Somerset Escape to the Country

PLAYS THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

Yes, today I'm in the birthplace of the composer

who penned that iconic tune.

Which county am I in, though? Find out in just a moment.

ORGAN RESUMES PLAYING

You didn't think I was playing, did you?!

Today, I'm helping a couple who want to find a country abode

that's just bursting with character.

And we definitely deliver the period goods in one cottage.

I like the beams in here and the range cooker.

But our buyers are slow to warm to the charms of the mystery house.

More positives are coming now than they were when we initially walked into that room and thought...

It couldn't get any worse, really, could it?!

Today, I'm in Somerset, and this is the village of Wellow.

Many believe that Londoner Thomas Arne composed the national anthem.

But many academics are of the view that his was a cover

of an earlier version by John Bull.

John was born here, in this quiet West Country village, in the 1560s.

He became a favourite of Elizabeth I and he even became royal organist.

A collection of his compositions from 1619

included a tune that we all sing today -

"God Save The Queen".

But let me tell you, music isn't the only thing in this county that's fit for royalty.

The sixth-largest county in England,

Somerset, shares borders with many other counties, including Devon

and Dorset, as well as the Bristol Channel to the north.

Lying between the Quantocks and Mendip Hills,

Somerset's flats dominate the centre of the county.

Towering over these lowlands stands Glastonbury Tor,

once an island in the marshes.

Many leave this to be Avalon, the seat of the fabled King Arthur.

The fenlands were drained in the 17th century,

leaving the tor high and dry, but creating perfect farmland.

To see another of Britain's great wonders in this county,

you could make the journey to the Mendip Hills and Cheddar Gorge.

These limestone cliffs may share their name with the famed local cheese,

but, in the Middle Ages, it was actually known for its Saxon palace.

Palaces may be in short supply here,

but you may need a right royal budget for a Somerset house with historic pedigree.

The price of an average detached property is £265,000.

That's a princely £14,000 above national average.

Expensive locations include popular heritage villages like Wellow,

where you could add up to £50,000 onto the budget for a character home.

If you look in areas like Bridgwater, then property is much more affordable.

Whether you're a prince or a pauper,

there are some fantastic period properties to be had right across this county.

The most common traditional building material in the county

is Hamstone, cut from Ham Hill in the south.

The quarries are still going strong, so it's possible to find anything

from a new build to a period cottage in the honey-coloured rock.

Prices for a two-bedroom detached house

start around the £150,000 mark.

If you want to feel like a character in a Jane Austen novel,

then a Georgian terraced house made from Bath stone is a must.

The Palladian-style frontages are very impressive.

However, most of these properties have been split into apartments

and a two-bedroom flat costs upwards of £200,000.

But, if you'd like a property with a homely elegance,

the area south of Glastonbury would be a perfect choice,

as here you'll find worker's cottages built from characterful Blue Lias stone.

Prices for a three-bedroom home begin in the region of £275,000.

There are lots of charming properties to be found here,

but will any interest our buyers? Let's meet them and find out.

John and Penny have lived in their modern, and very practical,

five-bedroom home on the outskirts of Gloucester since 1995.

But now their children have flown the nest,

they can finally make the life changes they've been yearning for.

The village we live in at the moment,

I suppose, if you could call it a village...

It was pretty much built in the '70s,

so it is very bland architecture.

You know, we want something now with a bit more character,

a little bit more rural, to say the least.

I suppose we're bored with living in this type of housing. We've always lived in it.

While there's clearly not enough character in this home for them,

there's one more thing the house is definitely lacking.

It would be good to move somewhere where we've got more actual living space downstairs,

rather than as we've got at the moment,

with too many bedrooms and not enough space downstairs.

Penny works at home as a weight-loss consultant,

whilst John's job in telecommunications takes him all over the world,

though he, too, can do a lot of work from home.

As a result, they want to create a good working environment within the property,

as well as having all the benefits of being in the heart of the countryside.

They think they've found the perfect location.

The area we are looking to move to now is south part of Somerset

and down into Devon.

Primarily, along the M5 corridor,

probably no more than half an hour either side of that.

Down to no further south than Exeter.

