Devon Escape to the Country

This Elizabethan farmhouse was the birthplace

of one of England's most famous explorers.

He's most renowned for bringing us tobacco

and the humble potato from the New World.

So, you probably don't have to dig too deep to work out who he was.

But do you know which county he was born in? Find out in just a moment.

Today, we're finding a home for a couple

and their holiday houseguests.

-We get off to a good start...

-Oh! What a welcome! Isn't that lovely?

..but it could be tricky choosing who takes priority.

Fabulous. That's too nice for your guests, this one.

Well, this is the problem with this house!

Today we're in Devon, and this is Hayes Barton,

and it was here in 1552 that saw the birth of Sir Walter Raleigh.

Or "Rawley" or "Railey", depending on how you pronounce his name.

And it's extraordinary that this building is pretty much as it was in Raleigh's time -

still being used as a private dwelling in the middle of a farm.

And you can see it also has this distinctive Devon porch

in the centre, which forms the letter E,

in honour of the monarch of the time, Queen Elizabeth.

And although Raleigh spent most of his time

in the monarch's court in London, he never lost his love for this county,

or, indeed, his thick Devonian accent.

Indeed, it's said that Elizabeth throughout his life teased him by calling him...

-(DEVONIAN ACCENT)

-.."Dear Walter."

The only county in the UK with two separate coastlines, Devon is

bordered by Cornwall in the west and Somerset and Dorset in the east.

The north coast is home to some of the finest beaches in the country.

Its wild Atlantic Ocean is a surfer's paradise.

The south coast overlooking the English Channel is more serene.

The calmer waters make it an ideal spot for sailing.

The naturally sheltered bays here are home to pretty fishing villages

such as Salcombe and Dartmouth, both popular tourist destinations.

Inland, Devon has a lot going for it, too.

One of its two National Parks is Dartmoor,

with its rugged terrain and vast open landscape.

Its famous tors were formed 280 million years ago.

The east of the county is more pastoral and peaceful,

and much of the land is protected.

Dramatic sea cliffs in the eastern region

are part of the world-famous Jurassic Coast.

Across Devon as a whole, the average price for a detached house

is £286,000, which is £30,000 above the national average,

although you do have to bear in mind that that's slightly distorted

by the presence of very popular sailing resorts like Salcombe and Dartmouth,

where houses routinely sell for double the national figure.

Further inland, you get more for your money,

particularly in the beautiful Blackdown Hills,

although around Honiton, in east of the county, prices are still holding strong,

largely due to the presence of great transport links to London -

it's just two hours from Exeter -

and also good schools and very lovely country housing stock.

So, with that in mind, let's see what our buyers today are looking for.

Having lived in Orpington, southeast London,

for two decades, it's not surprising to learn what's driving

today's buyers, Deborah and Clive, into the countryside.

The big roads. We live on a main road.

It's very noisy, so we'd really like to go and have a peaceful existence.

And we're just looking to get away from the M25

and move down to a very beautiful, rural part of the countryside.

But that's not all that's prompting the move.

Deborah has plans for a new holiday let business.

I've always wanted to do a B&B for about the last five years, really,

and originally we thought we might go up to Scotland and do it,

but we've decided now that we won't do that.

It's a bit cold up there. So we've decided we would do it down in Devon.

While Clive will continue to work for a brewery company in London during the week,

for Deborah it's a chance to continue a family tradition in the county.

My parents had a hotel. First of all they had one in Paignton,

and then they did that for many, many years,

and then they bought one down in Budleigh Salterton on the seafront.

So, I have a little inkling of, you know, what happens.

Although their grown-up children have left the nest,

they'll still need somewhere for their pets.

We have two dogs, golden retrievers, Becs and Chablis.

Becs is the mother, and she had eight puppies,

and we kept one of them, Chablis.

And I do hope in about two years' time when we move,

we need to have some sort of outbuilding so that I can breed Chablis,

because I'd very much like to have another litter of puppies.

But they're not the only ones coming with them.

We've had chickens for a number of years.

We'd certainly take the chickens with us. And maybe breed some more.

We bred some of those chickens anyway.

Alongside the running of their new B&B,

the couple hope to continue with their hobbies.

Well, in our spare time, we mainly do drama.

We both of us belong to the local drama group. We do plays four times a year.

When we move to Devon, we're definitely going to find ourselves a drama group,

and, in fact, we've already been looking to see what's about down there.

And Devon will also offer them the chance to try something new.

