Renovating Mansion Into A Wedding Venue To Avoid EVICTION | Country House Rescue | Abode

[Music] there's a way to make an entrance my destiny it was now a conspiracy of witches download veli today whitbourne hall is an impressive stately home set in eight acres of splendid grounds but this great house now divided into 23 apartments faces an uncertain future the residents are struggling to meet the annual renovation costs and can't agree on how best to increase revenue with bourne hall is made up not of one individual but of 40 people ruth watson has definite ideas on what needs to be done too many people here have got too many opinions there's a lot of talk here surely things have got to change evolution is a painful and bloody process sometimes can ruth win the community over and encourage them to pull together to save whitbourne hall for the future i question how this place really is managed and run [Music] whitbourne hall is a grade two listed palladian mansion nestled in the worcestershire countryside this magnificent house was built in 1860 by the wealthy bickerton evans family but over the years they struggled to keep the estate going in the summer of 1977 the family invited a group of friends to move into whitborn in return for help with its upkeep they set up a commune-like existence in a bid to live harmoniously together quentin collie was one of the original members the ethos at that time of that group was self-sufficiency and i suppose people could see that as being a hippie style of life country house communal living in britain began in the late 1940s but became fashionable in the 70s the romantic dream at whitborne hall however didn't last long three years later the community disbanded and a company was formed to purchase the property for seventy thousand pounds whitbourne is still home to an eclectic group of individuals but the only surviving members of the original community are quentin and his wife heather we still believe the house the gardens those are our home and it's a beautiful place to live today it's a very different story from the altruistic ideal the estate has been converted into 23 self-contained units lived in by 37 residents two recent recruits ardez dodge and raj sani there's a real mix of people i'm an engineer dez is a hairdresser quentin and heather are retired school teachers whitbourne prides itself on its democratic ethos one thing size doesn't matter here we're all we're all equal but with all residents having a say decision making is far from plain sailing people are always going to have differences of opinion whether it's to do with should you have gravel outside should you be using herbicides should we be allowed to park here as opposed to park there i think that's been a little pessimistic i think on lots of issues there is a consensus isn't there roof repairs refurbishment and preservation are a constant costly concern for whitborn the hall's current annual maintenance bill stands at 42 000 pounds next year it's estimated at nearly double that and the community is divided on how to solve the hall's financial woes at the end of the day majority rule is the name of the game desperate to secure the hall's future raj has called in businesswoman ruth watson in a bid to get the residents to agree on a plan of action today ruth's in worcestershire to meet them hello hello committee quite literally you must be rushed yes and you were the person who first contacted me yes on the events committee yes lovely hello everyone and your chairman current chairman chairman and quentin and you were one of the original members of the community back in the 70s a few lifetimes ago fantastic well i have to say it's the most impressive portugal i've ever seen it's just amazing i'd love to see the rest of the house ruth begins her tour in the grand hall one of whitborne's five communal areas this is quite extraordinary isn't it everything about it i feel as if i'm in some kind of huge roman baths or something or other the glass roof in good order um reasonable order in the fact that it's now watertight um we've had a lot of work done on the roof and the lanterns above the what what you actually see however there's a fair bit of work to do on the plaster work it's in all interior now so it's more decorative built 150 years ago witchbourne hall is designed to impress on every level and the gilded drawing room is no exception now i expected it to be big but what i didn't expect was it to be quite so beautiful i mean it's just really charming we do know that each panel that we have here for the windows originally in 1860 um cost 970 pounds per window per window which is roughly the cost of building the stable block at the back of the house my god so it was obviously a pure gold leaf yes presumably it would be to keep costs down residents share general upkeep between themselves from keeping the gardens in trim to preserving the intricate fabric of the building we got it re-plastered new welding buildings put on and over the last year we've been painting it so who i mean guilding is a craft who does the gilding well there are a number of us that are talented in the respect we can hold a paintbrush and we've just had to copy what was here already we do all the outside work ourselves except for cutting the hedges there's a group of people here still willing to put their time into cutting grass and in fact i'd say that people fight over who who gets to do the lawn it's such a privileged job and