Restoration Home (2011)

Amazing old buildings from across the United Kingdom are beginning to get a new life under new ownership. Individuals, couples and families attempt to restore or remodel them, mostly into homes. Buildings range from mansions and manor houses to decrepit pumping stations, churches and schools. Most of the building have been abandoned for a while and the challenges the renovators face can be quite significant. Research into the architecture of the house is done and put into context alongside a genealogy of its occupants and benefactors. the research gives context to the style and renovations while also giving the buildings a more human element. Caroline Quentin narrates and visits the sites, interviewing the families and commenting on the status of the projects. Historian Dr Kate Williams researches the people associated with the building while Architectural Expert Kieran Long put style, materials and process into historical context. Not all projects are even remotely complete by the end of the episode. Occasionally projects are re-visited later.