noise I didn't think was that bad but the upstairs, I can't see that working for us.

I was expecting the rooms to be slightly smaller when I came in

so I was pleasantly surprised.

I like the kitchen and the entertaining areas, that's good,

and I like the aspect, going out into the garden as well.

There we are, that's it. House number one is done. Happy?

Yes, many positives, so nice to see for the first house.

-A bit surprised on the price.

-Yes, well, £1.25 million because...?

-The river.

-The river, there you go.

-Wasn't expecting it.

No, nice surprise, but that's why it's the money it is.

-But it's not the only one we're going to show you.

-OK.

Berkshire is blessed with a host of attractive and historic villages that should appeal to our buyers.

To give them a flavour of what the county could offer them,

we sent Christopher and Avril out to explore the beautiful village of Pangbourne.

With a stunning position on the banks of the Thames, the village also has a popular tennis club.

Just outside Pangbourne is the Royal Berkshire School of Shooting,

and, as Christopher and Avril want to devote more time to their sporting passions when they move,

we've arranged an introductory lesson for them in the country sport of clay pigeon shooting.

Today they're in the safe hands of instructor Nigel Muir.

Welcome to the Royal Berks.

In terms of the key component parts of a shotgun, they're very simple.

Inside there are two firing pins, one for each barrel, popping forward,

striking the cartridge, which is what makes the gun go bang.

So very simply, you brace the gun along your hip and forearm,

give yourself some leverage.

You close it nicely into the ground in front of you, into what we call the ready position.

You find your cheek and shoulder, safety goes off,

-and the last thing to move, your finger down to the trigger.

-OK.

All I want you to do is start behind your target, tracking it,

moving at the same speed as the bird, once you catch it up, a little bit of acceleration.

Having done all that,

you've just put a wonderful wall of lead just ahead of it.

-How hard can that be?

-Probably pretty hard! We'll see.

Harder than you think!

It's essential to wear ear and eye protection before you start.

Live pigeon shooting from traps was banned in 1921

and, consequently, clay pigeon shooting grew in popularity.

Here we go.

It's a bit too far ahead of that.

The clay pigeon, as we know it today, originated in 1880

when the idea of the saucer-shaped target came to inventor George Ligowski

after seeing boys skimming flat stones across a lake.

Today the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association numbers more than 25,000 members

and there are some 450 registered grounds in the country,

which require a site of 35-40 acres, making it an obvious rural pursuit.

Good shot!

Yes!

Well done!

Follow that!

Fold your shoulder around, rest your cheek on the wood,

shut your right eye nice and early. Track it in.

-Pass it there.

-Oh no!

-Nice shot!

That's more out of surprise than anything else!

So Christopher and Avril are right on target.

Time to see if the next property I've lined up to show them will hit the mark too.

Now, house number two is down here. Do you know where we are?

-We do know where we are, yes.

-Indeed!

-You do? You really do?

-A friend of ours has got a house down here that's for sale.

-Right.

-Yes.

-What does it look like?

-Mock Tudor style.

-Mm-hmm. Half-timbered, black and white timbered.

-Drive in, drive out.

So it's a house that you're familiar with.

-We've been in it a few times, yes.

-We've been in it a few times.

-Do you like it?

-Yes.

-Yes, it's a nice house.

Would you buy it?

Erm... I don't know, it's a long time since I've seen it.

I so hope this isn't the same house!

-We've never had that on the show before.

-That's hysterical.

In over 400 house tours that I've done, that has never, ever happened.

We've travelled just over five miles west of Windsor and close to Holyport,

which is the nearest village for high-street amenities.

Our second property lies in a semi-rural setting

to the west of Windsor Forest and the Great Park, and dates back to the 1950s.

Out you come, Avril. Well, I don't quite know how to start this, erm...

THEY LAUGH

..To start this one because this has absolutely never happened to me before.

-But you've been here before?

-Yes.

-About seven or eight years ago, I think.

-OK.

Well, it's since changed hands so your old friends aren't here any more I'm afraid.

-No, they've moved on.

-Do you know, I'm going to let you do the tour!

-No, I don't think we know it that well!

-Come on, let's have a look.

It's a truly novel experience for me,

showing a couple around a house that they've visited before,

but I'm wondering how much it's changed and if they still like it.

There we go. All those memories come flooding back?

Yep, it's just as I remember it.

Exactly as it was!

As you can see, the hallway, you'll know this of course.

-The staircase, the beams.

-Yes, yes.

