North Yorkshire Escape to the Country

This grand 18th-century country house is believed to be

the largest privately owned home in the UK,

bigger than Buckingham and even Blenheim Palace.

But whereabouts in the country is it?

Find out in just a moment.

On today's house hunt, I'm helping some university sweethearts,

recently reunited, looking to buy their first home together.

Our search brings out some differing opinions.

Well, the first house, done in a very much old style out of oak.

This is more contemporary, isn't it?

-Yes, I like it better.

-Do you?

Ah, I like the oak!

Oh, do you?

And some rather unusual offerings.

A cross between a medieval castle and the Arabian Nights, isn't it?

Yes. It kind of is, isn't it?

Today, I'm in Yorkshire and this is the colossal Grade I-listed

Wentworth Woodhouse, whose buildings alone cover around three acres.

Now, it was built in the early 18th century under the instruction

of Thomas Watson Wentworth, the Marquis of Rockingham.

Now, these six columns here form the centrepiece of the impressive

facade, which when spanning over 600 feet, is thought to be

the longest facade of any privately owned home in all of Europe.

Since 1999, it's been in the hands of the Newbold family,

who are in the process of restoring this beautiful building

to its former glory, a mammoth and expensive task that I'll be

finding out more about later on in the show.

The Yorkshire region is made up of four counties, including

North Yorkshire, where today's search is based.

Around 40% of the county is covered by national park, including

the North York Moors, home to 44,000 acres of stunning moorland

and the greatest concentration of ancient trees in northern England.

The national park also extends east to where the Cleveland Hills

meet the sea and the area has been designated as a Heritage Coast.

At over 200 meters above sea level, the Jurassic Era cliffs at

Boulby are the highest on the entire east coast.

Further south and roughly equidistant between London

and Edinburgh, well-heeled Harrogate has been popular as a spa

town since the 16th century.

The first mineral waters were discovered here in 1571

by William Slingsby at Tewit Well.

In 1842, the Pump Room was opened to shelter the town's wealthy

visitors as they took the waters.

At the height of their popularity, they were attracting over

15,000 people a year.

Today, the world-famous Betty's Tearooms continues to bring

tourists to the area, while agriculture and hill farming

are also mainstays of the region's economy.

Despite its stunning countryside,

the average price of a detached house in North Yorkshire is

only £1,000 above the national figure at £269,000.

However, the area between Harrogate, Leeds

and York often referred to as the Golden Triangle, can attract a

hefty premium, basically reflecting the fact that buyers get a slice of

country life yet still good access back into the towns and cities.

So what's attracting today's buyer to this beautiful part of the world?

Well, let's meet them and find out.

Today's house hunters are long-distance partners Kevin,

a pharmaceutical engineer, and Amanda, a GP

They've been together for five years,

but have known each other for over 40.

We were at university together in the early '70s

and we did date then, didn't we?

-We did.

-We drifted apart.

We kept in touch over the years because we are both from up north.

-I was at his first wedding, his 40th birthday party.

-You were.

But it wasn't until years later, whilst Kevin was living and

working abroad, that they rekindled their relationship after the

death of a mutual friend prompted them to get back in touch.

He was saying, "Well, I wouldn't be able to come to the funeral

"living out in Holland.

"Would I like to go out for a weekend?"

So I did and the rest is history!

Or will be when we get married very shortly.

Kevin now lives in Farnborough, Hampshire, and fiancee Amanda

in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

With over 200 miles between them and both busy with jobs they

love, quality time together has been a rare thing.

Up to now, we've only been together at weekends and on holidays.

Amanda didn't want to leave her patients which she's

known for over 20 years, some of them,

and I'm in my employment more or less tied to Heathrow and

Gatwick, so I had to be really based down here to have the air links.

The problem with the long-distance

relationships really is the travelling

because even on a good day, it can take four hours.

So we're finally, both of us are just about retirement age,

so we're going to both retire in the summer and then get married

and then we can finally be together.

Both Yorkshire born and bred, they've decided God's Country

is the perfect place to finally set up home.

North Yorkshire, really. I mean, it's wild and wonderful.

Some say you may have to be born there to enjoy it,

but I just love it, the stone walls, the open spaces, the moors,

everything like that.

I've always known that

when I've retired I'm going to go back to my roots anyway,

so that was the game plan, and the fact that Amanda was in the game!

-Came along.

-Came along.

-Conveniently.

Just strengthened the game plan, really.

With that plan now including a wedding and a new house

purchase, there's a big year ahead.

Not to mention the fact they've never lived together before.

But the happy couple aren't phased.

I think we know each other well

-enough to know that there will be difficulties.

