VOICEOVER (VO): It's the nation's favorite antiques experts.

I just love it.

VO: Behind the wheel of a classic car.

(HORN TOOTS) LOUISE: It's fast.

CHARLES: It's a race.

VO: And a goal - to scour Britain for antiques.

PAUL: This could be tricky.

MARGIE: £38!

VO: The aim - to make the biggest profit at auction.

VO: But it's no mean feat.

ROO: High five!

There'll be worthy winners... CHRISTINA: Mind-blowing.

VO: ..and valiant losers.

Could have been worse.

Will it be the high road to glory...

Car!

..or the slow road to disaster?

CHRISTINA: Aaagh!

TIM: Oh my!

VO: This is the Antiques Road Trip.

Dig that!

CHRISTINA (CT) Beep-beep.

Where's the horn?

- (HORN TOOTS) - Ah, I like that.

VO: Hark!

That's definitely the sound of antiques experts cavorting in the countryside.

And our new man, Tim - great name - Medhurst, is behind the wheel of our delightful 1979 MG Midget.

TIM (TM): It's quite a friendly car, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

You kind of feel like if you owned one, you could become quite good friends.

TM: Does that make sense?

CT: No.

Oh, OK. (SHE CHUCKLES) VO: Sitting cozy in the passenger seat is a rather giggly Christina Trevanion.

What?!

VO: And our duo are off meandering the lovely southwest counties of Somerset and Devon before crossing the Welsh Marches for their final auction in Cardiff.

But how does our novice think he's doing so far?

I made a bit of money and I lost a bit of money.

But overall, I didn't lose.

Yeah, you did.

(THEY CHUCKLE) I'm starting with more than I had last time.

Are you?

Only very marginal...

Marginally.

How much are you starting with?

About £3 something.

VO: It's true.

After starting out with £200, Tim did make a teeny-weeny profit and sets out this time with £203.36... ..whilst Christina also set off with the same amount but fortune smiled upon her, earning her a new budget of £389.84.

But it's a brand-new day and who knows what will unfold?

TM: Somerset... CT: Mm.

..is a very historical place, isn't it?

CT: It really is.

TM: To be honest.

It was part of the Roman Empire until 406AD.

Wha...?

(SHE CHUCKLES) 406AD - how do you know that?

VO: Because he's a numismatist.

A coin man, to you and me.

The biggest Roman hoard ever found in a single pot was in Somerset as well.

Oh, was it, really?

VO: Maybe there'll be a denarius or two for Tim today.

This time our twosome are traveling the B roads of Somerset before auction in Devon.

First port of call is Weston-super-Mare.

Did you know that John Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare?

Was he?

Yeah.

His father's name was Reginald Cheese.

TM: Was it?

CT: Yeah.

(SHE CHUCKLES) VO: Crackers.

Well, it's certainly choppy on the Bristol Channel today and Weston-super-Mare is looking a little out of season.

So no digging sandcastles but perhaps Christina will unearth buried treasure at Coles.

TM: We have arrived.

CT: Marvelous.

TM: Well, here we are.

Good luck.

CT: Thank you.

TM: Go, go, go.

CT: Cool.

Alrighty.

TM: See you later!

Oh, hang on.

It takes a while to get out.

CT: Give us a push.

TM: Do you want a push?

TM: There we are.

See you later.

CT: Thank you.

CT: See you later, have fun!

TM: Bye.

Bye!

VO: Right, what have we got here then?

Look at this.

This looks wonderfully gruesome.

"Gangrene of foot from cold".

Ugh.

Victorian prints from real patients, over 140 variations.

Oh, this is like the... Yeah, Atlas Of The Diseases Of The Skin.

Eurgh, this'll be wonderfully fascinating.

This is basically like googling your injuries, isn't it, I suppose.

Ooh, rashes.

Lupus, acne.

Often medical aids and teaching aids such as this can become quite vintage and quite collectable.

But I think that might be staying here.

It's even a little bit gruesome for me.

And that's saying something.

VO: Yeah, they give me the willies too.

Go and find something less hideous, girl.

Oh, I love this.

Look at that.

That is fantastic.

Do you know, I absolutely love this.

This is an elm milking stool.

And this has probably come straight out of an old dairy somewhere.

And it would've been somebody's best friend for years and years and years, as they were milking good old Daisy on the farm every morning and night.

These can be plant-pot stands, you can sit your kids on them.

I just love it.

It's just full of ye olde worlde charm, isn't it?

I love it.

VO: Well she would do.

She's a farmer's wife!

10 quid!

VO: Time to grab a bargain?

Matthew, Matthew, Matthew.

Loving your milking stool.

Like that very much, and it was priced up at £10.

Reason for that - we did see a little bit of worm on the bottom.

Hey, it's... Pfft.

It's got friends.

You expect it, don't you?

Yeah.

Exactly.

Where else are they gonna live?

I think it's fab and I'm very happy to pay for £10 for that.

CT: I think it's gorgeous.

DEALER: Brilliant.

Erm, just having a look over your shoulder.

There's a chess set there.

What's on that?

Er, there is a slight bit of damage on some of them.

