Sarah Beeny (Beeny's Restoration Nightmare) interview

As the presenter of Property Ladder, Sarah Beeny is more than used to helping property owners negotiate the pitfalls of buying and doing up houses. But in her latest series, Beeny's Restoration Nightmare, the tables are turned on her as she attempts to turn her own property, Rise Hall, into a commercially viable wedding venue.

Sarah and her husband Graham bought Rise Hall, a decaying 97-room mansion in East Yorkshire, ten years ago. Since then, they have used it as a second home, before realising that the house needed a purpose - and a lot of work - for it to survive. Coming to Channel 4 in November 2010, Beeny's Restoration Nightmare tells the story of what happened next.

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Beeny's Restoration Nightmare marks quite a new concept for you, doesn't it? What's the series about?

"Yeah, it's a huge change of direction, really. It's a passion project. It's a substantial building in need of some TLC. The truth is, a lot of buildings like this were demolished after the Second World War, because they weren't fit for purpose. A building only has a place in the world if it has a use. If it was in London, you'd find something to do with a big building like this, but because of where it is in the country, figures didn't stack up.

"You'd spend more turning it into flats than it would have been worth as flats, without even taking into account buying the building in the first place. So the previous owners, before us, realised they couldn't turn it into flats, and just wanted to get shot of it. As a listed house, you have to keep repairing it by law. And it was just a sad building that needed someone to take it on. So we took it on, with a passion."

What was the plan for the house?

"Well, recently we decided that the only way forward was to give it a proper purpose and a proper use, so we decided to turn it into a wedding venue. That building needs to be full of people. You can't have a building that size without it being used. Six people going up from London every now and again is not a use for a building like that.

"So this was the only way forward, and then I felt like this was such an amazing opportunity to talk about so many amazing subjects that I've never been able to talk about in the other shows I've done. And yes, it's our home, but it's going to be open to the public anyway if we rent it out for weddings, so I thought it would make a really interesting show."

You bought Rise Hall ten years ago. At the time, what were you thinking of using it for?

"At the time, I sort of thought we'd end up living there, and we'd have various things that we'd end up doing with it in the long term. When we had children, I realised that we'd probably never actually live there full time - when you have children you sort of get committed to living in one place. So we ended up being committed to living in London, and we went there less and less, and it started slipping backwards, really."

Why did you decide to turn it into a wedding venue as opposed to a hotel?

"The main reason is because where it is in the country, it wouldn't be a hotel. No one would come to it. It's too far east. Its problem is its location. Financially it wouldn't stack up for anybody to turn it into anything else. The big story of Rise Hall is 'What do you do with a dinosaur if you find one in the woods?' Clearly you don't want a dinosaur as a pet, but you can't kill it.

"It's a big building which, right at this moment, has no purpose, and probably should be demolished. But it's listed, so you can't. And also I don't feel that we should be the generation that says 'Okay, we'll demolish this enormous structure,' which would probably cost £20 million to build. Are we going to be responsible for that? If you can make it pay for itself, then it's a great legacy for the future."

Will you still be using it as a family home as well?

"Yes, we will. That's nice, because that's what it was built to be - albeit a very big one. So it's closest to its original use now."

Obviously in this series, rather than giving advice, you're dealing with your own project, with all its financial and emotional investment. Did it feel weird having that filmed?

"Yes. It wasn't great, actually. It was a little bit weird. But there was a great film crew doing it, and a great production company, so it was fun as well. And it was rally nice working from home, seeing the kids more. But it felt very strange being so involved in it."

Your husband Graham appears in the series, too. Was that quite odd for both of you, to have him involved on screen?

"That was the best bit about it, actually. We've always worked together, and we've lived in each other's pockets, and the worst thing about being on telly is not seeing Graham. And actually the best thing about the series is that I can see him. We're wrapped up in each other's lives so much. That's the only reason we decided he should be in it - we'd have to spend all our time with me saying 'Can you cut the camera, I need to ask Graham something,' over and over again. It would have been untenable. If he's in it, then at least I can ask him the things on camera."

How did it all go? Was the project fraught with difficulty, or was it pretty much what you expected?

"It was fraught with difficulty - it was really difficult and stressful. The whole wedding thing is great - it's a lovely building - but there's a logistics issue which does my head in a bit. You need to be there to run a wedding venue, you can't run a wedding venue in Yorkshire from London. It's a management issue which isn't yet resolved, but we'll get there eventually."

Did you make a lot of mistakes?

"Oh God, millions. I've always made so many mistakes. I probably wouldn't do very much differently, though."

Do you think you've learned a lot more about the business that you're in from this experience?

"Sort of, but it's a bit of a one-off, this. We were juggling some very complicated things. We didn't have the money - a project like this, you would expect to cost at least 10 or 20 times the amount, if you just got a building company to do it. So our mission was 'Can you turn this into a proper stately home without it costing the National Trust figure?' The National Trust would have spent probably 320 million on it. We spent about half a million."

How? How can you begin to go about making that sort of saving?

"You run it yourself, and it's very suck-it-and see all the way through, using every clever way you can. And we used paint instead of furniture to try and make it look amazing and luxurious."

What were the high and low points of the project?

"The hardest thing was how far away we lived. It was really complicated, with the kids as well. But the best thing was that we had a really great team of people working on the project, a big team and a really fab team, and we loved them. We were really lucky to have them."

You've got various businesses, a dating website, a website for buying, selling and letting property, books, TV series, and you've got four sons. Do you ever think that you've taken on too much?

"Yes, I've definitely taken on too much. But I don't know what to give up."

The kids?

"That's my favourite option, but we wouldn't get much for them in today's market."


Beeny's Restoration Nightmare begins at 8pm on Thursday 18th November 2010 on Channel 4.