Alan Carr and Amanda Holden ‘travel-reno’ show

I'm not a fan of either of the two people but it´s always good to watch people take on a Spanish renovation job however much trickery is going on behind the scenes.

It’s a scorching summer afternoon in Moclín, a village near Granada in southern Spain, reached by precipitous switchback roads that rise above burnished yellow fields and miles of olive groves. There’s no sign of life. In the main square, Moclín’s one shop is shut for the afternoon siesta. So is the only bar. But from within the imposing, white double-fronted house next door, a familiar cackle breaks the silence.

Inside, Amanda Holden and Alan Carr, who are close friends beyond their TV co-presenting duties, are chatting around a dining table that they have made from an old wooden door. It’s the final day of filming for their latest renovation series, which — after two series of Amanda and Alan’s Italian Job, when they restored cheap, derelict properties in Sicily and Tuscany — has taken them to Andalusia.

The property has been empty for 35 years, despite its prominent position opposite the town hall, which is home to not just Spain’s youngest mayor “but also the sexiest — he’s so fit,” says Carr, resplendent in a Hawaiian shirt. “We think this is our best house so far. It’s definitely the biggest,” says Holden, who has jettisoned her overalls for an immaculate white trouser suit. “We felt we’d drunk the Aperol dry in Italy after two series and we needed to up our game somewhere new.”

But how on earth did they end up in Moclín? Though only half an hour’s drive from Granada and an hour and half from Malaga, it’s a place that few stumble across. That’s the point, though, of their “travel-reno” TV series, Holden says. “We want to find places that have lost their energy and their young people. We’re putting effort and money into a place that needs it.”

Moclín’s 200 residents will surely be hoping the duo sprinkle the same stardust here that they did in Salemi in Sicily, where they took advantage of the scheme to sell houses for €1 to repopulate dying rural villages.

They turned two €1 properties into a two-bedroom apartment that sold to a British buyer for its asking price of €145,000. “This type of exposure has attracted potential buyers in Salemi, especially from England but also Italy, looking for character homes in need of restoration,” says Diletta Giorgolo, the head of Italy Sotheby’s International Realty, who handled the sale.

The pair’s project in the Tuscan village of Fornovolasco, with only 100 residents, also helped to fuel a 60 per cent spike in property searches for nearby Lucca in the month after it aired, according to the property portal Rightmove. A young American couple put down their deposit before seeing it in person. “Then they came to visit and went ahead with the purchase as a holiday home,” says Roy Santi from the estate agency Houses in Tuscany. “The villagers tell me there have been a lot of British visitors who take pictures of the house, and we still receive requests to view it, even though it has been sold.”

With Moclín’s tiny and ageing population dwindling, its future is uncertain. “When three elderly residents died in quick succession recently, the population decreased by 1.5 per cent. Moclín may be just one generation away from disappearing,” says Ian Rutter, who moved there from London six years ago and runs Granada Village & Country estate agency. He sourced the property, which the TV company bought for €65,000 and will launch for sale at the end of the series. And he assembled two teams of builders and an architect.

The renovation gave the presenters chance to discover a region they knew little about. “I used to go on holiday in Malaga as a child and when I was bored, my parents would just tell me to go to the beach. I could kill them now. I didn’t know how much more there was to Andalusia,” Carr says. Holden’s new-found love is the Alhambra palace in Granada. “It’s just gorgeous,” she says. “It’s a very Moorish area and we wanted that influence in the house.”

Before they could focus on the ornamental flourishes, though, there were some basic issues to deal with in the three-storey house. “It didn’t have squatters, unlike the house in Sicily, but the roof needed changing. And we found a poo in a bath,” Carr says. While they were converting a loft, Holden says, “a snake dropped down from the ceiling”.

What may surprise viewers is just how hands-on the pair really are. “We were like a tag team,” Holden says. “We looked at quite a few properties as the house needs to have a good structure. Then we came out to get a feel for the place and every weekend at least one of us was here. After the second or third visit, it doesn’t feel like a job. Renovation is a real passion for both of us.”

They won’t reveal their budget, but it was tight. “It wouldn’t go far in London,” says Holden, who has been charting the renovation of her £7 million home in Cobham, Surrey, on Instagram. So they sourced as much as possible cheaply “and we recycled and upcycled. That’s an important part of the message, along with using local knowledge and artisans,” she says, pointing out some old pieces of guttering that now form the kitchen lights. She was also so taken with the pomegranate-themed crockery they painted in Granada that she has ordered a set for herself.

To save money, Carr tried his hand at bricklaying. “I built the brick base of the oven and was very proud of it,” he says. “Then they knocked it down and reassembled it, and I only found out on camera of course.”

They have taken inspiration from the intricate Moorish design in the Alhambra, in the arches that frame the bedroom doors and a decorative Mudéjar-style ceiling that uses a 1,000-year-old technique of fixing the tiles using grass and plaster of Paris.

There’s also a reminder of Moclín’s history in the “Ibiza” bedroom, which has a view towards the 13th-century hilltop castle overlooking the village. “Catherine of Aragon’s mum and dad lived there,” Carr says, “and from the castle, you can see the Alhambra in Granada lit up at night. There’s also a rule that if you look down into the town, you mustn’t be able to see on to anyone’s private terraces, in case they’re sunbathing topless,” he says, with a wink in Holden’s direction.

A surprise awaits on the top floor of the house, a sultry, blue-walled lounge with a backlit onyx cocktail bar and billowing drapes hand-stitched by Carr. “It’s the bar of my dreams. It’s the Soho House of Moclín,” Holden says. “Creatively and design-wise, we’ve pushed it with this house. We couldn’t be more playful and theatrical.”

When the series airs, the house will go on sale furnished, down to every last piece handmade by the pair. The point, though, is to drive people to Moclín and to inject new energy into the town. In Salemi, points out Giorgolo, “media visibility has brought new buyers, but many of them tend to use the properties as second homes or investments”.

Selling the Andalusian property to holiday homebuyers would defeat the purpose, Rutter agrees. “If you’re only here for two weeks a year, you’re adding nothing to the village at all.” And so Casa Alamanda mark III has been designed as a B&B to ensure year-round use. Carr has even installed a hotel reception bell in the entrance. There are only three bedrooms, but there is scope for more in some outbuildings in the back garden that they ran out of budget to renovate.

The project brought a buzz to the village long before the series was due to air, Rutter says. “Everyone has felt an energy since they began filming here and the bar, which fed the crew throughout, is now always busy. People had become dispirited with Moclín and left. We’re trying to turn the juggernaut around and say it’s worth doing things here. Open hotels, shops and restaurants and people will come.”

Moclín can accommodate househunters of all budgets, whether you’re after a total renovation for €35,000 or a classic white cortijo on a 290-acre estate for €5 million. “The series shines the spotlight on a quiet village and I’m really hoping some of the properties for sale get some interest,” Carr says.

As they prepare to meet their families in Granada for the end-of-filming wrap party, Carr and Holden look genuinely sad to be saying goodbye to the property that has consumed so much of their attention for three months. “We always feel, ‘Oh God, do we have to sell?’ It’s heartbreaking to leave it,” Holden says.

“It’s what I imagine being a surrogate is like,” Carr replies.

As they leave, Moclín’s square is still deserted in the afternoon heat, as has been the way for centuries. Maybe, though, Carr and Holden’s influence will help to breathe life into this sleepy village for at least another generation.

Second paragraph onwards courtesy of Zoe Dare Hall writing in The Times newspaper

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