So they could be 45.

45?

How many pieces have we got?

Let's play.

DEALER: Not very good at chess.

(SHE CHUCKLES) Have we got a complete set?

CT: Hmm.

DEALER: Not complete?

I don't think it is.

I do like it.

I think the damage is a worry and it's not named.

Could you do any better on your 45?

DEALER: I can do it for 20.

CT: £20?

VO: Gosh.

So £20 on the chess set and then £10 on the stool?

Yes.

Very, very happy at that, Matthew.

Very happy.

Thank you very much.

VO: That was a generous offer on the chess set.

And with that, she's off.

CT: Cheerio.

VO: Check out your mate.

Your move, Tim!

Great name.

Our man has headed 10 miles east to the town of Axbridge, a tiny and ancient royal borough which was once important enough to have its own mint.

Tim's hoping to make a mint too, so it's to Ripley Antiques & Vintage he goes.

VO: Oh, I say.

This IS looking good.

So these are what I think are early-20th-century military boots.

And most likely they're First World War officer boots.

And there's kind of a sense of, um, emotion when you hold these.

Cos you can imagine the soldier wearing these and they may have even been in the trenches, you never know.

But you've got some lovely patinated leather here.

And inside each boot, you've got these fantastic boot trees.

The shoe trees themselves are by Peal and Co. And they supplied people like Charlie Chaplin.

VO: Looks like Tim fancies this pair.

Time to talk to owner Lou.

What sort of price are we looking at on those?

Right, well, we've got 185 on them.

OK.

But I've had them quite a while.

Right, OK.

So... You know, what are you thinking?

I'll leave it down to you.

Ha-ha.

How about 140?

OK. Do you know what I'm gonna do?

I'll have a think about them.

LOU: OK. TM: I'll ponder them, because I've got...

I've got to buy quite a few items.

LOU: OK. TM: So I just need to keep my powder dry.

But I do absolutely love them.

But thank you.

I will keep looking round.

LOU: No problem.

TM: Might come back to them.

TM: Thanks.

VO: Splendid!

But pricey.

Maybe sir can find something more off the peg?

I recognize these.

Lou?

Yeah.

I recognize these.

At £42.

TM: There we are.

CT: Not bad.

Was it Mendip auction?

I think you were there, weren't you?

Do you know who these belonged to?

LOU: No?

CT: Christina.

No!

They look fantastic in the shop.

LOU: They do, I love them.

TM: Yeah.

Brilliant.

Isn't that funny?

Small world.

Yeah.

VO: It would be funnier if you bought them again.

Ha!

Right, are we getting anywhere?

This is a great pot, isn't it?

Looks like it's sort of salt-glazed earthenware.

But it's a great size, isn't it?

And I love how they've gone to the effort of just doing a little bit of hatched and striped decoration.

It's quite cool.

And it's got a real rustic look.

To be honest, the market would just be purely decorative, I think.

Age-wise, I'm not too sure.

It looks like it may be 19th century.

It's certainly got some signs of age.

It's just a good, decorative thing.

Lou?

LOU: Hello.

Erm, how much is this?

Can I ask?

This is on for... Oh, let me have a look.

Oh, there's a ticket in there.

Let me have a look.

It's on for 58.

It's like we're doing a raffle.

(THEY CHUCKLE) Number 58.

OK, what do you think your best price on that would be?

Can we go 28 quid?

30, can you do 30?

30.

Let's do 30.

Yeah, I like that.

Thank you.

LOU: Lovely.

Thank you.

TM: £30, brilliant.

TM: One in the bag.

LOU: Yay!

Thank you.

VO: That was almost half price.

Very kind of you, Lou.

Nice work, red-trouser man.

Meanwhile, Christina has headed to the village of Cheddar, home of the largest gorge in the UK and a place synonymous with the word "cheese".

The first recorded reference to Cheddar cheese dates back to 1170 but our milkmaid is off to meet a modern-day cheese producer, John Spencer, underground.

How cheesy's that?

Cheddar accounts for more than 50% of all the cheese... Wow!

..sold in Britain.

And that's because it's so versatile.

It's made from really nutritious milk from this area.

And the other big thing about it is that it keeps.

CT: Why am I in a cave?

JOHN: The cave is the perfect medium for maturing Cheddar.

And that's where we're going to have a look at it maturing.

Oh, can we go and see it?

Absolutely.

OK. Alright.

Oh my gosh.

John, this is extraordinary.

I mean, you've got stalactites coming down from the ceiling.

We're in a cave.

And we've got mounds and mounds of cheese!

Well, it is a lot of cheese but not as much as King Henry II ordered for his household.

About twice as much, in one order, as you can see here.

VO: The constant temperature and 100% humidity in these limestone caves creates the perfect conditions for maturing Cheddar, a process taking between six months and two years.

CT: So this is obviously the end of the process, this all looks wonderfully mature.

What happens before this?

Well, the best way to find out is to come into the cheese room and see for yourself.

Oh, magic.

Is that in the cave, as well?

Not in the cave, no.

OK.

So we need to go somewhere else, yeah?

JOHN: We do.

