Gloucestershire Escape to the Country

I've got a question for you. Is this a gargoyle or a grotesque?

Find out in just a moment on Escape To The Country.

On today's show, we've got an extra special house hunt on our hands,

as we discover if three into one will go.

And it's a delicate task to make sure everyone gets

everything that they want.

Are you mega jealous?

I am.

But I'm going to build a similar one over the other side.

Ah, it's the fighting talk I like, yes!

And the mystery house has them all awestruck.

-Ah, absolutely wonder...

-Fabulous.

Today, we're in Gloucestershire and I'm at the heart of the county,

cos I'm standing on the roof of Gloucester Cathedral,

which is the territory for these chaps, which are indeed gargoyles.

The word comes from the French, gargouille,

which means throat, because that's what they do -

they spout water away from the building.

Grotesques are a different matter

and I'll be finding out the difference when I visit the stonemason's yard

here at the Cathedral later in the show. But first,

let's see some other beauties carved into this county's landscape.

Gloucestershire lies to the southwest of England

and shares its border with a number of counties,

including both Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

It's home to the broad fertile valley of the River Severn,

a 220-mile-long stretch famed for its tidal bore,

the Severn is England's longest river,

and its estuary is a haven for wild fowl and wading birds.

To the south of the county, you'll find the Cotswolds,

the gently sloping hills, where arable and sheep farming thrive.

And a region famed for its oolitic limestone,

featured in many of its buildings.

To the southwest of the Cotswolds is the town of Stroud,

a location noted for its steep streets

and one of the birthplaces of the organic food movement.

Five valleys converge here and the plateaus between them

offer the most magnificent of views.

The price of an average detached house in Gloucestershire

is £291,000, which is 15% above the national figure.

But really, that average figure is just imaginary,

because on the ground, prices are very varied.

Over in the East, where the rich and famous live in the Cotswolds,

they're in a nice house, the edge of a village with an acre of land,

that's going to be at least a million and a quarter,

whereas over in the west towards Wales, same sort of property,

well, you can knock a third off the price.

So a great variety of prices,

but a very high calibre of architecture throughout.

Many of the most attractive buildings in the county

were built in the 18th and 19th century,

when the wool industry was at its peak.

Since the mid-1800s, sandstone has been extracted from quarries

in the heart of the Forest of Dean

and prices for a three-bedroom character stone cottage

in the Blakeley area typically start at around the £300,000 mark.

In the south, the distinctive Cotswold stone is a popular choice,

with honey-coloured cottages in the area around Painswick

costing upward of £200,000 for a two-bedroom terrace,

to around £600,000 for a four-bedroom detached property.

Beautiful Gloucestershire bricks and mortar,

but is any of it up to scratch for our house buyers today?

And it's a slightly unusual show,

because we don't have one set of house buyers, but two.

Let's meet them.

Retired tutors Edwin and Jane have spent their 20 years together

in the same four-storey Victorian house in Oxford.

But they're now looking to find a property nearer

to Jane's family in Gloucestershire.

We've always had, sort of at the back of our minds that at some point

we'd move out into the country.

I find now I'm at the stage of a life

when I want more space around me, strangely enough.

I want a really big garden. Much as I love my neighbours,

I don't want to be as on top of them as one is in the city.

However, there's one neighbour they're particularly fond of.

Retired teacher, Caroline, who was widowed six years ago

and lives with daughter Alice.

She also wants to move to Gloucestershire

to begin the next chapter of her life.

My daughter, Alice, is 18.

She'll be going off to university in the autumn, God willing,

and, um...

I don't want to be on my own in this house when she goes.

It's also very big and I need to realise some of the equity in it.

So, in an Escape To The Country first,

all three buyers are proposing to head to the country together.

Just as a sort of pipedream, we started thinking, "Well,

"maybe we could find a house that's big enough to divide into two."

And of course, doing it that way, we might be able to get

a bit of a bigger property with a bit more land, which we'd equally...

So I'd get the stately home I want so badly?

So Jane gets close to her stately home after all,

which would be wonderful.

Their 16-year friendship has flourished

through their mutual interests.

'Jane and Edwin have been friends

'pretty much since we moved into the street.

'We got to know them fairly early on.'

Edwin comes and builds fences for us sometimes and that kind of thing.

Um, when they go on their boat, I often go out for a day with them.

We have a lot of interests in common.