-No.

-And we may get on each other's nerves.

-No!

But...

Yeah, and we do marvel sometimes at how long we've been together

-and not really ever had a...

-A barney.

-A major row.

Not a major one.

-Obviously, we have a little tiff.

-No, we don't!

Very funny!

Retirement will not only mean more time to spend together, but

for Kevin, more time to pursue other interests.

I've been playing with cars for as long as I can remember, really.

He has promised to rebuild me a Mini at some point.

I rather foolishly promised that. Minis are Amanda size.

She's always loved them.

These two might have more life experience under their belt than the

average newly weds, but this series of firsts is no less exciting.

It's going to be a huge change, really, in that I'll no longer

be working, I'll be married for the first time, we'll be together

instead of having to just spend weekends with each other.

It's going to be a really exciting time.

I'm just looking forward to living with Amanda. That's it.

There's nothing more.

Our buyers are looking for a rural

spot in North Yorkshire with

good access to the open spaces

of the Dales, the North York Moors

and the coast.

But with Kevin's family in Bradford,

his children down south and

Amanda's friends in Leeds,

they want to be on the A1 corridor for access to the M1.

I'm catching up with them to see what's on their property wish list.

Well, you've picked a beautiful county, haven't you? Welcome back.

Thank you.

You're already living in Yorkshire.

You're travelling massive distances up here.

Well, we share it. We do it alternate.

You're both on the cusp of retirement. How far away?

Nine working days for me. Not that I'm counting.

How about you?

About 20 days.

So let's try and find you a home where you can start your new

lives here in Yorkshire together.

What does this house look like in your mind's eye then?

Built of Yorkshire stone.

Built of Yorkshire stone, OK.

-At least three bedrooms.

-Right.

We want a big double study.

Now, that could be a converted bedroom.

That's so we don't get on each other's nerves.

Is it? What else?

-A nice...

-Big kitchen.

-Big kitchen.

He took the words out of my mouth.

-Who's...?

-We're both cooks, yeah. We both like to cook.

Outside?

Yeah, reasonably-sized garden.

Enough so that we can grown our own veg.

Is it character you're focused on or can we show you something modern?

-I'd rather it had character.

-I agree.

How rural can you go? How can I push you there?

-I think...

-I wouldn't want to be too remote.

I think I'm more relaxed about being remote than Amanda is.

-Difference of opinion straight away.

-That's right, yeah.

Let's talk budget. Remind me of what we're looking up to.

Up to £650,000.

That's a good amount of money, but I'm confident we can get you

something you can get both excited about.

-I'm sure you will.

-Are you ready to go?

-Absolutely.

-This way.

-Let's go.

Kevin and Amanda have a healthy budget of £650,000

and are hoping for a character property ideally built of Yorkshire

stone with a large kitchen, at least three bedrooms, meaning

friends and relatives can come to stay, and at least one study area.

They'd also like a large garden

with space to grow some veg.

With the three properties we've got

lined up, I'm feeling hopeful we'll find our couple what they're after.

Three very different propositions, but the one thing they all

have in common is character.

I'll be asking Kevin and Amanda to guess the price of each

property at the end of the tour.

The last will be the mystery house, which is designed to challenge

their wish list.

I've got a feeling they won't have seen

anything quite like this one before.

Buy a house, retire, move in with

each other for the first time, get married.

You're doing so much in one short space of time.

It's a recipe for disaster, really, isn't it?

It's all of the high-stress things, you know - retiring,

changing house, getting married.

-All at once. Do it all, get rid of it.

-I mean, slow it down!

Our search begins south of

the North York Moors, six miles from

the medieval city of York

in Shipton by Beningborough.

Traditionally a farming village, Shipton is in a popular position for

buyers, half an hour from the North York Moors, but with city access.

The locality includes a lively village pub, a shop and

active community centre with sporting facilities, so

plenty for retirees Kevin and Amanda to get involved with.

Just over a mile from the village centre on a country lane is

our first property, set around its own private courtyard.

So house number one.

Always a bit of a litmus test to your reactions, so here we are!

-Wow.

-Big.

-Big is good, though, isn't it?

-It's excellent.

-Big is excellent.

It's not Yorkshire stone, but it does look attractive.

It looks like a converted animal stable or something like that.

Spot on. Obviously you've got a car port there

and, for the man that wants to start whittling away with his tools

and building cars and what have you, a double garage there with power.

I had already spotted that!

-Excellent, yeah.

-Good news?

-Excellent.

-Sounds good to me.

Let's go inside.

It may not be made of Yorkshire stone, but this four-bed barn

conversion does have heaps of internal character.