CT: OK. VO: Above ground, John's business is the only one in the village making Cheddar in the traditional way.

CT: Here we are.

JOHN: Here we are again.

CT: Marvelous.

VO: Right, Wonder Woman, give us a turn.

Ha-ha!

JOHN: You can see right now... CT: Yeah.

..you've got curds and whey separated in this vat.

Yeah.

And you've drained off a lot of the whey, haven't you?

JOHN: We drain off a lot of the whey.

CT: Left us with curds on the bottom.

JOHN: Nothing gets wasted.

JOHN: That gets fed to pigs.

CT: Yeah.

And the curd is ready now for the next stage.

Right.

JOHN: So if you come round... CT: Yeah.

JOHN: ..what you need to do... CT: OK. ..is break all this up.

So you're literally...

So this is from... Ooh, it's really warm, isn't it?

It certainly is.

It runs at about 40 degrees.

Oh my gosh.

So we're breaking it all up to... JOHN: Breaking it all up so that when we split it, the whey will keep running.

So you're trying to get as much of the whey out... CT: ..as you possibly can... JOHN: Yeah.

..to make it as dry as possible?

Absolutely.

Oh.

Ow!

(SHE CHUCKLES) So is what you're doing now... Is it completely unique to the Cheddar process or does it happen in all cheese manufacturing?

No, this bit is unique to Cheddar.

Most of cheesemaking follows the same process.

So you have milk, you heat it, you add a starter, you coagulate.

And then you do something with the curd after coagulation and after cooking.

Cheddar is the only cheese where Cheddaring takes place, i.e.

pile the blocks up one on top of the other and they squeeze more and more whey out.

VO: Rubbery, isn't it?

The decline in traditional Cheddaring dates from the war, when food rationing was introduced.

The process of maturing cheese like Cheddar was deemed wasteful and inefficient.

JOHN: So, they developed a process called Government Cheddar, where all the milk that was available was put into central units and made into a type of Cheddar.

CT: Right.

It was made to a specific recipe, um, which wasn't, I think, particularly nice.

All the reports of it are pretty dire.

CT: Really?

JOHN: Mm.

So it was just purely a way of getting protein into people, rather than it tasting anything like cheese?

So it did a job rather than actually enjoy...

It absolutely did the job.

So, lots of chutney?

(HE CHUCKLES) Yes, lots of chutney.

VO: Rationing lasted until 1954, by which time the thousand-year-old way of making Cheddar was disappearing.

So would it be true to say, John, that the Second World War was sort of potentially responsible for almost making Cheddar extinct?

JOHN: We certainly lost a lot of the skills that were used in making traditional Cheddar.

I think in the '80s there were still very few artisan cheesemakers.

And then there was an explosion of cheesemaking once the Milk Marketing Board had disappeared.

And now we make more cheeses than the French.

VO: Yum-yum, eh?

No time for a ploughman's for Tim - great name - he's got to find some antiques gold to get back in the game.

TM: Oh, do you know what?

I'd love to find a really good coin.

A dream coin for me would be like a Charles I declaration half crown, or something like that.

Just something that holds an amazing piece of history.

VO: Good luck with that.

Ha!

Next stop is Shepton Mallet, a town which produces cider, but he's not getting any of that just now, either.

Oh no.

He's off in search of a rare coin or two at Somerset Antiques & Interiors.

And he still has £173.36 to spend.

A-ha!

TM: Now this is quite a smart mantel clock.

What I love about it is that it's got this air balloon on top, which acts as the bell.

Probably dates to around, I would assume around 1900, something like that.

Maybe slightly earlier.

But it's just a bit of fun, isn't it?

Let's see how much it is.

How much do you think...?

VO: Owner Paul's your man.

The best on it is... Is 60.

60 quid, OK.

I really like that.

But, er, I have got a bit of time on my hands, so... (PAUL CHUCKLES) Sorry, I had to get that in.

OK, I'll give you another fiver then.

55.

55, OK. 55 is the bottom on it.

Do you know what I'm gonna do?

I'll put it back for a minute.

I'm gonna carry on looking round.

TM: I've only just got here.

PAUL: Yeah, no problem at all.

So, um, I'll come back to you.

Thank you.

Cheers, Paul.

VO: A potential purchase, then.

What else?

Aye-aye, what's this then?

Ah!

It's a frog on a ring!

TM: I've got a bit of a hunch that this might be unmarked gold.

Quite often when you've had a bit of jewelry made specifically for yourself, custom-made, quite often it's not hallmarked.

It might be worth buying it and getting the auction house to test it, just to see if it is gold.

Because if it is, worth 50 to £100.

It's priced at a tenner so what can I lose, you know?

VO: Yeah, quite right.

These cases are full of attractive shiny things.

Got another bit of jewelry that's caught my eye here.

What's this?

So... Oh, it's a nice little 19th-century gilt metal, probably gilt brass and agate brooch.

And at 15 quid, what I'm gonna do, put it with my frog ring, have a little mixed lot.

People love a good mixed lot of jewelry in an auction.

VO: Let's hope they're charmed by your choices, then.

