Nick Knowles' Original Features Season 1

Nick Knowles meets Trisha and Ian, whose home appears to be a two-story cottage but has four floors and an odd layout.

A young IT worker tackles the renovation of his mid-terrace ex-miner’s cottage near Manchester. As this DIY novice attempts to transform the drab décor of his home, Nick helps out with some great design ideas and encourages him to restore and reinstate all those original features. But the real story here is the area's past dependence on coal, and it is the intriguing connection between the house's history and our budding DIYer's own ancestry that makes this project truly personal.

Former army captain Mark Mathews and his wife, actress and style journalist Maria, have moved with their two children from fashionable Fulham into a Georgian mill house in sleepy Somerset. Builders are desperately trying to make the house habitable whilst the Mathews rent nearby. Previous owners had stripped the house of all its original features, so Mark and Maria are on a mission to restore some grandeur. They plan to replace floorboards, fireplaces and chandeliers. Whilst work on the house races on, Nick and the team explore the history of the millhouse. They turn their attentions to the ruined mill in the back garden and find some unusual artefacts that cast light on the property's past. Meanwhile, inside the house, Maria has always been intrigued by the strange ornate staircase. Could it be a highly prized Chinese Chippendale? As the team reveal the truth of its origins, the lives of the Georgian owners and their unusual influence on the architecture of the house itself emerge.

Divorcee Emma House is a museum designer who moved to Pear Tree Cottage in Warwickshire two years ago. She loves interior design and has a passion for fabrics and quilting, so the house is designed immaculately. But there is still more to do. Dating the house has been guesswork so far, but estimates suggest it’s between 200 and 500 years old. Emma has made lots of little discoveries in the floorboards, including a little milk token from 1964 which has the name and address of the little boy who owned it and lived there. She would love to reunite it with the original owner. Initial work on the house has also revealed other small objects under the floor boards – from little toy soldiers, blacksmith nails and a tin of cigarettes dating back to an exhibition in 1894.

Colin and Emma Bannon live in a beautiful, white Regency villa straight out of Mary Poppins. But the interior is straight out of a 1970s disco, complete with mirror ball, remote control wood burner in the drawing room and coloured-glass tiles where a disco Jacuzzi once sat. As they pull up floorboards and expose the original walls, the house starts to surprise the Bannon's with little glimpses of the past. Not only do they reveal the home’s true history, but Colin finds out something about the architect who built it that links back to his own past in Canada.

24-year-old Lucy Warren and her sister, Lena, are restoring their Victorian terrace in a village just outside Bristol to its original period charm. They plan to add their own twist – a shared love of the decorative designs of Art Nouveau – but must keep within a strict budget they have set themselves. Under the guidance of their restoration-enthusiast mum, Lucy and Lena have finished the living room and bedroom and have stripped floorboards, reinstalled sash windows and splashed out £100 on some treasured William Morris feature wallpaper. Lucy also owns a sizeable garden. The deeds suggest that in the early 1900s, the adjacent plot of land was bought for £35, but that this land now lies unused. A few old finds hidden in the undergrowth are ripe for salvaging, not least a roll top Victorian bath.

They currently live in the Tan Hill Inn, Yorkshire, the highest pub in Britain (1,732ft above sea level), but it doesn’t have enough land for Mike’s beloved collection of vintage tractors. Their new home is a Grade II listed farmhouse, with a walled garden, an old granary and the foundations of other previous phases visible.

After five house sales fell through, and they rejected this house without even going upstairs, they surprised themselves by falling in love with it on a second visit. Built in 1961 in Boverton, just outside Llantwit Major, the house is a great example of a 1960s suburban structure complete with original features. The family are busy building a large two story extension to the side of the house, which will completely transform the look of it from the outside and give them lots more living space inside. Restoring a house from this period brings unique challenges with it, so the Wilkes's find out who lived there originally and even meet some of the previous occupants who are able share their memories of the house.

Emma and Andy Ratcliffe live in a beautiful old schoolhouse just outside Bath, which they bought just over a year ago in order to escape the suburban rat race. Research reveals that the school house was built in 1860 when national schools were introduced.

Pete and Liza Saunders live in a classic Georgian townhouse in central Bath, built in 1774 by John Wood (who also designed the famous pump rooms and the crescent in the city). Previously divided up for student accommodation, and furnished with 1970s decor, the Saunders plan to restore the house to its former glory. So far they have completely restored the drawing room with Georgian features, but a pair of shoes left behind a wall presents a mystery. The Saunders also find that one of the bedrooms has a sealed up chimney recess, complete with an old-fashioned door that looks like it has never been opened.