Ben Fogle: Make a New Life in the Country

S2 E3 Bakery

本集简介

Ben Fogle spends a year following young couple Laura and Aran as they mortgage their futures and sink every penny they have into starting up their own bakery in the heart of the beautiful Peak District. But with a commercial bakery and shop on the high street to fit out, limited funds and no experience, they're risking it all to start up their new life and make a living from their dream. For 10 years, Aran and Laura rented a small flat in Dalston, East London. But despite Laura's well-paid career managing social housing projects and Aran's IT income, they couldn't get a foot on the housing ladder. So they upped sticks and moved their lives to the beautiful town of Buxton in the Peak District, and decided to start their own business and put everything they have into pursuing their dream of running their own bakery together — despite never having worked together before, run a business or had jobs in food. After they have been testing the water by baking bread out of a small garage, and trying out recipes for cakes, pastries and savoury pies in the kitchen at home, Ben meets the couple as they're about to take a great leap into the dark and rent a commercial premises on the high street, which they plan to convert to have a shop at the front and professional baking equipment at the back. It's a huge decision, as they have to sign a seven-year lease, committing to pay £45,000 whether the business works or not. It's not their only huge financial outlay. They have to completely kit out the new bakery from scratch with machinery and shop fittings. It's an expensive business and, despite spending all their savings, they have to buy secondhand equipment. How will the couple cope with rising costs, sleepless nights, their first ever renovation and the pressure of running their own business? Will their bakery be a success, or at least make enough money for them to live off? And how will the couple cope with working together for the first time and under such pressure? And when Ben returns a year after meeting them, will he find a successful business and the couple enjoying being their own boss and living and working together? And will they be living their new dream life in the country?

上一集

2022/07/12 S2 E2

Lincolnshire

Ben Fogle spends a year following newlyweds Emma and Dave as they risk everything, swapping minimalist living on a canal boat in London for a spacious wooden chalet with 14 acres of grassland in the heart of rural Lincolnshire. They're trying to create a bespoke camping and glamping site in a rural paradise. But with no experience of doing anything like this before, can they overcome unexpected problems from pandemic lockdowns to planning permission and make their dream come true? Dave and Emma are no strangers to adventure. They got engaged during a 1,000- mile ride on a tandem along the river Danube. Ben meets the newlyweds as they embark on their grand design to build a glamping and camping retreat business, with guest accommodation on converted buses, in glamping pods in their woodland, and in tents on their meadow. They want chickens and a herd of alpacas, and plan to offer outdoor experiences drawing in their dream rural paradise. It's a huge undertaking for a couple who have never even owned a garden. They face a lot of work before they can open for business — building a driveway and car park, and setting up composting toilets, glamping pods and a paddock for the alpacas. The enthusiastic novices roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. But the pandemic brings lockdowns when they planned to start receiving paying guests and, as if that wasn't challenging enough, as they go deeper into debt, the planning authorities raise concerns that could spell the end of their dreams and financial disaster. When Ben returns a year after he first met them, will he find they are open for business? Have they managed to turn their dream new life in the country into a reality?

下一集

2022/08/02 S2 E4

Cheese Farmers

Ben spends a year following John, Heather and their grown-up children as they make a brand new life as cheese producers on a 240-acre farm in Derbyshire. He meets the family as they are starting to build their own dairy and cheese-processing plant, and discovers that they are basically building a small factory, including state of the art automated sheep feeding equipment from Sweden, and a huge temperature-controlled facility the size of an aircraft hangar.

当前季

2022-07-05

哇，窗口太小啦

Ben Fogle: Make a New Life in the Country