Episode 4 Escape to the Country

I'm standing on the very spot where it's said that William Blake

200 years ago was inspired to write his most famous poem,

Jerusalem.

But where is this "green and pleasant land?"

Find out in just a minute.

Today, I'm showing a couple of returning expats what

impressive UK properties they've been missing out on.

Gosh. Incredible.

It is remarkable. My goodness, what a hallway.

At times, our courteous couple can be hard to read,

but can I find them their dream home?

You like it or you love it?

-Yes. I'm liking it a great deal.

-Very cagey.

-THEY LAUGH

-So diplomatic, is that

-what happens when you live...?

-I like it a great deal.

Today I'm in West Sussex. And behind me, the beautiful South Down hills.

And it was here, in 1800, that one of our greatest poets,

William Blake, came and spent three years of his life.

In many ways, Blake was one of the original escapees to the country,

because he spent the great majority of his life in the urban hubbub

of Georgian London.

But in that brief respite, here in the Sussex countryside, he did write

one of his longest poems, Milton, and it's the first four standards

of that epic that became known as Jerusalem, his most famous text.

And it's nice to think that it was here,

with this beautiful view just behind his favourite pub, that he was

inspired to write some of the most iconic lines in English literature.

West Sussex is situated in the south of England

and is bordered by East Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire,

and to the south is the English Channel.

Stretching across the county from east to west is

the South Downs National Park, which became a protected area in 2011.

These chalk hills are considered some of the most important

rural landscape in Southern England.

At the foot of the downs, lies the imposing Arundel Castle. Originally

built in 1067, but extended in the 18th and 19th centuries, it became

one of the first English country houses to have electric lighting.

Situated on a headland above the River Arun,

today it overlooks the popular market town below.

With its easy access to both the coast and capital,

West Sussex is a much sought-after county for those after

a not-too-remote slice of rural England.

Let's think about property prices in West Sussex. Well,

unsurprisingly, with excellent train links up to London,

fantastic coastline, beautiful historic cities like Chichester,

the county town, and lots of lovely property, it isn't cheap.

The average price for a detached house here is

£382,000, which is £100,000 above the national figure.

So is that a premium that our buyers today are going to be happy to pay?

Let's meet them, and find out.

Our house-hunters today are Dave and Jan

who currently live in Wanstead, London.

They are a couple whose story together goes back a very long way.

We actually met when we were at school, at the age of five, so um...

-We go back a long way.

-We go back a very, very long way.

We were good friends then, back at the primary school,

but then we went our separate ways at 11,

then we reconnected at 18,

we got together, we got engaged, and we got married when we were 24.

We literally never looked back.

They had a family and were settling into their 40s

when a life-changing opportunity appeared.

I'd been working with the same firm, in London,

since I'd left university, so since 1976, and absolutely

out of the blue, I was approached to see if I would be interested

in an overseas secondment. We thought, "Wow, Sydney, New York,"

didn't really think Beijing, and we went for initially three years.

We stayed for 16. It just... It was the best thing we ever did.

But last year, Dave retired from his job and a new chapter began.

We thought about staying in Asia when we retired,

because we did enjoy the lifestyle,

but to be honest, we wanted to come home, we have family here.

The move back to the UK really marks the next episode in their lives.

We're looking just for a change of lifestyle.

I guess we're at that stage where we want a little bit more,

just the opportunity to get out and walk.

It's now time for the next adventure for us.

Dave and Jan want a slice of traditional Southern rural scenery

so we are looking at villages in the South Downs National Park as

well as other Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty across the county.

But before we begin, I need to find out a few more details.

-Welcome, to West Sussex.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

This must be quite a change from Beijing and Hong Kong.

Very much so it is, isn't it, Dave?

It is, yeah, and a welcome change, too, yeah.

Well, it's a beautiful part of the country you've chosen...

-Sussex.

-Yes.

-West Sussex particularly.

What are you looking for, what should the house be like?

Well, for me, my ideal home would have a wonderful kitchen.

I do enjoy cooking, and I also find that a kitchen is

the focal point to any family.

Also to have a good living room space, too.

So lots of sprawly space downstairs.

-Yes.

-What about the garden, are you looking for lots of land?

