Build A New Life In The Country: Pennines | History Documentary | Reel Truth History

[Music] Terry Flynn and Marilyn Fleming have moved to a stunning location for an amazing new life totally isolated in the heart of Northumberland they're taking on the huge task of turning these derelict old buildings into their perfect family home they both have busy and stressful office jobs in the center of Newcastle put at the end of every day they can now leave city life behind them I Drive up that road and it's all gone we see the Sheep and there's nothing else you see [Music] on top of their full-time jobs they're taken on the biggest DIY project ever and they're doing it in the evenings and at weekends it's the first weekend in August and work on the farm house is starting today the most urgent job is to tackle rebuilding the derelict roof [Music] Terry and Marilyn are carefully taking all the storm tiles off the old structure so they can reuse them on the new one it's a daunting job and Marilyn has been through nen of the deep end in her new role as builder's labourer it absolutely terrified me because part of the roof was derelict and it was all caved in and you couldn't really see any way of getting up there to get them down it frightened me I used to wake up in the night that had nightmares a week and what me see how will we get the roof missing the dolma not going or going by going the oldest farm building on Terry and Marilyn's new property and unique to the Scottish Borders is the 16th century Bassel this is a fortified house that once served to house and protect people and animals from Scottish cattle rustlers it's literally a farmer's fortress battles are very simple fortified farmhouses and on the ground floor here is where all the cattle would have been kept and when you look at this opening which is absolutely tiny it's just enough to get cow pushed through their ground floor level this is a very crude very simple building rectangular floor plan built like a huge chunks of stone and fairly crude mortar joints I mean these are sort of four or five inches wide as you make your way around the building cattle being at that level the farmer would have lived on the first floor with all of his family and you can see here open high level that is front door and here would have been a very simple staircase or ladder sometimes he would have actually pulled that in to protect himself in his own home and here at the lower level these openings here armed for light the purely for ventilation you think about it you've got half of your cattle from the next door field tucked in there smells would have been before so this provides cross ventilation from one side of the building to the next but what you do get a sense of is this huge fortified walls these walls are about two and a half foot thick this is a very strong very well protected building actually with with the floor it's quite interesting because as years and years and years of animals living in here they stand on a few hundred years of I'm afraid it's good with me it's got to be to go properly because of the word they are girls just want to come have a look at it and that's one fantastic thing about an old building like this isn't it you're just gonna be your peeling back the layers and explore and discover and things as you go the battle's function is not just a guard against things it also provides vital protection against the forces of nature [Music] the north pennines are a designated area of natural beauty but the weather in this valley can be extreme the blue skies and sunshine of summer are short-lived and the winters are long and severe as Marilyn and Terry's new neighbors will tell you well if ten months of winter followed by two months of bad weather and our bad weather was July in August so next month we'll be back to the beginning of winter for years this house has been open to the harsh elements in its neglected state which has destroyed the roof and rotted the interior it's in pretty bad - did I were a lot of there you cannot buy what like what and those are hot there was a big hole in the roof where the water had gone through which is dumb and low damage a lot of their Timbers in the roof built under the bustle is a small stone extension because this is a listed building the conservation officer has insisted that it be demolished to return the bustle to its original state [Music] with pneumatic drill in hand Marilyn gets stuck in what's incredible about this couple is that while most of us spend our working week looking forward to a weekend of relaxation Terry and Marilyn have two days of hard labor ahead they're doing it week after week after week it's early September and the Timbers arrived for their new roof so it's Maryland's job to paint the 17-foot beams to protect them from woodworm people hardly Betty I'm on softly where I'm painting these need to be treated and and dried as quickly as possible and I've got 26 of these to do which make up the joists that we need for this for the two floors and then there's the roof trusses to do which there's quite a number of Terry yeah I guess you want me buddy here no just yep roll your body can weep before moving out here Marilyn saw her grandchildren nearly every day but for the past two months she hasn't seen them at all it is a great wrench I mean we you know I really really miss them I tried I try not to shorten a fight I did to be honest and like sort of you know at the end of September she finally gets to see the family when they come up for the weekend this is their first visit to grandma's new house [Music] a whole new experience for the city kids [Music] they'll be trying to get to sleep at night and all you hear they're really you know again for Terry and Marilyn this is all part of the new life plan a big house in the country large enough for everybody to come and stay the kids can come around that can be here more they can steal for this plenty of room for them and you've got no fear of get knocked over by traffic your freedom view as well and you know you only got the Sheep but for Terry and Marilyn there is no rest bite they've got to get the roof on before the weather breaks even after a stressful nine-hour day at work they find the energy to crack on with the bills they spend the month of October working late into the cold dark nights Maryland's busy repoint in the walls and with extra help from the neighbor Terry's building the roof I always get the boring jobs well actually because of the damage I'm still working here with a roof beam off washed out all of the delay that was between all the storms so what I've got to do is pick out the line that's there and we fill it with with al a mortar Lane be smaller to stop the insides from coming out yapple you've been on with this room I've done one two three weekends at the end terry has taken great care that everything here in Maryland do on this house is done properly and they use in traditional building methods but this means it's taken a lot longer than he'd hoped you keep pushing the way that he is until he gets the roof on and nothing will be right nothing will be ready until he does that he's channeling ahead Terry take your time slow down you know think about what are you doing [Music] the weather in North Omaha is starting to take a turn for the worse but in early November after working day and night for four solid weekend's Teri's done it the reef is now watertight [Music] but there's still more time to rest they now face the intimidating task of lifting the 500 original heavy stone tiles back on the roof yeah go on then we together we big job isn't yeah you think any normal roof tiler be about probably about that big yeah yeah Marlon this is nearly the size of you try and lift this thing goes that's a fair job isn't it hmm she put a massive slabs right at the bottom master ain't got the biggest whip that's right and then what's smaller and smaller easy easy bit at the top I thought so you must be getting excited about that bit up there yeah yeah a lot of people would have copped out and thought the hardest she's slate it's much easier not loud the planner said no no way the originals got to go back so the planners have been quite strict haven't yet yeah because it's listed for there being a listed building I think even though it's that's very much a lot more hard work I think not only is it authentic but adds back to the strength of the building doesn't it's like a you know strong northern building that's right oh yeah yeah it's got character after all the time and effort Terry's put into rebuilding this traditional roof the result is outstanding and should easily last another 300 years this is some of the biggest strongest Timbers I think I've ever seen in a roof yeah why did you go flat I just took the old and beefed it up a little bit because this one the alternative see all on the Altima this is the best one that was a lot the other sort like disintegrator this was taking them down and I built them the same way as that these these were made couldn't drinking them the same way and put them all together the same way when this purlins are absolutely enormous on how they what they were the other hardest thing to get they definitely want some new foot 17 foot long turns yeah that's a feral bit of structure isn't it oh yeah I even had to add the timber people scratching their heads and asked for them no no it's good you've got the roof on because it's the big mistake everybody makes in an old build and they take the roof off that old roof structure and didn't realize how much protection of guitar the old building what tended to happen is the old walls would just collapse this is the key to it all is getting the roof on even when it's harsh Northumberland weather this reason all gone anywhere yeah not Jeff Lee knows Steve if it does he be going with it [Laughter] it's easy to underestimate the huge amount of work involved restoring a building of this age it takes special care and attention and Terry and Marlon want this house to be of the highest quality but to achieve this is a painstakingly slow process [Music] Terry and Marilyn struggle on with getting the heavy storm tiles on the roof with the help of their neighbor Rob unlike a modern roof every one of the 500 tiles is a different size and must be hand-picked for its measurements before going on I need to find some tires that are gonna fit the call to speed up the process Marilyn has already measured and numbered every tile but there's an awful lot to search through before she can find the right one time is running out for Terry and Marilyn this is back-breaking work and they're going to be hard pushed to get these tiles on before the winter weather kicks in [Music] [Music] terry flynn and marilyn fleming are on a path to a new life they've left the city behind them and moved to a remote and beautiful valley in the heart of Northumberland [Music] for four months they've been single-handedly restoring this 300 year old wreck into a family home working just evenings and weekends it's a slow and arduous process how do you two think that you're doing with this project I think we're doing all right I think we don't what do you think yeah I just think we should have more dinner I just want to push all the time I get wrong for pushing him all the time telling I'm not doing pushing them and pushing them all how stressful is it doing this build as well as keeping your full-time jobs work is stressful business no this is relaxation it really is you come here and you forget you forget everything you forget the problems at work you forget the worries that you've got it's early December and temperatures are dropping after two months of working on the roof Terry and Marilyn have finished laying the heavy tiles but there's no time for celebration these two just never stop Terry cuts and the hangers for the first and second floor beams and Marilyn well she's digging out the ground floor to prepare the new concrete base - - I went now with a catalyst oh well I'm sorry it's taken her two weeks after work that's 25 man-hours to dig out just a quarter of the ground floor and there's still a lot to do yeah it's it's hard obviously we're doing all the heavy heavy work at the moment like you know on the top there was about goodI 8 inches of concrete there so how to break that up first and then it's pretty story clear sort of something easy digging the days turned into nights for the next three weeks over the Christmas break Terry and Marilyn dig out ten tons of rubble by hand this is unbelievable [Music] you're not tired by all of this I mean this is a big building project it's not a little DIY project it's not a little extension on a house this is big building work you must be maggot sometimes but you know you get a good night's sleep and you get up the next day it's January and the weather turns with a vengeance good evening it's some of the worst weather to hit parts of Britain enforcement honors communications cut severe flood warnings have been in place but no one surely was prepared to this 150,000 are still thought to be without power this evening I've just got to go and see how they're weathering these storms gale force winds are tonight creating havoc in parts of northern Britain [Music] [Music] are they in there you are in there I think I wouldn't find you alright fine what about them here well there have been this great your living rooms gone that's completely yeah well haven't got the awning which is makes it a bit cramped in the caravan no it wasn't it really ripped it was it didn't fall down the wind 'red ripped it ripped it literally just about ripped it in half but what was it like in the caravan while all this was going on it's like being on a board like you should be booked 5:16 ton of sand at the front let's watch the ball out of here I know that your son left there's a little girl he couldn't get into gear for the gear for the Sun and it's all gone mr. Teague and you were there just to get it from the Lord at the bottom what the track they did not agree segment oh god me son and this weather is so extreme I mean what damage has been done well obviously the garden I mean it wasn't very pretty to stop but it's even worse no you always want new water feature no he's got one building must be soaking wet now Milius gable is really really bad we're gonna have to do somewhere that that's then when the biggest problems is that but the house are sort of half of the hillside so all the rainwater fallen on the hills at the back should really enjoy building doesn't it yeah so you're gonna have to do a lot of ground work on the back to protect us right yeah we're gonna are gonna have to put a laundry in along the front did to get any water comes off there Terry and Marilyn spirit is irrepressible it's gonna take a lot more than a few rainstorms and 90 mile an hour gale force winds to put these two off do not wake up some mornings and just think why are we doing this yeah I'm a stuffing it up walk up the odd morning thought oh god it's raining again you know I could be well cooked up at home you know my nice house it was beautiful and I could still be start the fire no well I'm not sorrowful about this at all we've got this mess we've got everything but I tell you what I've never been so happy in my life I can't are you still in such good spirits well I mean it was that yesterday and we're just look dude you shouldn't start a lot and we said if we do it for you you just you just cry look you would cry you know you've just just got to get all know what it's now February and the three weeks of flooding in the valley has left big holes in Terry and Maryland's track it's the only way to get building materials to their house so when the weather breaks their first job is to repair the road great can you stop please let me up [Music] it takes them a whole precious weekend to fix the road time they desperately need to spend on the house but eventually the track is fixed and haven't spent four weekends digging out the ground floor they can now fill it in again with concrete we've insulated the floor put the dreams in but there's the DBC end and now we're going to concrete so this is the hard part while they may have repaired the track enough to get a 4x4 down it there's no way a cement lorry will get through so instead Terry and Maryland plan to make the 15 tons of concrete using two small Electric mixers will burrowed inside the house and lay it by hand and so the concrete doesn't crack they have to get it all done in one day even for Terry and Marilyn this is too big a job so terry rounds up his sons to give them a hand are you gonna get that cement off it looks like these dinners sitting on these behind get up promised live driver when he gets good cracks the whip though the rain has stopped and the weather is cleared it's freezing cold or you want to turn around sweetie one sip not looks like we're gonna have to put some work in them it [Music] it tells me landfill what we those new more heavy work in sub-zero temperatures and with snow forecast it's a non-stop production line it's hard to know the deal where's auntie after a full day of carving heavy concrete everybody keeps working into the night there's no let-up until the job's done just want the floors in I want to be in I want a move in and it's just great you know guts and determination that's what keeps you going that's it since April Tyler dies at 10 o'clock they finally finish and that's the weatherman predicted the next day it begins to snow but does this stop Terry and Marilyn no chance the window frames need painting and Marilyn's dad ventures out from Newcastle to paint them Terry and Marilyn get on with trying to make the building a bit warmer they're putting the insulation in upstairs already it's no good wrong site every single piece must be measured to fit yet another time-consuming task I've got a for tameness total shock whose really easy is what we thought doesn't know it isn't not a straightforward is it know they spend the next two weeks finishing the job while outside it keeps on snowing you've got to admire their grit and determination but in March mother nature wins the battle it forces them to stop with five-foot snow drifts at their door it's impossible to continue building Terry and Marilyn have to leave their flimsy Caravan we need to dig their way out through the snow drifts along the half-mile track they're leaving hope head cottage to take refuge with Marilyn's father back in Whitley Bay for three weeks nothing happens on sight [Music] at last at the end of March the freeze is over [Music] so Terry and Marilyn return to the house I felt Terry was getting a bit cause it weed out that worried me because like I come in from work and it was like how it used to be when we lived at West Lightman you know so I tell you honestly only cup of coffee on this set ladies crate you know and I'm thinking oh you know he's getting too entrenched here this is too cozy with spring in the air Terry and Maryland get back to work on the house with a renewed vigor [Music] the electrician has arrived to do the first fix electrics the floorboards are going down the stairwell is in the rest of the window frames are being painted and while Terry and Marilyn are up the track collecting hundreds of sheets of plasterboard Maryland's son is helping to put in the windows [Music] restoring hope had cottage maybe exhausting and taken longer than they'd hoped but for Terry and Marilyn it's still a labor of love I'm really really enjoying it in fact he's going to pull it into the caravan some names clan still working are we in the homes now I feel like we're living an iPhone we're living whether it's because we're enjoying what we're doing Oh brilliant it is I'm really happy and that's it totally changed my life you know being living up here I really enjoy coming home every every night you know just to see the scenery the house I've got but if I think and it I'm doing something always want to do I mean that's perfect doesn't that I mean yes you live in the caravan yeah she's working hard on the balance yeah but what a transformation in your life in such a short period of time here [Music] their new family home may still be in the making but their new life has really taken off and they're about to take an even bigger leap forward [Music] Terry Flynn and Marilyn Fleming have put city life behind them and bought a 500 year old ruin in the heart of Northumberland I've come along to see how far they've got after nine months of epic DIY hey Terry hi how's it going great it's good yep you've got a wooden hand you've got the insulation up if it's a massive transformation on there it's easy to underestimate just how much time effort and hard graft Terri Marilyn have put in to getting hope head college to this stage but when they bought it the farmhouse was a ruined crumbling shell although they're still aware to go with great vision and an unwavering determination they've achieved a massive amount they've built a new roof [Music] concrete at a huge ground floor damn proved and insulated the whole house put a new doors and windows throughout and after nine months in a caravan they've even made their bedroom habitable this is where we spent last night we did wanting to be in so much and so you're gonna live in here you know by what you actually don't I don't know would not it be us but I feel I see it like the house here yeah quit is yeah if you believe that you can do it yeah and you're committed and you're passionate about it you've proved you can do it there's a lot of things that she's only small there's a lot of things she's done although the grown man big man wouldn't it wouldn't even attempt to do Terry and Marilyn have cut no corners they've been meticulous in every process of restoring their naveen century farmhouse and they've achieved the goal they set for themselves nine months ago well had one thing in my head at the end of the day we want to move in here and live here one of this and that's what we're teamed and so this is not only a new life for you that's a new life at the building as is yeah yeah yes a new start for all of us really you know for the families and for the building first together mm-hm [Music] Marilyn has barely got one foot in the door of their new house and she's already got a new grand plan for the future inspired by them move to the country not only of Terry and Maryland taken on a huge and challenge and buildin project but the now looking to invest in a whole new venture Peruvian alpacas in the north of England [Music] they're funny-looking bunch other very gentle okay yeah that's the reason for having them boy alpacas really it was there as pets for the grandparents really well and most people like just get a goat or a sheep or something as pets but when I looked into it more and started to learn about them it's a growing industry because of the wall and that is where it's very it's like the new Kashmir Satori do you see yourself packing in work and becoming an alpaca farmer enjoy me job too but this could be a different life for you yeah oh yeah I would love this our just yeah yeah how it that would be my ideal [Music] do you ever sort of sit there and pinch yourself and think this is ours yeah often yeah I mean we're complicity working in the house and we'll walk outside and I look around not cool you know it's just life changing it's so peaceful it's relaxing dudes dresses here but yeah you know excited about your new life together this is the beginning of a life for us moving here Terry and Marilyn are one of the most remarkable couples I've ever met no matter how bad things have got through the bad weather the long hours the isolation and the back-breaking work they've refused to give up and they've achieved so much this building has been brought back to life and when it is finished Taron Marilyn will have the perfect family home in the most stunning location and I think they absolutely you [Music] next week Sean and Carol give up hectic jobs for a better family life in Scotland we don't do there's this huge distance between us [Music] you [Music] you

Channel: Banijay History

Views: 424,543

Keywords: history, facts, interesting, documentary, history documentary, documentary history, history channel, world history, full documentary, top documentaries, documentaire, documental, documentary film, free documentary, full length documentaries, documentaries, factual, documentary full, build a new life in the country, george clarke, charlie luxton, building a house, build a house, building, renovation, home renovation, diy, home restoration, before and after, home improvement, epiosde 2

Id: _yjFyQbwH2I

Length: 38min 26sec (2306 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 16 2019