But it looks like he's not done yet with these cabinets.

Oh, I like these.

What's this?

So, we've got a little Victorian red leather and silver-mounted cigarette box.

What's nice about it is that it's silver-mounted, which adds a little bit of quality to it, I think.

And you can see the hallmarks here in the corners.

Ticket price is only £10, so what I'm thinking is... that I could put it with this clock... ..and have a nice little mixed lot, because again, this is red leather.

And what we've got here is quite a fun little thing.

It's a Victorian traveling timepiece.

And it just clips away like that so you can put it in your pocket and take it wherever you want to go.

VO: Yeah, another mixed lot!

He's on a roll with this.

Time to talk money.

Paul?

Paul.

Right, I've got these two here.

Now that one's marked up at a tenner.

PAUL: OK. TM: So that's fine.

TM: That's marked up at £45.

PAUL: Right.

What would your best on that one be?

38.

38.

OK. Just thinking, the two together in a little mixed lot.

They look quite good together, wouldn't they?

Yeah.

Can we go 35 on that one?

PAUL: Go on then.

Yeah, 35.

TM: Yeah?

Perfect.

Brilliant.

VO: Kerching!

£70 please.

25 for the ring and the brooch and 45 for the traveling clock and cigarette box.

And he seems to have forgotten all about that other lovely clock he fancied earlier.

And with Christina back on board they're heading off into the wilds.

Ooh!

Oh my goodness.

Isn't there a Beast of Bodmin, or a Beast of Exmoor, or a Somerset Beastie?

TM: I've never heard of that.

The Beast of Bodmin?

Surely?

No.

Maybe it didn't get to Essex.

No.

Maybe not.

Lost in translation across the border.

Yeah.

VO: Bodmin is in Cornwall.

They'll have done their geography homework by tomorrow, I hope.

Nighty-night!

And after their beauty sleep, they're on the road again!

# The sun is shining!

# Shall we put the hood down?

Ooh!

Well what about my hair?

I'll turn into Bonnie Tyler.

You'll be fine.

Or Worzel Gummidge, probably.

CT: Really?

TM: Come on, let's get it down.

CT: You wanna do it?

TM: Yeah, yeah.

CT: Let's do it.

VO: Well, what's the point of a soft top if you can't feel the wind in your hair?

TM: There we are, easy as that.

TM: Look at that.

Perfect.

CT: Ooh, that was super-easy.

TM: Easy peasy.

CT: Easy peasy.

Right, Worzel Gummidge hair, let's go!

TM: Here we go.

CT: Whee!

This is more like it.

VO: I wish I was there.

CT: Do you know where we are?

TM: I have no idea.

CT: Really?

I am awful with directions.

Oh, that's reassuring.

I rely on modern technology every step of the way nowadays.

It's fine, because we are experts in our field.

We don't need directions - we can smell the antiques.

Yeah.

VO: Aah!

Yesterday it was the aroma of cheese that drew our dairy maid to a milking stool.

10 quid!

VO: Then she fancied a chess set.

So she sets out today with £359.84.

Tim, meanwhile, clocked up two quirky mixed lots.

It's like we're doing a raffle.

VO: And took a punt on an earthenware pot, leaving him with £103.36 burning a hole in his pocket.

TM: Well, your challenge is to spend all of your money.

Oh, don't do that.

The challenge is on!

I'm rubbish when it comes to pressure.

Oh my God, I think I might go into meltdown!

Don't do that to me!

VO: She's melting!

And we're not in Kansas any more.

We're in Somerset, and having dropped off Tim, Christina's heading for elegant Bath.

If only we had time to wander in the footsteps of Jane Austen or take the waters at the spa.

But we don't!

Time for Christina to see what she can find at Michael Saffell Antiques.

And here's the man himself.

Hello there, sir.

DEALER: Hello!

CT: Hello!

Christina!

Hello!

Michael!

Michael, lovely to meet you!

Stocking your shelves there, I see.

Yes.

Trying to get a bit of order into it, yeah.

Oh my gosh, it's won...

It's like a museum in here!

It's amazing!

DEALER: Oh, that's kind, thank you.

CT: Well if you don't mind I'm gonna have a wander round.

DEALER: Please do.

And just give me a call, and I'll leap to attention.

CT: Leap?!

DEALER: Yes, of course.

Oh my goodness.

Sounds very exciting.

I might hold you to that.

DEALER: Right.

CT: Brilliant, thank you.

VO: Michael seems to be fond of an old tin or two.

I wonder whether he hides his biscuits in them.

VO: More tins!

Maybe Michael was a grocer in a previous life.

CT: "Victoria's glorious reign, 1837 to 1897".

So this would have obviously been her jubilee year.

Oh look, the Forth Bridge!

I've done some Antiques Road Trip filming there.

That's quite fun.

So this is all things that must have happened within her reign, within those 50 years.

So we've got the development of the telegraph, the first steamer to cross the Atlantic.

Traveling in ye good old days, obviously in 1837, and then traveling in 1897 you've got this wonderful steam train coming into a station here.

That's fab, isn't it?

I love that, really love that.

£775!

