George Clarke is a British writer, TV presenter, lecturer and architect who most people are familiar with for his Channel 4 shows The Home Show, The Restoration Man and the one we want to talk about now, George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces.
Amazing Spaces was a brilliant look at the world of small builds, a phenomenon where people for many different reasons whether it was available space, budget or that they just wanted a challenge, turned incredibly small spaces into places where they could live, work or even play.
Throughout the series Clarke met people who had either made homes or were making homes out of all manner of small spaces such as old buses, horseboxes, shipping containers in urban areas and amazing tree houses and tiny huts in the middle of the woods. To follow the theme of his show, George took on his own small build when he bought an old and in bad condition caravan with the aim of turning it into a beautiful and comfortable second home for his family to use.
As you will see as we give an overview of each episode, this show had special significance for us at Discover Glamping as it was one of the first programmes on national television to feature glamping and really brought it to people’s attention and made them realise it was a really cool thing.
Episode 1 – Loo, Horsebox and Bus
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/george-clarkes-amazing-spaces/4od#3488337
In the very first episode we learn why George decided to do this show and he hints at some of the things we will see over the course of series. The programme is meant to inspire us to have our own small pieces of heaven.
A landscape gardener and his florist wife decided to buy a dilapidated Bedford bus and turn it into a place that he can rent out for £100 a night. We learn that although he the owner doesn’t have any experience, George reminds us that for small builds you need to have a big imagination. The couple seem undeterred even if George can’t see them being able to turn it into something fit for family holidays. That bus in the first episode eventually was transformed in The Majestic Bus and can be rented out for holidays as a very interesting type of glamping. George also discussed his love of family holidays when he was a kid and that it was usually in a caravan. This is what fuels his idea for his own project during the series.
In the first episode, apart from The Majestic Bus, one of the things that stunned us the most was what a woman did with an unused underground public toilet. She had managed to turn it from something disgusting and unfit for habitation into a stylish and modern looking living space. There were also some interesting uses for old horseboxes!
Episode 2 – Caravan, Shipping Container and Bolt-Hole
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/george-clarkes-amazing-spaces/4od#3488340
In this episode we see George take his first steps to turning his old caravan into a holiday home for his family by removing all the 70’s interior. It has to be said that his mate, a builder, does not see the potential and thinks George might have bitten off more than he can chew. While doing this we learn about many of the ingenious ways that other people working on small builds have tried to get the most out of space and expand it where possible.
One of the most impressive things in this episode was undoubtedly the Hackney community who live and work inside customized and renovated shipping containers. Although they start off looking like, well shipping containers, by the time they have been completed they are all colourful and look like trendy flats. In this episode George also met a teacher who had bought his own plot of land in the Lake District and who built his own Bolt-hole from scratch.
Episode 3 – Gypsy Caravans, Beach hut and Modules.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/george-clarkes-amazing-spaces/4od#3488341
To help inspire his own caravan build, George visits a woman called Gemma who has restored quite a few gypsy caravans back to life. He also tries to think outside the box when it comes to making space in his build for his family of 5 to sleep in even when there is not much space for a double bed. It really hits home that when you get involved in these sorts of builds that you will always come across problems and issues and may even go over budget, but the more important thing is how you get round these and not giving up on your dream.
He also meets a couple in Bournemouth who instead of having a honeymoon used the money they would have spent to buy a 6 ft. by 6 ft. beach hut that they intended to turn into a very small but functional space that would enable them to have up to 6 people round for lunch. Just like the other people George has met and meets throughout the series, they are determined to make their plans work – even if they seem crazy.
There was also a couple in Scotland who had taken a very big risk financially by investing their £30,000 life savings on a design by local Sam Booth that has not been tried and tested. The results were very magical, but it really hits home the kind of risk people take and it’s no different when it comes to things like glamping.
Episode 4 – Tube carriages, tree tent and caravan
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/george-clarkes-amazing-spaces/4od#3488327
In this episode there are some unbelievably smart offices built from a collection of 4 out of service tube carriages and he also takes us along to see the first tree tent built in this country, as well as meeting Ruth Tidd who has a rather exciting plan to turn a caravan that was used for housing chickens into a fancy ice cream parlour. For his own build we see him invent a bed that doubles up as a bath.
Episode 5 – War vehicle, showman’s carriage and beach hut
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/george-clarkes-amazing-spaces/4od#3488336
In this episode we loved the fact that someone had thought to try and achieved building a WWII vehicle into a lovely family home. However, it was hard to not laugh at and feel sorry all at the same time for the man who had bought a 1920’s showman’s carriage on eBay without realising how bad its condition was. George faces yet more problems with his own build as he has ordered windows for his caravan but discovers that they are manufactured for boats.
Episode 6 – Caravan, Container and Barge
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/george-clarkes-amazing-spaces/4od#3488324
In the final part we see the results of George and his team’s hard work as he reveals his 70’s caravan converted into a family holiday home that includes a made to fit kitchen, wood burning stove, ingenious bedrooms and an amazing decking area that will allow him and his small family to enjoy the views of the English countryside.
We loved seeing the barge that been converted into a marvellous bachelor pad as it just shows that there is no limit to what you can achieve when you have an idea. As a cautionary side to things we also met a man who had a relatively simple plan of transforming a shipping container into an especially made office for his garden that was less simple than he imagined.
Episode 7 – Amazing Spaces at Christmas
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/george-clarkes-amazing-spaces/4od#3488339
In this fun and interesting Christmas special of the programme, George went round the country visiting small and ingenious builds that had Christmas themes. This includes an advent calendar made out of beach huts that each day of the festive period a different hut opens its doors to the public, an underground Santa’s Grotto that was painstakingly decorated with 4.5 million shells and gingerbread houses.
He also looks back on the highs and lows of his own small build as well as catching up with the different people featured in the show.
The programme overall was a very interesting watch and it was obviously popular as Channel 4 commissioned a second series, that we will discuss on the next page.
