Anyone been watching No Going Back?

[PamT]

I love this programme and have to admit to more than a little jealousy in some cases. Last week's update on the family who started the fishing holidays in Brittany made me really jealous but I cringed when the lady gave birth to a 12lb 3oz baby (ouch!).

Although the Tuscan olive farm in tonight's programme looked delightful I really couldn't imagine myself being so isolated and I think the heat would be just too much for me. I certainly wouldn't want to be pregnant and stuck up there on that hill.

Has anyone else been watching?

Yes, I love this programme. It does make me jealous, but dh and I are so useless I doubt we'd be much cop at self-sufficiency. Did anyone see the awful one where a couple bought an island, and she ended up shagging everyone in sight and the guy died. It was awful!!

Yes I couldn't believe that she wanted to continue living there after they were kidnapped at gun point and she wouldn't even return home even though she knew how poorly it was making her husband. The follow up programme wasn't quite so harsh about her but I still think she was pretty selfish.

PamT, yes, but compared to being a Jimmy Savile impersonator in Leeds it is very heaven. I thought they were such a nice couple and so shamemakingly hardworking. I felt like such a slug compared to them.

I actually didn't want to watch this since knew I'd be puking up with jealousy but....I did.

That olive harvest though, they still had to do all that gruelly work for a further 12 weeks, I think the narrator said - bloody hell!!

Wouldn't mind the Jimmy Saville job as a fallback - he still made £500 per week after flights.

The location was lovely but I dont think I could cope with the toilet facilities for long...

Agree that the couple were very nice and hardworking but as you say Tinker that olive harvest - I think they only made £250 between the two of them at the end of the week despite working through nights and roping in the neighbours! It was nice to watch and I wish them all the best but I wouldn't want to swap with them - it was too much hard work!

It was more than £250, I'm sure. And though the narrator talked about working through the night, he later said they did '14hour days' which isn't quite the same thing. I wouldn't swap my current life for that but I'd rather work in a Siberian salt mine than impersonate Jimmy Saville in shopping centres!

And I would love, love, love the heat!

Yes, but what about having a bath outside in the winter? I bed it gets pretty cold up on those hills this time of year. I hope they've got their plumbing sorted out!
But agree, it did look very pretty.

I love this series and find it really inspiring. While I'm not sure we'd even have the bottle to do it, I love the lifestyle and wouldn't mind the effort and isolation to be able to live like that.

The thing which inspires me most is the way the children adapt. I always worried that if we took off like that then their education would really suffer but the girls in Brittany were speaking fluent French in a couple of months and I can't imagine a greater gift to your kids. Was a bit concerned the little chap in Tuscany would get lonely but he seemed fine at the nursery.

If I didn't have aging parents to worry about then I'd be really tempted. Although I have to admit if you live in the south with higher house prices then you've got a much better choice as you can buy somewhere gorgeous and have reserve funds to live off for a while. The couple in Tuscany suffered most because they didn't have much savings - it wouldn't have cost that much to fit a bathroom and new stove surely and they wasted so much time with the old ones. Can't imagine what they were living off poor things but at least they seemed happy.

Not sure I would want to live somewhere so hot - perhaps Mid-France. Sunnier but not too hot. Anyone else got somewhere they'd like to go?

We were hooked last night. I saw last weeks (the fishing in France) and was desperate for it to work out for them as they seemed such a lovely family and working so hard. Last nights couple I thought were a bit naieve - they should have found out how much the place was going to cost to renovate before buying. But again they worked so hard and really enjoying their new life you were just willing for it to come good.

And that floor he's got to dig out! It's about 3 feet of solid rubble!

Agree with ks, the little boy was a treasure (thought he looked a bit baffled at nursery mind you) and they deserve to make a go of it.

Did anyone see it last night? Blimey, what else could have gone wrong?
And what I found was most amazing was how cr**p the French legal system seemed to be. Didn't their lawyer think to check that the house had planning permission before he drew up the contract for them to sign?
And how they seemed to have a bottomless pit of money.
Did think it looked a lovely place, though.

I could not believe they had bought the house without a proper structural survey though. It would have saved them all that heartache. They went into it in holiday mode - all 'warm, openhearted people' and 'delicious food' etc etc instead of being really dispassionate about it. As SB would say, 'they have made the big mistake of getting...too personal!" I also fell in love with the Tuscan toddler. What an absolute angel he was.

I thought those people really deserved to fail, I mean, 450,000 for a house with no survey, kids to english school, only started to actually roll up there sleeves and work at the end. And cancelling guests because the rooms werent ready, what about doubling up the kids or giving them the master bedroom? They really were only playing at it IMHO

Doesn't seem to have caught anyone's imagination this week. But did anyone else not think their oven was obviously set at too high a temperature? And that creme brulee !?!?

I just couldn't beleive they had the nerve to offer top quality meals when they couldn't even cook. I mean didn't it occur to them to go on a basic course or something. And their planning was all to pot when you think the couldn't even cope in their new kitchen. And just at the end it showed her getting him out of bed at 9am with guests due at 11am and they were just sitting around. It seemed a shame though as all they seemed to do was cleaning. Still I suppose once they get established they can afford to get some help so they can actually enjoy the setting too.

but they spent a YEAR finding the chalet - surely they could have poisoned I mean practised on their friends during that year. I did feel a bit soprry for them when they went to Olympia and didn't get a single booking! But I think they juts basically want to go skiing.

couldn't uinderstand tha appeal of this at all. Drudgery is still drudgery even with a nice view.

And not speaking the lingo either! Especially in France, where the people HATE 'English piiigs', who can't speak French!

Just had a look on their website - interestingly they only advertise the chalet as self catering or B+B only now!

I don't blame them really, the hours they were putting in with all the cooking were a bit much. I don't think I would have been happy spending so much money on my dream future to end up with my hands down the loo (all of them) every day.

I'm looking forward to this week's update on the family who went to spain in the last series. I like to see if everything does turn out well or if the dream becomes a nightmare. I was pleased to see that the family who ran the fishing lakes in france were successful, they deserved it.

PamT - I wanted to find out more about the woman who bought the desert island. That was the first one I watched and I've been hooked ever since. I was on the phone to my cousin at the time but in the end told her to watch it as well. The woman's behaviour was so awful that it was fascinating. You say you saw the update - what's happened to her?