Melton Mowbray To Buy or Not to Buy

This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed at home.

Hello and welcome.

To a location that sits slap bang in the middle of the British Isles.

The beautiful, rural county of Leicestershire.

That's right, property pickers. This is To Buy Or Not To Buy.

Oh, wonderful Leicestershire.

With its rolling countryside,

fresh air... What is that dreadful pong?

And this little piggy had none.

She's right.

Here in this gorgeous Utopia we aim to find three,

correct, three, fantastic properties for today's buyers.

One of which they can try before they buy.

And absolutely right, Nikki.

Where was I? And this little piggy went

wee, wee, wee, wee, all the way home.

Sorry, sorry.

What's all that stuff about pigs?

Well, Alison Beaver, yes, that's her name,

she's one of today's buyers and she absolutely loves little piggies.

-Oh, I get the piggy bit now.

-Yes.

Together with her ever so active husband, Tim

and son, Luke, they fancy a shot at the good life.

Somewhere with a bit of land where they can keep animals and grow things.

Sounds wonderful. Well, lucky for them,

we've got To Buy's very own Pinky and Perky to help them out.

So, you're Pinky, so therefore I'm Perky.

And you're Alison, and you're Tim.

What is the pig obsession? Where does it actually come from?

I used to work with pigs when I first left school.

I went to South Wales and did a two-year pig course.

Melton Mowbray wouldn't exist were it not for pigs.

It wouldn't, would it?

-That's why I am here anyway.

-What are you both looking for?

I think Ali wants to move back to the country

cos Ali's from farming stock, if you like.

And for me it's the space.

As nice as our home is, we're a little bit cramped.

So, with the house, this is a house that could have pigs?

-Absolutely, yeah.

-You want to keep pigs?

-I do, yes.

How many pigs is sensible?

I think, for us, probably half a dozen or so. Not very many.

OK, so we're looking for more of a rural kind of farm-y style property.

Do you want character out of the house?

An olde-worlde one? Because you have got quite a modern place here.

For this area, I think the character comes

with those sorts properties anyway, so yes.

How many bedrooms are we looking at?

Three, minimum.

How far away from Melton Mowbray do you need to be, then?

Ideally within 10 - 15 minutes.

Let's imagine Melton Mowbray and the environment is a massive pork pie.

Where do you want to be? Meat, jelly or pastry?

-Not the meat for me. For me, it would be the jelly or the crust.

-OK.

I'm on the edge of the plate near the mustard.

The question is...

..what am I going to say?

-What's the budget?

-How much have you got in your piggy-bank?

Pig? Piggy bank? Go on then.

-About £400,000.

-Wow! That's a lot.

-You're going to say this will be easy for us today.

-Hope so.

Such a beautiful county.

Well, it's true. Do we need luck?

You've got loads of ability. I'm sure you'll nail it first time.

-Wish us something.

-Best of luck!

-See you later.

-Thank you.

This is all fairly straightforward. They want a house for six pigs.

It's so definitive, isn't it? I love it when our buyers are like this.

£400,000 in this current property market, it's going to be easy.

It's going to be very easy.

In fact, we're going to do it today.

I'm going to go off and meet the people of Melton Mowbray.

I'll see you... Babe! Babe! Babe!

Babe! Babe! Babe! Babe! Babe!

-Babe! Babe!

-You are not saying "Babe"

because that is the name of a pig in a film, I hope.

-If you are, Ed, you are pushing your luck.

-Sorry.

Famed for its eponymous pork pie,

we are here in the beautiful market town of Melton Mowbray.

Evidence suggests the village was inhabited before Roman occupation

and it boasts some superb historic buildings.

I wonder if the Romans had an estate agent back then.

Train links to Birmingham and London make it remote yet accessible,

if you get my drift.

With Nottingham and Leicester within 20 miles, Melton is a great location.

What would £400,000 buy around the rest of the country?

In Nottinghamshire, this stunning

four-bed detached former coach house within the historic maypole village

of Wellow comes with an ornate pond and a private driveway.

The price? 410 grand.

Or perhaps a converted chapel in rural Derbyshire,

dating back to 1848.

This property is full of character and boasts two garden areas.

It would also set you back £410,000.

And in Welwyn Garden City, you could be the proud owner of a three-bed

luxury apartment with underground parking and a video entry phone.

The price? 425 grand.

Enough about the rest of the UK.

Let's see how we can spend our money in Melton Mowbray.

-Are you Nicola?

-I am.

-I'm Ed, pleased to meet you.

How are you? Now, Nicola, I don't know how often you get people

-come in and say, "I am for a house that can have pigs."