VO: Crumbs!

CT: £775!

VO: That would buy a lot of biscuits!

Moving on.

VO: There must be something here within your budget.

CT: Look at that.

Hah!

So this is a mounted emu egg, and these are probably silver plate.

But obviously with the emu egg on top, I think it's just this wonderful gray surface which is so fascinating, isn't it?

VO: The dark-green eggs of the world's second-largest bird fade over time.

They were often carved, and even made into inkwells and teapots.

Fun!

And look, we've got a little emu down here.

And a kangaroo there as well, so real sort of symbols of Australia.

And this is probably Victorian, brought over obviously from Australia in that sort of fascination with traveling to faraway places.

And they just always, without fail, just make me smile.

They're so weird.

It's such a sort of Antipodean fantasy.

It's just bizarre, isn't it?

Absolutely bizarre.

But I just, I like it.

I really like it.

VO: Time to call in Michael.

Here he is!

Leaping into action, as promised!

As promised, yes.

(THEY CHUCKLE) CT: Now you've got £125 on that.

DEALER: Yeah.

Is there any chance that we could sort of nudge it under the 100?

I suppose I could go to 95.

Yeah, that's a good nudge under 100 really, isn't it?

It is.

Yes, well, I would be very grateful for that.

Thank you.

VO: Jolly good.

95 it is.

Thank you so much for having me in your gorgeous shop!

DEALER: It's been a pleasure.

CT: Oh, I'm feeling very...

Very educated, so thank you.

DEALER: Nice to see you.

Take care.

CT: Brilliant, take care!

Bye-bye!

VO: Let's see how her best-laid plan hatches.

Ha!

Who writes this stuff?

Alright, my lover?

Yes, Tim's saying hello to Bristol harbor front this morning, today a place of leisure and pleasure for Bristolians and tourists alike.

But not so very long ago, this mighty port thronged with maritime trade and industry.

Tim is meeting Andy King, skipper of a small craft which was an ingenious solution to an ever-present waterfront hazard.

Lots of warehouses and transit sheds around the edge.

Several rows of ships alongside.

You know, there might be two or three of them berthed alongside each other.

With that sort of congestion, you've always got the disastrous potential of fire.

TM: Yes, and I can imagine a lot of the boats and a lot of the harborside buildings had components of wood, or were made of solid wood.

So how did we tackle that back then?

A big problem is that they are fighting fires in Bristol, in what were originally medieval streets.

And they can't get down to the water with the land appliances anything like as easily as they could from the water.

The land appliances originally are all towed by horses, so they take a while to get to the fire.

So a fire boat's a much better idea.

Plus, you've got an inexhaustible supply of water right here, that you can just pump straight from, and faster.

It makes total sense, doesn't it?

To pump the water straight out.

And so, from the 1880s, you start to see a series of fire boats built for service in the harbor here.

VO: Andy is taking Tim to see the last of its kind, built in 1934.

ANDY: Well this is Pyronaut.

Introduce you to my crew.

TM: Hello, gents!

CREW: Hello.

TM: Hello, how are you?

Nice to see you.

You're gonna look after me on the boat.

VO: And they're off!

Pyronaut has a crew of three to man the boat and fight the fire.

An occupational hazard was having to slip under the low bridges of the harbor, which were often unmanned or slow to open.

So we're approaching the lowest bridge in the harbor.

VO: Quick, duck!

ANDY: If we get down as low as we can.

TM: Here we go.

I'm getting all the way down.

It's amazing how close it gets, isn't it?

Wow!

That can't be more than sort of four or five inches in some places.

Wow!

Up we get.

Amazing.

VO: During the war, when night after night the Luftwaffe rained bombs on the city, Pyronaut was on duty with her brave firemen.

Crews on land were also able to battle blazes by attaching hoses to her powerful pumps.

Bristol was one of the worst blitzed cities in the country, and for the best part of nine months, there were constant air raids every couple of nights, some of them quite severe.

The sites that M Shed occupies now, where she normally lives these days, was completely destroyed.

And there's a fantastic painting of the big granary that was on that site burning down, with a little fire boat down on the bottom, squirting water up at it, and that's Pyronaut.

She fought lots of fires in lots of different places.

Obviously, lives were saved, a lot of property was saved.

A lot of buildings were saved too, and it's a really important part of the city's history.

Oop!

Watch for the bridge.

I'll get my head taken off.

VO: Pyronaut was retired in 1973, but in her heyday, she could pump 2,000 gallons of water in a minute.

TM: Right, here we go.

We're going!

Wahey, there they go!

Look at that!

You wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that, would you?

ANDY: No.

TM: Unless you were on fire, of course.

ANDY: Bring that back to stop, that'll turn the pumps off.

TM: Oh, well that was fun.

ANDY: We didn't get wet either.

TM: No.

(THEY CHUCKLE) VO: Well, Christina's out in the fresh air too.

And she seems to be enjoying the ride!

It's great when the lid's up, but when the lid is down, I mean, what's not to love?

This is amazing!

(HORN TOOTS) VO: She's making her way to Bristol, to rendezvous with Tim at their last shop of the day and it looks like she's going to be in the advanced guard at Odds and Todds.