And the bond between them even extends to their love of gardening.

Caroline and I share two allotments.

In fact, at a plot just, very nearby a house.

Jane and I would like to have a sort of joint vegetable plot

at the bottom of the garden so that we can do that together,

because we've been enjoying working on our allotments together.

It's been lovely.

They both love the character of their current houses,

and are keen to maintain a similar tradition

in their new rural retreat.

I have always lived, certainly in my adult life,

in Victorian houses and I do like character features.

Basically, we want Victorian, just a little bit later,

-Edwardian, or Georgian.

-Georgian!

-Georgian is an absolute favourite.

And with that all agreed,

there remains the issue of how much they have to spend between them.

I've got about £400,000 for this move.

That would need to include any work that needed to be done.

Our budget for this move, for Jane and myself, is £400,000, which means

that collectively with Caroline we should have about £800,000 available.

With a total of £800,000,

our three buyers are looking to move

to the villages around Stroud,

close to Jane's family and also Caroline's friends.

'I caught up with our unique trio in a beautiful Gloucestershire setting

'to discuss exactly what they want from this very special house hunt.'

Welcome to Gloucestershire, you three.

-Thank you.

-I think this is a first,

Certainly the first time I've had three contributors on the show.

So it's very nice to welcome you and I suppose I wanted to just clarify

what you're looking for, because it's two sets of desires, really.

Caroline, tell me first, what is it

that you're really dreaming about in terms of the property?

Well, it's got to have a minimum of two bedrooms,

-because there's me and my daughter.

-Alice?

-Yes, Alice.

And space and, you know, a certain amount of privacy,

not from Jane and Edwin, but from...

-Others.

-Others.

-And what about you guys?

Well, we'd want a spare bedroom,

but then we actually want a study each,

so that makes a minimum of three bedrooms,

two of which can be studies.

And we're looking for nice, big rooms,

because although our home's lovely, the rooms aren't actually that big.

-On the other hand, you quite like cosy little rooms.

-Yes.

Oh, you're bringing me out in a sweat.

So, clearly the pool of properties that we're looking at

-is quite niche.

-Mm.

-Mm.

They say that friends and finance never mix.

I'm slightly anxious on your behalf

about how you're going to divvy up the budget. What is your budget?

A total of 800,000, roughly split half-and-half.

But then obviously if Caroline ends up with,

she doesn't want quite as many rooms as we do,

then we'd start dividing...

-With a hovel in the bottom of the garden.

-Yes, I mean...

You get the shed and they get the stately home?

That was our main idea, but we haven't told Caroline yet.

But the other thing is that we'd be interested in properties which were

a bit less than 800,000, with money to do development or... You know.

OK, so you're quite keen on doing a project.

This is what I wanted to hear, I wanted to hear adventurous,

wide-seeing, far-thinking house buyers.

Well, we've got three lovely houses and I'm very intrigued to see

how you navigate them and decide which bit's which.

You seem very peaceable now, but I'm sort of hoping for fights.

-OK.

-This is the beginning...

-"It's MY room!"

-Let's go and see them.

-OK.

'Our buyers have £800,000 to spend

'and are seeking a property with character and period features,

'the potential to be split into separate dwellings,

'at least four bedrooms between them

'and a large garden to grow vegetables.'

'We've come up with three properties which have real potential

'for this intriguing move. As usual, I'll be asking them

'to guess the price before I reveal it to them.

'As ever, our final offering is the mystery house, which could bring

'our neighbours even closer together than they imagined.

'Time to hit the road.'

Now, sharing a property - that is quite a challenge.

I mean, you're obviously not sharing the property entirely,

but have you thought about the kind of psychology of sharing?

I mean, you share an allotment...

-I think we're used to sharing, aren't we?

-I think we'll be fine.

I mean, we'll have our own spaces,

we're not going to share a kitchen, which wouldn't do.

And when I have any plumbing or electrical issues going wrong,

I can ask Edwin to pop next door and sort it out for me.

Oh, right. THEY LAUGH

We've made the journey five miles south of Stroud

to the popular Cotswolds market town of Nailsworth.

Lying in a wooded valley, it has a wide and eclectic

range of shops in the busy high street

and a 19th-century church built in the early English style.

For our first property - or rather PROPERTIES -

we've found two detached Cotswold stone cottages,

one dating back to the 17th century,

with an adjoining new-build annexe, currently used as a holiday let.

