Build a New Life in the Country

Architect George Clarke helps a building surveyor and his wife, who have grown tired of city life and the expense of their mortgage and wish to downsize to the Lincolnshire countryside. With a budget of £90,000, the couple plan to renovate a small chapel and convert it into a three-bedroom home. They also intend to retire from their jobs and open an equestrian livery business

Middle-aged couple Terry and Marilyn attempt to relocate from Whitby to a 500-year-old farmhouse in the Pennines, which they set out to transform into a home for their large family. Architect George Clarke offers advice about restoring the collapsed roof and laying a concrete floor, and lends moral support when flooding means they lose precious time and have to seek shelter with Marilyn's father

Architect George Clarke helps a Buckinghamshire couple escape their demanding jobs and relocate to Scotland, where they intend to modernise a 120-year-old farmhouse with their own designs. Businesswoman Carol becomes project manager and aims to be settled before Christmas, but bad weather and delayed planning permission put the date back, forcing the family to spend more time apart

George Clarke helps two IT managers move to the village of Gweek in Cornwall, advising them as they renovate a dilapidated houseboat and attempt to begin a business ferrying divers to wrecks around the coast. The four-month deadline seems hopelessly tight as the need for new plumbing delays other work, and the fledgling venture has difficulty getting off the ground so late in the season

George Clarke advises a finance director moving from London to his dream home, a 16th-century property in the Cotswolds near Oxford. The £250,000 redesign is developing as work progresses, but the owner is not always around to make decisions, and the builders grow frustrated. With a wedding due in a few weeks, the completion date looms ominously

George Clarke helps Birmingham couple Dave and Rebecca as they renovate a derelict Welsh barn while living in a caravan on the site. The pair apply for planning permission - but a cash shortage threatens to end their dream before it has begun

George Clarke advises two accountants as they quit their jobs and set off to renovate a 200-year-old barn in Devon. Husband Martin was supposed to be project manager, but having to work out his notice meant wife Clare taking over the job, and she now seems reluctant to relinquish control. Construction progresses smoothly, but George is horrified by plans to remove the property's original features

George Clarke supervises Martin and Rebecca as they attempt to turn a dilapidated old church in Ollerton, Nottinghamshire, into their dream home. The inexperienced couple employ friends to help keep the project on a tight budget and, after a shaky start, everything goes ahead on time. However, as the roof work takes its toll on their finances, the pair realise they need a cash injection to complete their house

Architect George Clarke meets a London couple hoping to sell their organic cafe in Brixton and spend a £1million bank loan converting a run-down Cornish hotel in St Ives into three houses, one of which will be used as a designer B&B. They face a race against time to have the middle property finished and on the market by Christmas, so they can concentrate on getting the guesthouse open for the start of the tourist season at Easter

George Clarke advises inventor David as he converts a Norfolk water tower into a dream home for his family. The structure is set in a forest, and has a central well that the owner wants to floodlight and cover with glass. Unfortunately, bad weather delays the building work, and time management soon becomes a problem. Six months on, financial concerns threaten the entire enterprise

George Clarke offers advice to a couple converting a Cambridgeshire apple store into their dream home and stables, but is not sure dad Paul can get everything completed in the three months he has allotted for the work. As delays with materials set the project back, money starts to run low - and the pair are devastated when contractors do a bunk with their remaining cash, leaving them penniless and without hope of finishing

George Clarke advises Glyn and Jan, who intend to refurbish a Derbyshire farmhouse that comes with a barn and 12 acres of land. Having taken out a loan to pay for the building, they want it to be waterproof before they go on holiday at Christmas - but delays in planning permission and financial difficulties mean paying out thousands in interest before a stroke of work has been done