Great name!

VO: This enormous shop is packed to the gunwales.

VO: Interesting reading material?

"Dear Barb, from Frank.

"Some live for love.

"I live for you."

Aw.

18th of February, 1940.

VO: Precious words from wartime, but sadly not valuable at auction.

What else?

Ah, that's quite cool, isn't it?

Look at that.

AH Bussell & Sons, house decorators, plumbers, etc.

Ha!

House decorators, plumbers, etc.

That's quite ambiguous isn't it?

Etc?

What else can you do?

It's amazing.

My goodness.

That is quite a serious lump of slate.

Worryingly, there's no price on it.

But I love this.

"Established, 50 years".

That's fantastic.

I love that.

VO: Whilst Christina ponders the possibilities, it appears our man Tim has arrived, and is wasting no time delving into the stock.

Bottoms up, old bean!

In the Georgian period, sugar tongs were used a lot.

Now, there are quite a lot of these around, but I just think they're so charming.

Made of solid silver, and you can see the hallmark in here.

And it's made during the reign of George III, who reigned from 1760 to 1820.

So they're a couple of hundred years old, solid silver, and what's the ticket price?

12 quid.

I mean, it just shows that antiques can be so affordable.

So, do you know what?

I'm just going to buy them, because I like them.

VO: Very decisive!

Now, while he roots around for a last purchase, Christina is heading for the counter.

Oh my goodness, that's heavy.

I'm Christina.

I'm Les.

Les.

Lovely to meet you, Les.

Now, I have been wandering around your vast shop.

LES: Yes.

CT: And I found this.

How much is on it, Les?

25.

CT: 25?

LES: Yes.

Really?

OK.

I like the sound of that, for £25.

I think there's a lot of work gone into that for that amount of money.

So at £25, I am very happy.

LES: OK. CT: Now, as we've been chatting, I have clearly been giving you my undivided attention.

But I've just seen that sign down there, that Superfine Franklyn's Shagg Tobacco sign.

That's pretty cool, isn't it?

It's different, innit?

It is!

Is it for sale?

LES: Yes.

CT: Is it?

LES: Yeah.

CT: That's quite early.

What's that, pre-1900?

Yes, I would have said so, yeah.

That's fantastic.

How much is on that, Les?

LES: £60.

CT: £60?

OK, brilliant.

So it's £60 and 25, so it's going to come to £85.

Would I be able to just nudge you to 80?

Seeing you're buying the two, yes.

Brilliant.

You're a gentleman.

LES: Thank you very much.

CT: What a superstar.

Right, let's give you some readies, and then I have a feeling that we're gonna need a screwdriver.

There we go.

20, 40, 60, CT: £80!

LES: Thank you very much.

Right, where's this screwdriver then, Les?

Shall we get it off the door?

LES: Yes.

VO: £80 spent there.

Now all she needs is a screwdriver.

Don't we all?

Alrighty.

There we go.

VO: And her work is complete.

VO: Tim's still on the hunt though.

Upstairs, downstairs, inside, outside... Maybe he can't see the wood for the trees.

VO: Time to call the antique experts helpline?

I was just wondering, do you still have that clock with the balloon on top?

VO: Ah!

He's calling Paul in Shepton Mallet!

What was your price on that?

I can't quite remember.

55.

Do you mind putting it to a side?

I'd like to buy it if that's alright.

Lovely, thanks so much.

Bye, bye.

Good.

We've done the deal.

VO: Well, I never saw that coming!

He bought yesterday's balloon clock for £55.

Very clever, cos that's rare.

So all that's left to do is to pay for the silver sugar tongs and away we go.

It's home time, and thoughts are turning to the auction.

I'm so pleased about that clock.

So you lost last time.

(TIM CHUCKLES) So it's one-nil... Yeah.

..to the Trevanion.

Let's make it one-all.

Ooh!

Fighting talk.

The game is on!

Ooh, ho-ho!

VO: Yes it is!

After some shuteye.

VO: Good morning, Exeter!

Once of the furthest outposts of the Roman Empire.

Yes, the one that began its fall in 406AD!

Numismatist Tim almost certainly also knows that more than a thousand Roman coins have been found here.

But it's auction gold we're after today!

Oh, this looks smart, doesn't it?

TM: Very smart.

CT: Mm!

I'm excited for this.

Aren't you?

CT: No.

No.

This is the bit... TM: Why not?

..that fills me with the heebie-jeebies.

I really just, eurgh!

I love it.

It's all the ups and downs.

Well, hopefully more ups than downs.

Why, thank you!

VO: Our hosts are Bearnes, Hampton and Littlewood, where a fine array of wares is waiting to go under the hammer.

Christina spent £205 on her five lots.

Ah, I'm quite jealous about this.

Christina's done a really good thing buying this.

I love enameled signs.

I think they're really decorative.

Looks like it's been used as air-rifle practice, sadly.

But still, got a good look about it.

I think it's a brilliant thing, and something perfect for your man cave.

VO: I wonder if Mr Pistachio Trousers has a man cave!