One of the new hobbies that we'd like to take up is sailing,

and so we'd like to have a property that's not too far from the sea,

within maybe a half hour or 40 minutes of a reasonable

harbour that we can have a small sailing boat in.

It's an opportunity to meet new people down in Devon.

With an offer already made on their current home,

Deborah and Clive have a good idea of what they've got to play with.

We're looking for a house probably at around £800,000 to £850,000.

Clive and Deborah have asked us to concentrate our property search

in the east of the county around the market town of Honiton.

I've come to the hills just south of Honiton to meet our buyers.

Now, why Devon? Is your mum round here?

My mother lives in Budleigh Salterton, so I'm really coming home,

cos this is where I was brought up, down in Devon.

In terms of the house, though, I'm quite interested in this

move of yours to sort of do B&B and do holiday lets.

-Change of career for me.

-And have you really thought through how it will be,

having strangers in your house every other week?

Yeah, we've really thought about it, yes, and I'm really quite...

I like people, I like to communicate with people

and chat with people, and I'm really quite happy to do that.

The sort of property we're looking for,

we don't want them literally on top of us.

We're rather hoping we'll be able to find something

that's got the area slightly separate, maybe.

And what sort of a property do you want? What's the spec of the house?

We're looking for two, maybe three en suite B&B rooms

that we can let out, obviously for B&B.

-Or potential to make.

-Or potential to make them into en suite.

-And we need a couple of rooms for ourselves.

-So, five minimum? Five big, workable rooms?

-Yes, really five minimum.

-Six would be nice. But five, certainly, yes.

-Yes.

And then some degree of outbuildings where we could develop that

into some form of self-catering let.

So, you see it that way around? You'd do the B&B first, and then the holiday let?

-I think we would.

-Yes, but not necessarily.

If something is the other way round, then that's fine.

And are you sort of "roll up your sleeves and let's knock down some walls" sort of people?

-We have done in the past.

-We've done that. We've significantly rebuilt our house over the last 20 years,

and we would do the same thing here if we had to, yes.

-You're willing to do a bit of work?

-Yes, absolutely.

Well, it's a beautiful day for looking at properties,

and we've found three beautiful properties, I think,

so I'm quite excited to show them to you.

-Er... How does this area suit?

-Stunning. Absolutely stunning.

-Beautiful.

-It's truly beautiful, yeah. The rolling hills.

-This is where we want to be, isn't it?

-Yes.

-How about down there?

-Yes, that's stunning, too.

-It is.

-That one there?

-How about that property there?

-That looks gorgeous.

-Off we go, then. Follow me.

-Oh, wow! Is that one of them?

-Is that where we're going?

-Oh, right, OK!

Clive and Deborah have a budget of £850,000 to spend in East Devon.

They'd prefer an older property with five or six bedrooms,

three of those for their bed-and-breakfast business.

They'd also like some land attached, at least an acre,

with some outbuildings for self-catering accommodation,

either already converted or with

the potential to be transformed into holiday lets.

We've got three wonderful Devonian properties to show Deborah and Clive,

and I'll be revealing the price of each at the end of the tour.

Our mystery house, the final offering,

should give our suburbanites something to put their stamp on.

Our first house is in the countryside just a few miles

south of Honiton itself, which is attractive market town with

a full range of shops and some impressive Georgian architecture.

It's best known for a lace-making cottage industry

dating back to the late 16th century.

The town's expensive handmade fabric is much sought after

and became a favourite of the Royals.

In fact, Queen Victoria ordered Honiton lace for her wedding dress.

A five-minute drive outside of the town,

and you're surrounded by rolling hills, which is the setting for our first house.

-Here we are.

-Wow!

-House number one.

-That looks nice.

-Wonderful.

-Very pretty.

-It's pretty, isn't it?

Yeah, it is very pretty. We hadn't actually considered barn conversions.

That's something... So this will be a first for us.

This is obviously originally a very old agricultural building,

but it was completely revamped in 2003,

and what they did was they converted the main barn into their living

dwelling, and then they have this side building as a holiday let.

-It looks very nice. It does look very nice indeed.

-Very nice.

The nice thing about this property is of course that it's old,

but inside it's quite modern.

-That's good. That's very good.

-I'm looking forward to seeing it.

-Yes, me too.

-Shall we have a peek inside?

-Yes.

-Yes, please.

-Come with me.

Our barn conversion seems to have made a good first impression on our

buyers, and there's the bonus of the ready-made holiday let for Deborah.

-Come on in. Close the door behind you, Clive.

-Thank you.

We're going to head straight through to the kitchen.

-That's a kitchen!

-Come on in a bit.