And my parents also live down near Exeter, so it would be nice

to be able to visit them more easily and more often.

And while it may sound like a lovely, relaxing existence,

our buyers are not averse to having the odd adrenaline-fuelled moment in the country, either.

One of my main passions, I suppose, is motorsport and, many years ago,

I used to race cars before we had children,

had a bit of a break and then had a kit car and started off in hill climbing.

One, because it doesn't take up too much time,

maybe a few times a year, and it's relatively cheap to do.

You can take any car and be timed up the hill.

-It does make for a nice family day out, as well.

-Take a picnic.

The family can come along and watch me make a fool of myself going up the hill!

Which just leaves the all-important subject of money.

The budget for our move is £300,000.

Penny would like the new house to be within a short distance of her parents in Exeter,

while John needs to be within a half-hour drive of the M5,

so he can commute easily when required.

I caught up with them in a typically picturesque Somerset setting

'to discover more about their move.'

Hi, guys, welcome to Somerset.

-And it's your birthday!

-It is.

-What a way to spend it.

Hopefully, we'll find you a house. The ultimate present.

-You've been in your current property for 16 years?

-16 years.

Why are you moving now?

The children have all grown up and left home,

so we've got no reason to be staying in the area

for jobs or anything else.

The house we've got has got too many bedrooms

so we're looking to reduce the number of bedrooms.

-So you're downsizing?

-Not necessarily downsizing.

-Rearranging.

Hopefully, to have more space downstairs

-and less bedrooms upstairs.

-OK.

How come you want the space downstairs?

We could do with an extra room, either a study or another room downstairs

-because John works from home.

-I work from home a lot.

-Yes.

-And I also see customers at home with my weight-loss business.

I might have to come and see you!

LAUGHTER

-What are you looking for? You're in a new-build now?

-It's '70s, the house.

Are you looking for something with more character?

With a lot more character, after living in these types of houses all our lives, really.

-What sort of character would you like?

-Um, possibly the odd beam or two, fireplace.

Fireplace, yes!

Anything. It could be modern or old,

-but something a little bit different.

-It's got to have a lot of character.

Are you good at compromising? Or do you definitely know what you want?

-I don't think we're that good at compromising.

-Oh, no!

LAUGHTER

Let me rephrase it, who's the boss?

Penny will decide.

-LAUGHTER

-Right, then.

-I'll come up with the arguments.

-OK.

-How much have we got to spend, Penny?

-300,000.

-300,000. OK.

We've three properties to show you, one of them being the mystery one.

Hopefully, all three will put a smile on your face. There's only one way to find out.

Shall we get going? Come on.

For their budget of £300,000,

John and Penny's wish list is topped by one important word - "character".

They'd also like a large kitchen-diner,

a utility room for the dogs,

a room downstairs for use as a study to work from home,

three bedrooms and a manageable garden.

We've got three fantastic properties to show them,

all of which we think they'll love. As usual, I'll be asking them

to guess the price at each one before I reveal it.

Our final option is, as ever, the mystery house,

which might just convert them to a life they've never lived before.

We begin our house search ten miles south of Taunton,

in the popular village of Combe St Nicholas.

We're just a 45-minute drive from Penny's family in Exeter

and ten miles from the nearest junction of the M5 for John's potential commute.

Before we get a glimpse of our first house, we're stopping for a quick look at the village.

It's a lovely little community, about 1,300 people live here

and it's got everything you need.

You can see the post office behind.

It's got a convenience store, a pub, a really active village hall.

Apparently, the hub of the community,

and the name itself has Celtic origins.

How lovely. How romantic. "Combe" meaning "valley".

-It's a lovely valley to be in, isn't it?

-It looks lovely, yes.

-Shall we go and have a look at the house?

-BOTH: Yes.

-Come on.

'Our first property will certainly deliver'

all the character they're craving.

It's a stone-built cottage that dates back some 300 years.

So this is it.

-It looks lovely.

-Does, doesn't it?

-It does, yes.

Lovely from the outside.

Do you like the whole kind of country cottage feel?

Yes, definitely, it's the sort of thing we're looking for.

-Why don't we have a look?

-Let's go and have a look.

'It's a hit from the outside and, hopefully,'

they'll take to the interior of this beautiful property just as easily.