i bet it's the men fighting absolutely to generate an income whitborn hall hosts weddings it's licensed to hold 12 a year but is failing to achieve this figure how many weddings have you got planned for this coming year five five would you like to do more i i'm going to get shot it i personally don't have a problem with having a lot more weddings um however i do feel that other people in the house may have problems with that right so five you're not even got 50 of what you could do weddings bring in little revenue to get to the bottom of the estate's finances ruth and the residents retire to the library [Music] i'd like to understand the finances better of the house because it's obviously not a cheap place to run we have a service charge which obviously um each unit contributes to how much is that and that is 22 000 a year so approximately a thousand pounds per residence yep and then in addition to that of course it's the um the events that we hold here right and that equates between 12 and 15 000 a year in terms of profit or turnover turnover right so that's not a contribution is it as such it's whatever the profit you're making from it is okay and how much do you think the house cost to run this year's budget is 42 000. so at the moment your total income is via the service charge and that's in the region of 22 000 you have should have income from events but there's a question mark about whether they really are contributing um so there is actually a whacking great shortfall isn't there yes in the past whitborn met major renovation costs by selling vacant apartments but the last one has sold for 150 000 pounds and now the residents need to find alternative ways to raise cash have the residents had any other thoughts about ways and means of procuring more income potters art art displays for in the house as a possibility local shows being held here right but we're not talking about large amounts of money and this is the problem no it's one of the worries that people have that any activities you do here might impinge on their enjoyment of the hall that's right i that is a major concern of most of the residents there's going to have to be a balance a trade-off between intrusion on people's lives and the necessary money that's got to be raised to keep the place renovated and running with the opinions of nearly 40 people to consider ruth's got her work cut out if she's to find an agreeable viable solution what seems to be the problem not enough money but also residents who may or may not like the idea of more things occurring here the fact is they bought these flats because they were peaceful and quiet and the idea of sharing this house with a lot of people celebrating weddings and the like i don't think it's going to go down very well with everybody whitbourne hall is in crisis without help the crumbling building and its ethos could be lost forever i think the hall has to decide whether it's a hobby or a business but has ruth come up with a radical resolution to whitborne's democratic failings i'm in favor of a despot a dictator taking over here [Music] magnificent whitbourne hall in worcestershire was built by wealthy vinegar magnet edward biketon evans in the mid-1800s as a testament to his success the mansion was constructed in the greek revival style inspired by extravagant expeditions to europe its impressive portico boasts six ionic fluted pillars each 30 feet in height they are slightly barrel shaped to give a correct sense of proportion to the eye the house also has one of the largest glass ceilings in any private residence in europe and a now derelict palm house [Music] the bikerton evans resided at whitborne for over a century then in 1977 the ailing mansion became home to a community of friends who resided here as a family living eating and working the land together three years later they disbanded and formed a company to buy the property today with born hall is home to 37 residents who live in 23 self-contained apartments despite its fine appearance the hall is in need of constant repair this year's maintenance bill is 42 000 pounds and next year it's expected to double but revenue from the annual service charge and events are failing to reach anywhere near that amount ruth watson has been called in to help secure whitborne's future by raj sani with a house of this size one can never underestimate the amount of work that may suddenly need doing ruth's on a mission to find practical answers to the estate's financial problems but before she comes up with the plan she needs to canvass the opinions of as many residents as possible her first port of call is quentin and heather colley who were part of the original community well this is nice you've got a view of the palm house so how long have you actually been living here we came in october 1977. my goodness and then you all lived toot ensemble in the house to begin with what made you decide that you needed your individual accommodation trying to share bathrooms i think we were getting a bit tired of all eating together all the time how much do you feel that the original concept of community living still exists if people are being in one's opinion slightly unreasonable you have to deal with it with a public face but somewhere along the line that pressure has got to be released hasn't it so you can come in here and have a little hiss it's just as well that nobody's got a bug in here what would you think is the best way forward in terms of actually