-Lovely kitchen.

-It's huge.

-Spacious, bright and airy. Very nice.

Yes, if you did B&B, for instance, would your guests eat here? Is there another dining room?

There is space back here. There's a snug here...

Yes, maybe you could turn that into a dining room.

-..which could also be the guest dining room.

-Yes.

-There are several options.

-Yes.

It's certainly a good-sized kitchen, without a doubt.

-Something you wanted was a large farmhouse-type kitchen.

-I do want a nice, big kitchen.

Let's look at more of your living space.

The house is arranged in a C-shape around a central courtyard,

and one wing is reserved for the self-contained holiday let.

The accommodation here includes a spacious kitchen-diner,

a gallery bedroom which sits in the eaves,

and a twin bedroom below that, easily enough space for a family of four.

As we weave our way through the main house,

we pass a utility room and downstairs toilet.

-Come on in to this spectacular room.

-Wow!

This is certainly something, isn't it?

So, this is the centrepiece of the house, in many ways, I think.

You've got this lovely dining area here,

-and then it goes much further down here.

-Really nice. Really gorgeous.

It's interesting because when they convert these buildings,

-getting skylights is quite a trick, from the planning office.

-Yes, yes.

So they managed to get these three.

It just throws so much natural light into the building.

What do you think of the...? Obviously the fireplace is quite dominant. Is it to your taste?

-Oh, yeah, I like it.

-The fireplace is good, yes, it's nice.

-I like it.

-Yes, you can certainly picture yourself sitting here around the fireplace.

-Yes, I can do.

-So, is it growing on you?

-I think it is, yes. It is.

Upstairs, there are four bedrooms.

Two of those are decent-sized singles,

although one is being used as a study, and there's also a family bathroom.

But with Deborah's holiday guests in mind,

I want to show them how they might configure the two double bedrooms

to get the maximum income from the new business.

So, this is up in the rafters. This is the master suite.

-Right.

-So you have a walk-in wardrobe, a nice shower room.

-Quite sumptuous.

-Yes. Plenty of it.

Is this good in terms of your sleeping space?

Well, we have a very big bedroom at the moment, but we're not expecting

to find a bedroom as big as ours, but actually, this is OK.

-This is a good size.

-Definitely a good size.

But what I'd like to show you... If we go down here, I can explain a bit more.

-And then there's this room, a double room.

-Right.

-And this has a little en suite bathroom.

-Decent size.

-Works well.

-Yep.

But what we were thinking is, this has a separate staircase that

goes down to a quite big room at the bottom, so we were thinking

that one possibility is to have this as another separate holiday let.

-Ah, right, yes.

-It's possible, yes.

-So, put in a little kitchen downstairs, sort of dining room.

-Have this as the single room upstairs.

-Yes.

So then you'll have a one-bedroom holiday let

-and a two-bedroom holiday let.

-And no B&Bs.

-And no B&Bs.

-Yes, that's...

-That's other option.

-Let's go out to the garden and talk about how much it all costs.

-Mmm. Most important part of it.

The property comes with two and a half acres of paddock,

as well as a private garden, which is mainly laid to lawn.

Is this sort of what you're looking for? How do you see the land lying?

I'd prefer to have a bit more than this, really.

-Yes, two acres is our bottom end of size.

-Yes, minimum.

What are you going to use this land for? Four acres is a lot of land.

I just want it there. I just want to be able to look at it.

Not necessarily use it for anything, I just want to know

that we've got some land that we can wander around with the dogs.

And not necessarily use it for anything, really.

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

-About 795,000.

Yes, I would say just below £800,000.

This property is on the market for 750.

Oh, OK. That's a pleasant surprise, actually.

That actually is encouraging, because we know we can afford a bit

more than that, so that gives us a bit more to play with.

Why don't you go and actually have a look inside the holiday let

-just to get your bearings there, and I'll see you at the front?

-OK.

-Lovely.

-Right, thank you.

On the market for £750,000,

our first house comes in well under budget.

It's a barn conversion arranged around a courtyard.

It comes with an up-and-running holiday let,

and the option to create a second self-contained unit.

The accommodation in the main part of the house includes

a spacious living room and four bedrooms.

The outside space comprises a private garden and

two and a half acres of land.

When we first came into the house we were pleasantly surprised.

It is a large, bright, airy house

that has been very sympathetically put together.

It was quite an eye-opener for me to come into a barn conversion.

I've never been in one before.

A lovely house, superb location,

but not really for me,

mainly because of the close proximity of all the other houses round about.

-It's so beautiful, this garden. Hello, guys. Good timing.

