0:00:02 > 0:00:06If you turn your back on the town, if you take that village track up an unmade road,
0:00:06 > 0:00:09you'll find something absolutely extraordinary.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Wales's hidden houses.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15In this series, I'll be stepping back in time,
0:00:15 > 0:00:19going over the threshold of some extraordinary places.
0:00:19 > 0:00:24I'll be revealing secrets and I'll be seeking out scandal packed histories.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Bricks and mortar will never seem the same again.
0:00:28 > 0:00:36Today we're in South Wales, in a house that has been renovated by a couple of silver surfing go-getters.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38We are doing it ourselves basically.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43Originally the home of an English upstart who became an aristocrat.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48I think he was probably a good squire, because he was as hard as nails.
0:00:48 > 0:00:55It's a castle built to keep people out. It's now welcoming the locals back in.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58- I'll go and get a knife. - Why is she going to get a knife?
0:00:58 > 0:01:00- I'm now slightly worried. - Slit your throat!
0:01:10 > 0:01:14Somewhere at the end of one of these incredibly long and skinny roads
0:01:14 > 0:01:19you get in the Vale of Glamorgan, there is Plas Llanmihangel.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23And it is an extraordinary house with a very dense history.
0:01:23 > 0:01:27That, I am not surprised by. Look at that.
0:01:27 > 0:01:34That is Hogwartsian architecture at its most spunky.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40What a drive. Oh, my goodness.
0:01:40 > 0:01:42Obviously designed to repel all boarders.
0:01:42 > 0:01:47Hang on, hang on, almost there.
0:01:47 > 0:01:52It's about keeping people at bay obviously, this house.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57Because, if you survive the drive,
0:01:57 > 0:02:02and I'm not sure I'm going to, then...
0:02:02 > 0:02:04the next problem...
0:02:06 > 0:02:09..is battling the battlements...
0:02:09 > 0:02:12and getting through the front door.
0:02:19 > 0:02:25In the 12th century, Plas Llanmihangel was owned by a Norman knight and is described as a grange.
0:02:25 > 0:02:31It was probably a one-storey building, not the magnificent gentry house we have here today.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36Now it's owned by Sue Beer and her architect husband David.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38And they have, for the past 20 years,
0:02:38 > 0:02:43been realising their ambition to turn this imposing ramshackle castle
0:02:43 > 0:02:46into a home which everybody can enjoy.
0:02:46 > 0:02:52How on earth did you two come to take on something of this magnitude?
0:02:52 > 0:02:57- We were seeing a cousin of mine that we hadn't seen for 30 years.- Yes.
0:02:57 > 0:03:03- And we thought, being English as we are, that South Wales was full of chimneys.- Right.
0:03:03 > 0:03:10And we were so surprised that we asked him to bring us for a drive around the area. And he came...
0:03:10 > 0:03:13- In July.- In July, yes. - When it was lovely and sunny.
0:03:13 > 0:03:18And he came outside the house and stopped, got out, and said,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22"There you are, David, it's going for a song."
0:03:22 > 0:03:24Just how little was that song?
0:03:24 > 0:03:28- £139,000.- That's a very, very little song.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32- For this size.- And 12 acres. - When was that?
0:03:32 > 0:03:36- '88.- In July, 22 years ago. - 22 years ago.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Because, the other thing is, it was a big project to be taking on.
0:03:40 > 0:03:42What do you mean?!
0:03:42 > 0:03:46You weren't straight out of short trousers, were you(?)
0:03:46 > 0:03:50You forget, through your lifespan, you have a whole series of,
0:03:50 > 0:03:57- if you're lucky, surges to different things.- And this was a surge.
0:03:57 > 0:04:01You took this on when so many people
0:04:01 > 0:04:05are thinking of downsizing, not upsizing.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08- And not just upsizing, but up, up - ,- upsizing to something
0:04:08 > 0:04:12that required the most enormous amount of renovation work.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15- But it was the challenge. - Yes, we love it.
0:04:15 > 0:04:21The whole work, we were determined to have that done properly. We are doing it ourselves, basically.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27And, of course, because it is all their own work,
0:04:27 > 0:04:33Sue and David have no idea how much they have spent on the renovation.
0:04:33 > 0:04:37All they know is it has taken them 20 years, that cash is always tight.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40And that there's forever something left to do.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47Let's go in, because I am intrigued by your castle.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50- It is a castle.- A little castle.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53- A teeny castle. - It's a fortified manor house.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57- It's a pint sized castle. - Defensive too.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Very stony, isn't it? There's a lot of stone.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34It's built of stone. It's a stone area.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36It is a stone area.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39- Go a bit further north in Wales and you have timber.- Timber, yes.