Come on in.

There's beams!

-LAUGHTER

-It does have beams.

You're in the 300-year-old part of the property.

This is your living space.

-A multi-fuel burner behind you.

-Yes. Yes.

I like the older beams across the doorways.

I'm not too sure about the beams across the ceiling.

You could change that pretty easily.

There are other rooms that might sway you.

Unfortunately, the cat doesn't come with the property,

but let's have a look at the kitchen.

'On one side of the sitting room is a dining room'

with more of those lovely ceiling beams.

I'll show them the kitchen next,

which, hopefully, will have them feeling like the cat that's got the cream.

-Again, very clean lines.

-Yes.

Ceiling's a little low.

But, yeah.

-It is quite low.

-You've got underfloor heating here.

-Oh, right.

-A lovely stone floor.

-It is, yeah.

-It's done beautifully.

You've got oak surfaces, a Belfast sink. Size wise?

Um, it is quite small. You couldn't really fit a table in the middle of it.

I think with the dining room where it is, it's... It's OK.

Also, through that door, you've got a good-sized utility room. Same units, same floor.

And a separate door, which is leading out to the garden,

so, if you bring in the dogs after a walk, you don't have to use the front door.

Especially with that cream carpet.

You've a downstairs loo, also, with the washing machine, dryer.

Does it mean you wanted more space

than we are showing you at the moment downstairs?

I would.

I think so, yeah. You know, just on the initial look.

-You also want character.

-I know.

And the two sometimes don't go hand in hand.

Very often don't go hand in hand. That's the problem.

'So it's character versus space in this property, it seems.'

Now I'm going to show them what this cottage has to offer upstairs,

where there are two good-sized double rooms for guests, both immaculately finished.

And a very stylish family bathroom, which comes with corner shower.

'But it's time to see where John and Penny could be sleeping.'

And, currently, this is the master bedroom.

-It's quite small, actually, isn't it?

-It is on the smallish side.

-We are used to a very big bedroom with a dressing area.

-Yeah.

So it would be quite a shock coming to something...

-A shock or a change.

-It would be a big change.

You weren't that bothered about upstairs, were you?

You wanted the downstairs space. I'm trying to convince you here.

Yes I am. Am I doing a very good job of it? No, I'm not!

Shall I give up now? Yes, I think I will!

Let's go outside, even if it's raining.

You lead the way, go on.

'Ever get the feeling you've lost the plot?'

Luckily, we're heading outside to view the garden, which is terraced

and walled with a paved courtyard, so it's certainly very manageable.

But the hidden bonus is a home office with power and telephone point,

which sits at the bottom of the garden.

So it's not the largest of gardens, but manageable, I think they say.

-Yes.

-What do you reckon it's on the market for?

-Hm. 290,000?

-OK. How about you?

I was thinking somewhere close to that at 285.

-Currently, it's on the market for £299,950.

-Right.

-Yeah.

So it's top end of the budget. You'd have 50 quid to spend!

More or less what I'd have expected, I think, for the property.

You have a look around. See if you can make the downstairs work for you

and I'll wait for you outside in the rain.

I'm all heart! See you in a bit.

At £50 short of their top budget of £300,000,

this charming property offers all the character they're after,

along with...

It was very good to find the office out in the garden.

That would be very useful, either for John to work in or for me to see customers.

The house, it has the period charm we're after.

The main part is 300 years. That's old, that's good,

getting away from what we've lived in the past.

This is around about right and it feels good.

-Seen enough?

-Yes, I think so.

-Come on, let's get in the car.

The West Somerset coastline offers some of the most breathtaking landscapes in Britain,

as Exmoor gives way to the scattering of historic villages that hug its cliffs.

Lying on the West coastal path, the village of Porlock may be a haven

for the leisure boats and fishing vessels today,

but historically, it was a seaport, used to transport local timber to South Wales.

Any visit to Porlock by road is certainly memorable,

thanks to the incredibly steep hill.

With a gradient of one in four,

early motor cars found it completely impassable.

In the late 1920s, however, during reliability tests,

a car finally made a record number of ascents up the hill

and was consequently named the Singer Porlock.