-Hello.

-So, we're going to finish up here and move on to house number two.

-Perfect.

-Follow me.

Devon's southern coastal towns are rooted in their seafaring

heritage, one of which is Brixham.

In the late 18th century,

the fishermen of the town, keen to exploit limited fishing stocks,

developed a new design of vessel, the deep-sea trawler.

Only a few survive today, including this one, Golden Vanity.

Since Clive and Deborah are keen to take up sailing here in Devon,

we sent them to meet Toby Russell, director of Trinity Sailing,

the charity responsible for conserving the original and rare Brixham-born vessels.

So, for what purpose were the boats originally built?

They were built for trawling, deep-sea trawling at sea,

and actually, they were a revolutionary design at the time.

And what that allowed fishermen to go out and do was to trawl

deeper in the water and for longer periods of time.

Have the boats always been based in Brixham?

They were originally built all around the county,

some were built in Brixham in the Heritage Fleet,

and some were built locally on the River Dart.

But then they were all dispersed over time,

and Trinity came about, really, by bringing three of those boats

together and bringing them back to Brixham,

and that kick-started the Brixham Heritage Fleet that we now have.

-So, what are they like to sail?

-Lovely.

And you'll get the chance to go on Golden Vanity today.

The impact of the Brixham trawler was immense.

Trawling deeper and for longer resulted in larger catches.

Its sleek design and tall gaff rigging

gave it both power and speed,

and it was copied all over the world.

By the late 19th century,

there were 3,000 trawlers operating in the UK waters alone.

But as skipper Matt Gilchrist explains, there's a knack to sailing them.

-It certainly looks more complicated.

-It looks more complicated.

There's a lot more rope and blocks and stuff to master.

But, you know, within about a week of sailing on the boat,

you can be quite comfortable pulling on the various ropes.

So, obviously we wouldn't have a gaff boat, so what sort of boat

would you recommend for us to buy, for a beginner?

I think, really, it depends on what boat you have sailed on before,

but ultimately I would go for either a metal hull or a fibreglass hull.

-Yes.

-That'd mean then that you're not having lots of maintenance to do in the winter.

As lovely as wooden hulls are, they do require quite a lot of tender, loving care.

And really, with the rig, you don't want to be going out there

with a huge sail that you can easily overpower.

So you want something which is going to be quite comfortable

and safe, so you might actually have something which has got... Under rigged boat,

so the sails are much smaller.

Now that Deborah and Clive have learned the ropes,

it's time to get back to the house hunt to see

what we've caught in our trawl through Devon's best properties.

For our second property, we are heading 12 miles north

to the village of Hemyock, which is part of the Blackdown Hills,

an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The nearby village of Culmstock offers a range of facilities,

including a church, shops and a deli,

which operates out of the former post office.

The village stretches out on both sides of the River Culm

and is connected by an old stone bridge.

A few miles upstream from the village, in the Culm Valley,

is our second offering.

Here we go.

-That's pretty. Very pretty.

-That's wonderful, absolutely wonderful.

The whole setting is super. Absolutely super.

It belonged to the miller, who, when he got posh and rich,

moved away from the mill which was down...further away,

because it was too noisy, and built himself this Victorian, grand house

with the barn next to it, which was then extended.

-So the barn's a bit older.

-Mm-hm.

-And then you also have the granary cottage there...

-Yes.

-..which is also yours. Obviously you are on the banks of the River Culm.

-Yep.

-Yes.

Beautiful bit of land.

All this land is yours, this whole riverside bank.

-I'm looking forward to going inside, I really am.

-Yeah, I am, too.

-Well, let's have a look inside.

-Yes, please.

-Yes, looking forward to that.

-Yes.

The setting of our second house, with its river frontage,

has impressed our buyers,

and I'm pretty confident Clive and Deborah will like the inside.

It's hard not to.

Here we are.

-What a welcome! Isn't that lovely?

-Very cosy.

-Cosy.

-Beautifully appointed.

-Very nice.

-Yes, and view!

-Super view. Super, super view.

-Absolutely lovely view.

It's a lovely room, isn't it? Absolutely lovely. Gorgeous. Gorgeous.

-It's cracking, yes. I don't really need to say much.

-No, you don't.

-This could be your room...

-Yes.

-Or this could be a very nice sort of B&B lounge.

-Right, OK.

-Right.

But there are options with this vast property.

The downstairs accommodation also includes this dining room, a family

snug room with an open fireplace, a small study and a garden room.

And let's not forget the kitchen.

-Very pretty.