0:05:39 > 0:05:47Certainly, there was a real sense of wanting to... What, keep people out or keep people in here?
0:05:47 > 0:05:49Definitely to keep people out.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52It hasn't worked, has it?
0:05:52 > 0:05:54Well, we leave the door open.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58And who were they trying to keep out?
0:05:58 > 0:06:00Well, in the 12th century, it would have been about
0:06:00 > 0:06:06keeping out the marauding Welsh, keen to get their hands on whatever treasures lay inside.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Really, by the sound of it, around here, it's like the Wild West.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15Wales was very Wild West.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Why bother working when you can go and break into that fat, plump looking farmhouse.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21- There's bound to be food there. - Exactly.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24These bolts fascinate me.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29I have never seen this before, and it is such an ingenious and very simple solution.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33I'm thinking about having it installed to keep the choir back in my village at bay.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36It's a very simple means, isn't it?
0:06:36 > 0:06:41Because you don't get a pull bar until you build it in when you're building a structure.
0:06:41 > 0:06:43So you can't do it after the event?
0:06:43 > 0:06:46You've got to think about this as you are actually doing it.
0:06:46 > 0:06:51This is all part of it. It was very much a very standard form of locking up the doors.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54So unbelievably simple, they're basically just bracing the door
0:06:54 > 0:06:59against attack from the inside, because it comes out of that slot, goes into that slot.
0:06:59 > 0:07:00Into the keep, as it is called.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04And this is a piece of oak you can replace.
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Off the estate, yes, absolutely.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09And no need for any keys.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11What an utterly brilliant idea.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16There's a very simple way of understanding this house.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19You've got a box like that.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22With a floor going across.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25And you've basically got one house at one end,
0:07:25 > 0:07:30and one house at the other. We're in the west side now.
0:07:30 > 0:07:35And then you go into the central section of the hall and then the east side.
0:07:35 > 0:07:41Today, this bit of the house accommodates the living quarters, as it did back in the 16th century.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45Due to the fact that the bedrooms were always put in the warmest part of the house,
0:07:45 > 0:07:50which of course, back then, would have been above the kitchen.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54What an earth is all of this? Is that torture? Is that tying people...?
0:07:54 > 0:08:01No, the interesting thing was, this kitchen, and that's what it is, the kitchen, it always has been.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05- I'll go and get a knife.- Why is she going to get a knife? I'm now slightly worried.
0:08:05 > 0:08:07To slit your throat, I suspect. Anyway, have a look.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10The point here is that this didn't exist to start with.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14The kitchen went from that wall right through to the main kitchen fire.
0:08:14 > 0:08:15She has got a knife as well.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Oh, I see! Isn't that clever?
0:08:20 > 0:08:23- A brilliant knife sharpener. - Isn't it?
0:08:23 > 0:08:25Are you allowed to do that?
0:08:25 > 0:08:28- Probably not.- Just out of interest, this being an incredibly
0:08:28 > 0:08:33historical monument and everything, quietly great chunks falling off it.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35It's nice to see it being used.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38It should be used. These houses should be used.
0:08:38 > 0:08:43Yes. What I was leading on to say was simply that the cook or cooks,
0:08:43 > 0:08:48that served the whole house, however many guests, that served the house.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51And she had nothing to sharpen her knives on to start with.
0:08:51 > 0:08:57But when this got built, and this got built because they came down here to use the stair
0:08:57 > 0:08:59to get into the main bedrooms above.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04The main bedrooms, because the fire burns all day, all winter and so forth, a bit of heat.
0:09:04 > 0:09:06She at last got sandstone here.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09- Somewhere to sharpen their knives. - And that's what happened.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Fabulous. Oh, that will be a stair!
0:09:14 > 0:09:16I did tell you there were steps everywhere.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Mantraps everywhere. This is incredible.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21So tell me about the bread oven.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23Ah.
0:09:24 > 0:09:31What they used to do was to take the hot ash from the fire, put it in the oven there,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33heat the oven up,
0:09:33 > 0:09:37then stick your arm in to see if it's hot enough.
0:09:37 > 0:09:43And they used to then brush the ash out, put the bread in, seal the door.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48And when the door - the seal - when it cracked, the bread was done.
0:09:48 > 0:09:52Take the bread out. The bottom is full of ash.