This part of Porlock's motoring heritage has been preserved at the Doverhay Garage.

With a collection of 24 vintage vehicles,

it will rev the engines of car enthusiasts John and Penny.

We set them to meet owner Stephen Johns,

who offered them a chance to get up close to Porlock's unique motoring heritage.

How did you start this collection?

Well, it's a long tale, but for 45 years I was a pyjama manufacturer,

till I got more sense and decided to sell my business up in Yorkshire.

And, well, we escaped to the country and came down here.

But I'd always been interested in collecting.

I had a very large scale collection at one stage.

Always cars, gradually got more and more and here it is.

The first car I bought was a lovely little butcher's van

And it's a super little thing. I was going to repaint it.

It came from Theydon Bois and has the butcher's name on.

It was so beautifully painted I thought, "No,

"I'm going to leave it as it is."

Stephen has around 3,500 visitors viewing his collection every year

and he's helped with the day-to-day running of the garage

with five volunteers, who share his motoring enthusiasm, just like John.

I hear you've got a passion for hill climbing,

-a member of the Bugatti Owners' Club?

-Yes.

I do enjoy hill climbing. I noticed you got a Type 40 behind us.

Rather a nice Bugatti here. I think you'd like to take that up the hill.

I've got a little vehicle up at the top,

which has got a bit of hill-climbing history,

-so shall we go and have a look at it?

-OK.

Stephen's record-setting model of the Singer Porlock sports car

is one of around half a dozen left in the world.

In 1928,

two mad guys decided they'd try and take this model up Porlock Hill,

which is a quarter of a mile down the road,

100 times in the day, which they did successfully.

But I actually bought it about six years ago.

They're quite a rare car

and I'm so delighted to have brought it back home to Porlock,

where it belongs.

The car that Stephen actually takes out on the road most regularly

is an eight-horsepower Wolseley, a British car dating back to 1904.

As there is only room for one passenger,

John's the lucky one taking a spin.

There's just one thing, John, before we go,

you've got to look the part, there's the hat.

-Thanks very much.

-Pleasure.

OK.

It was through this countryside that the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge

used to walk from his home at Nether Stowey

and there's now a 36-mile footpath called the Coleridge Way.

With this classic road trip fulfilling one dream for John,

it's time to shift up a gear as we head back

to our search for the perfect property for him and Penny.

For our second house, we've journeyed across the border into Devon

and the beautiful village of Clyst Hydon,

which is situated in countryside a couple of miles from the M5,

and a mere 35 minutes' drive from Penny's parents in Exeter.

This friendly community has all sorts of events taking place

at the village hall, from keep fit to flower arranging.

It also has its own swimming pool and cricket club.

If you fancy some pub grub, you can head to the 16th-century thatched inn.

You certainly wouldn't know it to look at it,

but just like our previous house, property two is around 300 years old.

But, as our buyers will see,

'the old part blends in well with the modern extension.'

Come on in. What do you think?

-Yes, I like it, just looking at it straight away.

-Do you?

-I do, yes.

Yes, it's not as pretty looking as the older stone cottage of the first house.

-That's true.

-I grant you that, but on first impressions, it's good.

-Semi-detached, so...

-Not a problem.

-Not a problem.

Cool, I like it when you say that. Shall we get in? Come on.

'Not a bad reaction from the outside, I think.'

But if John and Penny were hoping for a bit more character,

this property has lovely touches.

-Come on in.

-Wow.

-It's a very modern kitchen, isn't it?

-It's a very modern kitchen.

-I like this with all the modern look.

I like the beams in here and the range cooker over there

-with the beam across.

-It's one you can socialise in.

You know, you just move from here into the other part,

-or just stay here.

-A social kitchen.

The kitchen also has a small adjoining utility room,

which Penny will appreciate.

And the dining room is the perfect place to entertain.

You could say the same for our next reception room.

So this is the, er...

-This is the old bit of the house and this is the living room.

-Wow.

-Yes.

-That's very good.

-Yeah?

-I like the beams in here.

This is the most positive you have been so far,

you know that, don't you?

-You come into this room with gusto. Do you like it?

-I do, I like this.

It feels... I didn't know whether it is... Well, it's wider, isn't it?

