Are they off their folly?
WITH as much drama as a soap opera and tension to rival any crime thriller, this long-running restoration show returns.
Kevin McCloud has spent 17 series building up the doom and gloom of these monster projects, so he’s certainly not going to stop now. “That’s what I call a ruin and a half,” he declares when he first claps eyes on a dilapidated 250-year-old Grade II listed folly in the Buckinghamshire countryside.
The mini castle was originally built to house a gentleman’s fossil collection. Now it’s a bit of a fossil itself. Determined to turn this unloved place into their home are Mimi and Jaime Fernandez.
They begin as all first-time renovators do in these situations – full of hope and optimism, and thoroughly unprepared. Kevin notes their “ludicrously short schedule”, lack of experience and the fact Jaime has given up work.
Already parents to a toddler, they have a baby on the way, which imposes an imminent deadline. “What on Earth made you choose to do this?” Kevin says, always pessimistic. Although, it’s a fair point.
Two days in, they hit trouble in the form of human remains. Fortunately, the bones are ancient so this does not descend into an episode of Unforgotten.
But dead bodies in Saxon graves tend to bring building projects to a dead halt.
And that’s before all the usual delays with builders and stonemasons and intricate designs.
“I do not regret anything. Yet,” says Jaime, laughing nervously. We’ll see mate, we’ll see...