No. In China, we had no garden at all,

no grass, so we're not used to big gardens.

And guest accommodation? Cos it's just the two of you, isn't it?

Yes, it is at the moment, but we're looking forward

to entertaining our friends and our family.

So to have four bedrooms, four decent-sized bedrooms,

would be wonderful.

Well you have, in your wisdom, chosen one of the most beautiful,

but also one of the most expensive counties in the country.

What is your budget again?

The budget for the move is £950,000.

And would you look to be in a village, or out in the middle

of nowhere, or how are you thinking about it as a community?

We'd like to be fairly close to the village if possible.

And style, are you fussed about the style?

It's really just finding something that captures our imagination...

-Yes.

-..and says, you know, we can live here.

-Yes.

That's what I love to hear!

-Exactly.

-We have three lovely houses lined up, and er...

-Wonderful.

-..I'd be very interested to see what you think.

-Yes.

-So no time like the present. Let's go, follow me.

-Thank you.

For a very healthy budget of £950,000, Jan and Dave

are looking for a large house with a minimum of four bedrooms

to accommodate visiting friends and family.

Jan would like a generous, sociable kitchen, they need

a manageable garden, and are after a location close to a village.

But in a county that's a commuter hot-spot, it is in fact

a tough call, but we have three great properties, which,

after 16 years abroad, should at least give Jan

and Dave a taste of today's property market.

But I won't reveal the price tags until after each house-tour.

And, as ever, the mystery house is a wild card which could go

either way, so let's get on the road

and see what our house buyers make of it all.

We're kicking off our house hunt in the middle

of the South Downs National Park, close to Petworth.

Well-known as the location of stately home Petworth House,

this market town has in recent years developed a reputation as a centre

for independent boutiques, art establishments and antique shops.

Less than ten minutes drive out of the town, down a quiet

country lane and with a backdrop of the South Downs is our first house.

Well, this is our first property.

-Wow.

-Wow, OK, right.

-Amazing.

-That looks beautiful.

-It does look lovely.

-Yeah.

It's a beautiful location cos obviously

this is the South Downs here, so South Downs hills.

-Yeah, yeah. All we can hear is the birds. Fantastic.

-Yeah, yes.

And the house is interesting itself. It was built around the shell

of an old Victorian pump house, but it's pretty much a new build.

Well, it certainly doesn't look like a new build,

it looks like it's a character home. Yeah, so that sounds fantastic.

-Shall we have a peek inside?

-Yes, please.

-Please do.

This former pump house was converted in 2008 into a four-bedroom house.

I think the appeal for Jan and Dave will be how it makes

the most of its incredible South Downs location.

And inside, the space is quite surprising.

-Come on in.

-Thank you.

-It's a lovely, big spacious...

-Oh, yes!

-..entrance hall.

-Yeah.

-It is.

-It's a great feeling of space coming straight in, it doesn't...

-Sometimes cottages can feel a bit tight.

-Yes.

-Well it's certainly not a cottage.

-No.

-No, absolutely not.

-THEY LAUGH

-Let's go look at the kitchen.

-Yes.

-So this is a key room for you, so...

-Yes.

What do you think of the kitchen?

That is really lovely, it's beautiful.

-It's really nice, yeah. It's lovely.

-It's a lovely design.

Anything you're not so keen on?

Often what we like to do is, Jan will be here cooking

and I'll kind of be sitting nearby, just chatting.

It feels like it's a kitchen where you cook,

rather than where you'd actually spend a lot of family time, yeah.

-That entrance hall is huge, and bright and lovely.

-Right.

With some clever engineering, you could open this space up.

-Yes.

-OK.

-So you'd have it as more of a sort of L-shaped...

-Yes.

-..kind of kitchen.

-That would work, yes.

OK, that's good, that's good. But as a kitchen, it works really well.

-It does, it's beautiful.

-Really well.

-Let's see if the living space matches.

-OK.

-OK.

Knocking the kitchen through into the enormous entrance hall

could offer them a good family space.

The living-cum-dining room is already a great

place for entertaining.

-Another big room.

-Oh, yes.

-Oh lovely.

It is absolutely lovely.

You've got double doors out on the terrace.

On both sides is see, which is great.

Yes, lot of access out to the garden, plus the light, too.

