Radio Times: Review by:; Jane Rackham

When Nick Burrows started to restore Coulton Mill in Yorkshire, a rotting watermill with outlying barns that could charitably be described as ruins, he asked his American wife Heather whether she’d prefer to have a new kitchen floor or some pigs to raise. Without hesitation she said pigs, so it’s pretty clear where her priorities lie.

And by about the third visit from Caroline Quentin, Coulton Mill has a full set of dinky farm animals — sheep, goats and Shetland ponies joining the pigs — while the house is still cold and damp and the barns are on the verge of collapse. “Is Heather heroic and brave — or just plain bonkers?” asks Quentin, echoing our thoughts exactly.

About this programme

6/6. A couple try to restore a set of disused farm buildings on 10 acres of land at Coulton Mill in North Yorkshire, a Grade II-listed site that has been linked to an order of monks that challenged the authority of Henry VIII. The owners hope to create the home of their dreams, but many of the mill's structures are in a state of serious disrepair - and a stonemason discovers a serious problem with the site's watermill that could jeopardise the restoration plans. Last in the series.