producing more income for the house i think if the house could earn its living monday to friday so that when everybody else came back at the weekends we could all enjoy it together it would be great [Music] maintaining the hall's tranquility is also top of the agenda for captain cliff mcfarlane who lives above one of the hall's main function rooms [Music] i think it's in the balance of raising revenue but not disturbing us too much because we live here but do you think that's actually possible um i think the special events that would be in keeping art shows yoga and other practices so quite things i would prefer quiet pigs the staging of events at witborn is clearly a sensitive issue one way to boost revenue while ensuring serenity could be to increase the 1 000 flat rate annual service charge but the size of apartments varies dramatically and not everyone is in agreement with such a proposal so you're taking it dave you bought your own little unit yes i say little it's maybe huge is it well mine is one of the smallest actually right it's where the butler lived butler's pantry in the butler's country yeah the whole flat yeah just the backless country margaret rodney do you think you pay enough service charge yes do you think it's right and fair that everyone pays exactly the same regardless of the size of their apartment yes you pay the same service charge as everybody else yeah from the five room apartments i mean do you think that's equitable i think it is an unfair deep down i do think it's a very unfair system it's become a sort of posh block of flats with some you know that's how it is now [Music] previously whitborn was in the luxurious position of having a solution to any funding crisis over the years the way money's been raised here it's by selling things off they've sold off the stables they've sold off apartments but now they've reached the end of the road so from now on in they've got to find money from another source [Music] with the last flat sold with born needs to become commercial while still remaining a home town clerk richard chapman moved in only 18 months ago and has already recognized this there's a lot of talk here i'm quite happy to live here as we are but if they want more business to support the house then surely things have got to change so your personal view how would you take this forward well i think i would investigate the daytime conferences i think the hall has to decide whether it's a hobby or a business over the years the way of life at whitborn has evolved from its classless roots it's now home to a broad range of inhabitants from retired pensioners to working professionals keeping everyone satisfied is a delicate process as rajsani who came here four years ago has come to realize do you think that running events successfully is the way out of the problem i do i personally have no restrictions on the number of events and the type of events that we hold the downside is that you really do have to pay attention to every little single thing because you have the potential of upsetting people quite easily there has been some disharmony i've experienced it what would your individual attack be on how to get more money in here that's why i got you in individual taxes to do this ruth has discovered that there's certainly no shortage of opinions at whitborne and as a result little consensus this house desperately needs a good income stream so right now i'm in favor of a despot a dictator taking over here the residents are willing to become commercial but only on their own terms so ruth needs to find a solution that will preserve their privacy while still bringing in revenue one option is to take advantage of the hall's idyllic location ruth visits a farm eight miles from whitborne to meet mark gordon an entrepreneur who markets a novel way of making a profit from tranquil rural settings this is really amazing feather down farms is a new concept in holiday accommodation that celebrates outdoor living it combines comfortable camping in homely tents with added mod cons this is absolutely lovely and there's so much attention to detail it's really quite sophisticated in its rusticness and the the sleeping arrangements there are three bedrooms just behind you there's a little hideaway one for the children where they not only sleep but they play it's great and what about for adults though comfortable master bedroom out the back and then two bunk beds in the adjoining bedroom and you've got a real proper table which you can sit eat drink read talk i'm completely convinced of its idyllic nature i mean this is everyone's dream but tell me more about the commercial side of things a couple of crews come over at the beginning of the season and they put the tents up and then at the end of the season they take them down again and how popular are they well they um been going for three years now and they've been booked out really we've had to put up the um full sign um usually shortly into the season and what sort of rents do people have to pay to come and stay on average average of about 400 pounds for um a weekend or a midweek break here and what's in it for the landowner um the farmer will get a fixed sum of money every time the tent is full the most successful locations turn over 30 000 pounds a year but ruth wonders how this could work for a country house like whitborn now i have a problem because i love this concept but the house i have in mind is not a working farm it's a very large country house