-I like it so far.

-You like it or you love it?

I'm liking it a great deal.

Very cagey. So diplomatic.

Is that what happens when you live in...?

I like it a great deal.

Well this is a mostly mono-layered dwelling,

-so most of the bedrooms are on the ground floor.

-OK.

-There is upstairs as well.

-All right.

How do you feel about that?

Yeah, I quite like that, actually. So that's positive.

One of the things we even said to ourselves as a "would like to have"

rather than a "must have," would be actually a downstairs bedroom,

if that was possible, and it sounds like we've got more than one.

-Follow me.

-OK.

Well, just as you ordered, this is a downstairs master bedroom suite.

Wow, it's large, too.

-It is, very large. My goodness! That is beautiful.

-Yeah.

You've got a dressing area, en-suite,

-with a very nice wet room.

-Um, it's just a nice big space.

'As well as the sizeable master suite, there is another double

'bedroom with patio access, and a further good-sized downstairs

'bedroom which shares a family bathroom.

'Upstairs, is the fourth and final double bedroom

'with its own en-suite.

'And out the back is where the house really makes sense.'

You get a good view of the house from here,

and all the crazy pitched roofs.

-Yeah, that's right.

-Yes, incredible shape.

There is, there's a lot going on there, yeah.

And again, that fantastic view behind.

So this orchard doesn't belong to you, the garden is this

sort of, this quite unusual triangular shape.

-Yes, probably good for us.

-That's probably plenty of space, thank you.

We're not looking for a big garden.

There isn't a garage as well, which isn't essential but, you know,

it can sometimes be useful storage space.

One thing Jan would like is somewhere to put some gym equipment.

I think one of the great things about this property is

the potential to pull out the back,

because you've got this enormous patio space.

How much do you think this house is on the market for?

God, that's an interesting question. I would think 850.

850, yeah. I think I'd go a bit higher than that.

I'd be closer to 895.

-This is on the market at 775.

-Oh. Gosh, wow.

-Oh, crickey!

Right, well with that amount of extra money in our budget,

-we can do quite a lot to the house actually, but, yeah.

-Yes, we could.

This house might need some extending or remodelling to make it

perfect for Dave and Jan, but for well under their £950,000 budget,

there is plenty of scope for this.

It has an enormous master suite,

three good-sized guest bedrooms for visiting family and friends,

a large kitchen and spacious reception areas,

and, most of all, it's located in a spectacular South Downs location.

So it's a bit of a drive to the next property,

but let's get in the car and head to house number two.

-Sounds good, thank you.

-OK.

Set amidst the rolling South Downs is Wakehurst Place,

with its historic Elizabethan manor house and 465 acres of ornamental

gardens and woodland. But this is no stuck-in-the-past country estate.

The grounds are managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

And it's the site of an ambitious

and ground-breaking conservation mission.

I'm meeting the head of Wakehurst, Andy Jackson, to find out more.

So, Andy, I actually live in Sussex but, to my shame, I've never

been to Wakehurst, so what have I been missing?

Well, this can be the start of your love affair of one

of the world's most incredible collections of trees, but also the

world's most important conservation facility in the Millennium Seed Bank.

I know you do extraordinary work with seeds - how did that start?

It started really as a response to the current extinction spasm,

as it's called, the loss of plants.

And in the early 1970s, there was the first ever Earth Summit.

And my colleague here at the time decided that we needed to do

something really serious,

so we set about collecting seeds from all around the world.

-Can we go and visit?

-It would be my pleasure.

'The Millennium Seed Bank Project is the largest plant conservation

'programme of its kind in the world.

'The focus is on global plant life faced with

'the threat of extinction in their native habitat.

'This is something which affects as many as 100,000 species -

'a quarter of the world's plants.

'And it all happens in a

'purpose-built, 21st-century facility.'

This is a marked change from the Elizabethan mansion,

what goes on here?

50 or so countries are right now collecting seeds

-to go into this seed bank.

-So this is international seed HQ?

-It is.

-So can we go in?

-Yeah.

-Lead the way.

The plan is to have amassed 25% of the entire world's

wild plant species by 2020, and at the helm of the operation is

seed processing manager Janet Terry.

Ah, so this is the actual vault, Janet.