0:09:52 > 0:09:59So you don't slice it like that, you slice it across, and you give the upper crust to the upper crust!
0:09:59 > 0:10:01I see.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04And the servants have the stuff with all the ash in.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08That'll be handy for the pub quiz. But look, knives again.
0:10:08 > 0:10:13- Once you've sharpened your knife on the door jamb...- Just turn it round
0:10:13 > 0:10:15and they come out absolutely polished.
0:10:15 > 0:10:19- It's wonderful, very decorative. Very, very decorative.- Yes.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Have you not got any contemporary labour-saving device?
0:10:22 > 0:10:24- It doesn't look like it. - We try not to.
0:10:24 > 0:10:29- Are you not tempted to go and buy yourself something that plugs into the mains?- Not really.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35Sue and David have known each other for 40 years.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39But for the first 20, Sue was married to someone else.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41As Shakespeare once said,
0:10:41 > 0:10:44"The course of true love never did run smooth."
0:10:48 > 0:10:54It does sound very much like a kind of a romantic novel, I think, the fact that you've come together
0:10:54 > 0:10:56and done this, created this together.
0:10:56 > 0:11:01I think David was really, really frightened when I turned up at his door.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06I mean, it's one thing to have a lovely relationship with somebody.
0:11:06 > 0:11:11It's another thing when they knock on the door and say, "I'm here!"
0:11:21 > 0:11:23When you came here...
0:11:23 > 0:11:28Obviously David, as an architect, has very specific uses for here.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31What were you bringing here, do you think?
0:11:32 > 0:11:36Other than your effervescent personality!
0:11:36 > 0:11:41No, actually, I am an extremely hard worker.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46And obviously I've done plastering and I've done painting,
0:11:46 > 0:11:48all of those sorts of physical things.
0:11:48 > 0:11:54But really, he's the person who's put, physically, the place together.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57And we needed money.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59We're not rich people.
0:11:59 > 0:12:05And so the house has always had to earn its living, and I was good at that side of it.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11And the way they earn that living is running a B&B.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Albeit a rather superior one.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17We make a good team actually, don't we?
0:12:17 > 0:12:22- Oh, yes, we do.- When we're doing the bed and breakfast, we've got our own jobs in the morning.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24We're fine as long as we don't speak!
0:12:24 > 0:12:27It's interesting, because we have been reducing the time factor
0:12:27 > 0:12:33between rising and appearing downstairs, and then starting the laying out.
0:12:33 > 0:12:34You speak for yourself!
0:12:34 > 0:12:36I know it's a bit of a hard way...
0:12:36 > 0:12:38Well, you stayed up too late last night.
0:12:38 > 0:12:41- I know.- Ooh! - Well, I didn't say a thing about it.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43She knows, though.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48- It's the one eye open. - I think she thought she'd got away with it as well.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53Oh, no. You never get away with anything with David.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55I just go a bit quiet.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59She gives it away when she heads for the door and nearly misses it.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12The glorious thing about this house is it's always been used.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15- And I love it.- With a project like this, you're going to have that.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19I would imagine that so many people would never have got this far,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22because it is... It must have been so daunting.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25No, we never found it daunting at all.
0:13:25 > 0:13:30Were they never moments when you were just wandering around, and thought, this is too big?
0:13:30 > 0:13:33No, never, not even once.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36- Not even vaguely. - So that will be "no" then(?)
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Not much is known of Llanmihangel's Norman ancestry.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47We know that something existed here.
0:13:47 > 0:13:52But from about 1500 to 1685
0:13:52 > 0:13:58it was the seat of one of Wales's oldest aristocratic families,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00the Thomases.
0:14:04 > 0:14:09This is stunning, absolutely stunning.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13It's the main room of the house at the moment.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16And this is the oldest bit, isn't it?
0:14:16 > 0:14:18- The hall.- The hall, yes.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20- Yes.- Well, the oldest bit is underneath this.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23This is the oldest pretty bit, then?
0:14:23 > 0:14:25The other bits are quite nice!
0:14:26 > 0:14:28It's rather lovely.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31The whole atmosphere in here is just absolutely...
0:14:31 > 0:14:35what you want, really, from a manor house.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38This fireplace is amazing.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45- What's the heraldry? - The quartering of the marriage couple of the early Thomas family.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49And then, as is common in Wales,
0:14:49 > 0:14:54as long as you can establish a relationship, however tenuous it is,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58to other families, usually the great families,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02then you're allowed to portray it,
0:15:02 > 0:15:06because that tells any Welshman coming in that would recognise these, and they would,
0:15:06 > 0:15:11the relationship of the current family of Thomas to these great families in Wales.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13They're bigging themselves up, aren't they?