-Beautiful views down the valley to Stroud.

-Yes.

-Yes, lovely.

-Wonderful.

But this is the house I wanted to show you. Or, in fact, the houses.

-Oh. He's found...

-Two houses.

But the interesting thing is that they are legally distinct.

-Oh, I see.

-They've got, they've been through the planning process

and this is let as a holiday cottage and could be sold separately.

-Oh, I see.

-Oh, excellent.

'We're going to start with what could be Jane and Edwin's house,

'the beautifully restored 17th-century property,

'which was once a local pub.'

Come on in.

-Oh, lovely.

-So straight into the main living space,

-as often happens in these cottages.

-Very pretty.

Beautifully done, isn't it?

So you can see the stairs come straight down.

They probably would've been separated

into two buildings in the 18th century building,

but the hearth, this great big hearth would've always been there.

I like it. Yes, it's nice and cosy and yet this is a nice, big room.

So, Caroline, I was thinking earlier you were a bit worried

that this would be nicer than your bit?

I don't mind if it's nicer than my bit.

-Obviously, because they deserve a nice house. Yes.

-This is true.

Shall we continue the tour? Let's have a look at the kitchen.

'I know Jane and Edwin are hoping for a sociable kitchen,

'and this one, with its mix of modern and original features,

'should suit them nicely.'

The heart of the home, but is it...

..heart enough?

I find it a tiny bit small.

-Small?

-Yes, but then, Jane, there's another room there.

-That was the kitchen.

-Right.

-That's now the dining room.

-Oh, yes.

-In fact, you can fit a table in.

-But you don't need to, because...

-No.

-..it goes there.

-I mean, as it mostly would be just us two,

that sort of table would be...

Yes, OK. I feel the small windows do make it dark.

I'd like an expanse if I'm washing up, or whatever.

I'm going to give you two a chance to go upstairs and look there.

Meanwhile, I'm going to whisk Caroline over to her part.

-You two, head upstairs. Caroline, come with me.

-Right.

'So, having seen the kitchen,

'it seems Jane will need a bit more convincing about this property.

'Also, downstairs in Jane and Edwin's cottage

'is a good-sized utility room, along with a modern bathroom.

'And adjoining the sitting room is a very light study,

'which they could fight over, or take turns to use.

'Meanwhile, upstairs, there are four bedrooms in all,

'two double guest rooms,

'which look very inviting for friends and family,

'a single, which could be turned to use as a separate study,

'and a further double with en suite bathroom,

'which is the obvious choice for a master.'

'But now I'm heading across the driveway to the annexe,

'which I think might need substantial alteration

'before it meets Caroline's demands.'

So you come through the corridor into this room.

Oh, which is a decent size. I like this.

Yes, they've done this very nicely, actually.

I thought it was going to be darker than this because of not

having windows on this side, but actually it's plenty light enough.

-And then you've got the kitchen straight off here.

-Oh, yes.

Poke your head in and see if it's large enough.

It's quite small, but there's everything there you'd need.

This would be big enough for me, not quite my taste, but that's fine.

Well, I think with this whole, you could think about it

in terms of a shell and moving a lot of the walls,

sort of configuring it as you would like,

because you've only got one bedroom as it stands.

-Yes.

-Let's go outside again,

-because I can show you a bit of what I was thinking.

-Right.

'The only other room in this compact bungalow

'is a bright, modern bathroom.

'As we head outside, you can see there's certainly potential here,

'but it will need a major renovation.

'And Caroline has some excellent ideas.'

I would, if I was going to live in this house,

I'd want to be able to access my garden from my house.

-Right.

-So I think actually I'd be making that double garage

into a sitting room and changing the configuration completely.

-Bedrooms down this end, maybe.

-Oh, I see.

It depends how much there is in the budget, really.

My cue to get the others over.

-Are you all done in there?

-BOTH: We are.

'These two properties share around three quarters of an acre of land,

'with an expanse of lawn, and great views of the surrounding countryside

'so there's plenty of space for them to grow all the veg they want.'

So the garden - you noticed this rather interesting feature.

This is a boules piste.

-No!

-Ah! Where you play boules.

-Yeah.

-Apparently, every Friday there are boules parties here.

-Oh, right.

Oh, shame! So we're going to be terribly unpopular, turning it into a vegetable patch.

Ah! Yes. Actually a much better idea, isn't it?

So let's talk money.