So, as we explore the house further, is this the kitchen they remember?

-It's very nice, solid wood, oak tops.

-That's it, that's the kitchen.

-This is the one?

-Yes.

-How funny.

You could never have imagined in a million years!

I couldn't have imagined that this would ever happen.

-But it is a lovely kitchen nonetheless.

-Good size.

-In terms of a working space for you...?

-Yes, perfectly good.

-Perfectly good?

-Yes, definitely.

I like the fact you can eat in the kitchen. That's nice.

And straight out into the garden.

Stable door out to the garden, yes.

Let's look at the dining room. Presumably you'll have enjoyed this at some point.

-So, has this changed at all?

-Er, no, exactly as I remember it.

It's a good-sized room and close to the kitchen, which makes for great entertaining.

-Good, OK. Let's take another trip down memory lane.

-OK.

-Down to the living room, it's through here.

A little playroom in there, off the kitchen.

But this is the main living area, the main event, I suppose.

-It's a nice size room, nice and bright, isn't it? Really light.

-It really is.

That stone fire surround looks to me quite a recent addition.

-I don't think you'll have seen that.

-No, I don't think that was here when we were here last.

But again, it alludes back to this mediaeval architecture

that the arts and crafts movement really sort of embraced.

-The doors out into the garden.

-Triple aspect.

-Exactly.

I mean, just trying to disentangle ourselves from the fact you've seen it before

and your friends lived here, can you put yourself in a position

where you're looking at it as a home that might work for you in terms of space?

I didn't think I could, not when I got here.

I didn't think I could because I knew the people who lived here, I knew the house,

but it's growing on me.

I'm really pleased to hear that Avril is managing to picture herself

living in this very familiar property.

And there's a huge amount of space upstairs which should keep her interested,

with six bedrooms in all.

The smallest is in the loft space above,

while on this floor there are two good-sized single rooms

along with two very generously-sized doubles.

So plenty of choice for the children,

but we're heading to where they might sleep.

In here, the master bedroom, which, no surprise,

is above the living room because we've got this lovely fire surround,

which mirrors what's going on down below. Plus, also, en suite shower room

and huge sort of walk-in wardrobe.

Just for you, darling!

THEY LAUGH

You might have to share!

Although you've got six bedrooms, you can have one of those each!

And this great big vaulted ceiling.

Nice ceiling.

That makes the room a lot larger than I thought it would be.

I wouldn't have expected a ceiling like this in a property of this nature.

-No, I wasn't expecting that at all.

-Quite a feature.

So, now you've had a chance to remind yourselves of what this house has to offer...

I'm wavering a little bit.

I was more interested downstairs, and upstairs I'm just wondering if we need all these rooms.

The difficulty is of course that you do get a bit more for 1.2 million than you might need.

Even here, in uber-expensive Berkshire, where let's face it,

it doesn't go that far.

-No, maybe we don't need such a big house.

-Maybe you don't.

-Maybe you don't need to spend so much money.

-I like that thinking.

Ah! Well let's have a think about the money downstairs, come on.

Outside, there's a terrace that would work wonderfully for entertaining.

A double Tudor-style garage and a lawn large enough for them to play their games of croquet on.

So, if they can see themselves living here,

how much would they pay for the privilege?

-Let's have a think about the money. Who went first last time?

-Avril did.

-So, Christopher?

-OK, I'm going to go for 1.2 million.

-1.2 million.

I think it's a bit more, I think it's 1.225.

1.225? Interesting.

It's actually 1.25.

THEY LAUGH

-So, a lot of money.

-Yep.

Go and have a look around, check out upstairs again, see what you might do.

-Right. And I'll catch up with you later.

-OK, great. Thank you.

At £50,000 over their already substantial budget,

this property has almost everything they've asked for,

with six bedrooms, providing plenty of space for family and guests,

a number of spacious reception rooms for entertaining,

and a lawn big enough for that all-important game of croquet.

This has been interesting because I recognised the house immediately

because I stayed here many years ago with friends.

I love the kitchen, although it might need updating,

and the entertaining rooms were terrific.

I was worried about it, wasn't sure if it was the right house and everything,

came in, I really liked it.

I like the entrance hall, I like the size of the rooms, I liked a lot of things about it.

You know, sometimes trying to find people at the end of a house tour is a bit like playing hide and seek.

-Ah! Talking of which, here we are.

-Hi, Jules.

-All done?

-Yes, thank you.

-Good, right then, let's get you away from here. Follow me.

-Thank you.