-It feels a bit bigger.

-What about the functionality of the layout?

I presume you wouldn't be able to run your business

in the dining room, because it's open plan?

Yes, I wouldn't be able to shut the dogs away in a separate room.

Um, I suppose that could be changed by adding some doors.

If you didn't want to do that, if you like the open-plan aspect of it,

there is a garage, which is plastered with power points, the lot.

You know, basically put a window and door in there

-and you've got your own business away from the house.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

'We've given them one option for a work-from-home study.'

There's also another one upstairs, where there are two spare bedrooms.

Both have a lot of light and high ceilings

and those characteristic exposed timbers.

So either could definitely have future office potential.

There's also a very stylish, slate-tiled bathroom.

We're going to take a look at where Penny and John could be resting their weary heads.

Currently, this is the master bedroom.

This is smaller than I was expecting, after seeing the other two rooms.

But, er, it's fine, it's light and it's got the, er...

I suppose because we've got this vaulted ceiling,

there isn't a lot of storage space.

In two of the rooms you've got a bit of storage.

I don't now how much stuff you'd need to store up there, anyway.

We had a loft conversion done, anyway, so there's no attic.

OK, well, that's the house.

-And so far so good, I think. You quite like it?

-I do.

-I like it very much.

-You like it very much? Oh, that's good.

'I'm going to take Penny's reaction'

and run with it as the garden offers plenty of wow factor, too.

It's mostly laid out as decking, with seating overlooking a pond.

There's also a large, brick barbecue.

So this is very much a party place I would say, wouldn't you?

-Yes, it is the decking, yeah.

-What do you make of it?

Come out of the house and...

I'm not sure that I'd keep it all as a decked area.

I like the decking. I like a bit of decking now and again.

-I'm not too sure with quite so much.

-Well, you've seen it all.

You seem to be a lot more positive than you were about the first one.

Yes, even though it's old, it's got the slightly more modern look to it

and I much prefer the beams in this house.

What do you reckon it's on the market for?

-I think it's way over budget. I'll go with 325.

-£325,000.

-OK.

-And I'd say even higher than that. 350.

-£350,000.

-It is currently on the market the £299,950.

-That surprises me!

-I'm surprised.

-In a good way, obviously.

-Very much so.

Has that changed something, and made you like it even more?

There are definitely things we could do with it.

-You'd put up with the decking?

-PENNY LAUGHS

She would now! Go and have a look at the property.

Go and look at the garage, as well.

And I'll come and find you.

Or you come and find me, whichever's easier.

At £50 shy of their top budget of £300,000,

this gorgeous property offers everything they ask for and more.

It has loads of character, with those great beams throughout.

A large kitchen-diner with a range cooker.

A small utility room, three bedrooms.

A garage, which could be converted into an office or consulting room

and a very manageable garden.

This house is bordering on the edge of does it have enough character, doesn't it?

Yeah, I think when you come inside, yes it does.

It is that modern feel to it with plenty of character.

The outside, perhaps not as much,

but you can see that, yes, it is old,

it's been extended, but it's something I could live with.

I was very surprised that it was just under budget

rather than over budget, especially in this area.

Um, so it's definitely made it worth thinking about.

LAUGHTER

Hours I've been out here doing that(!)

-That was 1,300,000... Who am I kidding? Seen enough?

-Yep.

-Yes.

OK it's been a lot to take in, hasn't it?

So I think we should just call it a day, go back and regroup

-and we'll start again tomorrow.

-Great.

-OK.

So as dusk falls over the stunning Somerset countryside,

it marks the end of our first day of house hunting.

After years living in a modern property in Gloucester,

John and Penny are now hoping to trade up to a characterful home

in the heart of the Somerset countryside,

which offers them the potential to work from home

and allows them to be closer to Penny's family.

So far, they've had mixed reactions to a pretty stone cottage

and been charmed by the period features in our second home.

But, coming up, the mystery house really takes them by surprise.

-It's different. Wasn't expecting this at all.

-Good.

'And I roll out the Somerset barrel to see what'

they make here from the humble apple.

And so begins a new day.

We're in Somerset, helping John and Penny find their dream period property

bursting with character and space,

which, as we found out yesterday, is quite a tall order.