i mean no hope for them no that shouldn't be a problem at all because we've got a new product in development called hideaway homes and these will be situated next to country houses instead of next to working farms and the theming instead of being a farm theme will be around the 19th century and exploration ruth's also aware that residents would prefer events to take place on weekdays and thinks the communal rooms at whitborne could be utilized effectively to bring peace harmony and revenue ruth's come to try yoga in london's fashionable primrose hill to meet ex-lawyer jonathan satin who's made spiritual exercise good business [Music] now obviously you're in a city doing this do you think yoga works in rural areas is there a call for it i think you can work anywhere yeah i think it is location driven you can run retreat sites which people obviously do and i think it's not quite if you feel that they will come but i think that if you have a very good teacher and you have a good environment and you're teaching the right styles of yoga you price it correctly it should work is there an optimum class size i think if you're running a retreat 20 is a good number i think you can transport this into a lot of different places i think you can run these in country houses yeah you can do it one day courses during the week could earn with born around fifteen thousand pounds a year while still maintaining the resident's privacy [Music] encouraged by her research ruth's back in worcestershire to present her findings to the residents at whitborn hall [Music] first of all i'd just like to say to you that the success of this house is down to you it's only the way it is because a dedicated band of people have worked very very hard on keeping it the way it is now first ruth tackles the thorny issue of the property's annual service charge your running costs exceed the service charge by about ten thousand pounds a year so my first suggestion which will not be music to you is is that the service charge is going to have to go up so to my mind the equitable way of going about this is to do it by square footage but i really do think that it's fundamental that running costs are met annually by service charges so we now get to the how you get an income stream in ruth firmly believes that the splendid mansion should be attracting more weddings weddings are top of the list because that's the place where most people are prepared to spend a lot of money those weddings i don't think should realize you as profit anything less than four thousand pounds it has to be professionally done if you were to interview and hire a wedding planner and you said what we want from you is a fee for use of location and that sum has not got to be less than four thousand pounds if you were to say you can do twelve events at four thousand pounds a year profit making i think that's entirely realisable i like your thing about a wedding planner i think that that would work very well because i think it would take pressure off the people in the house but i would have thought we could have done more daytime conferences here um it doesn't strike me as being the absolute obvious place to have conference events because unfortunately you're up against hotels and places which are so so well geared up to it licensed to operate 12 events per year with born should be making 48 000 pounds from weddings alone and they could be realizing even more by capitalizing on the hall's peaceful location there is a company called featherdown that have set up on working farms i have to say they're sort of glorified tents but they are so much more than tense they are actually rolling out another model which is to do with country houses and it's um called hideaway homes now not only are they lovely for guests to come and stay in but actually they're very lovely for the landowners because you get a cut from the rent that's paid now it did seem to me to fit in with the ethos of what you were doing here because it's essentially quiet as well as luxury camping ruth's keen for the hall to make use of the grand communal rooms on weekdays you obviously could try the idea of yoga retreats as well i think again it fits in with your ethos and there are lots of people prepared to spend quite a lot of money to go away for a week to do yoga and you would obviously have to get professionals in i totally accept i'm speaking from a point of view of somebody who has never done yoga in their life and couldn't ruth's parting shot is to get the residents to stop talking and start working i'd like to charge you with the notion that you would trial the featherdown farms thing just to see how it worked i mean it would be good for you it'd be good for them you know is it a concept that you could roll out or not um i think it'd be a good idea to see if you can contact some yoga centers to see whether they would like to come and do some yoga here and i also think that you ought to be trying to find a wedding planner so when i come back i'll be very interested to hear how things have gone on but in the meantime thank you very much for your time and i should win my way remarkably ruth's suggestions appear to have gone down well with the residents but the honeymoon period doesn't last long raj i'm gonna stop you how many people have you got signed up we've got two right i don't need to go any [Music] further whitbourne hall set in the heart of the worcestershire countryside is in financial trouble with little revenue