0:15:13 > 0:15:18- They are, in a sense. It's quite legit.- It's like leaving your address book open
0:15:18 > 0:15:21when you've got people coming round, so that you can see
0:15:21 > 0:15:23Jamie Oliver's number and Madonna's number.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Is that what you do, do you?
0:15:25 > 0:15:27Yeah, I do!
0:15:27 > 0:15:28They're always doing it to me!
0:15:30 > 0:15:36Obviously, you two love it as somewhere to entertain, and judging by the lovely long table...
0:15:36 > 0:15:37Just being here.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39Exactly, drinking in the history.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42I find that fascinating,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45because to have that dirty great big coat of arms
0:15:45 > 0:15:52above the door seems...slightly unusual for a drawing room.
0:15:52 > 0:15:56Well, I suppose you're right about that, but it wasn't only just a drawing room,
0:15:56 > 0:16:01this was also a courtroom on... We don't know what.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Monthly, something like that, a court was held here.
0:16:04 > 0:16:08The dungeons are downstairs for those that were brought up, and the sheriff,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10that's what we're talking about.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12And that's the Tudor coat of arms.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15I was going to say, we can date that quite well,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18because for the one and only time,
0:16:18 > 0:16:23you've got the red dragon of Wales as part of the English coat of arms.
0:16:23 > 0:16:27Which means that this was a household loyal to the throne.
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Between 1485 and 1603, the dragon formed part
0:16:31 > 0:16:37of the arms of the Tudor dynasty to signify their Welsh ancestry.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42In the 17th century, it was replaced by a unicorn, by order of James I.
0:16:44 > 0:16:45This was a courtroom.
0:16:45 > 0:16:51This was right at the centre of the house because it's the big, grand house.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57Yeah, but the Thomases owned it, but they had gone to higher realms,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00and where do you go?
0:17:00 > 0:17:07You go to London, where all society is, and you've got your huge estates - and they WERE huge.
0:17:07 > 0:17:12The Llanmihangel estates were thousands of acres.
0:17:12 > 0:17:19- And that gave them the money to have the rich lifestyle that they had.- Mm.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21But there were some responsibilities.
0:17:21 > 0:17:26So they left this place behind as a domestic dwelling,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29but it was still hugely symbolic for them
0:17:29 > 0:17:34and for the hierarchy, the status of the area.
0:17:34 > 0:17:38Yes, I think that's got it in a nutshell, really.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Now, we've searched the length and breadth of Wales
0:17:43 > 0:17:46for some kind of pictorial evidence
0:17:46 > 0:17:51of this esteemed Welsh family and have come up with zilch. Nada.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Absolutely nothing. All that's left
0:17:55 > 0:17:56is the coat of arms.
0:17:57 > 0:18:02So the Thomases were the undisputed lords of their manor,
0:18:02 > 0:18:07so why rule the dynasty from a courtroom located bang in the centre of their house?
0:18:07 > 0:18:15Something I'm hoping architectural historian, Tom Lloyd, will be able to tell me.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18He can do it in his great hall, sitting at his big table at the top
0:18:18 > 0:18:20with the local jury sitting down at the side tables,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24and he could terrify his tenants, which is what he wanted to do.
0:18:24 > 0:18:26That would be fun, better than chasing sheep.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29In those days, you had to try and keep law and order on your estate,
0:18:29 > 0:18:35because the local landlord in a place like this was the lord and master of his domain.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41The last Thomas to live here, Sir Robert Thomas,
0:18:41 > 0:18:47known with little affection as Sir Robert the Ass, was an ass at business.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50Everything he touched turned to rubbish.
0:18:51 > 0:18:57Now, because we don't know what he looked like, you're having to make do with...me
0:18:57 > 0:19:02and my personal representation of the man who brought shame and disgrace to his family name.
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Good, isn't it? Historical archives show
0:19:05 > 0:19:10that Sir Robert Thomas the Ass had the world upon his thumb.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15All his business ventures went astray, and he was rather an unbalanced character.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18From being one of the wealthiest families in the county,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22they became one of the poorest, and eventually he was faced with the inevitability
0:19:22 > 0:19:25of having to sell his estate.