-Right.

What is special about Melton?

It's friendly, it's not overly busy.

One of the old types of market towns.

They want to be near Melton Mowbray.

They have got £400,000 to spend.

If we look going towards Oakham.

There, you've got villages such as Little Dalby, Great Dalby.

And coming slightly south, we have got the Wheat Valley villages as well.

Thank you so much.

It's heavy, isn't it? Wow!

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Harby.

There it is. Lovely village.

It is in the Vale of Belvoir.

It's got room for pigs, but maybe not the six that Alison wants.

-It's lovely. I think this is it.

-OK, you think there's room for pigs.

-I know there's room in this property.

-I can't see where.

We have just under an acre of land.

So it's a paddock, there's a pond

and it's just, kitchen-wise, gorgeous.

It doesn't sound as good as mine, really.

-60 pigs you could fit in the back of there.

-It does sound nice.

The wild card. I'll give you a tease. I'll flash it quickly.

I'm going to show it briefly because I don't want to spoil it.

Lovely property. It has had one careful owner in its entire life.

It is occupied by the people that built it,

so it has been looked after lovingly. Lots of space.

-You like it a lot, don't you?

-It's funky.

It is funky and you need a funky place to rear pigs.

And talking of rearing pigs, it is in the village of

Rearsby, which is a little play on words about rearing pigs.

It's not the only reason I've chosen it.

Is this my pork pie?

This is from the best pork pie shop. I had a bit of a nibble.

-All right.

-It's heavy.

-Here we go.

MUFFLED SPEECH

It's good, isn't it? And that's all hand reared.

-Lovely!

-Are we going to yours first then?

-MUFFLED:

-Very nice.

-This way.

-What?

Now, I'm setting a red hot pace here with my choice, Nikki.

I've plumped for a large four-bed semi

in the picture-postcard setting of Harby.

It's a quintessentially English rural village only a ten minute drive from Tim's work

and I've a feeling that this house might just, wait for it,

bring home the bacon. Thank you.

We're at property one. This is the one that myself

and the mysterious property hunting team are gambling on.

I am convinced, nay, sure, nay, everything else you want,

that this is the property for you.

-Now, your surname is?

-Beaver.

And we're in the Vale of Belvoir.

So, isn't that a lovely thing to write on a Christmas card?

The Beavers of Belvoir!

What do you think about the house?

-Tim, what do you think?

-Intrigued, yeah.

It looks a slightly odd sort of layout for me.

-Character!

-Well, hopefully, hopefully.

-Alison?

I think it looks lovely. Really nice from the outside.

This is the one, trust me.

-It's a bit higgledy-piggledy. Get it?

-I see what you've done there!

Three, two, one, into the pig house.

No, that is the pig house. Into your house.

I'm really let down. I thought this was it.

I thought this was the whole place.

-Shall we go and have a snuffle for a truffle over there?

-Oh, yes.

Stable door, beautiful.

Yeah, that's one of your preferences.

Utility room.

Plenty of room for your fridge and your freezer,

washing machine, that kind of thing.

The beauty of this house is,

if Ali's gone out with the pigs, covered in mud,

go into that kind of utility area, all tiled,

he can do whatever he wants to. Do the dog shake.

-Look what I can see.

-OK!

-Got your Aga. Ticks that box.

-Yep.

Which is fantastic, because that was on the list.

I should have said that at the start because it was a bit flat on the entrance.

Ooh! This is a surprise. Much bigger than it looks.

Yep. Open fire.

With doors out straight into the garden, so that's lovely.

Nice garden, but does it have a view?

Where is the view, Ed?

Can I point out, they were in the garden.

Shouldn't they have thought of that then?

The thing is, they didn't realise there was that part of the garden...

And you, you didn't actually reveal that there was no view.

I don't want to unwrap their Christmas presents.

I think we would have to repaint and redecorate for our tastes.

I like this, I love the...

such a cosy little room. Little nooks and crannies. It's super.

Alison there has moved into kind of romantic-style descriptions.

-I think she's bought into this a lot more now.

-Ah!

Pig sty? Outbuilding for Luke?

It's far too posh for Luke. It's very nice.

It's lovely. I love the beams. Very posh, very nice.

They're loving the feel of it all.

There's an emotional investment there now.

-Still no view, Ed.

-More panelling.

Less decorating for you, Tim.

Fantastic. I'll go with that.

This is nice. Isn't this lovely?

Sewing room?

Yes, Lots and lots of storage space again.

Be able to hide my fabrics in here.

Oooh!

More built-in wardrobes.