Ha!

He parted with a total of £150 on his five lots.

It's ridiculous that you can buy a solid piece of silver that's 200 years old, for £12.

I mean, what a great buy these are.

I don't think they're gonna make him a stonking profit, but a good, solid buy.

I like those.

VO: Our auctioneer today is Brian Goodison-Blanks.

What does he think?

BRIAN: 160 seated, then.

The clock is rather interesting me because of the ballooning interest on that.

It's late 19th century, probably produced on the continent.

It's a pressed tin case.

Not a great deal of quality to it, but the interesting thing is the gilt balloon to the top, which will be of great interest to balloonists.

Obviously the favorite piece is gonna be the emu egg on the stand, because it's an interesting piece.

It's decorative.

It's the sort of thing that stands out, that's unusual.

And I think it should do very well.

VO: Time for Brian to grab his gavel, and for our experts to take their seats.

CT: Oh, goodness.

TM: Right, here we are.

Another auction.

VO: Right, they seem to have got used to snuggling up together in a small space!

Ha!

First up is Tim's yellow metal frog ring, which turned out not to be gold, together with the agate brooch.

And interest here.

10, 12, 15.

£15 is bid.

18 now.

CT: What did you pay for those?

TM: Er, 25.

At £18 then.

20 or no?

TM: Come on.

We can go more.

Come on.

TM: Come on, somebody.

BRIAN: 20, then.

BRIAN: I'm selling, then.

At 20.

TM: Oh no!

CT: Come on!

TM: Oh dear.

CT: Oh.

I leapfrogged backwards.

Is that a thing?

Unleapfrogged.

I've unleapt.

VO: Yes, I'm afraid you did.

£5 lost there.

Oh well.

They were nice things.

They were.

I hope whoever bought it will wear it.

VO: A nice thought.

Now it's time for Christina's elm milking stool.

And some bids are already with the auctioneer.

And interest here.

15, 18, 20, at 20.

CT: Oh, brilliant.

TM: Well done!

22, 25, 28.

So what did I pay for this?

£10.

Yeah, that's really good.

Well done.

My commission's back in at £25, looking for eight.

Come on, you all need a three-legged stool!

Of course you do!

Everybody does!

At £25 with me.

28 or no?

At £25 then.

CT: Come on!

(GAVEL) Hey, well done!

BOTH: Fantastic!

VO: £15 profit to our dairy maid.

Come on, Tim.

Catch up!

Come on.

TM: I need to catch up here, big time.

VO: Next up is Tim's cigarette box and traveling timepiece.

Time to make some money, eh?

There's interest from internet bidders.

At 10, 12, 15.

£18, 20.

BRIAN: 20 I have.

22 now.

CT: In the room.

CT: It's in the room.

TM: We're halfway there.

25, 28.

I'm out 28.

Keep going, keep going.

It's like me running a marathon, it's like really, really good, and then I go... At £28 then.

(GAVEL) BRIAN: That's 28.

Oh dear.

VO: Oh dear, indeed.

£17 up in smoke.

It's time to... move on.

It's fine, don't worry.

Yeah.

Right, it's fine.

VO: Yeah, don't burst into tears.

Next, smoking sign, bit chipped.

Do you know what their strapline was?

No.

"Franklyn's Fine Shagg - always good to the end."

(HE SNIGGERS, SHE LAUGHS) It's a little bit worn, but aren't we all?

True.

I am after today.

At 10, 12, 15, 18, 20.

£20 is here.

It's got to do more than that.

BRIAN: 28, 30, 32, 35.

TM: It's climbing.

It's got a long way to go.

42, 45, 48.

It's like a proper auction.

Keep going, keep going.

Eight or no?

£45.

At 45.

Come on, Franklyn!

(GAVEL) TM: Oh!

BRIAN: 45.

He tried hard on that though.

Not always good to the end!

TM: No.

CT: Disappointing!

TM: This one wasn't.

CT: Yeah!

VO: No, it peaked prematurely!

Ha!

Bye-bye, £15!

Euch, euch.

Oh well.

We move on.

VO: Indeed.

Time for Tim's Georgian sugar nips.

One lump or two?

Interest with me at £10.

Yes, come on.

TM: Come on.

Big money.

CT: Come on.

At £10 then.

12 I have.

My commission's out then at 12.

15 now.

At £12 then.

Sugar tongs.

No, more, more, more.

These should not be this cheap.

At £12 then.

15 or no?

All done at 12.

That's sort of what I paid for them.

Well, no, darling.

That isn't sort of what you paid.

TM: Oh no.

CT: That is actually CT: what you paid for them.

TM: That is what I paid.

Oh dear.

VO: That's the fact I'm afraid, but it's not a loss!

They were lovely though, weren't they?

Yeah, I liked those.

VO: Christina's move now.

It's the chess set.

20.

£20 commission bid.

22 in the room.

I'm out then.

With you at 22.

25 now.

CT: Oh, he's got a commission bid.

At £22 in the room.

25 elsewhere.

CT: It's gonna be a loss.

TM: Only a slight loss.

There's loads of different pieces in there.