Yes, this is our long-term seed store. We are now underground.

What happens to them when they arrive here?

A van will turn up with boxes of seeds,

which will go upstairs into our processing labs and be unpacked,

checked off, then they'll go into a dry room,

where the moisture in the seed will be reduced quite slowly,

at about 15 degrees centigrade and 15% relative humidity.

And under those conditions,

we kind of put them into suspended animation,

so they're not going to germinate but they're not going to die either.

After that, we'll take a little X-ray sample. And after that,

they'll come down into this room and be prepared for storage.

-And this is where they end up.

-Yes.

And it's effectively a freezer.

It is, these are run at minus 20,

so these are long-term cold stores for seed storage.

I feel a bit like James Bond. Can I go into the vault?

Of course you can, but you'll have to put a coat on, I'm afraid.

That sounds like a very good idea if they're minus 20.

'At the latest seed count, there were over 34,000 wild plant species

'held in the bunker, which is almost two billion seeds.'

Ooof! Gee, it's freezing!

Wow, it's amazing. It's like a sweet shop!

-SHE LAUGHS

-A very cold sweet shop.

-Yes.

This is the end point of the process.

This is what you'll end up with,

with your seed collections in hermetically sealed jars.

These looks like these are the things you make jam out of,

-the preserving jars.

-They are, they are preserving jars.

And the reason these give a good seal is because not only have

you got a rubber seal but you're clamping it as well, and hopefully

they'll live tens, hundreds, possibly even a thousand years.

This is like in a library, right?

Yeah, library archive shelving to make the most use of the space.

Amazing. Well it's a real...

Actually, it's a really fascinating thing.

You wouldn't have thought that seeds could be so fascinating.

Well they are, and so important as well.

Well, yeah, it's important.

-And very cold.

-And very cold.

-So, let's go back into the warm.

-Thank you so much.

-Let's go back out. You're very welcome.

Securely held in case of future emergencies around the globe,

it's amazing to think all this is stored in the chilled

depths of the West Sussex countryside.

For our second property, we're travelling east,

out of the South Downs National Park to the village of Balcombe.

Once a rural farming community, today, due to its great train

links with London, it's become a popular commuter village.

And right in the heart of this desirable village

is our next property.

-Oh, this is amazing. Very different.

-This is different, yeah.

A very different offering, very different location,

-you were right down the end of a country lane...

-Yes.

-Now you're right in the middle of a village.

-We are.

-Very much so, which it's what we wanted.

-Yes, yeah.

Within walking distance of the village, yeah.

What do you think of the actual building? It's all of this...

It's imposing.

-I mean, you've got those enormous barn-style doors there.

-Yes.

It was built around 1790.

-The conversion into a dwelling was around 1999.

-OK.

-So shall we have a look inside?

-Yeah, love to.

-Yes, yes, thank you.

'Those were good reactions to the exterior.

'And as Dave and Jan are keen for their home to be a great

'entertaining space, I think inside could be a pleasant surprise.'

-DAVE LAUGHS Gosh! Incredible!

-It is remarkable.

-Amazing amount of space.

-Yes.

-And height and... My goodness, what a hallway!

-It's beautiful.

I love the openness of it, I really do.

Let's go upstairs and you can get a better idea.

The reception areas on the ground floor

and mezzanine levels offer over 100 square metres of living space,

which is flexible and could be adjusted to our buyers' needs.

They have this as their sitting room.

Because three sides are closed in, it actually has a cosy feel to it.

You can see on the other side, this is sort of the mirror image,

-the same sort of floor space on the other side.

-Yes.

-Right.

I suppose, with the openness

also comes maybe that lack of your own private space, perhaps.

Well, there may be other spaces that sort of contradict that,

as we continue our tour, but let's take at the kitchen

-because I know that's important for you.

-OK.

-OK, thank you.

'Back down the oak staircase and located underneath the space

'currently used as the study, is a country-style kitchen.'

-This is a more enclosed space.

-Mm-hm.

There is a table and chairs, so that works as well.

I feel a slight dip in enthusiasm.

I guess, because of the size of the hallway, and the rooms upstairs,

I think I was expecting it to be bigger. That's all.

Now you might be wondering where you sleep.

-Well there is another wing.