-Country kitchen.

-Yes, it's lovely.

-Is that an original beam?

-Yes, this was the oldest part of the house.

This would have been the sort of old dairy to the farmhouse.

-If you're thinking about how you're going to entertain your B&B guests...

-Yes.

-Sort of, where you would be...

-Well, you'd feed them, I suppose, in the dining room, wouldn't you?

And we would have in here.

We would want to have a lounge area for us that was separate, definitely.

-Which this would be.

-Which this certainly would be.

That sort of makes sense, but then you lose that lovely sitting room.

-Yes.

-Well, we'd have to choose.

-Let's look at the bedrooms first

-and make our minds up after that, see if they're suitable.

-Let's do it.

The house comes with six bedrooms, five of them are on the first floor.

They're all a good size, and there are three bathrooms -

plenty of space and facilities for Deborah and Clive's guests.

We're bypassing the current master so I can show them my favourite bedroom.

-What a lovely room!

-Lovely room, isn't it? Beautiful.

-What a lovely room. The ceiling...

-Fantastic, isn't it?

-Fabulous.

-That's too nice for your guests, this one.

-Well, this is the problem with this house.

-There's lots of rooms where you think, "Too nice to give to a B&B guest."

-Yes, definitely.

-This one has got a balcony.

-Yes, with all the views.

Well, if that wasn't enough choice, there's some more.

Deborah and Clive would prefer to live separately from their B&B

guests, and I have something in mind which will offer them that privacy

up on the next floor.

-I didn't expect this! I really didn't expect this.

-No, nor did I.

-This is fab, is it?

-It's stunning, isn't it?

-This is a beautiful... ANOTHER beautiful room.

-So light!

So, there's a very good possibility that you could make

-this your master suite.

-I think I'd be tempted to do that.

Actually, that's a really good idea, I hadn't thought about that.

There are so many options in this building, but this is one possibility,

-that this floor is then your private floor, and the floor below are all B&Bs.

-Mmm.

I think that's a good idea. A very good idea.

As well as the multitude of possibilities for putting up guests in the main house,

the adjacent 18th-century granary cottage is already

a fully functional holiday let with two bedrooms.

Then there's the outside space -

the sprawling riverside grounds include a covered dining area,

a stables block and an impressive veggie patch.

In all, the land amounts to just over two acres.

-So, look, you have this amazing little sort of bluebell wood.

-Yeah, lovely.

And you can see you've got some very elaborate raised beds there if you want to do some vegetables.

I think we could convert some of it perhaps into our chicken run, which would be nice.

But very beautiful gardens. Is this what you're looking for?

-As near as, yes. It's...

-It's pretty close.

-Pretty close.

-How much do you think it costs?

-Oh, dear.

-I would say in the 800s.

I reckon about 835.

-Clive?

-Yes, as much as I like the property, I think

it's on the market for a little bit lower.

I think around 800,000.

Well, this property is on the market for 795.

-795.

-That's less than I thought. A lot less than I thought.

-795. Well, that's... OK.

-That's good. It's encouraging, isn't it?

So maybe you go back in there and have a look in there,

and I'll see you out one of the many front doors.

-All right. Thank you, we'll do that. Thanks, Alistair.

-Lovely.

-Thank you, bye!

Oh! This is a no-brainer, surely! This is absolutely beautiful.

Everything about it is gorgeous and in budget!

What's the problem? Buy it!

On the market for £795,000, our second property

is under Clive and Deborah's budget.

The accommodation includes a spacious living room

and kitchen, and there are additional reception rooms.

It comes with six bedrooms, one of which is a large attic room.

The price includes a self-contained holiday let in the adjoining

granary cottage, and the property is set on the banks of a river

with over two acres of land.

I love the house, beautiful house. Stunning location.

Very, very attractive.

But regarding the B&B, there's loads and loads of different opportunities.

There's four different rooms that we could change around.

My only one worry is our two dogs, who are very fond of the water,

and would we ever be able to keep them out of the river?

It's in an absolute idyllic setting, with the river

running down the side. The upstairs bedrooms, a couple are absolutely superb.

The one at the top is amazing. It's a super property.

Great. Well, if you just pull the door behind, we are done for the day.

-Absolutely super.

-It was a good end, wasn't it?

-We've had a great day.

-Really enjoyed ourselves.

-Time for a rest.

-Yes.

-Absolutely.

It's the final day of our property search,

and on a budget of £850,000, we are helping Deborah and Clive

swap the sounds of suburbia for the delights of Devon.

Coming up...the mystery house gives our buyers a new perspective.

