A couple who bought a historic French village for just £51,000 have admitted the ambitious project to renovate the landscape has left their ‘finances stretched’ amid the cost of living crisis.
Gloucestershire-based Tony and Terry, both of whom are furniture restorers, shared an insight into the epic undertaking of bringing three cottages dating back to the 1800s – along with a selection of outbuildings – to life once again.
The pair are short of cash while waiting for their home back in the UK to be sold off, and in the meantime can only afford to do basic repairs and maintenance to ensure the properties aren’t completely ravaged by the surrounding ivy, bushes and weeds growing on the stones.
Speaking on Channel 4’s Help! We Bought a Village, they recounted the process of snagging up Chicheville in Deux-sevres, France, on a property site for around 60,000 euros.
While the process of doing it up has been challenging, with the couple unable to visit for large bursts of time due to work commitments and visa restrictions, they said it’s been an ‘important’ task.
‘We’re protecting a part of France,’ Tony shared. ‘We’re saving something that otherwise might disappear and basically become a pile of stones.
‘There’s so much family, so much history here, living over generations. It’s a shame to see that go.’
Terry said as soon as she spotted the listing online, she thought it was a ‘beautiful place’.
‘I know there’s a lot of work to be done on the inside but the actual house and the ground and where it is was just beautiful.’
As well as a series of houses in need of repair, there are is also a pig sty, barn, and even a ‘little wood’.
However, for the moment some half a dozen derelict structures have been left to hang around while Tony and Terry are waiting for the house back home to be sold, which will give them a much needed cash injection.
‘It’s been a difficult time in the UK, what with the cost of living crisis and everything else,’ he shared. ‘It’s just put us under more pressure.’
The episode saw the duo making a visit to the village in October 2024 – their first time in half a year.
‘It definitely looks like it’s been abandoned for a bit,’ Tony quipped.
The pair got to work on doing what they can for the repairs, and showed viewers around the impressive stone work – including the main cottage, which in the 1800s would have been the heart of the village, where farmers would have lived on the ground floor with a hayloft above.
One charming feature included a pot which had been built into the interiors of the walls, based off the 16th century tradition in which terracotta objects were placed into structures for good luck.
It is the traditional features of the historic village which Tony and Terry are hoping to keep as they modernise.
‘We don’t really like some of the methods people use when restoring houses nowadays,’ Terry revealed. ‘We just want it to look how it would’ve looked before.’
The couple also showed the programme the beginnings of a grand salon transformation, which saw them beginning to gut the place apart.
A fireplace was stripped out, while the walls were too exposed to reveal the old stone.
Elsewhere the pair have also curated a little ‘oasis’ in the main cottage, which they have dubbed their ‘cocktail lounge’.
Initially meant to be a landing area, it is now a cosy sitting room with cushioned throws, soft lighting fixtures and faux palm trees – where Tony and Terry can unwind with some music and a glass of wine in the evening.
And preparing for the winter ahead, the episode also showed them liaising with friendly next-door neighbour, fellow expat and builder Peter, on dealing with the guttering on the roof of the farm house.
‘We’re heading to winter, it will rain, no doubt,’ he expressed. ‘We need to get the extra downpipe fitted to get the water away from the house.’
While resurrecting the old ruins is tough work, the pair are determined to repair the derelict fixtures, all of which would have back in the day been part of the farm, and worked as shelter for the animals.
‘You’ve got to rescue these houses before they disappear,’ Tony concluded. ‘Like the rest of the hamlet, really.’
Also in the episode, the programme followed Martine, a former wine merchant from Norfolk, who has made a life for herself in the ghost village of Rabatana in southern Italy, where she also created a unique holidays destination for guests.
Elsewhere, viewers got an update on two landscape gardeners – and longtime village restorers – who have never been able to break into the UK property market and bought an entire French village for €14,000.
Paul Mappley and Yip Ward purchased the historic hamlet of La Busliere, Normandy in April 2021.
Appearing on a previous episode of the Channel 4 show, the couple described how they have never owned so much as a studio flat in the UK, but plan to create a holiday destination in France.
The village consists of six cottages, two barns and a paddock plus a two-storey workshop, cider press and communal bread oven.
This time, the pair admitted they faced a number of challenges working with the old buildings – including an old roof that threatened to crumble – and how personal tragedies have halted renovation plans.