The first house we showed them had bags of charm,

but the size wasn't to Penny's liking.

Both of them seemed a lot more enamoured by the second, more modern house.

So bring on the mystery property. It's modern living in the extreme.

But will the open-plan aspect have them both joyfully parting with the pennies?

Or will John and Penny be parting with us?

-So we're off to the mystery property. Excited, nervous?

-Yes.

-Looking forward to it.

-Really? What would you love it to be, Penny?

To have the utility room of the first house,

the sort of rooms of the second house we saw yesterday.

-The terraced garden of the first house with the interior layout of the second house.

-Right.

-But...

-THEY LAUGH

You're not asking a lot, then(?)

We've travelled around 12 miles north of Taunton

to the village of Wembdon, which is just a couple of miles

from the nearest junction of the M5 and a 55-minute drive to Exeter.

Among the amenities are a local store with post office,

an impressive church where you can also get coffee and a slice of cake,

and there's also a pub with a B&B.

The mystery house was once a dairy to the adjacent old farmhouse,

which is also part of this development.

As it's all on one level, this property combines plenty of downstairs space,

which was high on their list, with the character features they've been longing for.

-First impressions?

-It's different.

-I wasn't expecting this at all!

-Good.

It's quite interesting, yes, being a sort of farm complex.

-Yes.

-It's more rural.

-It is.

-It's more rural. Not overlooked at all.

-Should we get in there?

-Yes, come on.

'It looks like John and Penny might need a bit more convincing.'

Hopefully, the fusion of modern and character inside will do the trick.

Let me bring you in to your living room.

Ah. It's very modern, isn't it?

That's a very open kitchen and living room.

It is...all of those things.

It is, all of those things, all at once.

I can imagine this room being utterly fantastic in the summer,

when you've got all these French windows open

allowing the outside to come in.

-Yes.

-And straight out, as well.

Can you see yourself living here, or is it just too open plan?

I couldn't really see myself here just in the one room.

It's a bit too open plan for me.

'I'm hoping that Penny might give this huge room another chance

'from another perspective. Let's try the kitchen end.'

-Good oak surface.

-Yeah, that's nice.

-Double butler sink, as well.

-Yes.

-Yes.

If you look at the room this way, take all the furniture out,

maybe put a wood burner down there, focal point for the room,

-it would make a great kitchen-dining room.

-It would.

When you look at it from this way, you can see that. Kitchen-diner would be great.

'That's a better reaction.'

Before I show them the rest of the space, I'm taking them to see the room they could be sleeping in.

-So this is the master bedroom.

-Oh! It's a nice size.

-Very good size.

-It's the largest we've shown you, I think.

-It is.

-This is very good.

And one thing we haven't been able to show you

in any of the other properties is an en suite.

-Oh, right.

-Right, has this got one?

-No. Yes, it has. Teased ya!

Yes, it has, go poke your head round.

-Really nice shower.

-Oh, yeah!

-Very good.

-Let's look at the other bedrooms

and see what you decide to do with them. Come on.

The other three bedrooms all share this modern bathroom

and, just like the master, they all have those full-length windows

and stylish stripped-oak floors, so offer a very adaptable space.

-So this bedroom is slightly larger than the other two.

-Right.

I'm thinking whether one of the bedrooms could be used as a lounge, or a snug.

-This could work as an office, as well.

-Yes.

It has access outside, so clients could come straight in.

Yes, an office for you or for me.

Are there more positives to this property than negatives?

More positive are coming now than when we initially walked into that room and thought...

-It couldn't get any worse, really, could it?

-LAUGHTER

This enormous space, you know, when we looked at it!

You seem to be coming round to it a lot more.

Definitely more now, after seeing the other rooms and possibilities

-of using one as an office space, or for my clients.

-It's ready made.

-It is.

'So the flexibility of the rooms here could just have saved the day.

'It's time to head outside, and the grounds offer just what they asked for,

'a pretty, no-fuss garden, which is big enough for the dogs.'

This is a very pleasant courtyard. Let's talk about it, shall we?

-What do you reckon it's on the market for?

-I haven't really got any idea.