Out into the sunshine. The evening sun, how about that?

So, as night falls over Berkshire,

day one of our property search draws to a close.

Christopher and Avril have been planning their move to the country for 10 years

to coincide with their children leaving school. They were delayed by Avril's treatment for cancer,

but now she's got the all clear they're ready for a new start.

Our first two houses have certainly given them something to think about,

but still to come, our mystery property has an added bonus which is hard to beat.

I love it! I really like it.

And I'll be visiting a swan rescue centre before helping one resident return to the wild.

There you go!

-Nice feeling, isn't it?

-Yes.

Well, I'm hoping today is going to be more of a conventional day on Escape To The Country.

I'm pretty sure that you don't know anything about our mystery house.

-Good.

-OK.

-That's the plan.

-OK.

And, even if you do know, you're not allowed to say anything!

For our third house, we've travelled around 15 miles from Windsor,

crossing the border into Surrey, close to the village of Ripley.

Our mystery property might not be in the location they specified,

but it could well win them over with a surprise bonus that they might fall in love with.

Now, come on into the mystery house. Why are you laughing?

-I've seen a tennis court!

-Ah! You see! Happy?

-Very happy, yes.

-Love it!

-Gorgeous gardens.

-That's fabulous.

-Fantastic all-weather floodlit tennis court.

-Yes.

And in this little hamlet here, there are, I think, another three tennis courts.

-Oh right, OK.

-They're all tennis nuts.

-OK.

So you'll be in good company here.

Let's go and look at the mystery house

-and see what you make of the inside.

-Fantastic.

-Thank you.

Well, that tennis court certainly made them smile,

so let's see if the rest of the house can make them as happy.

Let's start in the kitchen. Well, kitchen diner, I should say.

-Wow, it's a big room.

-It's huge. Absolutely enormous.

There's a huge utility through there as well.

A nice big range, oil fired there.

Granite tops, and you've got the electric tops here of course. And it goes on.

I mean, you've got this area here, something of a sort of a snug, if you like,

but you can see that life is going to happen in this room probably more than any other.

So, Christopher, let's get imaginative and creative with this one. What would you do?

I do like the space, it's not cramped, it feels open.

-Yes, I like it. I like it, yes.

-OK, follow me.

I'm glad to see the spacious nature of this house is really working for Christopher,

and I'm sure both of them will really appreciate the next room too.

In here, this is the dining room, currently set up.

-That door goes through to the kitchen as well as obviously coming through the hallway.

-Mm-hmm.

And of course doors out, straight out into the garden.

I think there's been a lot of entertaining here over the years.

-Right.

-As you'll see when we go through to the next bit.

So, in terms of a party house, it's probably quite a good one.

A nice aspect out here into the garden.

Gorgeous, it really is lovely. OK, follow me through here then.

-Now, another sort of snug, more of a dedicated snug.

-Right, yes.

-Almost a sort of club room, I suppose.

-Yes.

-In a way.

And again, the whole thing has been extended in so many directions,

it goes on through here.

-Right.

-There you go. Your own bar!

THEY LAUGH

I suspect you'd probably take it out

and turn this into more of a family room?

-Yes, definitely.

-I think so. Unless you want to run a bar!

-There you go.

-It has a slight attraction!

And of course it opens out onto this very private patio area as well,

and there's a little barbecue area out there too.

-And also a wine cellar.

-It's a great size.

-A wine cellar?

-You see!

I was just waiting to see if that dropped. Absolutely!

There's a little wine cellar for you. Well, space and scope.

-Space and scope.

-That's the thing with this one. OK?

-Yes, great.

Let's have a look upstairs.

The bar room certainly caught Christopher's imagination

and the wine cellar was another unexpected bonus.

Upstairs, this house is equally sizeable,

with a family bathroom and six bedrooms.

Three with en suite.

So there's plenty of space, should their children and their friends all want to visit at once.

But we're heading for the main bedroom.

So, amongst the six bedrooms, we've of course got you a master suite.

-You're used to suites.

-Yes.

Certainly floor area, there's lots of room around the bed.

-It doesn't feel cramped or claustrophobic, even for me.

-Good.

-Well the en suite is pretty generous too.

-Good.

-In here.

-It's a nice big rolltop bath there, the shower of course.

-That's a nice bath.

-And his and hers basins.

-It's huge!

-Not bad.

-No, it's a big bathroom, isn't it?

And you really are in your own little world.

-On the top floor, there's one more bedroom, and also a sauna.

-Right.

