Radio Times: Review by:; Jane Rackham

This week’s wreck is a timber-framed Tudor house in Southam, Warwickshire, that needs, in the words of its new owners, Sally and Stuart Forgan, “peeling back to its fundamental core” before they can restore it to its original state.

Unfortunately, as they strip back the cement and concrete previous builders had slapped on the walls, they uncover wet rot and a wooden structure that’s perilously balanced on a cobwebby pile of pebbles. The project costs more than the Forgans imagined, but you have to admire their insistence on using traditional methods wherever possible. Meanwhile, research into its history reveals that it wasn’t just an ordinary family home in centuries past...

About this programme

5/6. Caroline Quentin follows a couple's renovation project on a timber-framed home in Warwickshire believed to date back to the early 16th century, but which is not formally protected as a listed building. When it was put on the market, the property clearly needed a lot of work, but Sally and Stuart recognised its potential. Unusually, the frame is elm rather than oak, while other architectural features suggest it was more than a family house.