RESTORED! IN RUINS
Old mill the couple rescued from dereliction on TV show Their marriage which, unknown to viewers, began to fall to pieces
WHEN Nick Burrows and his wife Heather bought a dilapidated old mill, they invited the television cameras in to film their battle to restore it – and thousands of viewers watched as they worked together to lovingly bring the listed building back to life.
Nick proudly told viewers of the BBC show Restoration Home that the couple were creating a ‘rural idyll’ where they could raise their daughter Sibylla – and so keen were they that Heather even moved into the building before it had heating or r running water.
But now, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that, behind the happy facade witnessed by the cameras, the couple’s marriage was crumbling. And even as filming continued, American-born Heather moved another man in.
The Burrows are now divorced but, four years after the TV show hosted by Caroline Quentin was aired, the pair are still at war over the mill and Nick has revealed his heartbreak in Facebook posts.
He says: ‘I now know that Heather’s eyes were elsewhere, even when the filming was happening.’
The couple bought Grade II-listed d Coulton Mill in North Yorkshire e for £305,000. Parts of the building g date back to the 13th Century and d the plot included ten acres of land and two tumbledown barns. They also bought a selection of pigs and sheep to graze the land.
As the project continued, Nick was working abroad for six-week stints, on Government-backed reconstruction projects in war-ravaged Helmand province in Afghanistan. He returned for two-week visits.
While Nick was away, Heather was left in charge of the mill project.
During the TV show Quentin seemed astonished at how much she was prepared to take on, saying: ‘I can’t decide if she is heroic or just plain bonkers.’
On Facebook, Nick writes: ‘I worked in Afghanistan purely to finance the restoration and create a home for my family. I loved my wife and daughter.
‘It was a very testing time but one full of optimism, creativity and joy for me.’
It’s thought that part-time teacher Heather fell for her new lover while Nick was abroad.
In his Facebook posts he seems to forgive Heather for her infidelity, saying: ‘Heather deserves understanding and sympathy.’ But he feels nothing but fury towards the man who has replaced him in her affections, who he says is a man at the school where she worked.
Nick writes: ‘As for the man who seduced her at Ampleforth College – I hope he burns in hell.’
Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire is Britain’s leading Catholic public school.
The mill’s fate will be decided in a court case next month. Nick claims that the partly restored mill has been stripped of furniture, which has been sold, and that even the curtain poles have been removed.
He writes in his post: ‘For some, money is everything. Heather seems to want to possess and control the past at any cost.’
As part of the couple’s divorce settlement it was decided that, when Heather’s new partner sold his house, they would buy out Nick’s share of the mill.
But the initial arrangements to pay the mortgage fell through and Nick says he has twice had to save the property from repossession.
He currently works on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Georgia, and does not want to comment until the court case has concluded.
But in another Facebook post he writes: ‘A quick post from me, to let everyone – the whole world – know that I am still fighting to keep Coulton Mill.
‘I stopped repossession proceedings by paying all the arrears and promising to pay the mortgage again from then on, despite not even being able to visit the house.
‘I love the place and I want my daughter Sibylla and I to be able to live there for the rest of our lives.’