KING Charles has fought to save a £45m home in a landmark Grand Designs-style property show.
The new ITV documentary, Most Difficult Challenge, took a peek at one of King Charles’ rundown estates.
The hour-long special, which took more than a decade to produce, details his ambitious plan to restore the 18th-century stately home dubbed Dumfries House, a 2,000-acre property in Ayrshire which was left in disrepair.
King Charles, then known as the prince of Wales, led a consortium which paid £45million for the broken-down estate in 2007 in a bid to save it from ruin and help restore the underprivileged local community.
During the special episode, titled A Royal Grand Design, Charles described the huge project as an “appalling risk,” but he added it was worth it to help the local community who struggled after the loss of the mining industry.
The show was centred on restoring the property’s main house and bringing the walled garden back to life, which was one of Europe’s largest.
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The king also wanted to add a horticultural and education centre, a cookery school, textiles centre, STEM unit, and an adventure playground.
Speaking of the project, King Charles said: “I wanted to try and make a difference to the local area. It had many of the worst indices of unemployment and ill health and everything else.
“I’m one of those people who rather likes taking on the most difficult challenges. I felt it was worth taking this appalling risk and taking out such a big loan.”
He added: “This area has been so battered and deprived, particularly since the loss of the mining industry and everything.”
The then-prince branded himself “frightfully over ambitious,” as he shared his plans of another project in the UK in the future, saying he wants to help people and their families.
He said: “That’s my problem, I’m frightfully over ambitious. I long to use this model in other parts of the country where I know it can make a big impact on people’s lives and livelihoods and their whole future and their families’ futures, which is what matters to me.”
He added: “I hope there’ll be another project fairly soon somewhere, which could be quite large, and hopefully there will be other opportunities. We’ll see. I haven’t given up yet… Watch this space, as they say.”
The episode will be broadcast on ITV on November 30 at 9pm