coming in to fund ongoing renovation the residents are at odds as to how best to generate a healthy income raj sani moved here just four years ago but has already become frustrated with bourne hall is made up not of one individual but of 40 people you are bound to get some people who are very calm and placid and go with the flow and then you're also bound to get people who aren't [Music] to help the community agree on a way forward ruth watson's come up with a range of money-making objectives but the initial enthusiasm has waned there was a lot more discussion a lot more debate a lot more dissent really i'm aware of the fact that evolution is a painful and bloody process sometimes no decision has been made on increasing the service charge and residents are against the notion of daytime courses in yoga when this was mentioned in the company meeting there was a lot of laughter why should ruth feel that was appropriate for us but raj is determined to act on ruth's suggestions i thought potentially there might not be a lot of money in yoga but an area associated with growth and with personal development is nlp neuro-linguistic programming claims to train the brain to think more positively raj is convinced that such classes would fit in perfectly with the sedate atmosphere at whitborn tom mckay an nlp expert from london has come to meet raj and fellow resident des dodge with a view to running weekday courses here tom um we talk about nlp what exactly you know does that encompass what you know what is it about it's often described as the technology of achievement so it's about how we think how we manage our emotions and how we even use our physiology to achieve more success in any area so it's about how we can communicate better with other people but also how we communicate better with ourselves it is a question of taking you out of your comfort zone in a way so you don't do any hypnosis a lot of techniques are quite hypnotic although they're not specifically what we call hypnosis uh how do you how do you time in mind like a time scale in mind well we have a wedding that first weekend in september thereafter where i go we're free with people willing to pay up to 95 pounds for nlp day courses this could prove a trouble-free and lucrative revenue stream for whitborne it's a wonderful setting and it's probably the most serene and peaceful place that i've run a course in the fact is that the house is empty during the week i think putting workshops on is is a very good and suitable way of using the space we've got i think it's got huge potential but courses alone won't go anywhere near keeping the estate afloat ruth watson has got wind of descent among the residents at whitborne determined not to allow them to scupper her plans she's back in worcestershire to confront them i can't help feeling that the structure of how this house is run has somehow got to change because i think that's where the future the success of whitborn hall its survival that's where it all lies ruth's main concern is that any progress at whitborne is being hampered by the community's egalitarian ideals i don't think that you're a genuine democracy because i don't think everyone has a real vote all the time and i question how this place really is managed and run because to me it did some dabs from certain areas and and and certain ethos and certain conventions and it doesn't add up in my head to a whole cliff what are your thoughts i like the way we sort of get together and when we discuss things and we work it out it does take longer to do that but i think we actually achieve a more comfortable solution i think that that for me the comfortableness is probably what i am uncomfortable about if it does mean that this house is in peril in some way financially because you don't raise enough money to keep it going and to look after it then you know the comfort to me has to be secondary it's how this works viably in i'm afraid a slightly business way weighed down by bureaucracy ruth thinks the residents aren't being entirely open about their feelings she's drafted a survey to assess what they truly think of the hall's infrastructure and to ensure total honesty it's to be completed anonymously i would like every single resident here to actually fill in this form i just think that it would then give you a little bit of an opportunity to make changes should they be needed or to see you know whether whether the majority of people think this does work as well as it possibly could the survey covers a wide range of issues from what the community think of the management structure to the issue of the annual service charge i do think the effort that you make is absolutely unquestionable you know you all care and you all work hard but i think the effectiveness of what you all do i think has to be really you know tightened up [Music] ruth is struggling to get the residents to agree on a way forward but they do consent to trial upmarket camping in the secluded grounds [Music] if the trial proves a success with born will need more than their eight acres of land but could gain access to neighboring fields with the tent up the residents are finally pulling together and putting the finishing touches to the newest residents at whitborn anybody want some music while they work [Applause] [Music] [Music] as part of the deal tents are erected at the beginning of the holiday season all the residents would have to do is coordinate arrivals departures and laundry once a week