Grand Designs

The production company is Talkback Thames. So not exactly small. IIRC they are or part of them are what was once Thames TV but others my know the exact heritage.

Hmm, I saw a DIY show in the US a few years ago which was all about building the house from scratch, rather than the typical room make-over progs which are commonplace. Sadly I've not seen it since, so maybe it just didn't get the interest (which is a bit odd, because self-build is very popular here*).

• one of the benefits of building pretty much everything with wood.

cheers

J.

I wounder how many builds they start following which don't lead to a programme? e.g. if they go bust in the middle, couple split up, never gets finished, etc. That's another cost.

Perhaps there's some material for an "Over-grand Designs" series? ;-)

Andrew Gabriel coughed up some electrons that declared:

There's a whole new series: Self build disasters, or "I'm living in a tarpauline covered steel frame"

It's Talkback Thames - IIRC the largest independant in the UK and owned by RTL (Radio Luxembourg). They are perhaps most famous as makers of The Bill.

There's been at least one episode where the guy building it started with one woman by his side and finally moved in with another :-)

Andrew

I wish... The flexible rates start at =A341/night but vary from there up= depending on the demand at a particular lodge on a particular night. One= s around here are charging over =A350/night for tonight. These rates do no= t include breakfast.

Travel Lodge are the cheapest of the half decent accommodation chains. Comfort Inn, Premmier Inn, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Ibis, Ramada Jarvis et= c are consistently more expensive in my experience.

Holiday Inn includes breakfast, so factor that in.

Isn't that prog called DIY SOS?

Dave

A lot cheaper than Grand Designs Abroad though. IIRC they only made one series of that although there have been a couple of 'revisits'.

More than that. There was, in no particular order:

The South Wales Folly

The New Farmhouse

The Passivaus, the the arch that collapsed

The house with the heated windows that was discussed here

The house with the angled pod for the master suite

The New England water mill that ran foul of the planners

The French eco-house built from tyres and old bottles

The house next to the Mill somewhere near Bath

So eight new episodes in total. IIRC there are usually only six episodes to a series which is why I thought that maybe they were wrapping it all up and finishing off all the builds that they had on the go. Is there some rule of thumb that says that TV series should be in 4, 6 or 13 parts?

Andrew

A pilot's time might be cheap, but helicopter time isn't.

I wish... The flexible rates start at £41/night but vary from there up depending on the demand at a particular lodge on a particular night. Ones around here are charging over £50/night for tonight. These rates do not include breakfast.

Travel Lodge are the cheapest of the half decent accommodation chains. Comfort Inn, Premmier Inn, Holiday Inn, Marriott, Ibis, Ramada Jarvis etc are consistently more expensive in my experience.

I did wonder - I'd been led to believe that in London at least they were prohibitively expensive. I haven't had one on a shoot for some 20 years - and that's on drama where budgets are very much larger. Of course you could use a model one equipped with a suitable camera. But those don't come cheap either.

IME Holiday Inn is usually about £90 a night.

We use Premier inns a fair bit - both for work and with the Family. Travellodge appear to have gone for the real budget end of the market and offer SleazyJet type 19 quid rooms if you book at the right time. For

PremierInn beds are consistantly great in my experience. Yes, they are now quite a lot more expensive but *so much* nicer and as you say, consistent.

yep. Although they are often more than "marginally" more expensive now :-( Many of the London ones now don't come in under my expenses allowance any more :-/

Breakfasts are also massively better than travellodge - Kids also eat free so it's not as expensive (for us) as it looks...

Darren

I think I've been there, but I can't remember why.

I think it's a Novotel feature, I had to stop one night earlier than expected due to passenger fatigue on the A6 towards Paris. I can't even recall where we were - somewhere south of Auxerre - and we stopped at a Novotel. The bedrooms reeked of smoke and so did all the public areas.

This was only 18 months ago, and the entire hotel network is supposed to be non-smoking.

Perhaps she posts to one of these groups using an alias?

Depressingly common this side of the Pond, sadly - and no matter how much I eat at of one of those, I feel hungry an hour later... oh and those darn eggcup-sized cereal bowls!

I think it's a Holiday Inn we're booked at in a months' time - something like $140 for two nights. I think I might take some bacon, eggs and a camping stove along ;-)

cheers

Jules