But I'll have a guess at 310,000.

-OK.

-And I'm going to go on budget at 300,000, or very close to it.

It's currently on the market for £299,500.

Almost the same again.

-Yeah. All three have been pretty close. Yeah.

-On budget.

-What do you reckon?

-I think, for that money, it's very good value.

-Go back in.

Really use your imagination to try and imagine both of you living in that space.

-As usual, I'll wait for you at the front door.

-Right.

On the market at just £500 under their top budget,

this traditional-meets-modern barn conversion offers them everything they asked for.

It has...

Four bedrooms, which allows them the option of using one a study and one as a consulting room

and a manageable garden that's big enough for the dogs.

When we walked it initially into this house, it was, wow,

you know, what a big space.

I think we'd have to use one of the bedrooms as a lounge

rather than having everything into one big kitchen-lounge-dining area

to make it work a bit better for us.

One of the thing our criteria said is we don't mind going for a modern home,

but it had to have a lot of character to compensate for that.

Does this one have enough? I'm not so sure.

Listen, we've seen three very different operatives,

almost identical in price.

-Lots to talk about, so I think we should go somewhere nice to chew the cud.

-OK.

For centuries, man has farmed Somerset's fertile plains.

It was these fields that yielded King Arthur's ancient kingdom of Avalon.

The name Avalon derives from the old Welsh for "apples", so it should come as no surprise

that even Somerset's coat of arms displays the popular fruits.

Sadly, the traditional orchard has been on the decline for half a century,

with 60% of them lost from Britain's landscape since the 1950s.

There are now just three ancient cider orchards in the whole country.

The owner of one of these is Somerset local Julian Temperley,

who, 23 years ago, created the world's only apple-brandy farm.

Earlier in the week, he agreed to tell me more about this unique process.

Julian, thanks for showing me around this amazing orchard.

Well, no, it's fine, it's a joy to share it, actually,

even though it's a foul day.

It's not that good. How long have these trees been here?

These were planted about 30 years ago, by myself.

But Kingsbury Episcopi is one of the what's called vintage areas of growing apples,

where the terroir is right.

The soil, the climate, come together to produce excellent quality fruit.

It seems to me, with the blossom on the trees, I've come at the wrong time, haven't I?

Yes, I'm afraid this is a truly wonderful time

when all the blossom comes out.

But it'd be about six months before that is turned into apples.

But not all is lost.

This is the time for what we distil, cider brandy,

so we could go and have a taste that.

Hoping you'd say that! Come on, lead the way.

'A common tipple in British households in the 17th century,'

the art of making cider brandy died out long ago.

However, inspired by a demonstration he saw at a local cider museum,

Julian set his mind to reviving the drink

'and commercially produce it.'

-What an amazing piece of machinery.

-This is a still.

In the autumn, we press the apples, we ferment the apples,

and, after four months, when they're fully fermented, they come into here

and this turns the 7% cider into a 70% spirit.

So out of the still comes an eau de vie -

-water of life to you.

-Right.

-Have a taste of this.

-OK, cheers.

-Wow. It's amazing.

-It's lovely, isn't it?

-Yeah, really good.

It's the essence of apple, although brandy needs to be fatter and richer

and that all happens over time, but this is the raw material.

'The next stage for the eau de vie is to be put into barrels to age

and mature it into cider brandy, a process that can take up to 20 years.

Master blender Tim Edwards told me more.

Julian said I'd find you here. Good to meet you.

-He also told me to bring a couple of glasses.

-Excellent.

I've never seen so many barrels. They have different numbers. Tell me what you've got here.

These ones are from Spain. They come from sherry in Spain.

Whatever's been in the barrel before, I presume,

-impacts on what you put in them afterwards.

-Yes.

Sherry wood, they are fresh out of the bodegas,

so the wood is infused with sherry.

This is quite an old... This is an old sherry butt.

The spirit inside is from the year 2000, so it's 12 years old.

What would you expect that to taste like now?

It's going to be rich and full-bodied

and deep and almost Christmas puddingy.

You can almost smell that in the atmosphere here.

-Yes, that's what we call the angels' share.

-The angels' share?

The angels' share.