Right then, this is where we get to find out if you guys like open plan.

I love the big windows.

I'm not so sure about the open plan all the way through.

It's a huge space, though.

Well, let's focus on the individual rooms first, then. Now, kitchen.

Lovely. My thing.

-You're not so sure?

-No, that works, that works.

If you don't like the idea of having all your living space in one

room, there is an option and I will show you that now. Follow me.

The living space could be partitioned off to create

separate areas, but I think it would be a shame to break up such a

fabulous space.

From the kitchen then, there's a corridor leading to a utility

room, downstairs cloakroom, a good-sized guest bedroom with

en-suite as well as another reception room.

Now then, you tell me if you could have this as a snug?

-Or a dining room.

-You could.

-It's lovely.

If you did want a separate room, this is it.

Equally, this could be an office.

Yes. I would normally say it could be an office.

You got two other offices to choose from here,

you got a ground floor office the other end of the building.

Let's walk back through and go upstairs to the bedrooms.

OK.

Back past the living room, beside the dining area is a

magnificent oak carved staircase leading to the other three

bedrooms on the first floor.

Now, I just want to pop in here briefly

because there's a fantastic bit of detail to this house.

-Look at this!

-Ho, ho, ho!

-Oh!

Children that used to live on the farm

here during the Second World War used to come up here and play.

-Right.

-And so this is a wall they drew on and you can see how the war

has influenced them here, as you can see.

Amazing. Yes, yes.

And Charlie Chaplin.

Amazing, it is, yeah.

Would you keep it?

I think I would, actually. I think I would.

I think the great thing about this is there's three bedrooms up

here, so this would always only ever be a guest suite,

so it's kind of a nice, it's a nice feature for your guests to enjoy.

Yes, a feature, yeah.

And you said you wanted character, lots of character.

That's certainly character.

The two guest bedrooms, both good-sized doubles, share a

fantastic Victorian-styled family bathroom, complete with roll-topped

bath and attractive exposed brickwork.

Right then, the master suite.

It looks a little bit small at first glance.

And the first thing you notice is there's no wardrobes.

That's because, walk-in wardrobe area over there.

-Fantastic.

-Very nice, yeah.

-That's something I've always dreamed of.

-Now, you get an en-suite there.

Just have a quick peek at that actually.

So what do you think? You said you wanted character, Amanda.

Are you getting character in this property?

-Yes and no. Yes and no.

-Right, what's the yes?

The yes is there are beams,

there's those beautiful big windows downstairs.

The no?

But the no is it does still feel a bit kind of

modern conversion looking.

Does it? You want genuine old character, is that what it is?

I think I do. I certainly do.

Let's go outside and have a look at the outside space,

but also start thinking about the price.

How much is this house on the market for? All right.

Outside, the property sits on a plot of just under half an acre.

There's a large patio area with doors leading off from the

living space and a generous lawned garden.

-Now, you don't see a veggie patch here, do you?

-We don't.

But you could have one. South is thataway.

So I'm thinking maybe vegetable plot there.

It seems such a shame to dig up this lovely lawn.

If you want to eat veg, you've got to break some ground.

-No pain, no gain.

-You got it.

Now, there's some other land beyond that post and rail fence,

that driveway.

I spoke to the farmer and he said he would consider selling it off,

the paddock, if you couldn't bear to see marrows being

grown on your lovely bowling green.

There is an opportunity to maybe have a veggie patch somewhere else.

OK.

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

I would say about £625,000.

I don't think it's going to be that much.

Maybe £580,000, £590,000, something like that.

All right. This place...

is on the market for offers around

£550,000.

-Ooh!

-Wow!

Walking round the place, you've not been overjoyed by this house.

I think the main thing's the open plan.

And the fact that it doesn't have

the character that I would want.

Well, I tell you what, go back into the house,

look at the other rooms you haven't seen,

look at the garages and stuff like that

-and I'll meet you out the front whenever you've finished.

-OK.

-OK.

Coming in well under budget, this recent barn conversion

wasn't an instant hit with Kevin

and Amanda, but considering they can

make a saving of around £100,000,

it's definitely food for thought.

It's not made of Yorkshire stone,

but the inside has a wealth

of character features, with four

bedrooms, a large kitchen

area and a separate study.

The garden is extensive and has the

potential to create the

veggie patch they want, plus car-nut

Kevin would have a double

garage for all his tools.

Ah-ha! This is what we want.

Yes, this is what you'd like, isn't it?

Yeah. Work bench, Mini, perfect.

-All your tools.

-I can do that.

It's a very interesting house.