Splendid views. Absolutely stunning. You can see for miles, can't you?

And I find that just talking about cheese isn't enough.

I'll have to eat some now, otherwise I'm going to go crazy.

I have to confess I loved that house by the river yesterday,

but I'm not sure in my waters that it's the one Debbie and Clive will choose,

partly, I think, because it's too perfectly the present owner's house,

and it would feel like they were stepping into somebody else's shoes.

So, for the mystery house, we're going a little further afield

into Somerset and giving them another very beautiful property.

Big, lots of land, but maybe with the potential for them

to put their mark on it.

So, we are off to see the mystery house.

What do you hope or fear that that involves?

I'm expecting to see something perhaps that you might think

is going to be a bit of a project, because the last two houses

you've shown us have been basically ready to go.

Clive, are you in accord with that?

Yes, that would be an exciting project to undertake,

to actually convert something into a bed-and-breakfast

or a self-catering let. We would certainly be up for that.

As long as it's not too much work, though.

We don't want to be starting from a complete ruin, you know? SHE CHUCKLES

For our mystery house, we're hopping over the border

into Somerset, to the hamlet of Sellicks Green.

It's in the heart of the Blackdown Hills,

and the closest village to our third property

is Blagdon Hill,

which has a range of amenities, including shops,

playing fields, and a pub that also serves as a community post office.

A mile down the road, in the hamlet of Sellicks Green, is our final house.

Although we've left Devon, I'm really hoping that this property will give

Clive and Deborah something to think about.

-This is the mystery house.

-Right.

-It's not what you were thinking in the car.

-No, it isn't.

It looks like it's in good condition and it's been very well restored.

-Yes, and it's difficult to tell how old it is.

-It is, yes.

It almost looks new, but one assumes it's not.

-It's not new, it's from about the early 20th century, 1900s.

-Yes.

-It was a dairy farm.

-OK.

-So the mystery is that we're slightly over into Somerset...

-Yes.

And it's...

It's a sort of... kind of interesting proposition,

-because you could make it work as a B&B straight away.

-Right.

But there's potential here for you to do something new.

Intriguing. OK.

-Shall we have a look inside?

-Yes, please.

-Yes, please.

-Very keen.

A former dairy farm, our mystery house was completely renovated around ten years ago.

It gives Deborah B&B options, but it is smaller than our previous

properties, and there's no holiday let - at the moment, at least.

-Come through into the kitchen.

-Wow! What a lovely kitchen!

-Beautiful kitchen.

-Fantastic.

-Look at that!

-Isn't that so unusual, the rounded part?

-Do you know what that is?

-No. Tell me.

-That's a well.

-Oh, really?!

-Yes. If you look down, you can see right into the well.

-I'd like to do that.

-Oh, right. We'll have to look at that.

Wonderful. It's gorgeous, isn't it?

It's not at all what you expect, is it, from the outside?

No, not at all what you expect from the outside.

I mean, you'd just come straight in here, there's nothing to do, is there? It's all beautifully done.

It's not listed and it has the potential for a lot of extensions,

because there's planning for extension that covers this whole

area here, right across to the arch out there.

A two-storey extension.

You might not want to do that, but the point is that

the planning officers are clearly OK with putting something new on.

This house has fewer reception rooms than yesterday's second property,

but "potential" is the word I want our buyers to remember here.

The extension being just one possibility.

And this is the lovely sitting room.

-Yes, it's a nice room, isn't it? Nice, spacious room.

-Yeah.

It's a much simpler layout than yesterday,

which was obviously quite complicated, with all the different rooms,

and this is a big sitting room, and there is a little sort of dining room through those doors,

which could be yours, or something else, a study or something.

-OK.

-I like the windows. The windows are lovely.

-Lovely sash windows.

I mean, they are a real feature of the house, aren't they?

Although they're being very polite,

I sense our mystery proposition isn't hitting the mark yet.

I'm hoping the bedrooms upstairs will win them over.

They're arranged over two floors.

The first floor has four good-sized bedrooms. One of those is en suite.

But there's also a family bathroom.

The whole of this floor could be given over to bed-and-breakfast

accommodation, leaving the top floor bedroom for Clive and Deborah.

So, this is a great room.

-Lovely room.

-It is.

-Really bright.

-Yes, it's marvellous. Absolutely lovely.

-Airy.

It's a stunner, isn't it? Because you have your bed...

Either end, I suppose. Bed here, and then bathroom.

You've got a walk-in wardrobe that side,

and this is a sort of little sitting, relaxing area.