ruth is back at whitborne to check on progress i've come to see the posh camping trial there's no one in the house so i'm hoping that they're all up there doing something [Music] this is incredible [Music] hello hi ruth how are you great take a look at the bedroom a proper six foot bed i feel like i want to go and hack steaks off live beasts and you know get out there and grill them it's great it actually fits in yeah i think yeah no i didn't seriously thinking of moving in here and letting out the flash i don't blame you i think it's utterly delightful i really really do totally taken with that is everyone on board for this i mean any dissenting voices well we haven't heard us yet yeah but the fact is it's very new because it's only just gone up right um you know i think there's yet there's a few that possibly haven't seen haven't seen it but everyone who's seen it has been suitably impressed to hope but as in all democracies there's often opposition richard chapman is leading the rebellion i think they think it's wonderful and i think they see it as a panacea [Music] but i'm skeptical about it the the place won't be our own because we will have people here all the time i i don't think it would suit the six willing volunteers and their dog have been drafted in to put the whitbourne camping trial to the test quentin is on hand to welcome them this is the campsite wow [Music] the guests are more accustomed to a hotel when it comes to holidays so the notion of country house camping will be put to the ultimate test as well as being self-sufficient holidaymakers are encouraged to be eco-friendly too even down to generating the electricity for ruth she's simply pleased to see some action at whitborn hall as far as i'm concerned this posh camping is fantastic i love the notion of it whether it will be a success i don't know what i am finding though is that the key players here the people who actually are on the board as it were are really beginning to realize that hey this must be run on more commercial principles and b that they're the ones doing all the work too many people here have got too many opinions but they're not putting their money where their mouth is [Music] after a comfortable night the reluctant campers are up early for a hearty breakfast oh yeah good mushrooms it almost tastes better when it's cooked outside it does and ruth is back to see how they fared did you enjoy it we did we did very much we had really good fun yeah it's good and you had a shower yeah how was that good and what about the grown-ups how did you find um lighting fires and making water hot and things like that yeah the fires were fine got them going this morning within about 20 minutes half an hour yeah no problems with that how much do you think that's important that you're in the grounds of a big country house and that you could have access to it and perhaps it's more formal grounds i think that's very important because otherwise it would have just been a campsite we could have been anywhere but to be on the grounds of a lovely stately home it just made it very special it feels very safe as well for the for the children yeah and the dog as well i mean i really don't like camping so this was this this is so you're good to test people yeah would you come and do this again do you think yes absolutely yeah so success very much with some judicious planning a village of six tents could turn over thirty thousand pounds a year if the residents agree to it the most effortless way for whitborn to increase revenue is to host more lucrative weddings but in the last six months the residents have failed to acquire the services of a wedding planner or increase their five original bookings ruth is not happy there's something going wrong about the way you're selling them i'm dealing with houses that are nothing like as marvelous as this with nothing like as good gardens who are easily getting 40 50 60 weddings a year i don't know whether it's to do a selling technique i don't know whether you as a body of people are putting up too many obstacles about where people can do it what they can do but something is going wrong i suspect that if there are too many reservations about what people can and can't do then that's one of the problems ruth's also far from impressed by the progress that's been made in arranging weekday courses now i had suggested doing yoga but you are going ahead with the nlp but it is a struggle to get the right number of people and raj you put enormous amount of work and time into it the reason that i chose nlp is this it has a crossover it has a large personal um market i'm going to stop here how many people have you got signed up we've got two right and how much work have you done how many hours a lot exactly i don't need to go any further it's not a model that works my belief is that you have expended a lot of energy on the nlp and that if that similar amount of energy had been put into the yoga you probably would have got a better response ruth leaves whitbourne hall disappointed by the distinct lack of progress at the moment we're still wading through this sort of democratic soup this house if it's going to survive in this new era has got to be run on more commercial footings and that means they do have to do events and they basically do have to stop conferring about every single last thread of the carpet over the next two weeks raj pulls out all the stops to make her trial nlp course a success raj is also attending