How much do you think this whole property -

cos it's sold as a single property - is on the market for?

I shall guess 750,000.

OK.

Yes, I have a feeling, in the present market,

it might be as low as 650, actually.

OK. 650.

I have no idea. Say 700.

Split the difference.

It's on the market for 599,950.

-Right.

-Gosh, that seems cheap, doesn't it?

-So that would leave money for doing major extensions...

-It would.

..and knocking down and starting again, really.

So why don't you all head down and you can do a little tour

round your new abode and I'll see you later?

-Right.

-OK.

Priced well under their combined budget

at just under £600,000,

this versatile pair of cottages

has the potential to meet all of their joint needs.

It has a wealth of attractive period features,

a large, sociable kitchen in the first property,

a total of five bedrooms in all -

four in one cottage, one in the other -

and three quarters of an acre of land outside,

so plenty of space to grow that veg.

Well, when we first came to this house,

it would appear to be just what we wanted as a property

because it had a house for us and a house for Caroline.

When we went in, I'm afraid I found it

a little bit over-restored inside.

Unfortunately, when we got to go round the house, I realised that,

actually, we wouldn't like it unless we did quite a lot of work.

Having said that - £600,000. We'd have roughly £100,000 to play with

and we'd have to think about what we could or couldn't do.

The house that would be my bit is too small

and very characterless.

On the other hand, of course, that means you could do lots to it,

but the land is definitely a plus point.

Strange. I thought Caroline would have issues with her side of the house

and that Edwin and Jane would love this but, actually,

they're not so keen on all the stones, of all things.

There they are. Your ears must have been burning.

I was talking about you all.

-Right.

-Good. Well, we're all done here.

-Ready for house number two?

-Right.

-Exciting.

-Let's go.

Lying just south of Gloucester, the historic wool town of Painswick

is one of the hidden gems of the area.

Known locally as the Queen Of The Cotswolds,

its charming narrow streets are home to over 340 listed buildings.

On the outskirts of the town lies Painswick House,

whose 18th-century rococo gardens

are a magnificent example of Georgian creativity,

at a time when all things frivolous and flamboyant

were very much in mode.

With Edwin, Jane and Caroline all being keen vegetable growers,

we arranged for them to meet garden director Paul Moyer

to find out more about the food crops grown

in Painswick's kitchen garden.

It's really unusual because it's a big kitchen garden.

It's slap bang in the middle of the garden so it's a main feature

and you think, "Why on earth did they put it there?"

But it makes a lot of sense actually because it's a south-facing slope

so it gets the sunshine,

and also there's a lot of springs through there,

so we have a permanent supply of water, which is very useful.

-And they are very pretty.

-They are.

I mean, it was laid out in a very geometric fashion

to make it interesting as well.

The kitchen garden's planting

is as accurate as the history books will allow

and there are modern varieties being cultivated

right alongside traditional ones.

Currently growing here are broad beans, peas and onions,

as well as fruit such as rhubarb, blackcurrants and gooseberries.

Much of the produce is used in the Painswick House restaurant,

as well as supplying neighbouring businesses.

We get lots of apples, lots of pears.

The apples go to a local apple juice producer.

The pears go to a local jam producer as well.

So anything that we can't use, we try and find a local company

that we can actually send the stuff over to.

-So it's a working garden.

-Very much a working garden.

And, talking of working, Paul has something up his sleeve

that our three green-fingered buyers can lend a hand with.

It's a decorative willow structure which has been created

by volunteers to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

We've still got quite a bit of work to do

to fill in some of the gaps on it,

-so, hopefully, you'll be able to give us a hand doing that.

-Right.

If you look at the willow here that we're using,

-you can already see it's rooting.

-Oh, yes.

So what we want to do is to weave it down and then stick

the end in the ground, about that far, and then weave the top in.

But the best thing to do to start is just to roll it around your knee,

because it breaks the fibres down and makes it easier to weave,

like that.

The idea of using willow for weaving this commemorative piece

is based on sustainability because, as it grows,

the structure will increase in scale,

providing an iconic highlight within the gardens.

Cos the whole inspiration behind it from the lady who designed it

was it was to look like the crown jewels.

Oh, yes.

Or the orb that the queen has, that decorative orb.

Well, now it's time for us to head back to our property search

to see if we can find a crowning jewel

to suit all three of our buyers.

