Escape to the Country sets out to find the perfect home for families who are seeking to get away from city living. Each episode features one couple or family who are looking to make the escape and relocate to the country.
Join the presenters on their quest to find a home that fits the bill, whilst exploring the beautiful and unique surroundings of each location. This series invites the viewer to explore what the countryside has to offer, taking them to hidden away nature reserves, captivating historical buildings and introducing them to the local wildlife.
17-23 Feb: Episode 3 – County Down
Jonnie Irwin hops over the Irish sea to the Mourne Mountains in County Down, Northern Ireland. With £270,000 in the budget we’re on the lookout for the perfect retirement package; a 3-bed modern bungalow, set in a ‘nice little piece of land’ overlooking the mountains. And a double garage is a must.
Episode 4 – Cotswolds
Nicki Chapman is in the costly Cotswolds helping a couple search for a fabulous character country house with an equally fabulous budget of £1 million. Today’s house buyers are spoilt for choice, as they decide between a Jacobean and Georgian Manor house or a quirky earth sheltered eco home.
Episode 5 – Hampshire
Today Alistair Appleton is helping a recently retired ‘young at heart’ couple find a country home in Hampshire. With a budget of £ 550,000, their priorities are a large boy’s toys garage and a challenging garden project.
Episode 6 – Carmarthenshire
Jules Hudson is in Carmarthenshire helping a couple of newlyweds with a budget of £500,000 find their first together home. He is a professional athlete and hopes to compete in the 2012 Olympics, so room for a gym is a must as is a big kitchen to prepare the 8 meals a day he needs while training.
Episode 7 – Cambridgeshire
Jules Hudson is in Cambridgeshire helping a couple move from their urban courtyard home of 22 years to the countryside. Outside space is key as they can’t wait to get their hands on their first garden in over 2 decades. With a budget of £440,000, we tempt them with an Edwardian farmhouse with 2-acre grounds, a pair of farm cottages and a Victorian former School House.
Episode 8 – Lincolnshire
Denise Nurse is property shopping in Lincolnshire. With a budget of £275,000, today’s buyers are hoping to downsize but still want open-plan living, two bedrooms and room for a vegetable patch. So will the Mystery house, an apartment in a 17th Century former coaching inn, be a down-size too far?
Episode 9 – West Country
Jules Hudson takes a couple property shopping in the West Country. With ambitions to create a business they’re hoping their £950,000 budget will enable them to set up a glamorous camp site complete with tee pee and wood burning hot tubs. So will the Mystery House, set on an old Quarry in Devon with 50 acres, well within budget, seal the deal?
Episode 10 – Yorkshire Dales
After 27 years of urban living, today’s house hunters are desperate to downsize to the Yorkshire Dales with a budget of £350,000. Keen walkers, they are looking in the right location with over 4000 km of national park to explore. And tears are shed when Alistair Appleton shows them the ideal walkers retreat, an 1840’s former salt store in Upper Settle.
Episode 11 – Shropshire
Alistair Appleton is in Shropshire helping a couple seek out a ‘green’ country dream. They have big ambitions and need a property from which to run an environmentally friendly b & b, self-catering lets and sustainable eco lodges. But when they set eyes on a grade II listed, 600-year-old farmhouse with brick barns to convert and three acres, all within budget, they can’t quite believe their luck.
Episode 12 – Cheshire
Today Jonnie Irwin is in Cheshire with a space craving couple who are on the hunt for an extensive country property. So, when they set their eyes on a former pottery with an open-plan 800 square foot living room, will they fall head over heels?
Episode 13 – Hampshire
Alistair Appleton is in Hampshire, helping a couple with a budget of £700,000 seek out a new home in the New Forest. Retired with their children having flown the nest, today’s buyers are looking to downsize, but nothing we show them seems quite big enough. So, will the super-sized Victorian Mystery House fit the bill?
Episode 14 – Somerset
Jonnie Irwin is in Somerset helping a couple of ex-pats with a budget of £500,000 find their dream home. With their worldly possessions arriving in a 40-foot container from Australia any day, the pressure is on. They’re used to a spacious property down-under, so how will they get on with the proportions of English country properties?
Episode 15 – Cotswolds
Denise Nurse is in the Cotswolds on a romantic house hunt, helping to bring together a couple whose long-distance relationship has become too much too bade. Armed with a budget of £700,000, today’s house hunters are bowled over by a 16th Century former court house which is definitely guilty of character charm.
Episode 16 – Dorset
Alistair Appleton is property hunting with a couple returning to the UK from Italy. With a healthy budget, our buyers are hoping to find a property in Dorset to rival their current lakeside Villa. Alistair also visits the only dairy in the world that makes Dorset Blue Vinny Cheese.
Episode 17 – Cornwall
Jonnie Irwin is in Cornwall helping two retirees find a seaside retreat. Armed with a budget of £400,000, they are after a traditional three-bedroom Cornish stone-built house with space outside to build a boat and store some classic cars and all close to the coast. But second home ownership has pushed prices up in Cornwall, so compromises might have to be made.
Episode 18 – Cumbria
Nicki Chapman is in Cumbria with a couple looking for some rural respite and privacy, after 18 years of living alongside their business. With £800,000 to spend, they are after a 17th Century farmhouse but having sufficient land is essential as four horses, 20 lamas, an emu and a peacock will be moving too!
Episode 19 – Warwickshire
Alistair Appleton is in Warwickshire helping a young family relocate from Australia to settle in the heart of England. But will their budget of £700,000 stretch to a Georgian Manor with large, impressive reception rooms and up to 5 acres of land? Alistair visits Warwick Castle and tries his hand at one of the most popular sports of the Middle Ages.
Episode 20 – Oxfordshire
Today Denise Nurse is helping a retired couple find peace and quiet in Oxfordshire but will the hills be alive with the sound of they are looking for? With a budget of £800,000 period features on a grand scale are not in short supply, so will the drama of the 15th Century abbey house seal the deal?