The negative is the large open-plan area.

Having said that, the rest of it is done in a very nice standard.

I had originally thought that I would quite like a barn conversion.

I think I'm looking for something a lot more traditional.

Very nice house for someone else, but not for me.

So all done inside?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-Had a good look around everywhere?

-We have.

-Did you fall in love with the garage?

-The garage was fantastic. Perfect.

-I knew you'd like that.

-OK, that's one down. Two more to go.

-OK.

The great oak trees that dominate the woodlands of the UK have

become a national symbol for strength and endurance.

Whilst Yorkshire's majestic oaks stand mighty on the local

landscapes, they also hold great cultural significance,

particularly in the village of Kilburn.

It was here on the edge of the North York Moors that Robert Thompson

began his career as a furniture maker in the early 20th century.

Thompson's skills with oak earned him a notable reputation,

whilst his signature carved mouse earned him the moniker, Mouseman.

We sent Amanda and keen hobbyist Kevin to meet Thompson's

great-great-grandson, Simon Cartwright Thompson at the Mouseman

Visitor Centre to learn more about one of Yorkshire's famous sons.

-Look at this!

-Wow!

-Wow!

Good morning, well, this is where Robert Thompson's story begins.

Do you have any Mouseman items yourself?

I've got some, just two little mice.

Yeah, well, those very earlier

pieces are sort of quite highly collectible.

There's a story behind the mouse, as well, that's quite nice.

Robert had a commission to repair a church roof.

He was chatting amongst his apprentices.

His apprentices were saying to him, "We're as poor as church mice."

And while they were having their lunch,

he decided to carve a mouse on one of the church beams.

Oh, fantastic!

And, I think that sort of set the seed for using it as a trademark.

The furniture designed and made by Mouseman was born out of the

Arts and Crafts movement that began in 1880

and continued to have influence into the 1930s.

Today, antique Mouseman pieces are highly collectible.

OK, so we're into our workshop

and here we can see two chairs that we're working on at the moment.

This one is practically finished

and this one we're about to start refurbing it.

They're pretty similar. Are they the same age?

This one here is from the '30s and this one we believe

is from the '60s, but you can see on this mouse here, it's very narrow on

the neck, whereas on the '60s chair they went to a slightly wider neck.

We were finding the ears were getting knocked off,

so it was an advantage to have them slightly chubbier.

So how would you go about restoring this chair?

First off, I would chemically strip it,

then I would neutralise it with methylated spirits.

It's actually the joints are loose on this,

so it'd go into the workshop, we'd knock it to bits

and then we'd re-pin it with new dowels and modern glue.

Upstairs, we've got guys making new pieces of furniture.

So, I mean, would you like to go and have a look at those?

-Yes, please.

-Absolutely.

-OK, well, follow me then and we'll go upstairs.

-Thank you.

The Mouseman philosophy today is still devoted to handcrafting

simple, solid and functional oak pieces for the home following

the Arts and Crafts ethos that places value on high-grade,

handmade design, rather than poorer quality mass production.

Well, I'm working on a cheese board here.

I've just adzed it

and you can see the undulations in the top.

If you just run your hand over that, you can actually feel it.

And then once we've adzed the top,

we'll use a cabinet scraper, which is this item here.

And what we do, we go with the grain and we take out any steps

and tears that may be in the timber.

-Would you like to have a go?

-Thank you.

-That's it.

-So can I just ask you

about the mouse itself?

Is it carved separately and then added afterwards?

You can see a cheese board that I haven't started here.

There's the bit left on for the mouse.

So that's where the mouse will get carved.

OK, is that anything like?

-Yeah, I think you'd make a good apprentice.

-Thank you!

So, after we've scraped it, we're going to sand,

put sand paper on and, again, we're going to rub with the grain.

With the board almost complete, the edges are softened with a

bevel edge chisel before smoothing with a spokeshave

to prevent splinters and then given a final sand.

So with the possibility of a new hobby on the horizon for

Kevin, it looks like he'll be needing that workshop even more.

Our second property takes us 30

miles north towards the Yorkshire

Dales and the village of

Well, conveniently positioned

10 minutes from the A1.

The village takes its name from St Michael's Well, one of the

many springs feeding the river beck which runs through it.

This ancient settlement has several historic buildings including the

14th-century church and a row of alms houses and chapel dating

back to 1758.

Our second property is on the edge of the village, down the road

from the church behind a low stone wall.

Now then, here we come to another conversion.

What do we think? First impressions.

I know what you're going to say. Go on.

-Yorkshire stone.

-Yes!

-Wonderful.

-Yorkshire stone.

-We got it.

-It's fantastic.

It's absolutely wonderful.

Well, it's a converted schoolhouse, OK, and it's been done fairly

recently but it's, again, very different in layout.

-So let's see what you make of the inside.

-OK.

-OK.

Built in the 18th century, this former school was closed in the

1950s and has been sympathetically and skilfully converted into

a two-storey house.

-Wow!

-Look at this!

-Like it?

-Yes.

-Yes.

I'm going to allay any fears you may have.

You have a separate living room.

-Right.

-So this is just for your cooking and dining.

Which is a much nicer arrangement to me.

Well, the first house was done in a very much traditional old

style out of oak.

This, more contemporary, isn't it? What do you think?

-It is, yes. I like it better.

-Do you?

-Ah, I like the oak!

-Oh, do you?

Well, you're going to have different tastes, aren't you?

-Of course you are, yeah.

-You can just see the doorway

going out there to the garden.

-There's planning consent there for a conservatory.

-Ah-ha.

Which would make a great dining area and would also,

I mean, you've got another separate room off the kitchen.

First impressions, kitchen versus kitchen,

first house versus second house.

I love this one.

Yes, oh, definitely second house so far.

Good. OK.

-Let me squeeze past you here and I'll show you the living room.

-OK.

Very different again in here.

-Oh, yes!

-Very nice.

Now you know you've got separate living areas

with other bits going off it.

Is this more what you had in mind or...?

By a long way. A long, long way. It's lovely.

-It's more cosy, isn't it?

-Yeah.

I find that I love having a real fire.

And then you've got a spare bedroom.

-Right.

-Uh-huh.

En-suite. And you've got a downstairs office as well.

Oh, wonderful.

On that note, we should keep positive,

onward and upward to the bedrooms. Follow me.

I'm really pleased Kevin and Amanda seem to appreciate this

building's original character and despite the renovation, it

doesn't feel too modern for them.

In the sitting room, there's an open staircase leading to the

upstairs landing where there are three further bedrooms.

Let's start with the master.

You've got a cracking en-suite, separate bath and shower there.

-Oh, yes.

-Wonderful, yeah.

Now, I know you like a bit of storage space.

You've got plenty here, haven't you?

-Oh, you certainly have.

-You have. And it's got height.

You got three double bedrooms on this level.

The bedroom at the far end, that's en-suite as well.

So the middle bedroom has its own bathroom, essentially.

-Wow!

-Very good.

There's nothing to do here at the moment.

It's a canvas. You can put our stamp on it and, yeah,

I like to have a major works, so, yeah.

Well, I tell you what, let's go outside then.

Let's have a look at some of the projects you can get involved in

because, thankfully, it just means that this house stays the same.

-I think you know where I'm going with that.

-Absolutely, yeah.

And outside is where he can get his hands dirty. Follow me.

The exterior of the property really is a blank canvas too.

there's a large flat lawned garden, a paved patio for entertaining

and a decked area enjoying views of the surrounding open fields.

For Kevin and his cars, there's a large garage opening to a

covered barn and, of course, the all-important veggie patch.

OK, so let's look back at the house

and see what you might be able to do to it.

Project-wise, conservatory going,

well, from one gable end to the other.

-It's just asking for it, really.

-Made for it, isn't it?

Wants it, yeah, definitely.

And you'd have this stone wall on the inside which

I always think looks fabulous.

It would do. It'd look really good, love, it would.

So you tell me, how much do you

think this place is on the market for?

Very difficult. I really don't know.

-£600,000?

-Oh, right.

I was going to say about the same but I'll stick my neck out

and say £590,000.

Oh, you went the wrong way.

This place is on the market

for offers around £625,000.

-Right.

-OK.

-But it's got all the ingredients, hasn't it?

-It has.

-It has got all the ingredients.

-Well, it's spitting with rain,

so now is a good time to go back indoors.

Have a look at the other bedrooms, take your time and I'll see you

-whenever you're finished.

-OK.

-OK.

-See you in a bit.

-Thank you.

-OK. What's in there?

Have a look!

See. Now, they're coming from very different places.

They've never bought a house together

but the one thing they're agreeing on is everything that's

good about this place - the space and the style.

I'm really glad I brought them here.

At £25,000 under their top budget, this detached former school

building has the four bedrooms Kevin

and Amanda wanted as well as four

bathrooms and a modern kitchen, big

enough for them to cook together.

With a study, a number of separate

reception rooms and the

option of an extension, it could

make the perfect home to

start their married lives together.

Much more positive about this house than the last one.

It feels a lot more like a home, even though it's a

conversion, it still has a lot of character, both in and outside.

It's a lovely property. It's in a lovely area.

It's in the country.

It's got the veg plot, it's got the room to do the cars

and the general work bench.

You know, we love it.

I do have, yeah, a bit of a feeling about it, yeah.

-All done?

-Yeah.

Now, is this house a maybe?

-It's fantastic.

-It's, yes, very much a maybe.

That's all I want to hear. Let's go.

I'm on the property hunt with soon-to-be-married Kevin and Amanda.

With retirement looming, they're hoping their sizable budget of

£650,000 will get them a rural marital home to be proud of

in their homeland of North Yorkshire.

Still to come, my buyers feel at home in the mystery house.

Could you see yourself entertaining in this house?

-Yes.

-Oh, yes, Lord and Lady of the manor!

And I visit the widest property in Europe.

Oh!

Wow!

Well, I think we can be fairly confident that house number

two was the clear winner yesterday.

And today, another beautiful start to the day

and we're off to see the mystery house.

Now, Amanda reckons she likes the idea of character

and that often means your traditional period house.

But that can also be interpreted as quirky

and the mystery property is certainly that.

In fact, if they can get their heads around its rather unique location,

they could potentially be moving to a rather exclusive address.

We're concluding our property hunt further south and closer to

Amanda's current home in Leeds,

in the village of Beckwithshaw,

which is three miles outside the

sought-after spa town of Harrogate.

Originally a hamlet, the village grew when the nearby Moor

Park Estate was built in the 1800s.

Its cottages, farm and workshops meant the village was

developed to service the workings of the estate with additions of

a post office, chapel and school.

Our mystery property is on the Moor Park Estate, surrounded by

200 acres of farmland.

So, a pretty different kind of offering for our mystery house.

-Oh, my!

-It certainly is, isn't it?

-Very different.

-Very different.

Now, you've been pretty good at guessing their former uses.

Kevin, have a go at this.

Who knows?

Water tower?

THEY LAUGH

It's... Part of it was a dovecote.

-OK.

-And they've kept some of the original, well, some

of the original stonework that would have housed where the doves stayed.

Now, first of all, I think we have

to talk about where we are,

this estate.

Pretty different. What do you think?

It's quite different to anything I'd imagined.

I'm just intrigued.

I can't work it out, you know. It just seems very, very, very strange.

-Well, that makes it a true mystery house, doesn't it?

-It really is.

Yeah. You've certainly done the job.

-Let's look inside. Follow me.

-Sounds good to me.

Restored nearly 15 years ago, the estate, which was once owned

by a single family, now comprises 36 separate dwellings, including

the mansion house, which is divided into eight apartments and a

range of buildings originally built for the workers.

The Grade II-listed dovecot building is in the centre of the

estate, overlooking one of the main courtyards and its tiered fountains.

Now then, just want to briefly pause here

because I think it's worth doing so.

-It's quite impressive, isn't it?

-It is.

-It is.

This is the first room that your guests would come to.

Let's look at, well, where would you lead your guests?

Would you, let's say, come into the kitchen and have a drink

-or would you take them into the living room?

-Depends on the guest.

-What about me?

-The kitchen.

Come on then!

The vaulted ceilings and exposed stone wall create a feeling

of grandeur in this reception hall.

Inside, the property is part-furnished.

-Now then, this is not a dining kitchen.

-No.

So just for cooking sake, is this decent enough size for you?

It's workable. You've got lots of work surface and storage space.

But then, if this is just for cooking,

well, look at this for a dining room.

It's huge!

Pretty huge, pretty big. Wooden beams. Lovely.

Could you see yourself entertaining in this house?

-Yes.

-Oh, yes, Lord and Lady of the manor!

One thing this house surprised me with was its proportions.

It does. It does. Suddenly there's more of it than what you realise.

You've got the hall there, kitchen, dining room

and that flows quite nicely into the living room.

Let's go and have a look now.

Now then, another decent size room.

-Yes.

-Yes.

But empty. This house has been rented out.

You don't sound massively enamoured with this place, but let me show

you the bedrooms before you either write this off or fall in love.

-I think you could be the former. Come with me.

-OK.

Unfurnished rooms do require buyers to use a bit of imagination,

but after such a great reaction to house number two yesterday,

I'm not getting the same vibe from Kevin and Amanda here today.

So you tell me what you think of this room.

-Oh, my!

-Wow!

That's quite...

It's like a cross between a medieval castle

and the Arabian Nights, isn't it?

Yes, it kind of is, isn't it?

-But look at the view out of the window.

-That's fantastic.

In the morning, that is great.

You've got a separate bathroom and two other bedrooms on this floor

and upstairs you've got, well, another bedroom or I think it'd make

a fantastic office or study cos that's the dovecot part of it.

-The eagles eyrie.

-Yeah, quite, yeah.

You seem to have come alive a bit more up here.

Yeah, it's an exciting room.

Yes, it's like nothing you've ever kind of seen before, so.

It never really occurred to have stone in a bedroom,

but, yes, it really works.

But, being so different probably makes it quite difficult to value.

It does.

Let's go back outside to one of the gardens.

We'll go to the back garden, the more private one.

And then I'll ask you to guess the price.

-OK.

-OK.

Outside, the property benefits from two allocated parking spaces

and a garage.

It shares the extensive and well-kept communal gardens for

which there's a service charge of around £135 a month.

But it also has separate private gardens.

So, Amanda, is this garden private enough for you?

-Oh, yes.

-Yeah?

Yes, yes, that's nice.

It's not massive. It's clearly the smallest we've seen so far.

I mean, where would you have your veggie patch, do you think?

In that corner or over there.

But how do you price it?

Ooh...

£540,000?

-Amanda?

-I'm thinking that this would be more,

near the top of our budget,

so I would say £650,000.

This place is on the market

for offers around £649,999.

-Well done.

-Well done.

-There you go.

As you valued it at £540,000, Kevin,

that sometimes reflects someone's opinion on the place.

I think you may have a grain of truth in that analysis, yes.

Yes, you're right.

Well, the mystery property's always a gamble.

This one doesn't look like it's paid off,

although you must have a look at that dovecot room because it's

pretty cool and I'll meet you whenever you're finished, all right?

-OK.

-OK.

-Enjoy it.

-Thank you.

-See you in a bit.

Just short of their maximum budget, this unique house is in a

sought-after location and would

offer Kevin and Amanda a very

different lifestyle to our

first two properties.

It does have the four bedrooms on

their wish list, living

accommodation including a separate

kitchen and a study and it's

bursting with quirky

character features.

The garden is smaller than at our

first two houses, but there's

enough space for a veggie patch and

they'd also have access to

well-kept communal gardens.

-Wow!

-Wow!

That's a bit different!

-That certainly is a bit different, isn't it?

-I love that window, yeah.

-Lovely light area.

-Isn't it?

I think you could make a bedroom out of it,

but I think it's probably better as an 'our space', you know.

Yes. Well, this is a really, really different house.

I mean, we asked for character

and there's certainly a lot of character.

It's got lots of interesting rooms. It's totally off the wall.

The dovecot room at the top of the house was absolutely fantastic.

That was really the best room in the house.

I don't think we, really, are the type of people to live here.

We're not the Lord and Lady of the manor type.

So I don't think we'd feel comfortable in this setting.

But it was very interesting to have seen it.

Now, you tell me, did this live up

to the expectations of a mystery house?

Very much so. Certainly a mystery.

So let's find you somewhere to have a bit of a conflab

-and then we'll meet up later on.

-OK.

-Sounds good.

Tucked away in the rural outskirts of Rotherham is a little-known

family home with a large legacy.

Wentworth Woodhouse stands in grounds covering some 85

acres and boasts the longest country house facade in Europe, at 615 feet.

It's believed that when Thomas Watson Wentworth, the Marquis

of Rockingham, had it built in the 18th century, the grand scale

of the property was all for show, an attempt to impress local

aristocrats and increase his chances of becoming a Member of Parliament.

After generations in the family, the cost of running the property

after the Second World War became so costly that the house slowly

went into decline.

Tenanted for years and eventually sold, architect Clifford

Newbold has been restoring it for the last 15 years.

I'm meeting Estate Manager Tom McWilliams to find out the

plans for this magnificent property.

-Tom, good morning. How are you?

-Hello, Jon. Thank you.

What an amazing building.

I'm told this is the widest facade of a residential building in Europe.

-In Europe.

-That's quite some accolade, isn't it?

Yeah. This actually is the back of the house.

The other side, the Baroque side is all built of brick.

totally, totally different.

So why have you got two different styles,

the front and the back, Baroque and Palladian style?

Well, the Baroque style was built by one of the Earls

and when he died, he hadn't finished it, the next Earl decided he would

build, put his stamp on it, if you like, and decided to build something

grander, and that's when he put this style on it, the Palladian style.

So taking over from their forbears,

he just decided to completely change it, really build it back to front.

-Yeah, that's right.

-Well, I'm dying to get inside.

-Can we go have a look?

-Yeah, sure.

-Lead the way, sir.

In the mid 18th century, the Marquis employed over 100

servants and staff to run the house alone.