Yes, beautifully done. Balcony. Gin and tonics in the evening.

Let's step out on the balcony and you can see the land.

-Come out here.

-Splendid views. Absolutely stunning.

-That's wonderful, isn't it? Absolutely.

-Absolutely gorgeous.

You can see for miles, can't you?

-Well, what's really nice is that actually most of this is yours.

-OK. Wow.

-We're sitting on about five acres of land.

-Five acres?

-Five acres?

It's this hedge, all the way along the hedge,

down to the cottage in the corner, all along the lane, all of the garden, obviously, is yours.

Let's go outside, and I can point out what you might be able to do

-in terms of B&B, and we can talk about the price.

-OK.

Our former dairy farm gives our buyers more land than yesterday's offerings,

and the option of milking the holiday let business for all it's worth,

possibly even building on the field, subject to planning permission.

-To tempt them into it, there's even a ready-made chicken pen.

-Chickens!

-Now, clearly your house is on the corner of the plot.

-Yep.

But it is a big five-acre plot. But also, this rather charming outhouse

-of corrugated iron...sort of almost like beach house chic.

-Yes.

-Which you could turn into a holiday let.

-Yeah, absolutely.

So how much do you think it's on the market for?

-I think you want me to guess first this time, don't you?

-I do.

And I'm actually going to go on the lower side

and I'm going to go to 725. 725,000.

-OK.

-I think a bit more than that because of the amount of land

and the fact that they've planning permission, so I think 775.

Ah, in this instance you're very close. It's on the market at 770.

-So...

-Oh, there we are, then. Yes.

I would think that, because of the amount of land that it's got, and the planning permission.

-It's always more when you've got planning permission involved.

-Yes.

So, why don't you go inside and explore a bit more those rooms

-on the second floor?

-OK.

-And I'll see you at the front.

-Right, thank you.

-Thank you.

At offers around £770,000,

our mystery house is £80,000 under Clive and Deborah's maximum

budget, leaving them room to expand the property.

It's a former dairy farm which has been redesigned by its current owners.

The accommodation includes a spacious,

contemporary kitchen and sitting room.

There are five good-sized bedrooms, including a large master attic room,

and there's planning permission in place to build

a two-storey extension,

and there are outbuildings to convert

on the five acres of land that comes with this property.

It's been finished to a very high standard, the kitchen in particular.

The views are fantastic.

I don't think the property would work for us at all.

I think bed and breakfast would be difficult, to say the least.

Although there are options and potential to do a B&B,

and possibly a holiday let, what would I live on to start with?

It would take quite a long time to do that.

And I would need some sort of income while we're doing it,

so I don't really think that's an option, to be honest.

So, all done. You guys head to the car, I'll catch you up in a second.

Of course, Debbie and Clive are looking at a specific price range here in East Devon,

but there are lots of properties for every pocket, so take a look.

If you're interested in a home with history, this Victorian

coach house has been converted into a complex of six properties.

Located in the village of Upottery, the double-storey two-bedroom

units are on the market for offers around £225,000.

Another historic property is this Grade II listed thatched cottage

in the village of Rawridge, on the market for just shy of £480,000.

Dating back to the 16th century,

it features a main lounge with large windows overlooking

the garden, and a sitting room, as well as three bedrooms.

Finishing off our history lesson is this five-bedroom Grade I listed

former chantry in the village of Combe Raleigh,

priced at £699,000.

Built in the 1500s, stepping inside is like stepping back in time,

and the accommodation includes a magnificent sitting-room

with a beamed ceiling, and a master bedroom

that was probably the former chapel.

Devon and the other counties that make up the West Country form the

true historic home of Cheddar, the UK's most popular variety of cheese.

Cheddar-making originated in that region in the 12th century.

Today, it's largely produced in bulk,

but there are still a few artisan cheesemakers

left in the West Country who are producing it by hand.

I'm meeting the only female cheesemaker of these

traditional Cheddars, Mary Quicke, whose family have been

farming here in Devon for over 400 years.

I can just hear the sound of munching. Munch, munch, munch.

And you do something fairly unusual with your cows.

What we have are, we have these crossbred cows, hybrid cows.

-Different breeds that are very hardy and fertile.

-OK.

And they really, really like grazing.

-So they're girls who like to graze?

-Girls who like to graze.

They produce a milk that has given us a beautiful, buttery note to the cheese.

-They are milked how many times?

-Twice a day.

The milk is then sent over to the dairy.

The unique part of the traditional cheesemaking process is known as cheddaring.

The slabs of curd are cut,

stacked and turned by hand to help drain the whey.