What's happening here is we're losing alcohol at quite a ferocious rate,

so the whole atmosphere is full of alcoholic fumes

-which go, of course, to the angels.

-Lucky things!

-Yeah. Quite.

And lucky me, because I'm going to get to taste the 12-year-old vintage brandy right now.

-So it's rich and it's.

-Wah!

-Much richer than the...

-Than the eau de vie.

-And how.

'This farm is now one of a select few, just like the vineyards of Champagne,'

to have a product granted protected geographic status,

which means this county is the only place in the world

that can produce cider brandy.

So its heritage on Somerset soil is assured.

That place is brandy heaven, isn't it?

I bet the angels above that farm are constantly light-headed!

Time now to find out whether John and Penny are giddy

about any of the properties we've shown them.

-It's been a good few days. hasn't it?

-Yes.

Let's talk about all three properties.

Unbelievably, they were close in valuation, weren't they,

-but totally different in character and feel.

-Yes.

-Let's start with the first one.

-From the outside, the look of it...

-It did look very pretty.

-I was that country cottage look, wasn't it?

-The rose bush outside?

-Yes, it was.

So what went wrong when you stepped inside?

It seemed a little bit claustrophobic,

the room seemed a little bit too small for us.

I felt that first moment of walking in, it didn't match the outside.

I did like the kitchen with the utility room, as well.

When you walked into the kitchen you weren't too keen

but the minute you saw the utility, you thought it's not that bad.

That would be very good, actually, for us, with the dogs coming in.

If it had been a foot and a half wider, that would have made all the difference.

If the first property didn't afford you that space you were after,

the second property most definitely did.

It did. When we saw it from the outside,

it looks quite as pretty and cottagey as the first one,

but, on the inside, it was very good.

I think, obviously, we keep coming back to the dogs,

but whilst it was open plan - and the way they did it was very good -

but you couldn't tell it was open plan just by standing in the kitchen.

The problem for us, at the moment, is how do you shut off parts of it?

We would have to, we couldn't leave it open plan, because of the dogs.

There's no separate utility room or anywhere to come in.

Do you create more of an entrance hall by putting up another wall

between the front door and where the kitchen is,

because that would create a large entrance area?

-There's different possibilities.

-Different possibilities with that one.

It was one that would interest us

-but we need to go back and have a look at it.

-Definitely think about that one.

OK. Well, the first one had lots of character,

the second one was slightly more modern.

The third one, well, we really pushed the boat out and I think it was too modern for you.

You didn't even want to step into that living room.

-You're not a big fan of open plan?

-Not completely open plan, no.

I've never really thought of looking anywhere that has been completely open plan.

You seemed to like it after a while?

Not at first. I thought, "What have we got here?"

It was a bit of a shock walking straight in

and it was so open and so bright.

There wasn't a bit of privacy in that bit.

-It had more rooms than all the other properties we've shown you.

-Yes.

Obviously, it probably had more floor space.

But that four-legged word.

The D-O-Gs come into it again. Dare we mention them any more?

That was a problem, because there was no area

where you could just wash them off or dump them in the house.

-They'd be in the kitchen.

-Yes.

It would.... Yeah.

Can you imagine yourself living in that one?

Not that one in particular.

I think, after a while, you'd get used to it.

I think the location is probably... It's not quite the right location for us.

Well, I hope you do find your lovely period property

with lots of character, lots of space, of course,

and a separate door for the dog and a couple of separate offices.

And, er, you could be looking a long time!

But, honestly, it has been a joy meeting you

and I really do wish you all the best in the future.

-It's been very interesting, thank you very much.

-It's a pleasure.

Now I'll race you on the cakes. Let's go!

We set out looking to inspire John and Penny with a little country charm.

All the properties we showed them had bags of character,

maybe not the character that they were really after.

John did say that Penny was the boss and she has a definite idea in her head of what she wants in a house.

I don't think we realised that vision.

To be honest with you, I'm not 100% sure what it is.

One thing is for certain,

we helped them clarify what they don't want in their new home

and that's open-plan living. So, in a way we've helped, haven't we?

I wish them well in their search.

I'll see you next time on Escape To The Country.

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

Northern Ireland or England, and need our help,

please apply online....

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd