Cotswolds Escape to the Country

Can you believe that these perfectly-crafted little buildings

are so rare, and were made with such love, that they are in fact listed?

So find out what the story behind them is

and into which village I have very carefully stepped in just a moment.

Coming up on today's show - a married couple want to find calm

in the countryside, as well as separate sanctuary from one another,

but all under one roof.

Our properties work hard to achieve exactly the right vision

for one half...

How it stacks together to create two living spaces at the moment,

-I cannot... I cannot compute.

-Yeah.

-Yet.

..but it's full steam ahead for the other half of the duo.

-What do you think?

-It looks great.

-Wonderful. Come on, let's go.

I can't wait to get inside.

Today, I'm in the Cotswolds

and this is the model village of Bourton-on-the-Water.

A one-ninth replica of the real Cotswold village,

which is just on the other side of that hedge.

It was the brainchild of a local pub landlord who opened it to the public

in 1937, to bring more tourists into the village.

And it took five years to build.

Five years, because this is the work of master craftsmen,

using limestone from the region,

and the famous stone tiles that are so typical of the Cotswolds.

It's a real delight for all of us who grew up with Gulliver's Travels

and Alice In Wonderland,

and it also distils so much that is charming

about this part of the world.

The Cotswolds is an 800-square-mile area

that covers parts of five different counties,

including significant sections of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire.

The largest Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England,

the Cotswolds landscape is characterised by rolling hills

and farmland, framed within networks of dry stone walls.

All in all, they run for some 4,000 miles,

which is the equivalent in length to the Great Wall of China.

Unrestricted by county boundaries,

the Cotswolds can claim not only the finest landscape of the region

but also the architecture, too.

Styles that vary from Georgian splendour in Cheltenham,

the most complete Regency town in the country,

to distinctive ochre limestone buildings

that have lined the streets of villages like Stanton

since the 16th and 17th centuries.

Painting the perfect picture of rural England with its properties

and scenery, the region attracts well over 30 million visitors a year

and is a huge draw for those looking for a stylish slice of country life

on a more permanent basis.

Let's be under no illusions - buying property in the Cotswolds

is an expensive business.

When you think that the average price for a property

across the country is around £283,000 -

well, if you want something similar in this region,

then you're going to have to add

an almost £200,000 hike to the price tag.

Although if you go a little further out to the periphery,

to places like Dursley or Stroud,

away from the hot spots nearer to London,

you can get a lot more for your money.

So, bearing that in mind, let's meet today's buyers and find out

what drew them to this lovely part of the world.

For the past two decades,

Gill and Andy have lived in Kew, South West London.

Until their recent retirement, they both worked in education.

They've been married for 40 years

and have three grown-up children and eight grandchildren.

We met 40-odd years ago,

when we were both students studying theology in Chelsea.

And here we are, 40 years on.

We-we married while we were students and we had our first baby

while we were students.

Their current property is a semidetached 1930s house

but it's fair to say their living arrangement

is somewhat unconventional.

We live in the one house, but we've arranged it

so that we've got separate, independent living areas,

but access to one another.

And that came about because 25 years into our marriage,

we found that we were singing from different hymn sheets...

..but neither of us wanted to set up home permanently

with another partner, and we both felt very strongly

that we wanted to keep the family unit intact.

-So our marriage is like our house - semidetached.

-Yeah!

The arrangement has worked well for them both over the years,

so it's a property configuration

they want to keep in their new home together.

As a family, we've learnt a lot about what love is.

You know, it's about giving one another

the freedom to be who they are.

Despite enjoying their time living in Kew,

they now feel it's time for a change.

When people come and visit,

they're very aware of the flight path to Heathrow.

Sometimes it feels a bit hectic,

being in London with all the traffic.

It would be nice to have a slower pace sometimes.

And they've chosen the calming Cotswolds in which to unwind.

There's a certain line I cross when we are travelling to the Cotswolds,

-and I feel...

-SHE SIGHS HAPPILY

-"I've come home."

-What we love about the countryside, I think,

is the fact that it's peaceful, it's beautiful,

there are large skies and it just makes your soul sing.

As well as being closer to one of their sons in Birmingham,

they hope to have more time to invest in their respective hobbies.

I paint, I do quite a lot of craft work - knitting and sewing.

I love listening to music and going to concerts.

Playing the piano is something

that has always been a panacea to the soul for me

and hopefully, if I've got more time in the Cotswolds,

I might play a bit more than I do

and be able to play some of the pieces that I struggle with now.

Although Andy in particular

will miss the buzz of the capital on his doorstep,

they are both looking forward to their next adventure.

I think it's the excitement of...

..putting together another home.

We are more settled in what we're doing and where we are, I think.

-And ready for a challenge.

-And ready for a challenge.

A last challenge, probably.

Speak for yourself!

Our buyers want to focus their search

in the Gloucestershire portion of the Cotswolds,

around the centres of Moreton-in-Marsh

and Bourton-on-the-Water.

So we're all meeting up to nail the specifics of their move.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

-Good morning.

-Welcome to the Cotswolds.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-We've found you a little house.

-THEY LAUGH

-I wish!

-Maybe slightly over budget.

But isn't it beautiful? The Cotswolds are so exquisite.

-That stone is magical.

-Yes, it is.

-It is.

-Beautiful.

Have you been on the ground?

Have you done lots of house searches here?

We have. We've actually been looking for about three years, so...

-Oh, really?

-Yes, yes. We've looked at lots of floor plans,

but only actually physically visited a few houses,

but we are looking for something rather unusual.

You are indeed. We're all quite excited about this

because I think it's the first time

-I've ever had to look for two houses in one.

-Yes, yes.

-Yes.

Are you aware that there aren't that many split houses on the market?

-Yes, we are.

-Yes, we are. And the issue has been

that where they have been split, there's not parity of space.

You know, there's a large house and then there's a small granny flat

on the side of it, so it's about finding something

-that gives us an equal amount of space, really.

-Mmm.

Andy, in Kew, you've got the upstairs

and, Gill, you're downstairs.

Are you looking to replicate that, or do you want to swap?

I like being on the ground level.

-And you're happy with the..?

-I'm happy being upstairs, yes.

He'll put a stairlift in!

When I get old and feeble, yes, I'll put a stairlift in.

Obviously, we haven't found you a property that's already split

in this way, so what sort of compromises are you willing to make

in terms of, sort of, work or realignment?

-We really don't want a big project.

-No.

We're quite happy to do some reconfiguration work.

But I mean, obviously, knocking a few walls down

or reconfiguring a staircase...

-Or adding a bit on, even...

-Or adding a bit on...

..which is what we have done to our...

..is not out of the question.

How big is the house going to be overall? How many bedrooms?

We'd like somewhere with two bedrooms each,

if possible, so that when the family comes to stay,

there's room for them.

And what about location? Do you want to be in the middle of a town

-or out in the sticks?

-Not remote.

We want... As we grow older,

we'd like access to amenities and proximity to a bit of buzz.

A bit of life and a feel of community.

Remind us of your budget.

-900,000, top...

-Yeah.

..because that would include any renovation,

any reconfiguration work.

Gosh, you've been looking for three years.

That sort of fills us with dread!

But we have found three lovely properties,

which I think will offer you something,

so I'll be keen to see what you think. Let's go and look.

For a maximum budget of £900,000, including any renovation work,

Andy and Gill want to create two homes in one.

The challenge is to find them somewhere

that offers private living spaces - ideally of equal size -

and preferably with Gill downstairs.

They'd like two bedrooms each, for visiting family,

as well as their own living room and kitchen.

After a vibrant life in London,

they're both keen to be part of an active community.

We've found three contrasting Cotswold homes

which we hope will give them

the versatility and harmony they're after.

But I'll keep them guessing as to what the houses are worth

until the end of each tour.

Then for last orders, we'll be opening not one, but two doors,

when we reveal our remodelled Mystery House.

We're kicking off our property search in Gloucestershire,

eight miles north of Moreton-in-Marsh,

and 14 miles north of Bourton-on-the-Water.

In one of the area's most elegant market towns, Chipping Campden.

In the Middle Ages,

this town prospered from a lucrative wool trade

and the many grand, honey-coloured limestone buildings

are still a feature along the high street to this day.

The arched market hall, dating from the early 17th century,

is an elegant centrepiece.

The property I want to show Gill and Andy is on the edge of town,

just a short stroll from all the local amenities.

-Here is our first offering.

-Right.

The house dates back to 1963,

as the whole estate was built in the '60s, using the Cotswold stone.

-What are your impressions from the outside?

-I like it.

Yes, it's a pleasant-looking house.

Probably bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.

Obviously, we're immediately thinking about separating it out

-for you guys.

-Mm-hm.

-In this one,

-we're thinking of splitting it upstairs and downstairs.

-Mm-hm.

That's fine. It's looks from the outside as though it would be

perfectly feasible as an upstairs-downstairs division.

-Shall we look inside?

-Ooh, yes, let's.

Built in the early 1960s,

this detached Cotswold stone house has been extended twice,

most recently to the side.

There are number of options for Andy and Gill to divide this house,

starting with two separate entrances,

one directly into the kitchen, and the other into the central hallway,

which I'm taking them through to start the tour.

Let's have a look. So we're going to be looking at the ground floor

-first, because you said you prefer the ground floor.

-OK.

-I do, yes.

-They've extended out over into the kitchen here

-and they have extended back...

-Mm-hm.

-..here, so they've made themselves a lot more space.

-Mm-hm.

It's got the nice, light, airy, spacious look that you like.

It's got the light, airy feel. I like the size of the space.

-The kitchen/living space is good.

-Come over here and you can see...

-See, this is an extension that they put on in the '90s...

-Yes.

..to give them some space at the side.

That's a good door for me.

-Yeah, so you've got another...

-My own entrance.

Exactly, so you've got an entrance here,

-cos we went through the hallway.

-Yes.

It's a nice, light hallway,

but I think we'd have to reconfigure the stairwell.

-We thought you'd have to turn the stairs one more time...

-Yes.

-..so the front door would be yours...

-Yes.

-Yes.

..so you could come in the front door and just go straight upstairs.

And then there would be a wall, so you'd have the back door

-and this door.

-Yes, yes. Good.

With the utility space off the kitchen,

this floor also offers a snug, dining area,

separate study, downstairs cloakroom,

and a large living room just across the hallway.

Come in. I'm liking your thinking on the hoof. That's very good.

-So this is the living room at the moment...

-Yes.

..but, the speed at which you're kind of redesigning this,

it may be something else. THEY LAUGH

It's light. The size is just about right.

If we're thinking about reconfiguring, which we have to,

for me, this would have to be the bedroom.

Next door, where you've got the toilet,

which could become the shower room, cos you could extend that...

-Do you agree?

-Well, well, I had been thinking,

if I kept this as a bedroom,

because the current kitchen and living space is a nice size

of living space for me, then the little bit...

-The snug.

-The snug at the back could become my studio.

It could do, yeah. That would be a really good thing.

I'm loving it. It's a lot of thinking and you've obviously done

this before. You're way ahead of me

-but I'm quite interested to see what you think of upstairs...

-OK.

..cos he's quite animated about your floor.

I don't know what he's going to be like upstairs!

You can expect fireworks up there!

It's great that they already have plans

for how they might reconfigure this space to make it work for Gill,

turning the living room into a main bedroom,

adding a shower to the cloakroom

and making the snug into a possible art studio.

But what will Andy make of the two further upstairs floors

that could form his part of the house?

A top floor currently provides two small bedrooms in the eaves,

one of which is en suite,

whilst the middle floor offers two double bedrooms,

served by a family bathroom,

as well as what is currently the large master bedroom.

Right. This is the master,

with its own en suite going over the extension.

Well, this is a nice room. It's a nice size.

Kitchen? Possible kitchen?

Yeah, I mean, this would make a possible...

Well, the only kitchen/living area, really.

With the bathroom. And then the other two bedrooms

would have to be knocked together to make one living space.

-Living space?

-Well, yeah, because I've got to put the piano somewhere.

-Oh, yeah.

-So it would have to go, if anywhere, it would go there.

Essentially, here, you've got five bedrooms.

All of those are stud walls,

so you can knock around everything on this floor and upstairs as well,

if you wish. But let's go outside and talk about the outside

and the price.

So they could create a self-contained home for Andy

by turning the middle floor here into a kitchen and living area,

keeping the top floor as sleeping quarters.

But I'm sensing that they aren't entirely convinced.

At least the outside space is less problematic,

as they're happy to share a garden,

which in this case, is secluded

and offers mature beds and paved areas.

Tuck ourselves in the corner here. It's not a huge garden.

Well, that's OK. We don't want a huge garden.

In fact, it's a nice-size garden for us.

I like the little vegetable garden. That's nice.

OK, so I know there are issues upstairs but what do you think

a five-bed bedroom property in the Cotswolds costs?

It's probably about £795,000.

-Andy?

-Well, I don't think it's that much.

-OK.

-I think it's 750.

Well, in this instance, you're both wrong.

It's actually cheaper.

-It's on the market for £675,000.

-Oh.

-Oh, right.

Well, that gives a lot of scope.

So we showed you this cos it would give you a big pot of money

-to do whatever you wanted to.

-Yeah, OK.

Good, well, go in and have another look around, just to sort of get,

-sort of, your bearings...

-OK.

-..and to have a little chat

and then I'll meet you out the front and we can go onto the next one.

OK. Thank you.

Under budget by £225,000,

this detached extended 1960s house would leave plenty for Andy and Gill

to make alterations to divide the space.

Currently offering a large kitchen/diner,

three additional reception rooms

and five bedrooms spread over three floors,

the property is located on the edge of a popular Cotswold market town

with excellent facilities.

I like the house. I like the garden.

I can see how, with a bit of tweaking, the downstairs space,

which would be my part of the house, would work well for me.

Downstairs obviously works for Gill.

The problems in this house lie upstairs.

I cannot see the upstairs being reconfigured to my specifications

and that's got to be important, making such a big move.

-Good. All done with your deliberations?

-Yep.

-Yes.

-Time for another house, then.

-Yes, good, OK.

-Good.

-Follow me.

Gentle countryside and pretty stone towns and villages

have drawn Gill and Andy to the Cotswolds, but today,

they're going to discover some of the area's royal heritage

with a visit to a 15th-century castle.

Set in an estate of 1,200 acres,

including nine stunning landscaped gardens,

Sudeley Castle is the private home to Lady Ashcombe

and the final resting place of a 16th-century queen -

Henry VIII's sixth wife, Catherine Parr.

Hello, I'm Andy. Very pleased to meet you.

-Hello, I'm Gill.

-Welcome to Sudeley Castle.

Though best known for her royal marriage,

Catherine Parr was a great intellect and a keen scholar.

Her ability is evident in the numerous documents

housed in the castle's collection,

and guide Derek Maddock has offered to tell their story.

Well, everybody assumes that Catherine Parr

is just the sixth wife of Henry VIII.

She's much more important than that.

She was intellectual, very gifted.

She even ruled the country for a short time when Henry was in France

and she wrote books.

This is the first queen to write and publish books.

So here we have her Prayers And Meditation,

written while Henry was alive.

Lamentations Of A Sinner in 1547,

Fascinating sort of document and it says at the bottom,

"Katherine the Queen, KP", which is how she liked to sign herself.

Soon after the death of her husband, King Henry VIII,

Catherine remarried in secret.

This elopement was a love match with Thomas Seymour,

brother of Henry's late Queen, Jane Seymour.

She wanted to marry Thomas Seymour before Henry intervened,

but you don't argue with the king.

We also have a love letter she wrote to Thomas Seymour,

so for instance, down here, we've got, "For as truly as God is good,

"my mind was fully bent the other time I was at liberty to marry you

"before any man I know."

She sees this man as the love of her life and possibly he was.

But the love marriage was short-lived.

Within a year, she died, aged 36,

most likely from complications during the birth of her only child,

a daughter, and was buried in the grounds.

There are, of course, rumoured sightings of a wandering ghost,

but in the castle chapel, her tomb is very much on full view.

This is not the original tomb.

The church and the castle were both slighted after the Civil War

and, effectively, the body disappeared

and then some tourists hired a tenant farmer to dig for it

and they found a bit of an alabaster tomb,

and on top of the alabaster tomb was a little plaque saying,

"Here lieth Queen Catherine".

And eventually, when the Dent family bought the church,

they decided to rebuild this completely and build a proper tomb,

like this wonderful thing that we have in front

to commemorate Queen Catherine.

The castle also houses some curious historical exhibits,

which will put Gill and Andy's ingenuity to the test.

-So what do you think of that?

-Well, I think it's a bed warmer.

It's obviously for warming something,

because you have to unscrew that, but you can also hold it like that.

You're on the right tracks but it's not a bed warmer.

-It would be quite heavy to carry. It's not a bed warmer?

-No.

-Is it a lap warmer? A hand warmer?

-Go down a bit.

-Oh, a feet warmer.

Foot warmer for in a coach. A foot warmer in a coach.

-Oh, wow!

-Now this one is possibly the weirdest.

It's very ornate, isn't it?

It's quite heavy, so I'll keep holding it.

I've got no idea what this is.

Is it for winding wool?

Not for winding wool, but think of something we would consider

quite ordinary inside there, the way you need it to turn.

-It's not an hourglass, is it?

-An hourglass, yes.

This bizarre thing was designed to keep a sermon short.

-In here, once the hourglass had run out, the priest had to be quiet.

-Oh!

After a fascinating insight into Sudeley's impressive heritage,

it's definitely time to return to finding Gill and Andy

their own splendid residence.

For our second property,

we're travelling less than a mile from Chipping Campden

to the hamlet of Broad Campden.

Here, locals can enjoy the atmosphere

of the 17th-century country pub.

Cotswold stone cottages are surrounded by rolling farmland,

largely given over to sheep and accessed via a network of bridleways

and footpaths, including the Heart of England Way.

We're heading to the edge of the hamlet,

where the four-bedroomed detached house I want to show them

is located.

-This is a very different offering.

-Yes, it is, isn't it?

-Yes, it is.

-So this is an altogether more spacious...

-OK.

-..affair.

This started off as a 1950s bungalow and then it's been extended,

actually quite recently, in the last ten years or so,

up into the roof and there's little bits and bobs like the porch.

I like the approach to the house.

I like the frontage, the garden, it's lovely.

We couldn't decide how you would split it, so we're not going to,

you know, chase you in one direction or the other,

-but you could go left-right. You could go up and down.

-OK.

-OK.

-Shall we take a look inside?

-Oh, yes.

First impressions are encouraging and I hope this option

has more of the flexibility Gill and Andy are looking for.

Come in. Beautiful parquet floor...

-Yes, lovely. Noticed that straight away.

-..throughout.

-Yes.

Yes, this is a nice space.

Obviously, this is their living room with these beautiful French doors.

-Lovely.

-Out into a very expansive garden.

And what happened is that this was a separate bedroom

and they've knocked this through, so officially,

you have another room with another set of French doors.

-OK.

-Cos, of course, you could go upstairs-downstairs.

-Mm, mm.

But this has, unlike the other one,

offers the possibility of going left and right.

The fact that you have the potential to either go up, down

or left and right is really interesting,

but it's the logistics, then, of how you do that.

Good. Well, let's continue the tour, cos it will become clearer.

Here's the kitchen. Lovely range.

-Lovely units.

-Very nice, yes. I like the style of the units.

-Nice and airy again.

-It is.

And it kind of flows through into this...

This is an extension that they put on, but a very charming one.

-There's lots of double windows out into the garden.

-There are.

-Yeah.

In between the window and the door, there was a door,

-so it would be easy to reinstate it.

-Right.

It might be possible to put a staircase at this end of the house.

It might. Yes.

So the ground floor, I mean,

-it's essentially a great big, long suite of rooms...

-Mm.

..which you could easily divide in two

but you could have this as your floor,

-in which case we need to look at the top floor.

-Yep.

The ground floor also has two bedrooms,

one currently used as a study,

and both share a Jack and Jill bathroom.

There is a cloakroom, a utility area and a double garage.

As these are mainly stud walls, with some expert advice,

it would be fairly easy to reconfigure the layout,

but could living side by side work for Gill and Andy

or would they prefer to keep an upstairs-downstairs arrangement,

once they see the upper floor?

So what we've got upstairs, really,

-is all the loft space taken out and skylights all along...

-OK.

..from one end, all the way to the other.

Then they have it set up so there's three bedrooms.

-This is the master suite.

-Yes.

-I love the whole...

-Yes.

-..feeling of light and space across the top of the building,

which makes me think that, you know, the up-down...

-Might be better?

-..might be better.

-Yeah.

-If we were to keep it as an up-down,

then I would keep this as the bedroom at the end.

It would be a shame to spoil this, cos it is a beautiful, light, airy,

large bedroom with plenty of storage.

This house, I think, has a lot more flexibility.

-Yes, it has.

-Much more so than the last but we have always said

we need a garden that's easy to maintain.

We've got to be careful not to get carried away.

-Let's look at the garden and talk about that, then.

-OK.

So far, it seems that this property has something for both of them,

so it just remains to see if the generous garden,

with its heated plunge pool, will be more than they bargained for.

-It is a big garden.

-It is a big garden.

Very beautiful.

It is about three quarters of an acre, which is a big plot.

-Yes. It would take a lot of maintenance.

-Yes.

But once we know the price,

and what we'd need to spend on the house,

there might be room to have somebody come in and look after the garden

-for us.

-Well, it's on the market for...

Oh! You're trying to trick me!

But that's your job. What do you think the price is?

I think it's got to be much nearer the top of our budget. 850,000?

No, it's less than that.

It's about 800,000, I would say.

It's actually just a shade under what you said.

It's on at £798,000.

-Wow, that's good.

-That's a good price.

That gives us a bit to play with.

Do have a walk around, cos this is a property where you do need to

kind of have another look, and I'll see you at the front.

-OK.

-Thank you.

-OK, thank you.

Phew! I think we are much closer to the mark with this one.

It's a tricky challenge to find this property

and if the big garden is the main bone of contention,

I think we did pretty well.

£102,000 below budget,

this extended property would leave a healthy sum

for our semidetached couple to create separate living spaces

side-by-side or on different floors.

With three reception rooms, a kitchen,

and two bedrooms on the ground floor,

as well as a further four rooms split into two suites upstairs,

the house could provide a real balance of accommodation.

And although the garden is larger than they hoped for,

there should be enough left over to pay for a gardener.

I don't think there's a huge amount of work to be done in this place

to make it suitable for me and Andy. Certainly downstairs,

from my point of view, the changes would because cosmetic.

I love this long, open, galleried feel to this.

This space is very much what you've always hankered after.

-Yeah, I love the loft...

-The loft look.

-..the loft look, yeah.

-I think it would be fantastic.

-Hmm.

Having looked at it, the up-down solution is the better one,

because it gives both of us the space we require

without really damaging the intrinsic architecture

of the building too much.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Hello.

-All done?

-All done.

-Yeah, I think so.

-Excellent. Good,

So that's our last house for the day.

-Let's go and find a little place to rest and relax.

-Good idea.

Morning has broken on the second day of our fascinating house search

with married couple Gill and Andy.

With their 900,000 budget,

they want to swap the cramped chaos of London

for the charm of the Cotswolds.

But the aspiration is for completely independent living

under one roof.

Still to come -

the Mystery House has us positively bursting with excitement.

I've got to contain myself.

No, don't. Let it go. Let it all out!

And I learn how to transform the local harvest

into a brand-new scent.

Wonderful. We'll take it straight into production.

Conquer the world with Eau d'Appleton!

It's the second day of our property hunt here in the Cotswolds

and one thing became clear to me yesterday is that Andy and Gill,

they are the experts when it comes to putting all the pieces

of this particular property puzzle together.

So the Mystery House gives them lots of pieces,

but without the big garden piece and the out-in-the-countryside piece,

but how on earth they are going to configure them, I don't really know.

But watch this space.

Where do you think we might be going for the Mystery House?

You've shown us two - in Cotswolds terms - relatively recent builds.

I think the Mystery House might be an older, more traditional house.

I don't think you'd be cruel enough to show us a plot of land

on which to build, although you might!

For our Mystery House,

we're heading 12 miles east of Moreton-in-Marsh

into the Oxfordshire section of the Cotswolds

and the village of Hook Norton.

The village is home to a famous local brewery,

housed in a grand, late Victorian building,

producing the renowned Hooky cask ales.

There's also a museum telling its brewing history.

But the village is no museum,

as community spirit is alive and well here,

with many amenities to hand, including a post office, shops

and a choice of three public houses.

Right in the centre of the village,

a former pub has been transformed into this substantial property -

our seven-bedroom Mystery House.

Hopefully it will fulfil our couple's quest

to create two homes in one.

Ooh! It's the Mystery House.

I'm very excited about this one.

-Yes, I am, too!

-You are, too?

I am. Look, see! I love the immediate environment.

Beautiful. And I love the outside.

That's the look I had in mind.

It's an exceptional building - quite excited to show you around,

largely because it's got two front doors.

I see that, yes.

-Go, go!

-We were like, "It's got two front doors!

"Show it to them, show it to them!" What do you think?

-It looks great.

-Wonderful.

-Come on, let's go!

-Can't wait to get inside.

Dating back to the 17th century,

the mystery property was a pub until 2012,

when it was bought and converted into a luxury home.

And the unique pedigree of the building is such

that it has been given a Grade II listing.

Woohoo! Here we come.

Wow!

Oh, it's beautiful, isn't it? I've got to contain myself.

No, don't. Let it go, let it all out!

-You've got these amazing Yorkstone flagstones.

-Yes, yes.

And an incredible fire.

The fabric of the building is listed,

-so that means things like the fireplace, the beams...

-Yes.

..you have to work hand-in-glove with the planning officers,

so you can do things, but you'd have to get them on board.

-Yeah, yeah.

-OK.

-Well, you ain't seen nothing yet.

It gets better and better. Follow me.

Here you go.

This is beautiful.

-Absolutely. Oh, look!

-A well.

-A well.

This is absolutely beautiful.

-It's beautiful, isn't it?

-It is.

-I just hope...

..we can create equal space for you.

This is, if you like, the sort of atrium of the house.

Watch the kitchen, the snug, lots of storage comes off.

-Be still, my beating heart!

-THEY LAUGH

Let's have a peek in the kitchen.

Come in.

More of the quarry tiles.

-Wow!

-And more beams.

I've really got to rein myself in.

-I know.

-Is this pressing all the buttons?

Oh!

Yeah.

Well, there's nothing more you can say, really, is there?

It's just stunningly beautiful.

-Yeah.

-As we've discovered with the two properties yesterday,

it's the upstairs that often gives the difficulty.

Well, the upstairs is rather special, so let's have a look.

The ground floor also includes a dining room with an open fire,

a cosy snug, a study,

a walk-in pantry

and a utility room with WC.

But with accommodation that spans around 3,500 square feet,

there's plenty more to house Andy on the two upper floors,

which were once the living quarters for the publican.

-Mind your head.

-OK.

This is the master bedroom.

-It's a lovely room, isn't it? Lovely view of the garden.

-Yeah.

And right next-door is the sort of the master en suite,

but, actually, that was at some point an upstairs kitchenette.

-Right.

-So it has all the plumbing for that.

So this could be your living space, kitchen/dining area.

Yes, if that were to be put back to a kitchen,

it's going to be a very small kitchen.

That's not an issue.

I can see the beauty of the whole house but how it stacks together

to create two living spaces at the moment, I cannot...

I cannot compute.

-Yeah.

-Yet.

-Yet.

On the other side of the master bedroom,

another good-sized bathroom serves three further bedrooms.

One, a bright double, another currently set up as a twin,

and the last, also a large double,

with an impressive feature fireplace.

-OK. I know this is all probably a bit overwhelming.

-Yeah.

What are your thoughts?

It's obviously got lots of potential and it's all been beautifully done.

I just think it's beautiful.

But I know it's got to be right for Andy, too.

There are two staircases up to the top floor.

The first of these leads to two further bedrooms and a bathroom,

whilst the second staircase serves yet another double bedroom.

This makes a total of seven bedrooms and three bathrooms

on the upper two floors.

By using the second doorway from the street

and blocking off a couple of rooms from the stairs,

Andy could have private access to these two upper floors

that would then form his part of the house.

They could also reinstall a kitchen to create a large living space

on the middle floor, although this plan does give Andy more floor space

than Gill, but if the house is a conundrum,

outside is more straightforward,

where an enclosed, easy-to-maintain plot has a wall running through it.

So this garden is a bit more manageable.

-Yes.

-Yes, it certainly is.

-Much better.

A big smile!

OK, the big question is, can you afford it? What is the price?

I'm going to be really hopeful that it's...

£5 under our top budget.

I think it's at the top of our budget.

I think it's slightly over at 910.

Well, in this instance, we're not that nasty.

It is on the market for...

£895,000.

-Right, OK.

-And the owner said she would be open to offers.

-You would still have to do some knocking around.

-Yes, yes.

So go in and have a good old look around

-and I'll see you at the front.

-OK.

£5,000 below budget and open to offers,

this listed Mystery House has the space

to give them two good-sized homes, subject to planning consent.

It has seven bedrooms, four reception rooms,

a kitchen/breakfast room

and plumbing for a second kitchen on the middle floor.

Plus, there's a low-maintenance walled garden

and it all lies in the heart of a popular Cotswold village.

I'm having to rein myself in because I love this property.

The space that would be mine is practically perfect -

I don't think I could improve on it.

It's just...

perfect.

When I first saw the Mystery House, I was really quite excited.

It immediately created an emotional response.

I cannot say whether I feel it is a house

that could serve both Gill and I

because the upstairs is much more complex,

in terms of how you would reconfigure it.

Ah! Look at that.

Double doors. It's all coming together.

-How are you feeling?

-Oh, great!

-Yes, it's a stunning house but a complex problem.

-Beautiful.

It is, isn't it?

-Well, let's go and find somewhere to think about it.

-OK.

Much of the Cotswold landscape -

from dry stone walls to pretty market towns -

is a legacy from the Middle Ages,

when the area was at the centre of the wool trade.

But changing demands over the centuries have led farmers

to find new ways to make a living from the land.

I'm meeting Charlie Bird, who is a third-generation farmer

and who is championing one of the most recent additions

to the rolling Cotswold fields,

something perhaps more commonly associated with the south of France,

lavender.

So, how long have you been growing lavender? When did you start?

We started growing lavender in 2000,

so it's still a relatively new crop in some ways for us.

And was that a departure from what you did before?

Yeah, we were then and still are arable farmers but lavender started

as a little bit of a diversification on the farm and now it's become

the most important crop on the farm, and the rest of the farm

-is now a bit of a sideline.

-So talk me through the kind of seasons.

Yeah, full bloom will be in about a week's time.

We'll start harvesting in the last week of July

and it'll take us about two weeks to complete harvest.

Cos it's the oil you're looking for. That's the kind of key ingredient?

Yeah, the oil's a very important thing for us, yes.

Lavender produces oil as a reaction to drought stress,

so what we're after are really hot, dry conditions before harvest.

Worst case scenario is very heavy rain

and we have had total crop failures.