Mary's most famous Cheddar is her mature variety,

which is stored for up to 12 months before it's ready.

Naturally, I'm rather keen to try some.

So, shall we just go on the look first, then we'll do the taste later?

-Yeah.

-So, these are getting older, are they?

-Yes, this is mature, and then this is vintage.

The older the cheese, the greater the...

Not necessarily the strength of flavour, but the depth and intensity.

-And this final one?

-And this is our smoked cheese.

I have to eat some now, otherwise I'm going to go crazy.

-OK, let's start.

-This is the... What did you call it? Buttery?

-Buttery.

-I just think...

-AKA, mild.

Do you want to see what the cheesemakers do?

-Of course, yes, teach me all the tricks.

-We squidge.

-Really?!

So, particularly when cheese is young,

but it also warms it up, so it brings the flavour...

It's like it matures it a little.

So if you're serving cheese, you should always let it breathe

and warm up to room temperature?

-Yeah.

-Like wine.

-Yeah, like wine, that's right. Then I smell.

-Now you can taste.

-Thanks.

-It's not like a normal cheese, it's really... Yes, creamy.

-Mmm.

-It's going right to the back of my palate.

-Mmm.

-It tastes sort of almost sweet.

-Slightly fruity.

-Slightly fruity.

Some of those really acidy ones I don't... They don't really agree with me.

I'm looking for these flavours that really go right

through your palate, and you have this length, whereas if you've got

acidity, you just get this spike at the front, and then it's gone.

Let's try the oak-smoked one.

Mmm!

It's a very different consistency. Oh!

That's quite zingy. That's quite... Feels quite...

Mary organises regular cheese- and wine-tasting events at her farm,

but Cheddar doesn't have to be paired just with wine.

The main thing is that tasting cheese should be enjoyable.

-One of the most interesting pairings I had was with our mature Cheddar and a Darjeeling tea.

-Ah!

-My grandmother used to have very strong cheddar and fruitcake.

-Ah, lovely!

-That was a great pairing, too.

-Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, you can have such fun with it.

Mary, do you know, you're an amazing ambassador for all things cheesy,

-and I say that in the nicest way. Thank you so much.

-BOTH CHUCKLE

Time to find out what Clive and Debbie are thinking.

I'm pretty sure I know that they liked the second house best,

but I'm not entirely convinced whether they'll proceed on it. Let's find out.

Well, we got to the end of a lovely week here in East Devon.

It's been really... I really have enjoyed it.

Yes, it's been a really fun few days... It's been magnificent.

I suppose the burning question is, has it furthered your house search?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, it has. Yes, it has. We have seen one house in particular

-out of the three that we really do like.

-Yes.

Well, I can guess it's house number two.

Yes, and we like it enough to, you know, go further

and perhaps phone them up and go and have another viewing.

Hopefully, if we like it the second time that we go back, hopefully,

we will like it enough perhaps even to put an offer in, and who knows?

Well, that's good. Cos I knew that you liked it,

but I had this sneaking feeling that somehow there wasn't...

It didn't quite click for you.

Well, I don't think we're ever going to find a property that is

literally 100% of absolutely everything we want.

But I think that's pretty close, that one, isn't it?

It's pretty much as close as we're going to get, I guess.

And is there something that you've been sort of daydreaming about, thinking,

"Ooh, it would be really nice to wake up in that room, or to sit in this room, or to look down at..."?

Well, we've been talking about which room we would have as our bedroom.

There's the one at the very top of the property, which was, well,

-it was fantastic, wasn't it?

-Mmm.

-With the views either side.

It was a lovely, huge, big, light, airy room.

And then the other one on the other side, with the balcony overlooking the view.

-So many choices.

-Well, it's been lovely showing you round,

and it's nice that you have this vision ahead of you,

and I really do hope that you take it forward with house number two.

-Thank you for a wonderful few days.

-Enjoyed it.

-It's been magnificent. Been very nice. We've thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

-It's been a pleasure.

I was pretty chuffed with the properties

we found this week in East Devon,

because it's not easy finding successful and beautiful

holiday lets and B&Bs, because, well,

the successful and beautiful ones tend to be just that -

making money for their owners and not for sale.

And the ones that are not so nice probably wouldn't fit the bill for Clive and Debbie.

So I was quite excited when I heard Clive say,

and I quote, that house number two was "almost perfect".

I think we did a good job.

So join us next time for more Escape To The Country.

Our buyers loved the second property we showed them

and went back for another viewing.

But in the end, they decided against its riverside location.

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