For our second property,

we're travelling around 20 miles northwest of Stroud,

to the small town of Mitcheldean.

This community has all the necessary amenities for our buyers,

such as a convenient supermarket,

a post office and a friendly local pub.

Just outside Mitcheldean, in the village of Flaxley,

is our second offering,

a former farmhouse with stunning lakeside views.

But, importantly for Caroline, there's also a good-sized annexe,

which is currently being used as a holiday let.

So here's your water feature. Ha-ha!

This is amazing!

But if we just spin on our tracks,

we can see a little bit what we're dealing with.

Oh, isn't this gorgeous!

-It's very, very pretty.

-Beautiful house.

I'm always thinking about you

because, clearly, that is a much more impressive property than that,

so there are two options here.

One - this is your house, that's their house.

But then I think, between you,

-you might also find some ways of splitting this house.

-Right.

So, just for a change, I thought we'd start on this side

and end that side, so let's have a look at the top here.

'While the apartment up on the first floor of the annexe

'might look rather unprepossessing from the outside,

'the interior has been beautifully finished.'

Come on in.

-Gosh, there's a lot of space. Little kitchen.

-Wonderful.

It's very light. It's got lots of light coming in,

all through these lovely dormer windows,

and it goes through into a very big bedroom on that side,

with a second bedroom on the other side,

so you've already got your two bedrooms

-and a sort of living space, but it's a bit more modest.

-Yes.

But then there's all that space downstairs.

Downstairs, you have two double garages effectively

-and then two wood stores.

-Yes.

-But it's work.

-Mm, yeah.

Well, we anticipated that we'd work, one way or another,

because if you buy something and split it,

-you going to have to do work, aren't you?

-Absolutely.

Or go into plan two of my cunning plan,

and think about separating this house.

Well, we'll have to see what's there, won't we?

-Shall we go peek?

-Yeah.

Caroline obviously appreciates the work that's gone into this annexe.

It's perhaps not got the period character she was after,

but the farmhouse is a different story.

Question is, can Caroline stand by and let her friends take it all,

or will she want her share of the spoils?

-Come in to this gracious slice of country living.

-Beautiful!

-This is amazing, isn't it?

-Look at that!

Now, are you mega-jealous?

I am. But I'm going to build a similar one over the other side.

Ah, that's the fighting talk I like, yes!

And there's room for it, so why not?

-Matching garden rooms.

-Yes.

-Yes!

This is the kitchen.

-An old-fashioned kitchen, good old-fashioned range cooker.

-Oh, yes.

-But it's not huge.

-It is a small kitchen, isn't it?

But you've got all that space behind.

-And dining table just right here.

-Yes, true.

Jane might not be completely won over by the kitchen,

but the features in this reception room

should be just to her characterful taste.

-Ooh, lovely!

-This is the sitting room.

Got a lovely feel to it.

Genuinely old.

-Genuine house.

-Log burner and nice big hearth.

-The size of the fireplace!

-Genuine features.

Also on the ground floor of this spacious property

is a large utility room, adjoining the garden room,

and just off the hallway is a cosy family room

with fantastic oak flooring and a feature fireplace.

And upstairs is just brimming with character, too.

There are exposed timbers everywhere,

even in the family bathroom.

The three bedrooms on this floor are all bright and generously-sized

and two of them have their own en suites,

so there's plenty of room for friends and family.

And up on the next level in the eaves,

along with two small attic rooms which might work well at studies,

there's also a huge master suite,

which contains a free-standing bath at one end.

But we'll continue our tour outside,

where there are views of the lake, a seated patio area,

extensive lawns and ample space for that all-important vegetable plot.

I can so see the three of you living here. It's so beautiful.

-It's gorgeous.

-It is absolutely beautiful.

Well, we haven't completed the whole task,

cos you remember there was plan A and plan B.

Plan A was you're over there, you're over there.

Plan B is can you separate that beautiful house

so that you both live in it?

Cos you can see there's actually two gables,

so it's not impossible, but you need to know how much it costs.

-OK.

-This is true.

-So tell me your thoughts.

I think it's so lovely,

but it's going to be right at the top end of our budget

and we're not going to have anything left over for splitting with,

and I think it's about 800,000.

Well, Caroline took the words out of my mouth, I'm afraid.

I was going to say exactly the same!

You can say the same, that's all right.

I think it's a bit further away from things. I don't think so.

I think it would be 710 perhaps.

