Last of the Summer Wine

[Julie]

Last of the summer wine 

Autumn flows into our golden times

We put our best foot forward and writes in rhymes

The countryside is mellow, it heals each day

On hills or meadows, the village clock chimes!

Julie

October 2026

[Julie]

Dan Preston used to work for , the owner of Château de Lalande

We started watching the series with Dick Strawbridge years back about his chateaux 

The original chateau owners who kicked off the global "chateau craze" are (Newman)

They moved from the UK to France in 2015 with their two young children, Arthur and Dorothy, after purchasing the derelict 45-room Château de la Motte-Husson for £280,000. Their massive DIY restoration journey was documented on Channel 4's massive hit series Escape to the Chateau, which first aired in 2016 and sparked a massive wave of international buyers moving to France to purchase and restore their own historic properties.

We liked the other series that Dick was in years ago so I guess it triggered off all the chateaux's we've seen Vlada. 

There's a grant given for the Irish homesteads, which is release bit by bit as the restorations proceed but I'm not sure there is one in England at present 

[Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ]

Oh it is the same Chateaux...phew I was getting a bit confused then, thinking I either must be in a alternate reality or there was another one the same somewhere else... As I knew I shared this guy restoring it in a comment once.. I thought it was during a talk we were having on travel and things in Europe people were restoring and also where I'd stayed when I was there? ..but if I'm wrong it was then on another site on the same topic, this is the problem being on other sites posting things in both you never know which one you shared where..

But I have shared Dans purchase of it from day one it was a mess trees growing up floors in it inside, rubble from its collapse in places at least a meter or so thick... he took trailer loads of broken concrete and rubbish out of it exposing beautiful tiled flours below it all un-scathed luckily.. nothing really left but a shell no floors as such, I thought at the time dude... you sure you want to restore this its gonna take years & loads of money.. and testing times too.. but he went for it regardless that took guts and he was working in freezing temps to up stupid cheap metal wobbling scaffold I was like woah, I wouldn't dare attempt to do it myself, they looked so cheaply constructed like they would cave in n fall too.. so credit due to those guys working hard.. they aren't alone though many Brits have purchased whole villages in Portugal and restored their buildings then opened them as Air B&B's and wedding venues or some as tourist farm stays, where people aren't charged to stay as long as they help out to help restore instead.. more hands make light work when your restoring places roofs and doing masonry work lifting stones etc..one farm village two guys bought a huge horse float and did it up as a tiny home inside and put it on their top house they were living in, and it was free to stay in if they helped, a couple of guy cyclists were doing a tour in Portugal and stayed in it then spent 4 days helping them to fix the roof on one cottage it was awesome cos it meant that cottage could then be rented out to get more people to help.. these tourists said they had a ball doing it too.. having a real experience in a Portuguese village up in the mountains for free.. its great they are saving these places from ruins... I hate to see them go to reck n ruin and the loss of their history..

I think Britain needs to do similar things to its ruined stone cottages & fallen castles..

[Julie]

Yes we've followed Dan too, more recently we followed Brian.  Brian works for Dan and he loves the dogs and doing all sorts of things, he loves cars too.  It's the same chateaux...there used to be another guy called involved Nick the Viking involved in the restoration.  I haven't seen a post here about it Vlada.

Yes it must cost such a lot of money, but an awesome project to be involved with but so many jobs to restore a building like that.

[Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ]

Hold on your confusing the sh!t out of me, ....Have I have posted on this channel to you have I?... see I cant recall what Ive shared but I gather I must have.. he's been working so hard on this chateaux for a white now it was just bare bones a shell..and a mass of hard slog labour to clear it all of over grown trees and rubble to get it started and to rebuild it and start again..now is this guy a friend of the Brian guy you know too? the irish guy you shared..? how uncanny is that if it is.. cos I've been following him for ages..

I often wonder where the money comes from to do such vast restoration work like this guys done so far..either prices are cheaper in France or they are working in Britain earning a heap of money wage wise..cos you have to be really wealthy to do the same as what they are doing here in NZ thats for sure..building materials have sky rocketed off the charts and labourers are also charging up to NZ$65 her  hour to do anything..on top of materials.. its insane.. 

[Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ]

Hold on OMG I've been following this guy doing up the destroyed chateaux on Youtube for a few years now from day one on it in fact.... then you post this guy Brian is it the same chateaux ? I'm confused now as it looks almost identical.. This is the one I'm following.. how weird..

[Julie]

Brian has an interesting channel over on Youtube, he's Irish, his mum still lives over in Ireland.  It's about him working his farm, travelling and he's working on an old burned out chateaux with his friend Dan and restoring his farm.

His page shows the building you mentioned, let's hope it can be repaired.  Think there has been looting but some of the goods have been tracked as they're being sold on EBay.  

It can be worrying about the young generation as we don't at present know just what will happen next Vlada

Brian's Life in France

[Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ]

Oh yes the vandalism in France the damages they caused is just despicable, these youth went berserk, and they were protesting about the states of the education buildings, now they went on to destroy whole roads of shops costing the Got money to repair, they wont get new buildings now, honestly they should all be punished even some sent to prison, thing is they hid their faces so cant be recognised..If this is our next generation of adults they are dangerous mindsets.. they burnt down a historical landmark the Town Hall, its roof just collapsed inwards now that's gonna cost millions to repair... just morons all of them.. they don't even deserve to be in any university.. if they cant be taught that vandalism is unlawful & wrong,.. then they cant be taught anything else.. I think if any of them can be recognised then they should have to be made to pay towards the repairs of all this damage.. and businesses for lost revenue too..

