Reuben: Life in the Dales

In this first episode, we join the team at the start of Reuben's second year of trading. This June the friends have won a contract to restore life to an old fishing pond at a grand country estate in County Durham by excavating 6000 tonnes of silt.

This week it is mid-summer and Reuben has plans to expand his business by training up his work force. So, 17-year-old Sarah gets put in the driving seat so she can operate more of their heavy plant machinery.

This week, it's early autumn and as wet weather wreaks havoc in the Dales, Reuben and Sarah help their community in a crisis. Friend and stone mason Pete Roe asks the pair to lend a hand repairing a 200-year-old drain, known as a culvert, which has collapsed under the force of rain fall. Without the repair the access road will flood. Pete teaches them how to hand-split rocks using the traditional "plug and feather" method.

The friends set sail for France on Reuben’s first ever holiday abroad. Tommy gets hold of a GoPro to capture the milestone adventure as the three mates start their long drive from the Dales to Dover in Reuben’s second-hand Land Rover. Leaving the ferry behind in Calais, the friends’ road trip will take them through Northern France where they’re heading to Normandy and the Loire Valley.

With a busy autumn schedule ahead for Reuben, Sarah and Tommy, and first on the agenda is clearing out the yard's barn as Reuben has a plan to sell old machinery at a local auction. But Reuben's vintage tractor is reluctant to leave and refuses to start. Sarah's lovingly painting an old plough with the hopes there's a buyer for this upcycled vintage machine. And Reuben and Tommy weld together a cow scraper in an effort to bag a good bid.

It's winter, and there are problems aplenty for Reuben and his pals. A plumbing project turns into a disaster when rainwater lifts the septic tank out of a neatly dug hole. The biggest job of the season is digging out the playground of a Victorian village school before it can be renovated into a B&B. But when Reuben's digger cracks through tarmac they accidentally damage an ancient underground drain. And Tommy and Sarah make plans to enter the local young farmers' Christmas tractor parade.