710.

Well, I'm afraid your optimism was misplaced and the ladies have it.

-It is on at just a shade under 800,000.

-Mm.

-Right.

Well, if I was living in that bit, I wouldn't be paying 400 for that

and you getting that for 400, cos that wouldn't be fair!

That would be a bit unfair.

But these are the sort of conversations

I want you to have as you walk round the house.

-Mm-hmm.

-Indeed. And no fighting!

-OK.

-We'll try not to.

So, near the very top end of their budget at £795,000,

this farmhouse with outbuildings has huge potential for all three buyers.

There's a raft of original features, a very large garden room,

six bedrooms, beautiful, mature land and, of course,

a two-bedroom annexe apartment which could be further extended

with the correct planning permissions.

When we first came here I thought,

"Oh, yes, I could live in that little stable block, if it was all adapted,"

and so on and so forth and, actually,

I think I would just be green with envy at Jane and Edwin living in this house.

It's just rather a long way away from where we'd hoped to be,

in terms of distance to Jane's sister, Katie.

However, that's something we'd think about

cos it's certainly a very attractive property.

I think it's gorgeous.

I think it's an awful shame to make Caroline have the garage and the outbuildings

and I think it's possible we could divide it down the middle successfully,

with a bit of thought,

although I would be very wary of harming a historic house like this in any way.

-Ah! Are your heads full of ideas?

-They are indeed.

-And plans?

Well, we could do with some actual floor plans as well, I think.

Well, I might supply you with those,

but let's go and gather our thoughts.

-Right.

-Our work is done today.

As dusk falls over the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside,

it marks the end of a very unusual day's property search.

In an Escape To The Country first, we're helping three buyers move

to the wilds of Gloucestershire from the city of Oxford.

Retirees Jane and Edwin, and their neighbour, Caroline,

who's also retired, want to make a new life in this lovely county.

So far, there's been a mixed reaction to two stone homes

and they've fallen for a beautiful lakeside property,

but weren't quite so keen on the annexe.

But, coming up, the scale of the mystery house leaves them stunned.

-Oh, good heavens!

-Oh, good heavens, it's enormous!

My goodness! It's so big, isn't it?

And I visit Gloucester Cathedral to take a look at a brand-new gargoyle.

Day two and we're back in west Gloucestershire,

or "almost Wales", as Jane and Edwin keep on calling it.

But I am confident that the mystery house is going to make

particularly Caroline happy, because, up until now,

poor Caroline has always been shown "Here's the cow shed, that's yours,

"and this lovely house is Jane and Edwin's."

But not so with the rather magnificent mystery house.

For our mystery property, we've travelled to Newnham on Severn,

a village around 15 miles northwest of Stroud.

Close to the Forest of Dean,

the core of this beautiful village is a designated conservation area.

It also has a variety of interesting shops

and the necessary amenities, such as a post office.

Just outside Newnham is the tidal inlet known as Bullo Pill

and this is where we find our mystery house.

Grade II-listed and built in the Flemish style in around 1840,

this historic pile has real potential to allow them all

to live under the same roof as they can divide between them.

This is a great mystery house if I say so myself.

-Oh, my goodness!

-Extraordinary.

-What an extraordinary house!

-An extraordinary house.

-Turrets.

-Amazing architecture!

Amazing architecture. It was built as the harbourmaster's house.

Absolutely wonderful!

Now, it's near the road.

It is on an A road and, actually, once you're in the house,

you don't notice it at all.

Let's look inside.

So far, we've seen two properties with separate annexes,

but, due to its symmetrical layout,

and the fact that it has two staircases,

we think this stunning house has great potential for dividing in two.

Come on in.

Straight into the lovely kitchen.

It is lovely.

It looks so imperious, all of it, doesn't it?

It does, and splendid windows anyway.

Now, again, we need your imagination as we go round the house because,

literally, this floor is four big rooms and you have two staircases.

You have the big staircase that comes from the front door

which of course no-one uses, and then the servants',

which is the back staircase that goes up in the opposite direction.

So you could very easily use the back door as one door

and the front door as another door, and split it.

You can decide whether you split it this way or that way.

On this side of the house, which we could call Jane and Edwin's,

there's a spacious reception room with fantastic original features.

-Oh, lovely windows.

-Again, lovely windows.

These are the more feature windows on this side.

But this would make a lovely cosy sitting room.

