Grand Designs Abroad (2004)

6.3 (3 votes)

1 Season

March 1, 2004

English

Documentary

Synopsis

Kevin McCloud presents Grand Designs Abroad. The stakes are higher, the risks are multiplied, and the ambition - to build your dream home in the perfect European location - is greater than ever.

Network

Channel 4

Episodes

Episode 1 (Malaga)

Mar 1, 2004

45 min

Kevin McCloud meets architects Gil and Hilary Briffa, who are building their dream retirement home in Andalusia.

Episode 2 (Lot)

Mar 8, 2004

45 min

Kevin travels to the Lot region of France to meet the Sampson family as they prepare to embark on the construction of a hugely ambitious, open, wooden-framed house.

Episode 3 (Puglia)

Mar 15, 2004

45 min

Kevin follows a couple of artists who have moved to the beautiful region of Puglia. Their dream is to turn a derelict olive farm into a home and a summer school for artists.

Episode 4 (Creuse)

Mar 22, 2004

45 min

Kevin visits a couple who have given up everything in the UK to start a new life in a remote part of central France called the Creuse.

Episode 5 (Ireland)

Mar 29, 2004

45 min

Kevin travels to the romantic west coast of Ireland where architect Andrew Lohan is embarking on the conversion of a ruined 150-year-old church into the perfect home.

Episode 6 (Tuscany)

Apr 5, 2004

45 min

Kevin meets a couple who bought a ruin and moved to Italy in 1999, hoping to start work building their dream home in Tuscany.

Episode 7 (Les Gets)

Apr 12, 2004

45 min

Kevin travels to a ski resort in the French Alps where English couple Nicky and James Dobree are turning a 300-year-old farmhouse into an luxurious eight-bedroomed chalet.

Episode 8 (Alicante)

Apr 19, 2004

45 min

Kevin McCloud travels to Spain to meet a family who have moved lock, stock and barrel from London to start a new life in Alicante on a lovely block by a lake.

Revisited: Creuse, France: 19th Century Manor House

May 3, 2006

45 min

Kevin McCloud revisits Denise (Deni) Daniel and Doug Ibbs who bought and started renovating a 19th century manor house in Creuse, France.

E10

Revisited: Les Gets, France: 300 Year Old Chalet

May 10, 2006

45 min

Kevin McCloud revisits Nicky and James Dobree two years after they bought their Alpine Chalet in Les Gets, France.

E11

Revisited: Tuscany, Italy: The Tuscany Castle

May 9, 2007

45 min

Kevin revisits Janne Hoff-Tilley and Howard Smythe whe spend seven years and 700,000 Pounds renovating a castle in Tuscany.

E12

Revisited: Puglia, Italy: Masseria Impisi - An Artists' Retreat

Feb 27, 2008

45 min

Kevin McCloud revisits artists David Westby and Leonie Whitton three years after they bought an olive farm in the Puglia region of Italy and planned to convert it into a home on a budget of £25,000.

E13

Revisited: Lot, France: House From Straw

Dec 1, 2010

45 min

Kevin McCloud returns to see the Sampson family who had build a house from Straw in Lot, France.

E14

Revisited: Malaga, Spain: Modernist Villa

Nov 6, 2013

45 min

Ten years ago Gil and Hillary Briffa decided to retire to southern Spain, where they planned to build a contemporary home in the Andalusian hills against the backdrop of more traditional properties. A few years ago, Gil died, but now Kevin McCloud revisits Hillary to find out whether her residence has settled into its landscape and how life is treating her as a British widow living abroad.