This is a bigger room than you would expect.

That's very large. Very large.

-Look at the view.

-Yeah, nice to wake up to that.

"Nice view".

What kind of word is "nice"?

He didn't say it like that!

He went, "Nice view, that, nice view."

That's, that's nice.

It's lovely.

The round window, that's unusual, isn't it?

-Yeah. I think we'd do some work on it, though.

-What would you do?

Some of the tiles maybe want replacing.

He's seeing it, loves it, thinks it's brilliant,

he's just spotting things that he might have to do.

-How was it?

-Ooh, it's lovely. Yes, lots of character.

Lots of character.

A lovely from you, then. What about you, Tim?

Impressed with the downstairs, wasn't so impressed with the upstairs.

What were you particularly impressed by downstairs?

Let's start with the plus points, shall we?

Plenty of space, so the rooms seemed

to roll into each other, which is really nice.

I loved the tiled floor in the kitchen and the fact that it's got the Aga.

That's very homely and what we'd be looking for.

And the open fires were a plus point as well - very nice.

You do know you don't have to make a decision yet.

You do, however, have to tell us what do you think the price might be.

-Guess the price!

-I would go 370.

-370.

-349. Not so high for me.

I'm going to prefix this with, sometimes people

on the programme value the property with the way they feel about it.

I sense with the pig factor and everything else,

the work upstairs, that you're probably not really going for this.

-I spent more for your money.

-Well done!

I spent quite a bit more. It's on the market for £425,000.

Gosh.

There's room for negotiation, but it's not a price you would

want to pay because I don't think it's tickled your fancy.

No. I think the house is lovely.

It's outside, really. No pigs, no view. That's what lets it down.

You see, Ed? No view!

I was wondering, it doesn't... I don't want to hear it! Go!

Go on, that way. Go! Just go.

And you, go on!

Now, my choice of property lies in the beautiful village of Great Dalby,

this time on the south side of Melton Mowbray.

The property itself has an unusual layout with the living space on the upper level.

OK, Tim, Alison, the view.

-The view and the house.

-All right.

Yes, it does have a lovely view.

Mine had a nice view from one of the windows.

Albeit from one.

I think you'll find that this could have a view from every window.

It's new. It's about seven, eight years old.

I think it feels executive style.

This is where the boss of the company would live.

This is aspirational living.

What do you think of the outside of the property?

Very nice. Even though it's a fairly recent building, has character.

I would say, mine had room for four pigs.

I think you've got room for 60 pigs here.

60? Too many!

Alison, what did you think? What's your overall thoughts?

It's gorgeous.

-You seem excited about this one.

-I am, yes.

The views look like they'll be stunning as well.

Alison, you've got a glint in your eye.

-I most certainly have, yes.

-Are you ready to go in?

-I am.

-Get in!

-Enjoy it.

I'm annoyed they didn't like my one, but I'll be honest...

-They didn't not like it.

-But they like this one, a lot. I'm excited.

Ooh! Nice and light.

It is. Nice, warm feeling as soon as you step in.

Absolutely. Yes, gorgeous.

Lovely!

That's a nice room.

Fancy waking up to that view in the morning, Tim.

"Fancy waking up to that view in the morning!"

I had a view, I didn't have VIEWS, I had a view.

I think it's a nice size. Ooh, gosh, gets better!

Ticks more boxes. No problem at all.

Another room with a view.

This would be my room.

French doors out into the garden in the morning.

I can't fault it.

It's just a sweeping view all the way round, isn't it?

-I just did hear a phrase saying, "I can't fault this".

-Ooh, bathroom!

Oh, I do like that.

You can bring me a glass of champers in that any time, babe!

Now, that's a greeting for a bathroom.

Still nice and airy up here, nice and light.

,Oh gosh, lovely! And the views!

Oh, my giddy aunt. Look at that! Yes!

Right, there we go. Another room, another "Ooh!" from Ali.

Every room, every room...

I bet you £1 that the next room she goes into will be a "Oooh!"

Ooh, Tim.

-Character!

-That's lovely.

Wow!

Bit of a dilemma. Here, or the living room.

But you do have your views from the living room, so you could be down here doing the cooking.

No, no, no, you're far better cook than me.

They're not sure if they want to use the kitchen

as the place they'll always be or the living room.

-They don't have to make that decision now.

-Spoilt for choice.

Whoops, a garage!

There's plenty of room.

Good size, isn't it, again? Double garage.

-An absolute godsend.

-Get both cars in, no probs. Lots of room in between.

Gosh, how's that for a view?

Smell the air.

And that is an impressive area of land.