-OK, lovely.

On the opposite side to the main living space is

the first of two guest bedrooms.

The other bedrooms are in a wing of converted barn buildings

to the front and left of the main house.

Here there is a large double bedroom, a family bathroom,

which all leads down to the impressive main bedroom.

Here is the master suite.

-That's a great size, nice and light.

-That's beautiful.

-Huge, isn't it?

-It is.

-It is.

-And a very nice en-suite.

-Wonderful.

-There you go.

The challenge with this property is there are only three bedrooms,

as it stands, so you'd have to either look at maybe

converting the garages, which are huge, or maybe making

a sort of guest bedroom in one of those upstairs spaces.

In the galleried areas. OK.

You'd need to think about that in the context of your gym equipment.

-Yes.

-That might've been what we would've used a fourth bedroom for,

so, again, maybe the garage might be an option there.

-Let's just take a peek, there's a nice feature outside.

-OK.

To the back of the barn are two garden areas,

a low-maintenance formal garden with gravel and topiary trees

and a raised deck area.

This is a rather nice addition, I think.

-This is lovely.

-It's like a sun terrace.

So let's talk about price.

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

I would say 895.

I would go a little lower, and I'd say 875.

875. In this instance, you should listen to your wife,

because she's spot on, 895 is completely right.

-I always listen to my wife!

-THEY LAUGH

Really?

For £55,000 under budget,

this 18th-century barn conversion

offers incredibly spacious

and quirky reception rooms,

a family kitchen-diner,

just three of the four bedrooms Dave

and Jan are after, but a huge garage space ripe for conversion

with the leftover budget, and it's all located

in the centre of a sought-after commuter village.

That's all the houses for today, so we can go and rest

-and get ready for tomorrow.

-Thank you.

-OK, thank you.

Day two of our property search here in West Sussex.

Slightly damper morning,

but it hasn't dampened the enthusiasm of Jan and Dave.

I've just seen them for breakfast and they're

still very keen to find their dream house here, back in the UK.

It's interesting,

looking at their response to the two houses yesterday.

It was almost like they were being incredibly polite, perhaps a sort

of Beijing-style diplomacy about the houses because afterwards, it seemed

that they weren't quite as keen as they seemed as we walked round.

So, for the mystery house, we're going to show them something that is

very distinctly English, and very old. Let's see what they think.

For our mystery house, we're travelling to the southern-most

part of the county, to the village of Donnington,

which is just outside the city of Chichester.

Chichester centres on its Norman cathedral and is today a hub for

shops, boutiques and is a generally an interesting and well-kept city.

Come in to the secret garden of the mystery house.

-Amazing.

-I'm very excited to show you this, because it's quite

-a different offering, cos it's an old property.

-Right.

First impression is very different from what we've been looking at,

-but that's...that's OK.

-Yeah, I mean, clearly old.

Looks like a good size.

The inside is going to be intriguing as well.

-Shall we have a look inside?

-Pleased to, yeah.

-Yes.

'The oldest of all three properties,

'this is a 17th and, in parts, 16th century Grade II listed property.

'It's effectively two cottages knocked into one to make

'a six bedroom house, but it's big and it's quirky, and after life

'in modern Asian cities, will they love or loathe its eccentricity?'

-Come on in.

-Thank you.

I'm excited to see what you think about this, this is...

-Yes, I am too.

-..a very lovely historical property.

And here's the sitting room.

This is the real heart of the home,

there's a great big fireplace with those lovely alcoves on either side.

-How cosy is that, yeah.

-It is, isn't it, the warmth of the room.

It really is a lovely cosy feel.

-It's actually a large space.

-Right, yeah.

-Yes, it is.

-There's another sitting room through there.

-That's lovely to have.

So I suppose it was a bit of a gamble bringing you here, because,

you know, you didn't say that you wanted an old, character property.

Yeah, it's very different to what we would have thought

we were looking for.

Yeah, and sometimes you can see something that you think you

really didn't want, and then it captures your imagination.

-And the possibilities...

-Now, I have to ask, is that happening?

LAUGHING: I like what I've seen so far, so...

-We need to see some more.

-We do, we do need to see more.

-Let's look at the kitchen.

-OK.