-And a steamer.

-OK.

I'm going to let you explore those a little bit later on.

But I think now, we should get out into the garden,

back to the tennis court, and really start to draw this one together.

-I'm looking forward to seeing the garden.

-Good, right, follow me.

-Thank you.

Well, they do seem genuinely enthused by this property, not least because of the tennis court,

and I'm sure they'll see the terrific entertaining potential of the acre of gardens,

big enough to hold a croquet tournament on!

But what do they think it costs?

-Let's have a think about how much it's going to cost you.

-Right.

-So, Avril?

-1.2?

-1.2, yes.

-Maybe a little bit more?

Maybe a little bit more.

-I'm going to go around the same price I think, 1.2.

-1.2.

The top end of the budget.

-It would be absolutely the top end of your budget.

-Yes.

And it wouldn't leave you much left over to make a few adjustments, which clearly you'd want to make.

-So, the good news is that it's not 1.2, it's 1.15.

-Right.

-OK?

-OK.

That's the other reason I like the mystery house,

is it's the cheapest one we've been able to offer you so far.

-Right.

-So, go and have an explore. I'll catch up with you later.

Thank you.

Under budget at £1.15 million, this house comes complete

with everything on their wish list and more.

It has six bedrooms,

spacious entertaining rooms including a bar,

a wine cellar for Christopher,

a huge lawn for croquet,

and their own tennis court.

-Avril, have a look at the tennis court. What do you think?

-I love it!

-I really like it.

-And I love the garden as well, what do you think?

I love the garden, it's one of the best features of the house.

-This must be the sauna, I think, up here.

-So that's the sauna.

-OK.

-It's a nice big sauna.

-It is a big sauna.

-I wanted a sauna.

It's an area that I hadn't considered,

haven't even thought about coming over this way, and I really like where it is.

I think that's lovely.

I think the garden is beautiful, fantastic garden,

and the tennis court, what can I say?

It's like icing on the cake, isn't it?

I was very pleased about the price.

It's obviously under our maximum budget,

but it still is pushing that ceiling and I'm a bit concerned

about how much work we'd have to do to make it feel as if it was our own.

It's certainly the nicest house we've seen,

and definitely the best location, and I'm really excited to have seen it.

So there we are, that's the mystery house.

Let's face it, it wouldn't have been right if we hadn't found you a property with a tennis court.

-Yes, it's amazing.

-So, we've done that at least,

but let's get you somewhere where we can sit down and consider what we've seen so far.

-OK.

-And find out what happens next.

-OK. Thanks.

In a county brimming with royal connections,

it's no surprise that the nation's most regal of birds, the swan,

has its very own protector here on the Thames in the shadow of Windsor Castle.

The Queen's official swan marker is responsible for their protection and conservation.

The role and unique regalia is currently held by David Barber,

and I have come to meet him, to find out more.

-David Barber, I presume.

-Yes, it is.

They said "Look for the man in the red coat"

and I found you, looking absolutely resplendent.

Remind us of your exact title.

Title is Swan Marker to Her Majesty, the Queen.

The job dates back to the 12th century,

when the Crown claimed ownership of all the swans in the country.

Because it was an important food source then.

It was served up at banquets and feasts. It was very precious.

Of course, today, it's changed

and now it's all conservation and education.

Playing an important role in the conservation of the mute swan

is the ancient tradition of swan upping,

which is the collecting of data,

assessing the health of young cygnets and checking them for injuries.

Every July the Queen's swan marker

and swan uppers travel from Sunbury to Abingdon

to complete the census of this feathered population on the river.

We will lift the family of swans from the water, take them ashore.

We will weigh them, measure them,

and if there's any injuries on them,

then they would be taken to Swan Lifeline,

which is a treatment centre here at Eton,

and they would be looked after there.

Here at the Swan Lifeline Centre, the injured birds are rehabilitated

by staff such as warden and treatment co-ordinator Wendy Herman.

The charity's been based here since 1993.

We're actually a rescue centre and treatment centre, not a sanctuary.

-Every bird we get in, we aim to release into the wild.

-Amazing.

What about this little fellow? Was this one born here?

This one was rescued because it went over a weir and it was abandoned.

So we didn't know who the family were.

So this one will stay with us until October,

when it is fully grown, then we'll release it into a group.

What are they most at risk of? Is it fishing lines and hooks?

We get a lot of fishing injuries, mainly every day,

where they leave their hooks and lines on the river bank,

and just walk away and leave it.