That's presumably a working fireplace.

-Yes. Flues are all open.

-Excellent.

And again, all these floors are actually new.

They're oak floors but it's been beautifully done, I think.

It has indeed. It's all totally in character.

On the other side of the house, where Caroline could live,

are two equally large and attractive reception rooms.

These have, like the rest of the house, rather grand windows

and beautiful feature fireplaces.

There's also a downstairs shower room on this side, too.

To help our buyers get their head around splitting the property,

I'm going to show them the layout of the staircases.

These are in the centre of the house and divide both sets of rooms.

So this is the big flight of stairs goes up to...

and then there's a sort of matching symmetrical flight of stairs

on the other side which is the servants' stairs.

So you could stop the house there and have this side as one

-and the other side as another.

-Yes, that's right.

-Shall we look upstairs?

-Yes.

Upstairs, off a lovely big landing on Jane and Edwin's side,

there are two fantastic double bedrooms

with feature windows giving them loads of light and character.

While on Caroline's side, there's a wonderfully spacious

family-size bathroom with a fireplace and free-standing bath.

Adjacent to that is this huge bedroom

with a quirky corner washroom,

which is where we're stopping off next.

-Oh, good heavens, it's enormous!

-My goodness! It's so big, isn't it?

Look at that!

There's so much light.

Does that window actually belong to the other half,

if you were dividing that way?

-Well, this is where you start to kind of...

-Have to think.

-I was just thinking what you're thinking.

-Arm wrestling!

-Who gets this bedroom?

-Divide this room.

I'm going to send you upstairs to look at that attic space

and see what you might do there, division-wise,

and then when you've had a look there, come downstairs,

meet me in the garden and we can talk about land and price.

-OK.

-Right.

On the next floor,

there's a huge amount of charm in the attic bedrooms on both sides,

with space for double or twin beds among the supporting timbers.

And there's also a half-timbered bathroom, and a kitchenette area

off the larger third bedroom, which is at the front of the house.

But now it's time for Jane, Edwin and Caroline to come and join me

and take a look at the grounds.

-So it's quite a big property.

-It is.

It's about an acre, a lot of house, a lot of outhouse.

How much do think it costs?

It's going to be right on the limit, 800,000.

I think it's going to be nearer 900,000.

I'm going for 750,000, why not?

750.

Well, you might be surprised to know that this house is on the market for,

not 900, not 800, not 750,

but 645.

-You are joking?

-Goodness me!

-Change to spend on it.

-That is a good price, actually, yes.

-That shot a little excitement into the three of you.

-It did.

I would like you to explore the land

cos there is quite a lot of interesting land,

particularly down in the ravine, and I will see you at the front.

-Righty-ho!

-Right.

This very imposing harbourmaster's house

is well under their budget at £645,000,

and offers both parties

the chance to live in it once divided up.

It has beautiful original features,

lovely light living space,

six bedrooms, and around an acre of grounds.

The mystery house was certainly a wonderful surprise to suddenly see,

this pretty, extraordinary and unusual large house with so many windows.

And, of course, the price is absolutely wonderful.

It's far less than I would have dreamt a house of this size might come at.

This is a lovely house and huge, and so much for your money.

The garden is nice,

although I think it might be a bit difficult to divide that.

It is at the very edge of the area we wanted to live in,

and it is probably a good half hour from where we really felt we wanted to be,

but it's a beautiful area, lovely Severn estuary and a fabulous house.

It's a lot of house and a great price,

but I wonder if any of it will outweigh the fact that it's by a main road.

-On that... Hello.

-Hello.

-How are you doing?

-Well.

-All done?

-Yes.

-OK, so now is the time when we regroup and gather our thoughts.

-OK.

Gloucester Cathedral has proudly occupied the north of the city

since its foundations were laid 940 years ago.

However, it's now nearing the end

of a five-year gargoyle restoration project on its south wall,

the first significant repair work to be carried out

since the building was completed in the 1320s.

Ten of the 13 new gargoyles have been finished and are already in place,

but I've come to meet the cathedral's master mason, Pascal Mychalysin,

to find out about the remarkable history of this project.

Well, what happened that the original gargoyles of the south aisle were all damaged,

either worn out and also damaged during the Civil War,

-so a long time ago...

-Ah, the Roundheads!

..so they were probably victims of the shooting practice of the army.

They used to shoot at them?