Real vista, isn't it?

Yes, nice and quiet as well. Very nice.

Are you aware, Alison, that every room you walk into, you go "Ooh!"?

Apart from one, you went, "Aah!"

Well, I was, it's got that factor.

There you go, you see?

The "ooh" and "aah" factor.

Did you, when you walked in, have that sensational feeling of,

-"I love this house"?

-Yes.

-You did?

-Yes, gorgeous.

-I'm looking at Tim, here.

-What do you think?

-You are giving us the policeman look now.

Yeah, absolutely, when we walked in, very definitely a house built

with the view in mind and it's fantastic in that respect.

Having mulled it over, I worry that we would have enough storage space.

OK, it's a lot of house.

It's a lovely house. It's a house that makes you go "ooh" and "aah".

-It does.

-The question is, Alison,

how much is it worth?

You are lagging behind in the guess the price competition.

Massively.

£400,000 is the budget.

What is your guess for this beauty?

I will go for 375.

Right, Mr Tim. What you think?

390.

390, OK, you've taken the higher ground. Nikki?

Well, you, Tim, are the closest.

If only you'd gone 399.

It is, in fact, the same as Ed's - 425.

So, you're really going lower, aren't you?

I'm a bit of a skinflint, I think.

-Is that what it is?

-It must be.

Everyone's favourite part of the programme is the wild card and it is next.

And I believe, as the crow flies, it's this way.

-Shall we go? OK. Come on.

-Lovely.

As usual we've gone just slightly off piste for today's wild card.

It's got the space they want, the open-plan feel and the right number of bedrooms.

It ticks nearly every box, except, that is, for the fact that it's a modern build.

Tim and Alison, turn round. You can finally look.

That is the wild card.

We thought it was best to have a look at it from the garden. Look at that for a view.

-What do you think?

-Lovely, isn't it?

-Isn't it?

-Absolutely.

-The owners started building it in 1960.

They finished building it in 1965.

And they have lived in it ever since.

They literally did everything, with spades.

It's a labour of love.

-You're a bit overwhelmed by this, aren't you?

-Yes.

Obviously, the way the garden is at the moment, not really geared up for pigs.

I've not done a two-year pig course, and I know you have, Alison.

There are possibilities for pigs here, and also there's land around the area.

-What do you think of it?

-I think it's smashing.

Really very different, but in a nice way.

OK, that's good. Are you ready?

Enter that futuristic monster.

-Go!

-Enjoy.

-I don't know.

-It's the wild one, isn't it?

It is very tricky, isn't it?

-And the pigs!

-Here we go.

Gosh, this is nice and light.

And views, as soon as you come into the room, the views over the garden, lovely.

A room with a view again.

Several, look.

Lots of features, aren't there?

You can have all your pictures of me!

What I admire about Tim it is that he's got exactly

what I've got in my house. A wall of pictures of me.

Tim has just seen that and thought,

-"That's where the walls of pictures of me could go."

-The pigs are going there.

Very light. It's lovely. Look at the sun shining in now.

-It's gorgeous.

-Yes, warm, isn't it?

Yes. Nice as well.

-The kitchen-diner.

-Yes.

It doubles as a snug almost.

Mmm. And looks out over the garden as well. It would be nice.

Stand here, do the washing-up, look out over the garden again.

Or stand and load the dishwasher.

And yet another view of the garden, Tim.

I like the idea of an upside-down house

and who wouldn't want to be in an upside-down house?

I would name it if I named this house, "The upside-down house."

I think two bedrooms...with yet another view of the garden.

-Good-sized room.

-Yes, you wouldn't need to do much to it, would you?

Another bedroom with another beautiful view.

It's lovely with the sun shining through today.

Bedrooms a bit small, perhaps, so far?

Well it's got everything that you need, a wardrobe, chest of drawers.

-Good sewing room.

-Think you'd have enough space?

-Yes. And with all the light coming in, it would be super.

-Yes, it would be good for the light.

-Yes.

-And again you can't deny the view.

-Every window you go to is slightly different, as well.

-Bathroom.

Oh, this is nice.

Nice clean, fresh sort of feeling with all the white tiles and the white suite.

Is there a shower?

There is but it runs off the taps. Which I'm not a huge fan of.

You'd think there would be more than one bathroom

and sadly there is only one and even more sadly they don't like it. Really.

-Well, Tim felt it was bog-standard.

-Pathetic.

Well I could see myself here with a beer on a summer's evening.

Do you promise to mow the grass and clean the windows?

It will keep me fit coming up this hill. I promise to mow the grass.

I promise to clean the windows, but I can't promise not to go through them with the ladders.

What did you think?

It's lovely. It's got the beautiful garden with the stream at the bottom and the bridge and the fruit trees.

-You do seem very at home here.

-It is very nice.

But overall what were your thoughts, Tim? Because I couldn't gauge you.

Alison, I think you liked the second one more, in my mind, but Tim, I think you quite like this.

I do like this. I love the garden and I love the view out on to the garden.

-I could see us here.

-Could you?

It's a lovely house. It is a lovely house.

The disadvantage is I worry about the dog, because he'll be off down the brook, and he's got

a bit of a penchant for going in and sitting down so I think we'd have a wet living room.

Well, yes. But the thing is, right, we haven't done the old...

Oh, we have a game to play. And in fact, now of course, it is just for fun

because Alison, you lost dreadfully in the last two properties.

-Absolutely slaughtered, yes.

-How about you then start again?

We'll give you a chance to redeem yourself. For fun only.

I don't know. Ooh...we're in a nice area, aren't we?

-Rearsby, yes.

-Yes. I don't know. 375 again.

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

I'm going to go 399,950.

-Really? OK.

-Mmmm!

Alison, you're nothing if not consistent.

Tim, you're out by 50 quid. Actually you're probably out by a little bit over £50.

It could be 51, because the price is offers over £400,000.

But this is the point where you have to go away and make the biggest

decision of your adult lives about which property you wish to test drive.

-Head off and make your big decision and we will see you at your chosen vehicle. Ready?

-OK, thank you.

-Good luck.

-Choose wisely.

And for all of you at home, here's a chance for you to have a recap.

Will it be my property, the charmingly rustic crosshouse in

the sleepy village of Harby, with its five bedrooms

and the all-important cast iron range cooker?

Price, £425,000.

Will it be the stunning barn-style house in Great Dalby with its superb

views, magnificent kitchen, great views,

double garage and oh...did I mention the breathtaking views?

The price, £425,000.

Or perhaps our eager Beavers will plug for today's wild card?

The modern yet utterly unique upside-down house in the aptly-named Rearsby.

The ultimate in open-plan living.

Theirs for £400,000.

And they've gone for my choice. Property number two in Great Dalby.

-I think you'll find I've brought home the bacon, Ed.

-All right, all right.

Get the kettle on, Tim.

Looks like Alison's really settling into what could be her new home.

Now what was it that my grandma used to say? Knit one, purl one.

Come on, Ed. You'll soon have that jumper made.

I see Luke's made a sharp exit.

Do you think he's got enough jumpers to last him a lifetime?

Probably. But at least they'll keep him warm for all those country walks.

-D'you think he's playing our tune?

-I reckon so.

Mr and Mrs Beaver, as you can tell, because I'm grinning,

I'm delighted you've chosen my property to try before you buy.

It is magnificent.

Yes, all right. You did pick this one and I'm happy you found one you liked.

But what I want to know is why this one? I felt there was

a slight split between you pair, because you quite liked the wildcard, Tim?

I did like the wild card.

So why did you come back? Why did you come back here?

I just like the view and the remoteness of this place

compared to the wild card which was indeed a very nice property.

Also you get the sense of space here that I don't think you get there as well as the view.

-And the kitchen you thought was too big earlier, didn't you?

-I did, yes. Yes I thought so.

Now I've had another look, not quite so sure. It doesn't seem so big second time round.

This was your dilemma, wasn't it? And you needed to come back and have a see.

Well you look happy with it, so....To Buy Or Not To Buy?

After much consideration I think it's...

a to buy.

-Ooh!

-Really? This is fantastic.

-That's fantastic.

-Hold on! There's a "But."

We would like to view the property a bit more and just get our heads

round it a little bit more because obviously it's a big move.

It's a huge move, it's a lot of money and also you want to know

whether you can put your sties and your stables and things like that.

But at the moment we're saying, to buy?

-In principle we would buy this property.

-Haven't we done well?

You say "We" and thank you very much for including me, but really it's you today.

-Aw....

-Congrats. You've been a pleasure to find a house for.

-You really have.

-I hope you have many happy years in it.

-Thank you very much.

-Enjoy.

Thank you, guys.

-We'll see you later.

-See you later.

-Bye.

-Bye now.

Nikki, it's got to be said, congratulations are in order for you,

-you have not only managed to house a family of Beavers, you've also....

-A lodge of Beavers.

A lodge of Beavers, you've also got a home for pigs, alpacas and sheep, well done.

-I have indeed. Thank you very much, Ed.

-It's a pleasure.

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