For example, this field here,

we had five inches of rain the day before we were going to harvest

a few years back, and that just knocked all the flowers off completely.

-The whole thing lost?

-Yeah, no harvest whatsoever.

-Yikes.

Despite the vagaries of the English weather,

the farm now grows three different varieties of lavender.

Half a million plants set out over 70 miles of rows

yield up to 1,500 litres of oil a year.

Each plant will produce about 1.5ml of oil,

so there's 10ml of oil there. That'll come from around six plants.

So what happens to the oil? Where are your main kind of outlets?

We use about 20% of oil that we produce ourselves,

through the farm here. We have a shop on site.

We also sell off-site to soap-makers, candle-makers,

perfumers and people like that.

So we're going to go and visit the perfumier in Bourton-on-the-Water,

just around the corner. So do you supply to them?

We do supply them, yeah.

They use our lavender in some of the products that they make.

Excellent, so we will see your oil at work.

-Great.

-Very nice to meet you.

Good luck with the harvest. I hope it doesn't get washed away.

Thank you very much.

Ten miles from the lavender fields

is the perfumery in Bourton-on-the-Water.

-Hello, John.

-Morning.

It was founded in the 1960s by the father of John Stephen,

the current nose behind the family business,

who sends his products as far afield as Russia and the Middle East.

So, Charlie's oil is world-class oil, is it?

Well, English lavender oil is unique

and it's very, very different from any other lavender in the world

and very highly prized in perfumery.

John is going to demonstrate the qualities of this local lavender oil

by creating a new scent for men.

First of all, we would plan out the fragrance,

decide what oils you're going to put in the fragrance,

decide on the amounts and then mix it together.

We'd normally start with a base.

Base notes evaporate very slowly.

If you have a lot of high proportion of base notes,

your perfume will last a long time but it's going to be rather heady.

Doesn't everybody want their perfume to last a long time?

Ideally, but, you know,

everybody wants a loaf of bread to stay fresh for a month

-but it doesn't.

-Good... Good analogy!

Vetiver, that's my favourite scent.

Yes, very nice. I always get the Vetiver from Haiti.

Wow.

We'd better put Charlie's oil now, hadn't we? So, it's that one.

A good middle note to go with your lavender fragrance

would be the solvent-extracted lavender,

which is a lavender absolute.

And then we could do with some bergamot, as a top note,

because that lightens and freshens it and brings it through.

Well, we could put five drops of each, and 20 of the bergamot...

-Cool.

-..and see how it goes.

With the scents selected,

the drops of essential oil are mixed together with ethanol

to create a 10% solution.

-Have a smell of that.

-I can smell a lot of bergamot.

It goes very well with the lavender, though, doesn't it?

Wonderful. We'll take it straight into production.

Conquer the world with Eau d'Appleton!

-Thank you, John, a real pleasure. Have a good, smelly day.

-OK!

It feels like the Mystery House

has really brought this double pot to the boil.

Particularly Andy, I think,

is exhausted after all that re-sketching

and replanning where everything is going to go,

so it'll be interesting to see what they have to say

now they've had a moment to sit down and rest.

-This is very nice, isn't it?

-It certainly is.

What's your status right now? How are you feeling about the houses?

House number two, initially, I was very sceptical about,

because it looks like a bungalow,

but actually, inside, the potential is fantastic

because you would have to do very little downstairs

to create a separate living space

and certainly, upstairs, I liked that galleried feel of that

and that again would take very little configuration.

The biggest drawback on property number two

was the size of the garden, which was, for us,

would have been unmanageable and just a burden.

What about the Mystery House?

Oh, I fell in love with the Mystery House.

Typical Cotswold feel.

It was exceptionally beautiful

and would have worked well as a family house.

The upstairs, which is kind of higgledy-piggledy,

is less easy to rearrange,

so there are lots of things that we need to take into consideration.

Although I think, both our hearts are saying, "Buy me! Buy me!"

So what happens right now,

now that we've seen all the houses and the dust has settled?

What's the next step?

Have a careful look at the floor plan of the Mystery House

and then move forward from there.

Thank you so much for coming on the show,

cos it's been a really fascinating project to work through with you

and do let us know if you manage to square the circle

-and find this place.

-Oh, we will, we will. And thank you so much.

-Thank you very much.

-It's been a joy.

What an intriguing house search,

and what an intriguing dynamic there between Andy and Gill.

I wonder whether they'd ever find a house that completely resolved

what they were looking for in one building.

Though I have to say, we did very well. We found two,

I think, that offered them great new ways

of thinking about that particular compromise.

I hope you enjoyed the show and I hope you'll join us next time

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