0:19:27 > 0:19:33Waiting in the wings, observing this from the shadows with an enormous chequebook and a very beady eye
0:19:33 > 0:19:39was Sir Humphrey Edwin, Lord Mayor of London in 1697.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49ORGAN MUSIC
0:20:09 > 0:20:12HE CLEARS HIS THROAT
0:20:12 > 0:20:16I'm wondering whether you've forgotten to put coins in the meter.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19Or is this just a power cut, or are you just going for camp?
0:20:19 > 0:20:24No, it's one of the very few churches that doesn't have electricity. And long may it remain so.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27- That means you've got to pedal like fury to...- Absolutely.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29- ..squeeze anything out of this.- Yes.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33Here we are, exquisite church, fabulous history,
0:20:33 > 0:20:38dirty great big monument to HUMPHREY and absolutely nothing to the Thomases.
0:20:38 > 0:20:44I think that Sir Humphrey would have got rid of any sign of the Thomases,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47because there was a certain amount of dispute about the estate,
0:20:47 > 0:20:54and he wanted to make his mark, and the Thomases had no right whatsoever...
0:20:54 > 0:20:56to this estate.
0:20:56 > 0:20:57And that's why you've got that.
0:20:57 > 0:20:59It's a risk. No-one knows what he looks like,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02no-one knows the man and that, in a way, is weird.
0:21:02 > 0:21:07To be Lord Mayor of London and not have any kind of documentary
0:21:07 > 0:21:11visual evidence of what the guy looked like is strange.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15But he wasn't a good squire, was he?
0:21:15 > 0:21:17He wasn't like the Thomases.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Oh, I don't think they were, either. They were just broke all the time.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23True, that's not so good!
0:21:23 > 0:21:28But I think in one sense he was probably a good squire,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30because he was as hard as nails.
0:21:44 > 0:21:49From Lord Mayor of London to Lord of the Manor of, well, here,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52a rural hamlet in sleepy Glamorgan.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58By this stage, Sir Humph was a billionaire, a Branson in a big wig.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03In fact, a recent survey of the richest people since 1066
0:22:03 > 0:22:07put together by the Sunday Times places him at 236th.
0:22:07 > 0:22:13And for him, having a country pile with lashings of history
0:22:13 > 0:22:17was an essential ingredient in his social climb.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20So he came here, a celebrity squire.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23You know the kind of look - Guy Ritchie, Madonna,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Elizabeth Hurley, Elton John, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen...
0:22:29 > 0:22:32And Llanmihangel did indeed bring Sir Humphrey
0:22:32 > 0:22:35the status he so desperately craved.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37His ambition to buy his way into aristocracy
0:22:37 > 0:22:40was ultimately realised through his daughter.
0:22:40 > 0:22:42Anne married a close neighbour
0:22:42 > 0:22:46who just happened to be the heir to Dunraven Castle.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49These big houses are two a penny in the Vale of Glamorgan.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51Just what was it about this place
0:22:51 > 0:22:54that attracted the great and the good to build here?
0:22:54 > 0:22:57Architectural historian Tom Lloyd thinks he has the answer.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05Well, it was a wonderful place to live.
0:23:05 > 0:23:07Here we are, sitting in the sun.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09The agricultural land is fantastically rich.
0:23:09 > 0:23:12The very good building stone, above all, encouraged you to build.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17If you can dig out wonderful stone from the ground easily, then you can
0:23:17 > 0:23:22just build so much better and you can get much more carried away with it.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25It was also competitive. Once your neighbour down the road
0:23:25 > 0:23:27builds a big house, you want to do it the same.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30And I think that stimulated a great deal because,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33in particular, in Elizabethan times show was everything.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36It was all about how grandly you were dressed
0:23:36 > 0:23:38and how grand your house was. And the more opulence
0:23:38 > 0:23:42you could show, the higher up the league table you were.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46The reason this place had many nice houses were the shops in Cowbridge.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49You know, lovely little shops there. You can imagine them
0:23:49 > 0:23:52all flocking here because they want to buy some potpourri.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57But in the 19th century, London was the place to be,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59and so the landed gentry
0:23:59 > 0:24:01abandoned their countryside estates
0:24:01 > 0:24:03in favour of town houses in the Big Smoke,
0:24:03 > 0:24:07leaving the mansions to a succession of paying tenants.
0:24:11 > 0:24:12In 1860, Llanmihangel
0:24:12 > 0:24:16was the home of the entrepreneurial Jenkins family.