Yeah, we think so,

because there's a lot of musket balls' impact on the facade.

And all the sculptures and gargoyles which have survived are headless,

so we think that they shoot at the head.

In my head, a gargoyle is the kind of scary face,

but there's a different... That's a grotesque.

They have a function, the grotesque haven't got a function.

That's a grotesque, that little man there.

That's what I would have thought is a gargoyle, but that's a grotesque?

That's a grotesque. It is just to have fun.

Gargoyles have a function.

Mediaeval masons wanted to get rid of the water out of their building

and instead of doing a boring long stone, they decided to have fun.

Each gargoyle takes around six months to make.

Once Pascal has designed it,

the first stage is a model known as the maquette,

a wooden frame wrapped in metallic mesh and then covered with clay.

Senior mason Oliver Critchley

was on hand to show me the next part of the process.

So, Ollie, this is the next stage.

-You've made the... What's it called, the maquette?

-Maquette, yes.

How long do you take, from scratch?

We aim to get them done in two weeks.

From this, then we'll carve the stone.

Once finished, the dimensions of the maquette are measured

and recorded by a pointing machine,

a device which dates back to Renaissance Italy.

Using those exact dimensions, the gargoyle is then carved

from French Jurassic limestone, as a scale copy of the maquette.

Tricky work!

Luckily, I'm going to try my hand at something much simpler.

Can I have a go, just so that I can say I've had a hand in creating this gargoyle?

Of course.

-What shall I...?

-If you work around just smoothing off the knuckles.

-The minimum damage.

-I tend to use my own hand as a model.

HE GROWLS

He's angry, Pascal. Why is he so angry?

-He is the anger destroying the world, riding the bull of destruction.

-Bad!

He is, yeah. Hopefully, he will not be successful.

-Because he's surrounded by so many lovely things.

-Yeah, yep.

-Very nice to meet you.

-You, too, Alistair.

When it's completed, this gargoyle will be hoisted 35 feet in the air

to take up its function on the cathedral,

discharging water from the roof,

thereby protecting the stonework from erosion.

It will hopefully keep its head for at least the next 700 years.

And with that stonemasonry skill in my fingertips,

time to find out how our trio of property buyers are doing.

Now, you three, you have given us a challenge.

Let's go through the houses one by one.

The first house clearly was a slight imbalance of sizes.

On paper, it looked quite a good offering.

-Yeah, it did.

-I absolutely agree.

I don't think I have sufficient imagination to see what I could do

with that part, to make it into something that I would really want.

Now, the second house,

there was a very beautiful house that you two liked a lot.

That house obviously could actually be split into two.

-And I loved that house.

-Yes, I think we all loved that house.

I would have had reservations, actually, altering that house

too much because it's obviously so historic,

even though it wasn't listed.

I feel you couldn't really have divided it into two without spoiling it.

The main thing that bothered you was the distance, really.

Was the distance, from our preferred area, yes.

So the mystery house was also in west Gloucestershire.

Stunning house!

Absolutely stunning house, intriguing

and, unfortunately, outside, the road noise, by itself,

would have eliminated the house as a choice, but...

I think, although I said I wasn't as comfortable with

the style of the rooms and everything as you were,

I mean, I thought they were lovely and I'm sure I could have

brought myself to manage in a gorgeous Victorian house, but no.

I mean, the road was just a no-no.

So, overall, we didn't get you your dream home,

but do you think you are being unrealistic in what you're looking for?

It probably has revealed that what we need to target is somewhere

with an existing house which would suit Jane and myself,

but an area of outbuildings which could be replaced by a house to suit Caroline.

Yes, planning permission or something like that.

Well, I hope you find it, and I'd be very interested to see how

you three rub along in your... interesting property hunt.

-We'll invite you for tea on the terrace of a stately home.

-We will!

And we will certainly let you know.

-Do. Keep us in touch. Thank you so much.

-Thank you.

What can I say?

It was always going to be a challenge but I have to say,

having spent the week with that lovely trio,

I do wonder whether they'll ever find a property

that matches their desires,

because, basically, Jane and Edwin want a stately home,

and Caroline wants a cosy cottage.

Nonetheless, I think we did do ourselves proud

and we showed you lovely properties here in a very beautiful part of Britain,

so do join us again next time for more Escape To The Country.

If you'd like to escape to the country in Scotland, Wales,

Northern Ireland or England, and you need our help, please apply online.

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