Last year, the charity rescued round 1,500 swans from the River Thames.

Once the birds are fit and healthy, they're ready to be released,

just like this one I am helping to return to the water today.

Can you see the one with the white plastic ring on its leg?

This one here?

So I'll catch the swan.

You're absolutely right you will!

You can help me wrap it up.

Fine. Off you go then.

Come on, poppet.

To keep the swan secured for its own safety, while being transported back to the river,

its legs are loosely tied,

and its body is placed in a special wrap.

That goes over there.

Literally pick it up and put it in there.

Ooh, hello!

-Crikey, you're not the lightest swan in the world.

-That's it.

That's extraordinary.

-So off to the river?

-She's ready to go.

Like a bag of shopping.

The charity's aim is to release birds back to where they came from,

whenever possible.

In its 27 year history, the organisation has rescued

and treated more than 20,000 swans.

Turn your head away in case she flap her wings, then we just let her go.

There you go! She looks pretty happy, Wendy.

She is. She's in her natural environment.

She'll hopefully look round for a male.

-Thank you very much. Nice feeling, isn't it?

-Yeah.

And I'm hoping that Christopher and Avril will have a nice feeling

about their move to Berkshire, as they consider our three properties.

I'm about to go and have my final conversation with Avril and Christopher.

Now, we normally like to call this part of the show Decision Time.

But on this occasion, I think it might be more of a confessional.

Well, what can I say about this house search?

It's been an odd one, as you probably gathered.

So, how have we done, I wonder?

Let's think about the first one, by the river.

With the Thames at the end of it.

Really nice house, nice style of house. Arts and Crafts, Edwardian.

You could a lot with that. The downstairs was perfect.

A bit of tweaking here and there.

The problem for me was when we went upstairs,

and then my love affair started to fall apart a bit.

I was having to duck and dive.

It's funny, the downstairs flowed.

It was easy to figure out,

but upstairs it was little corridors and different levels.

Different levels,

and walking through one bedroom into another into another.

It didn't flow very well. I couldn't see how you could change that.

But surprisingly, at the bottom of the garden, was the river,

-and that was unexpected.

-That was a pleasant surprise.

If only you'd wanted a boat, we'd have been laughing.

-If boats had been our thing.

-Yes, if it wasn't tennis!

Then we took you to our second property,

which you had already seen.

Now that has never, ever happened to me on Escape To The Country,

but you were still keen to have a look at it,

even though you remembered a lot of it.

Being objective about it, did you get a sense that you wanted to

take that one on and really make your mark on it?

I think the problem for me with that house, particularly upstairs,

was it appeared to be trying to be so many different types and styles

of house in one, and it seemed to have lost its way a little bit.

Also, I think we decided probably there and then

that maybe six bedrooms are probably too many for us.

I had high hopes for our mystery house, which I'm not sure were met.

When I saw it I just smiled from, you know, ear to ear.

The garden was just magical.

-I thought the setting was absolutely terrific.

-Perfect.

I was surprised how peaceful it was. Lovely lawns, as you say.

-The gardens were beautiful.

-Tennis court, come on.

-What a bonus.

-Unexpected, again.

The fact it's in a village of tennis enthusiasts

means Avril would be there all the time, I'm sure.

-Ideal.

-It was the best house.

And it was the cheapest.

That was a big surprise,

and I can't believe we got a bonus of a tennis court.

Lots of things there that have to make us think.

We didn't think about Surrey, so moving out of Berkshire, it's interesting.

I don't think we found you your dream home.

I'm not convinced it's about finding a house in the country for you two.

I think, because you have your dream home already, you just want something

with a bit more space around it,

and that's very different to having a country life.

I think you're probably right.

I think that has really been highlighted to us.

Maybe it's not a rural life we're looking for,

maybe it's just a house with more space around it, bigger grounds.

I think that's probably it, but at least we've helped you figure out what it is you do want.

-You certainly have. Thank you.

-That's the main thing.

It's been a pleasure. We wish you the very best of luck.

Who knows, maybe we'll be here again.

If you're a regular watcher of Escape To The Country,

you'll know we very often set out to find our buyers their perfect home.

But what do you do with a couple that have already got it,

and are trying to spend over £1 million in the process

of trying to change it and importantly, get something better?

Well, it's always going to be a tall order.

That's exactly what we found here in Berkshire and Surrey,

with Avril and Christopher.

I don't doubt they want to escape where they are,

but by their own admission,

whether they really want to escape to the country,

I think that's another matter.

I'll see you next time.

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