I don't know what they are, but they're... (GAVEL) CT: Ah, oh.

Look, you didn't lose much, did you?

I think that was alright, to be honest.

VO: She didn't lose anything, actually.

She made £2, so checkmate!

Stop looking so happy!

(THEY CHUCKLE) VO: Well, he's yet to make any money so it's understandable!

Maybe he'll get lucky with his earthenware pot now.

£40 is bid here, in commission.

42, 45, 48, 50, five, 60, five.

I'm clawing back some profit.

Come on!

Double your money!

With you seated sir at 65, looking for 70 now against you.

TM: Yes!

CT: £65?

I've doubled up!

65 in the middle then.

(GAVEL) CT: Yeah!

Fantastic!

I made a profit at last!

CT: Yay!

(THEY CHUCKLE) VO: And more than doubled your money.

Well, things are looking up!

I'm pleased that's gone for a good amount of money.

Well done, good spot.

Very good spot.

TM: Thank you.

CT: You've impressed me.

VO: Well that's the main thing, isn't it?

But will her slate plaque impress the buyers next?

I love that.

"House decorators, plumbers, etc."

TM: Etc.

We do everything.

CT: Yeah.

And starting here with me at 18, 20, 22, 25, 28, 30.

CT: Oh, I'll take that.

TM: We're going.

Well done!

£35 is bid.

Another profit.

BRIAN: 38, 40.

CT: Oh!

42, 45, 48, 50, two.

55, 58.

At £58 then.

What is going on?

This is ridiculous!

The bidders love you today, don't they?

BRIAN: 60, or no?

TM: Fantastic.

At £58 then.

(GAVEL) TM: Congratulations.

CT: Oh, that's really cool!

TM: Another profit.

CT: Yeah!

TM: Well done.

Oh, but I'm really glad that it made a profit.

CT: Because I really did... TM: Yeah.

CT: I really did love it.

VO: And it loved you back.

£38 worth.

Oh, I'm really pleased about that.

TM: Yeah, very good.

CT: Really pleased about that.

VO: Now, Tim's last chance to take off.

It's the balloon clock.

BRIAN: £15 is bid.

CT: How much?

Oh, we've got a long way to go.

18, 20, two, 25, 28, 28.

30, two.

We can go, we can go.

BRIAN: Go on, sir.

It's good.

It'll only go up.

TM: It IS good.

CT: He loves it!

At £32 then.

32.

Five elsewhere?

It was a specky purchase.

32 then.

(GAVEL) TM: Oh no.

VO: Maybe that was the proverbial lead balloon!

He's down another £23.

What a shame.

I would have bought that for myself.

Would you?

Your house is gonna be very full in a very short period of time.

VO: Time to crack on with the last of our lots today.

It's Christina's emu egg.

And interest here with me at 50.

60, 70, 80.

It's climbing.

90, 100, 110, 120.

VO: It's taking off!

130, 140, £140 with me.

At 140.

Well that's a surprise.

170, 180.

Oh, this is silly.

I don't think they've got the right lot.

This isn't my lot.

BRIAN: 200, and 10.

VO: Must be a double yolker!

220, 230.

240.

250, 260.

What?!

270.

No, don't be daft.

290, 300.

We're off!

(SHE CHUCKLES) 320, 330.

VO: No!

BRIAN: 340.

350, 360, 370, 380.

TM: My word!

CT: This is crazy!

400, and 20?

At £400 then.

At £400, are you quite sure, sir?

BRIAN: At £400, all done now?

TM: Wow!

(GAVEL) TM: Well done!

Fantastic!

CT: Oh, my... TM: Well done, that's amazing!

That... Really, that is amazing.

CT: That is amazing.

TM: Oh, I'm impressed.

VO: Well, who'd have thunk that?

She has quadrupled her cash!

The thing I love about auction, and what I still find so completely fascinating, is there are no two auctions the same.

It's such a journey, and you actually never know what something is gonna make, until the fall of that hammer.

Well you've proved that today.

Yeah.

Mind-blowing, isn't it?

Amazing.

Yeah.

I'm sorry that yours didn't make more.

Look, it wasn't excellent, but getting better.

You're getting better.

And back to buying.

Hmm, that makes me nervous.

Let's see what we can find.

VO: That's it.

Oh, brave spirit!

Tim set out with great expectations, but it was a bleak auction house for him today.

And after fees, he winds up with £165.10.

No hard times for Christina though.

After auction costs, that egg laid her a whopping £635.84.

We declare that our mutual friend is the winner this time.

Oh, Timothy, Timothy, Timothy.

Come on, shoulders up!

Pride, and I want to see you rising like a phoenix from the ashes, OK?

Dramatic.

Exactly, yeah.

Come on.

Onwards and upwards.

VO: Next time on Antiques Road Trip... Where are we?

VO: Help is at hand!

TM: Lead me to the profit.

CT: Cat power!

VO: But with all the hide and seek... CT: Oh my goodness.

VO: ..who's up?

Who's down?

Oh God, I hate spending money.

Oh no!

VO: Where will it all end?

# Here I go, oh!

# subtitling@stv.tv