and has managed to triple the number of attendees instructor tom makai is sharing his ethos of a happy state of mind with the class find that time he felt really confident that's it go back to that time see what you saw hear what you heard really feel those feelings of confidence increasing imagine with every breath you can find yourself feeling more and more confident even more confident let it grow stronger and stronger with every breath more and more confident more and more comfortable very good very good great good just 12 nlp day courses per year could bring in around 12 000 pounds if you do something that seemed impossible what else can you do that seemed impossible as well coupled with the income from weddings and upmarket camping this could secure with born's future it's going yeah it's going it's going yes [Music] autumn the all-important results of ruth's survey are in that's a bit of a knock that one stings and the residents are surprised at some of the conclusions for those that tend to say too much for them to stop and think well that would save a lot of bother wouldn't it i am not making any comment [Music] it's an important day at whitborn hall ruth watson has conducted an anonymous survey of residents and the results are out today look i've got the survey results oh brilliant right [Music] well i need to have i need to have longer to look at this is obviously quite detailed the questionnaire has revealed some surprising conclusions 61 feel that communication between the management team and the residents needs to be improved that's a bit of a knock that one stings and one-third think their opinions aren't being heard for those that tend to say too much of them to stop and think i am not making any comment i genuinely believe that the people who push here are pushing for whitborn not for themselves and this is where people are taking it too personally i mean at the end of the day it's it's those that do the pushing they get the jobs done well it says leaseholders need to be honest and say what they really think yeah well that would save a lot of bother wouldn't it contentious suggestion made by ruth is to raise the annual service charge but the questionnaire reveals that 89 think it would be prudent to do so i think that's a fairly obvious for some residents like dave goodman who's lived at whitborn for over 20 years an increase would not be such good news i mean it might mean that because of service charges going up to too much for me that i might have to make plans a bit earlier to move definitely you know it is just a very sad fact it's seven months since ruth's first visit to whitborne and she's back to meet the residents for the last time the real point about this is that you've gone from the community that you talk about to something which is not a community there are aspects of it which are still communal and then there's some other bits which are completely commercial and this is really the the nub of the problem we still believe in the the the ethos if you like of the community even though it possibly does throw up quite a few interesting moments and what have you but we we get over those we get around them the problem is that that's relies on the people who have that ethos and i'm looking you know 30 40 50 years down the line at the future of this house when by necessity those people will not be here the residents are in the process of considering running day courses and glamorous camping at whitborn but ruth thinks they're still missing a trick my vote is still for weddings as your most obvious easiest route um i don't know whether we've improved on the frugal for next year have we not yet yet but we have got quite a lot of inquiries in the partner i think this needs to be put on professional footing because this is the easiest quickest source of making money for this place over the months ruth has struggled to motivate the residents but at least her hard work hasn't gone completely unnoticed i think it's been a very worthwhile exercise it made me realize just what we have going for us i'd actually say you've acted as a catalyst and it's something that is needed perhaps we would have got there eventually but you've just speeded us up slightly i mean i would run a mile from all these meetings i just you know it's just not for me i think you're completely crazy living here [Laughter] please find a way to raise the service charge because that will initially just really resolve all the immediate problems about what you've got in the kitty let's drive on with this wedding thing take the easy route that's what i would like you to do is take the easy route hopefully ruth having come here will motivate people into taking some action people will think okay you know we do have to share the hall we do need to bring in some extra revenue otherwise there is a danger of things falling apart [Music] you

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Keywords: Abode, Abode channel content, DIY ideas, Grade 2 property, Ruth Watson, Worcester, alternative funding, beautiful mansion restoration, commune community, countryside mansion makeover, design inspiration, estate renovation, glamorous mansion makeover, home improvement tips, house renovation ideas, mansion transformation, millionaire mansion, opulent mansion makeover, renovation experts, stylish home decoration ideas, wedding venue

Id: LW5P-ft91WA

Length: 47min 26sec (2846 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 09 2022