There are a staggering 365 rooms,

one for each day of the year, as well as 1,000 feet of corridors,

some so vast they could be considered rooms in their own right.

Ooh!

Wow! What do you call this room?

-Marble Saloon.

-The Marble Saloon.

-This is majorly impressive, isn't it?

-Grand, isn't it?

-So this is where you'd receive guests for maybe...

-Yes, that's it.

-..a ball or something like that.

-Ballroom.

Yes, we used to hold balls here, yeah.

-It looks in a remarkably good shape here.

-It is.

-Has it been renovated at all?

-No. This is originally as it was.

It's not been touched at all.

What about its ownership over the years?

It's not always been in family hands.

During the war, the army did take over the house.

I think in the early '60s and '70s

the council took it over as a teacher training college

for girls and actually this room was covered over in wood, so

it wasn't seen, this floor.

The girls used to play badminton in here.

With such a huge building,

I imagine there's projects that you've done that are going on.

Have you completed anything that you're particularly happy with?

We've done one big room, the Long Gallery,

which has taken two years to do one room.

In the early 1900s, the Watsons, who had over the generations

become the Fitzwilliams, were thought to be the 6th

wealthiest landowners in the country.

They had a room for everything - one for the family barber, an

upholstery room, a bakery, and even a room for candles.

They also played host to some rather notable guests. In 1912,

King George V and Queen Mary came to stay, requiring rooms for

their total of 76 guests.

If they were invited for a pre-dinner drink, they would

have gathered in the Long Gallery.

This is beautiful. How long is it?

-165 feet long.

-Goodness me! Really?

I mean, these rooms back in the day, they were for sort of walking

up and down, weren't they? Parading up and down?

Yeah, everybody used to meet in the Long Room Gallery.

They'd sit here during the day.

You think two years in one room, that's a long time, but this is...

It's a row of terraced houses.

Well, yeah, got to say, this is a row of terraced houses!

It's a good way of looking at it. Yeah, it's massive.

The floor had to be re-sanded.

It was black with the wax over the years.

So it all had to be stripped down.

It's a Grade I-listed house and we have to work with English Heritage,

even down to the colours, has to be done traditional with the brush.

English Heritage have to oversee it.

Well, hopefully with this amazing work going on here, Tom, the public

will get to enjoy it and it will become more popular as years go by.

-I wish you the best of luck, Tom. Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

The renovation of the property is currently on hold due to subsidence.

But with work hopefully resuming soon, plans include a museum

and a hotel in the South Wing.

It's a colossal task but Newbold and his team are determined not

only to make it a viable home again, but to make it accessible for

the local community, letting visitors share in its beauty.

Well, I'm pretty sure that house number two is the only

property still in the running, but is it good enough to become

Kevin and Amanda's first marital home?

Let's find out.

We've had a good time here, haven't we?

-We have.

-We have.

And I'm pretty confident I know your favourite house.

The second property, right?

-Correct, yes.

-But how much do you like it?

Quite a lot.

I think we'd like to have a second look.

What do you hope to accomplish at the second viewing?

Well, we want to find out a bit more about the planning permissions

for the conservatory, maybe find out how much that might cost.

We just need to have another little look, another poke around.

You've embarked on an amazing journey, haven't you?

You're finally getting together properly.

You're buying your first house together.

How will this house fit into that?

I mean, could house number two be that house that you do all this in?

It's possible.

-It would be good if it could.

-Wouldn't it just?

Yeah. One step at a time, we'll get there.

Hopefully it'll be dotting I's and crossing T's,

but whatever happens, make sure you tell me.

-We will.

-Let us know, won't you?

-We will, definitely.

-We will do, definitely.

Good luck in your retirement, your wedding and your new house.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you very, very much. Thank you.

Well, I note a bit of caution creeping in there,

but it's understandable, isn't it?

Let's face it, it's a lot of money

and it's the first house that Kevin and Amanda are buying together.

But the good news is they want to go back for a second

viewing at property number two.

And in a year that they're not only looking to retire,

but they're also looking to get married,

well, buying a property here amongst this beautiful Yorkshire

countryside literally could be the cherry on top of the wedding cake.

See you next time.

Kevin and Amanda went back for another visit to property two,

but still undecided, they resolved to keep looking.

However, with Kevin now retired, he's moved in with Amanda.

Finally sharing a home, they're at least one step closer to

starting their new lives together.

I hope the perfect property is just around the corner.

If you'd like to Escape to the Country in Wales, Scotland, Northern

Ireland, England, or perhaps further afield to the Continent, and

need our help, please apply online at -