[Julie]

Yes I agree, very different now Vlada, so it's kinda precious to have the good memories stored to open up whenever we need them.

I just don't know why so many think it's better here as so many business are closing and folks losing their jobs.  There has to be better times ahead, we need British Industry back and working well.

I remember a local policeman he was very visible around our village, but we don't really see that now.  Police look casual and they don't really stand out anymore.  Had to giggle when we went to the Isle of man, the white helmets stood out in the crowds!

There's a guy we follow called Brian in France, what he showed was appalling a lovely building wrecked, it looked like it had been "burned out" !

[Ꮙℓἇ∂ἇ..aka Reɪvən ღ]

Interesting shared stuff, yes childhood memories are great as times have changed now.., as for the immigrant chaos over there, this is why the people there are screaming about these immigrants taking up all the housing and motels and creating criminal activities even murders as well, thus putting strain on the British police force chasing after them and investigating.. now I read somewhere don't ask where ..that the police got issued with new AI technology devices in their cars now, to find unregistered vehicles via license plate recognition cameras mounted from their cars and also detecting people on the streets by face recognition sending them warnings inside their vehicles as they drive around the streets, that makes things easier for them I suppose.. but I was like woah they have come up in the world of crime seekers...It appears you have Police only doing both fields traffic and policing, we have traffic police who even ride motorbikes to pull cars over, and they do stop check points randomly on the steets pulling over vehicles doing warrant & rego checks plus they do the breath drug & alcohol DUI tests too and then we have the normal community police on the beat on the street too...

I watched a programme on the British border control intersecting many drug couriers too, they were coming into the country via truck stops and boarder control stops at airports, gees they were finding them in the most weirdest of places, even welded inside the structures of cargo containers, and even car parts, they had to drill into them to find the drugs welded inside.. also the truck drivers are bringing in illegal immigrants hidden in secret compartments in their trucks, just craziness cos they could die.. but its all about the money again greedy traffickers they don't care about people if a few thousands dollars crosses their palms....

This week I've seen on videos & TV news all the unrest in Italy & France with protestors of late also, was having a convo about it all, one person said the students were protesting the state of education buildings and the curriculum and fees, but now they have totally acted like imbecils being vandals destroying shops & businesses and peoples property which is going to now cost the Govts tax payers money to repair and fix up again, play insurance money payouts if they are insured pushing up premium costs, they dont think about these things, they are like wild children going on a rampage of destruction only.. like packing a tantrum not getting their way..

Oh so your now a proud canal boat owner, your going to have fun when you've painted it then.. yeah the weather in this super El Nino is weird, and we have been warned about it already.. not sure if I'm looking forward to Summer or not if its gonna bring a heat wave.. it was hot enough last year reaching temps up to 30+ degrees in some places. and draught fires too.. We are two weeks shy of voting its election time again and they are really making sure everyone is enrolled, it looks like our Prime Minister has lost his place cos he hasn't sone much for our country in his term, and so we may have a turn around in our parliamentary sector in a few weeks time..

Pressure at work to get things wound up before Christmas, its always a rush time, as the stress starts from this process.. then come the New Year were picking up the pieces of it all offering services for all those domestic violence situations created by Xmas stress levels and lack of money for families...

[Julie]

There's been a lot in the news about the storms over here, our TV aerial needs a bit more securing!  The garden seat in the front garden was tipped over this morning.  When I spoke with my son yesterday on Teams he had to go into the local town and there was a big tree across the road and the panel in the back fence had fallen and broken.  He's reported the fence to the agents who look after the property.

Heatwaves across England this summer, so it stopped much activity, never know so many heatwaves in this country.  The intense heat started in May here and we've had a late autumn.  

There was an article on the Google news feed, the reservoir in Derbyshire name the Lady Bower is still only 32 per cent full.  Ladybower Reservoir is a large Y-shaped, artificial reservoir, the lowest of three in the Upper Derwent Valley in Derbyshire, England. Wikipedia

I remember this reservoir, it's a very pretty part of Derbyshire, where I visited as a teenager with my parents and brother.  We were wearing our Knowsley Safari Park T shirts!  It was a pretty place to be, felt a lovely energy there Vlada.

Yes political unrest here too, and still even bigger boats of illegals crossing the channel.  The asylum hotels have all but closed here, there were several in my town.  What's happening now is there are houses in multiple occupancy HMO's.  I guess that's where many are living now.  Brittania hotels were taking in the majority of the immigrants in this country.

Yes we have been looking after the boat and have full responsibility as our friend couldn't look after it after he had time in hospital.  It's a good boat but as boats go it needs a lot of attention and this year it's not been the weather to paint, so it's in need of painting.  

Britannia Hotels has been , housing thousands of asylum seekers across multiple properties while generating tens of millions of pounds in revenue. 

In our town there was a big police investigation going on this year, 500 police were involved from different countries. 

Webb House on Victoria Avenue in Crewe is