The second sitting room, along with a utility-cum-boot room

and a downstairs bathroom are all in, what was,

the smaller cottage on the left.

Coming back through the main sitting room takes you to the

other side of the house, and the kitchen-diner.

Here's your kitchen.

Oh, my, er...

It's different from anything I've seen before, very unusual.

I can't quite read what you're thinking,

whether you're being polite and diplomatic, or whether you're...

Er, I'm just, er, I suppose it's surprised me, really.

I think there's lots to love.

Is it really what we want? I just don't know at this stage, yeah.

Cos you were a bit disappointed we only had three

bedrooms in the last house, we have six bedrooms in this one.

-Oh, my!

-OK, we're not short of space upstairs, clearly.

There are two upstairs floors in this property,

and on the first level are four of the six bedrooms.

Two are reasonable doubles in what was the additional cottage,

one is a large double with a dressing room,

and then there's the master suite.

So this is anything but a modern en-suite.

You see, these great big floorboards.

And this here, I mean, this is used as the master bedroom, but you

have the pick of all six bedrooms which one you'd have as yours.

-Yes, lovely bathroom.

-It does.

-I love the bathroom, I really do.

-I love the wooden features.

Nice and bright.

'As well as all this sleeping accommodation, there are

'two further bedrooms up a staircase into the eaves.'

You come up into the top of the house,

-but still got very high ceilings for an old property.

-Oh, yes.

-This is a big room, too.

-This is a lovely room.

-Yeah.

With the brickwork. Bowled over, actually, by the amount of space.

A lot of space inside and actually quite a lot of space outside,

so let's go and look at your grounds.

-OK, lovely. Thank you.

-Thank you.

The house is set in around half an acre of land

with a lawned area to the rear, with mature shrubs and fruit trees.

If you step back here, you can see the house much more clearly.

It's very beautiful from the back.

-You can see all the original brick and flint work.

-Yes.

It's a lovely, traditional, English garden.

OK, let's talk money. How much do you think this property,

just a few miles from Chichester, costs?

I would put it near the higher end of our budget, at 940.

I'd be closer to 910.

Hmm, well this is right at the top of your budget,

-it's a guide price of 950.

-OK.

-It's um...

-You're right again.

-THEY LAUGH

-Three-nil.

-Well aware of that.

Yeah, it's a big historic property in a very desirable area.

-I guess.

-Yeah.

For bang on their maximum budget, this historic Grade II listed

property offers a large, quirky home

with stacks of character throughout.

There are two generous reception rooms as well as the

much-requested kitchen-diner.

With six bedrooms, there's plenty of room for visiting guests

and gym equipment, all set in a manageable half acre of land.

-Right, let's find a place to gather our thoughts.

-OK.

-OK, great.

It's been lovely showing you around. I have to say, you're both

so polite and so kind of... You've been living in China, you're

very good at sort of being kind of being civil. But I was wondering,

did you actually like any of the three houses?

I think there's something we liked about all the houses, Alistair.

I think the variety of houses we were shown was invaluable.

Well yes, can you say that anything has come into focus?

What I believe has come into focus is the fact that we know for sure

that West Sussex is the county that we want to be in. We thought

that from the beginning, but this has just reinforced that for us.

What happens next, what is the next step?

Because you've got lots of stuff in containers needing to find a home.

This has given us extra momentum

and I know that we'll find our dream home here.

Well, I really hope you do.

Sorry we didn't get it for you this week,

but fingers crossed that you find it!

Oh, it's been an absolutely brilliant week.

We've so enjoyed it, we've enjoyed the experience,

-and it's been so helpful to us.

-It really has.

-Thank you.

-Thank you so much. It's been terrific

-Been a pleasure.

You've got to admit that Dave and Jan's is a great moving-house story,

all the way from Hong Kong and Beijing to this,

the green and very pleasant land of West Sussex.

And also imagine the shock, after 16 years in China,

of the house prices in this part of the world.

But they do have a very substantial budget

and I'm sure they will find what they want.

Sometimes, unfortunately, we on the show don't quite get it right,

but that's what makes Escape To The Country so charming.

So join us next time for more of the same.

'If you'd like to escape to the country'

in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales -

or maybe even further afield to the Continent -

and would like our help, please apply online at...