0:24:18 > 0:24:20Moving forward in time,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23because I've got a picture here of the Jenkins family.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28I don't know too much about them, but I do know he had three daughters,
0:24:28 > 0:24:32and his wife died, and he ended up marrying the housekeeper,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35- which kept the family together. - What did Jenkins do?
0:24:35 > 0:24:39He was a brewer and had a brewery in Cowbridge.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42And Jenkins' brewery... have we any evidence of...?
0:24:42 > 0:24:44Well, I've got a...
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Oh, you see? You're so reliable.
0:24:47 > 0:24:49You're never far from a bottle, are you?
0:24:49 > 0:24:51This is absolutely true!
0:24:56 > 0:24:58What is exceptional about this house
0:24:58 > 0:25:02is that it's been in continuous occupation since the 12th century,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04and now it's a Grade-I-listed building,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07which should safeguard its future
0:25:07 > 0:25:11for posterity, something Sue is already contemplating.
0:25:11 > 0:25:17Eventually, David and I are going to get really old!
0:25:17 > 0:25:21And maybe we won't be able to cope. And then
0:25:21 > 0:25:24- who takes it on?- Mm.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26And it's not going to be the person
0:25:26 > 0:25:29- who's got the most money, that's for sure.- Mm.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33Probably, hopefully, people like us, who need to have to try,
0:25:33 > 0:25:35and then you have to share it,
0:25:35 > 0:25:39because you can't manage it without sharing it.
0:25:39 > 0:25:46But the thought of somebody coming in and being somewhat pretentious
0:25:46 > 0:25:50and closing off the house to...everyone,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54I would find that very, very difficult, and I would haunt.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58- You'd come back and rattle chains? - Absolutely.
0:25:59 > 0:26:01I've been genuinely impressed
0:26:01 > 0:26:04with the love and the warmth emanating from these two.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07I might have to go back to bed.
0:26:09 > 0:26:10Now, those are proper eggs.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12can you see they don't...
0:26:12 > 0:26:15They do everything as a team - even the breakfast.
0:26:15 > 0:26:17No, they were having...
0:26:17 > 0:26:20And the constant, incessant renovation
0:26:20 > 0:26:24which a house like this generates is in fact a pleasure.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28It's a way of showcasing their hard work to the world.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30Thank you very much.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36Do you think that you've finished, or is it like the Forth Road Bridge,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39the Forth road bridge of love - you keep going round and round
0:26:39 > 0:26:43in circles until you've done what you need to do?
0:26:43 > 0:26:49No, it isn't, simply because whilst we are now maintaining lots of stuff
0:26:49 > 0:26:52that we repaired or restored 20 years ago, that's true,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54but there's still new stuff to be done
0:26:54 > 0:26:58and stuff that I've deliberately not done.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00But there is nothing lord and lady of the manor
0:27:00 > 0:27:02about you two, is there?
0:27:02 > 0:27:04- Hopefully not.- No, I don't think so.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07- We have no intention to be. - He says very proudly!
0:27:07 > 0:27:09But the critical thing about this place,
0:27:09 > 0:27:12and I think the thing that gives this place
0:27:12 > 0:27:14such an extraordinarily special atmosphere,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17is the fact that both of you work so incredibly hard on it
0:27:17 > 0:27:20But it's not something that you keep back for yourselves.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24It's not a selfish pleasure at all. It is about sharing, isn't it?
0:27:24 > 0:27:26- Well, certainly for me.- Yeah.
0:27:26 > 0:27:28- Mm.- And you?
0:27:28 > 0:27:29Well, yes!
0:27:29 > 0:27:31THEY CHUCKLE
0:27:31 > 0:27:33- He'll just say, "Yes, dear." - Yes, dear.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37- "Yes, dear, it's about sharing." - It's about sharing.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45When you think that this house was actually designed to repulse,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48I think that David and Sue have done an extraordinary job
0:27:48 > 0:27:50in making it quite so welcoming.
0:27:50 > 0:27:52And that's all down to them.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57That's down to their energy, their application, their eccentricity,
0:27:57 > 0:28:01if you like, all at a time when most people would, I suppose,
0:28:01 > 0:28:03have written them off and suggested
0:28:03 > 0:28:06that they should have been mixing cocoa rather than cement.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11But, don't forget, this place was once the country seat
0:28:11 > 0:28:14of one of the most crashing snobs in English history.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16And yes, I do mean you, Sir Humphrey.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19So it's just brilliant that these days
0:28:19 > 0:28:25it's looked after so well by a pair of rock'n'roll lefties
0:28:25 > 0:28:28who are actually desperate to share it with you and me.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk