Legend of the Stolen Lake - Doing It Ourselves

three years ago me my brother billy and his fiancee gwendolyn took on the mammoth task of restoring this stunning front chateau at first it was just the three of us but since then the whole family has moved in to help bring this place back to its former glory and not forgetting the newest family member baby earnest we do everything ourselves from fixing the leaky roof managing the vast 60 acre estate to restoring the grand interiors back to the way they were 100 years ago it's not always easy but that's what makes life in a place like this interesting my name's michael and i'm going to be showing you what it's like to live work and play at chateau de la baminei well hello everyone and welcome back well i've got a bit of a problem today i've been ill for the last two days and i haven't left my bed in 36 hours i normally film and edit my video at least two or three days before it goes out and edit it so i've got plenty of time to finish it off but i wasn't well enough to make the video up until today so i'm gonna have to film and edit an entire video in one day and upload it so i've never done that before um and i'm not sure if it's gonna work out so i better start filming now because i've got a long day ahead of me and well yeah here it goes so tell me about your lake stephanie the sad story of the lalon lake the sad story of the la land lake which i will keep very brief because it's rather a long story there was a five acre lake here and you can see the boat house is still standing but is completely marooned in what is now wetland because we were forced to empty it by the water police that's a thing in france okay and now the stream goes through it's because of new eu regulations but apparently they didn't have the right to make me empty yet and i sort of got scared into doing it they said that there would be a huge fine if i didn't but because i didn't know the way french administration works i'd only just got here and i was living here completely alone at the time i did what they said not realizing um that if they were in the right they'd have given it to me in writing and they didn't give it to me in writing they just told me and i totally just believed them and now it turns out that if we hadn't emptied it we would actually have had a grant to pay for at least half of the work to make it fit into the new eu regulations but because we emptied it we don't get a grant and we have to do the whole thing ourselves so they completely tricked me and it's it's actually still i very rarely talk about it because it annoys me so much but now because of my patrons i actually have the money to do the first survey that we need to do to put the lake back and we are definitely going to get the lake back in what form i don't know because the regulations have changed it might not be able to be five acres anymore i think they're saying that the stream worst case scenario still has to be separated from the lake okay the lake can draw water from the stream in future but we're trying to fight to have the stream still going through the lake as it did maybe with a fish pass on the other side so these are all things that the survey is going to look into the survey is a huge job will probably cost about 10 000 euros so i'm incredibly grateful to my patrons that we're going to be able to move on with this and you can see the stream now it still snakes its way through and there's lots of trees growing up in it so it's become a huge job because now we actually have to clear the whole bed of the lake remove all of those trees and so i would really like to make it better than it was before because otherwise this all seems like a completely wasted enterprise so i would very much like to actually create an island that's a good idea yeah as we're clearing everything we could make an island in the middle when we get the lake back we'll be able to row over to the island and have picnics on it at least then we've created something more beautiful rather than this act of vandalism i mean from what i can tell is it's all silted up now because there's been no water flow going through it so it's going to have to be bypassed somehow while work's done on it it will have to be bypassed to let it dry out completely because we'll obviously need to get machinery down there jcb would just sink in at the moment and the only good thing about it is that it was already quite silted up when we bought yeah works on the lake hadn't been done for a very long time so i think it needed to be properly scooped out cleaned and at least we'll be doing that and i don't want to think that i'm leaving la land worse than when i bought it yeah i will not pass this chateau on without having that back well in the meantime i'm gonna go and do a bit of exploring because somewhere down where is it down here somewhere yeah on the other side of the overflow so where the stream goes out there's a little uh waterfall and that goes down and the stream goes through those trees and it's really really really pretty so that the reason why the lake's empty is because there's a sluice gate there and it's been opened so any water that gets to that point just flows off into the stream and isn't held back anymore into the lakes getting the lake back is so easy in fact uh one of my friends thinking that he was helping me did it once i was sick in bed for a whole week with flu one year and when i opened my window at the end of it there was a lake he didn't realize that i could have massive fines for doing that um if you close that the water comes back very quickly i think he'd only had it closed for maybe one day and the lake was back enough for him to be out on a boat but obviously i made him um empty it because i want to just do this properly and be in line with regulations so getting the lake back in terms of the water that's the easy part the hard part of the eu regulations look at that frog actually one of the greatest things about it becoming more of a wetland is the noise of the frogs they seem quite happy down there oh they're so happy that's been great right i need to find some wellington boots and go and explore the uh stream where the water comes out of the lake and go and have a look at the sluice gate and i'll at least show everyone how it can be closed i won't close it myself i could make us a picnic and meet with the rune mill oh that'd be amazing yeah have you been there before what the room mill yeah no i haven't actually i've walked past it um but it's quite easy to miss it just looks like a big tree or something doesn't it because it's so overgrown exactly it just looks like a massive bush okay we're into mill in about an hour's time okay so i'm going to go and explore the stream and then i'll meet you meet you there meet you there you've got any like wellington boots anyway let's have a look as well mommy might have done it yeah because they're way too big for my mother eric and my mother put them in that's brilliant let's see if they fit oh some cobwebs in there no they're fine well we're almost at the sluice gate i think it's just here somewhere i can hear it it's just underneath this bit of road here so that's where the water exits the lake and it goes into this stream that goes off down into the countryside it's absolutely stunning you see that old rock wall there so i need to get down there somewhere how am i going to do that so this is the old mechanism and i guess you would have had some sort of ratchet here that you would have wound up and it would have raised or lowered these uh well i'm not sure what they are big doors basically that stop the water from going out so this is the edge of the lake here you see so the water flows through the lake just to here and these are the old sluice gates which are now well there's part of one there and there and they're just left open now so we need to try and find a way to get down there well the stream runs along this side so if i guess if i just walk along this lane for a bit longer i'll probably find a way down the bank into the valley below there and i can get into the stream and walk up it so that's the valley down there the isabel said that just before the mill there's an old ruined mill just here she said just before that there's a way to get down into the valley and then into the stream so let's try and find that so just here is the old ruins of a water mill and this would have been fed by the lake and it would have turned a wheel which probably would have turned a grindstone and that would have ground wheat air for flower originally but now it's just in ruins that would make a fantastic house eventually if they can restore it i still haven't found a way to get down into the stream bed can i get down here it's just brambles by the looks of it i might be able to get through here actually maybe not well i've walked all the way down the lane and i can't find a way into this field so i'm gonna go back up a bit and see if i can find a way down right well i've tried getting down there it's just loose rocks my foot kept slipping so i'm gonna try and find a way back down up here i need to hurry up and film because there's a bit of a storm coming over by the looks right well i couldn't get down into the valley anyway down there so i'm gonna try going up this track see if that takes us anywhere it's quite pretty around here well this track goes right the way down by the looks of it so this shouldn't just come here in the first place wow look at that it's so pretty what's this some huge old rocks here wow i guess the only way is to go down here through the brambles see if i try and avoid some of these brambles and go through this way i might find my way down to the stream i just hope these wellington boots i'm wearing are tall enough so that i can walk in the water so i know you can at our stream at bam yeah you can walk in the water there but here i don't know how deep it is i'm sure we'll find out wow what is this that's crazy it looks like an el grotto or something look at all these old ancient stones what an earth is that this is stunning this looks like my way in just have to hope it's not too deep so i'm gonna have to walk up the actual stream to get to the skate take a step in that's not too bad wow look at all these boulders ah it seems we've got a bit of a blockage in the way right i've got all of these uh huge rocks in the way i've got to climb up and over that look at that huge rock there this is stunning there's a lot of water flowing over these rocks i can see why the lake will fill up so quickly if you have close to skate because there's loads of water just gotta climb over these rocks there we go we're up gotta be careful because these rocks could be quite slippery with all this moss on them up oh that was a bit deep anymore that would have filled up right well i think we're getting closer to the sluice gate rock's very unstable let's try and walk up on the bank a bit safer wow that's stunning it's like something out of a fairy tale i think i'm gonna meet a troll under this bridge well that bridge looks really cool i'm definitely gonna have to go under there only problem is we've got a bit of a plunge pool here it looks like it's going to be really deep i don't think i'll be able to stand in there um but i could probably walk around the edge somehow and that's the road up there it's really strange there's like a a really strong smell of almonds in the air and i don't know what it is almonds weird right so i'm at the point where the water goes under the road now and um as you can just see just there goes under the road uh and you've got this stone bit down here but it's really slippery like really slippery and i'm a bit worried but if i try and walk on it i'm just going to fall over uh i'll give it a go well i'm under the bridge i don't know if you can hear me it's really loud but that's where the water comes out and now i'm going to try and get under the bridge and to the other side here we go it's actually very slippery so you have to really bend your foot in and make sure it's got a good grip so like that so here we are [Applause] welcome to the la land lake so here's the old sluice gate i mean actually this one's closed here that one i guess if you lower it down it shuts off that side and the center one well that's just being cast to one side because by the looks of it it's broken up there [Applause] you know what it'd be so easy just to put this back there but we won't because we'll be in trouble so i wonder how far into the lake fed you can get let's have a look it's quite deep here yeah well not too bad [Applause] okay not too bad oh it's very silty here look at it glittering see that glittering it's like gold let's have a look oh it's quartz oh there could be quite a lot of gold here it's definitely pyrite so if you can see sparkly bits in there well that's interesting could definitely come down here gold panning you can see on camera there but just on the top of this silt it's just completely glittering in the light so if my camera can pick it up really sparkling so there's quartz it's definitely falls gold but they might alongside it be some real gold which should be really interesting let's see how far we can get into the lake problem is the water's getting really deep here look if i ah at almost no if i go any further my boots are going to fill with water well that's a real shame because i wanted to go into the lake what's left of the lake is actually quite deep still i mean there's still water in here i don't get what the problem is why they have to have it emptied because like if there's two foot of water or there's a meter like or two meters of water what difference does it make [Applause] right he's going to try and get back now without slipping over [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] right so that was the old slus gay uh stephanie says she's gonna meet me at the old mill so the quickest way to the old mill is down the stream so i guess i'm gonna have to go back down that way i mean not gonna be the easiest way to get there but it's gonna be the most interesting and for you guys i'm sure it'll be really interesting especially if i fall over so uh let's get back into the stream [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] quite deep there if i can try and get onto this big rock if i try and get onto this bank hold on to this tree and then shimmy around without falling in well hold on to that tree there we go we're on dry land so there's the old mill we've got to get there right so i've just got to get across here now and then i'm in the field so i can't believe how big these rocks are really nice stuff too everything you'd ever need to build a chateau all right we're in the field they just keep finding these huge granite blocks everywhere absolutely stunning look how big it is there's enough stone lying around in these fields to build four or five chateaus maybe more and just see in the distance look the top of the 16th century wing of the chateau just there peeping up over the bank and the top of the chapel and then that is the old ruined water watermill let's go and have a look inside i've never seen this before i mean walking past this from the road up there you would never know this was an old water mill i used to think this was a tree it's actually just covered in ivy so these are the old walls and i've got a feeling the water would have come down here somewhere flowed past here through this trench which is now full of brambles and it must have turned a wheel of some sort but where was the wheel can we get inside that's the other question you can't really tell at the minute but there is a trench that runs all the way along the side here and it runs just down here and there's water still in it just there and i guess it would have flown through the fields here and off into the stream so i guess they could have raised the water level of the lake by closing the sluice gate up and down if they wanted oh it's a lot of water here that's definitely where the old stream was oh yeah i can see now isn't that nice yes so it's pretty much a ruin now it could be rebuilt be a lot of work to bring it back but it's possible i mean these walls seem pretty sound what's in there ah that's a shame this is one of the old walls here oh wow there's an old bread oven how cool is that you know that was a wall here i guess that's an old gable end is it safe to stand underneath it probably not i won't go any closer well i guess the ivy's holding it all up at the minute yeah but there's a bread oven that's really cool look at this whole door here isn't that cute oh you can get outside oh that's i love stuff like this exploration of old buildings look at that old wall up there oh look there's a tunnel i guess that goes under the road to the lake and i suppose once the lake's filled to a certain height the water will just flow through here but obviously the lake level's too low now so it doesn't go through there anymore and it would have come out of there flown down here and along the side here along this wall so there must have been a wheel where's the whole wheel or i guess the wheel's gone but where was it attached aha there's a hole there in the wall maybe that's where it was so we stood now where the wheel was that's fantastic well this is just amazing stephanie needs to have this building restored and put back because it's just a whole other building it's stunning how many places can say they've got a water mill it's just beautiful she needs to have it put back but obviously really expensive look at this the end of an old oak beam you're serious we have to go down that way well it's the only way i can find to get through just watch out there's uh some rambles and nettle watch out there's some barbed wire just there still of course there is take my hand thank you sir step by step instructions for getting into my own field that's it yeah and then down yes there you go thank you we're in picnic will happen well the important thing is that the quiche made it over in one piece i can't believe you made a whole case just to bring down here well we've got to do things properly thank you it's really kind of you you needed a hearty lunch after your walk here is perfect isn't it yeah here i actually thought inside the mill there's a little area here which is quite nice yeah a little flat area there all secluded pancake area perfect oh my goodness yes right it looks as though we already have some wine well somebody's been down here having a picnic before haven't they definitely quite a long time ago from the look of that bottle yeah maybe it's an old favorite spot if somebody used to live here oh what's this chilled sparkling water after your long walk uh where's the knife my heart knife yeah the one you were carrying well no you brought this down we didn't bring the knife are you serious i swear i swear you had a knife i can't believe we haven't got a knife i'm gonna go and get a knife no shadow's a long way away let's face it for intrepid explorers like us the lack of a knife is not going to be a problem a stick with the bark removed will be clean moist we need to find a dry stick that we can take the bark off it's most bit moldy that's a definite no that's a tetanus risk right there i've just uh whittled one down i think that'll cut it absolutely why are we cutting a quiche with a stick because someone forgot a knife it's working and luckily i did not forget someone gave me these napkins i actually find paper napkins prettier than linen ones because i have such gorgeous designs on but i always feel really guilty using them because they're so pretty in their single use but this is a special occasion i busted out the napkins what's the verdict it's perfect stephanie thank you love it how is it steph really good the stick worked perfectly i think we should take it back to the chateau it's just slightly sharper than most of the knives in my kitchen that was a nice little picnic it was so good but now don't stay with me okay go you have a video to make and you've got hammy asked it i'm not wearing a watch you've got about five hours to make an entire video and i've got about three actually to edit it i've never done this before right do it you can do it right i'm gonna go edit and i'll uh i'll meet you back in the kitchen when i'm done okay fantastic you can do it right i'm gonna go edit and i'll uh i'll meet you back in the kitchen when i'm done okay fantastic well it's done three hours later exactly obviously i like to spend a bit more time on them and make them really really amazing but i've been ill for the last couple of days so i couldn't work on it but this is at least a video for you on friday at the right time so i hope you enjoy it well i had some really important announcements i wanted to make in this video but obviously i haven't got time the video is over 30 minutes long so i'm going to wait until the next video to put those out but you won't have to wait until next friday to see that video because it's going to be out probably by monday or tuesday at the latest and some of the big announcements i'll talk about them quickly but i'll go into detail in the next video uh the first video i ever put on youtube just less than three months ago has gone over one million views so i'm just really excited to talk about that and i'm going to talk about how that video came into being and why the youtube channel was started also the gofundme page for the gardeners cottage that has actually not only just reached its goal but it's gone over it so that's some really exciting news i'm going to talk about that in the next video and also something might have arrived in the post today a little laptop so i've got a lot of people to thank for that and i'm going to do a bit of an unboxing and thank everyone properly in the next video as well so until then thank you for watching and i'll see you soon

Channel: Doing It Ourselves

Views: 166,216

Keywords: chateau, chateaux, france, french, castle, renovation, restoration, escape chateau, reno, gardeners cottage, wedding venue, chateau wedding, forest, woods, trees, nature, peace, relaxation, vintage, gardening, aga cooker, Aga, church, cathedral, fun, cottage, kitchen, interior design, home, design, construction, cooking

Id: qO03jDdNGcE

Length: 32min 11sec (1931 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 12 2020