Reuben: Life in the Dales

This week, it's early autumn and as wet weather wreaks havoc in the Dales, Reuben and Sarah help their community in a crisis. Friend and stone mason Pete Roe asks the pair to lend a hand repairing a 200-year-old drain, known as a culvert, which has collapsed under the force of rain fall. Without the repair the access road will flood. Pete teaches them how to hand-split rocks using the traditional "plug and feather" method.

While Tommy is on holiday in Slovakia, Reuben and Sarah prepare for the friends' upcoming road trip to France. During a shopping trip for tent supplies and a French phrase book, unhappy camper Reuben confesses he's not looking forward to sleeping out in the cold.

In Tommy's absence Reuben enlists the help of friend and fellow machine lover Myles Capper to fetch three very vintage machines which Reuben's hoping he can fix and flip for a profit. A trip to neighbouring County Durham nearly ends in disaster when Reuben's low loader throws a puncture, and when Sarah and Reuben start to investigate the rotten tractors, they discover there is more work than they bargained for.

Reuben and Sarah are relieved when Tommy returns home as a farmer needs a favour: when a fallen tree wipes out a section of drystone wall causing sheep to escape, Reuben's heavy machinery is needed to shift the rotten trunk before the wall can be repaired. Reuben invests in a monster chain saw for the job and invites younger brother 17-year-old Miles to operate the tractor and winch. Nerves are taut as the winch strains under the weight of the timber, and as everyone gets involves splitting the tree for firewood, the friends reflect on the holiday now just around the corner.

This week the friends set sail for France on Reuben's first ever holiday abroad. Tommy gets hold of a GoPro to capture the milestone adventure as the three mates start their long drive from the Dales to Dover in Reuben's second-hand Land Rover. Reaching the south coast, the white cliffs are just the first of many new sights for the teenagers in the days to come.

Leaving the ferry behind in Calais, the friends' road trip will take them through Northern France where they're heading to Normandy and the Loire Valley.

During their first morning Reuben tries to break the language barrier and secure lunch for his friends, with the help of a French phrase book and a lot of support from Sarah.

Reuben, Tommy and Sarah all love rural life back home in the hills, so head to a vineyard to see how the French countryside compares. At Chateau des Chaintres in Saumur, vineyard owner Gael de Tigny invites them to help with the grape harvest on his family's 44-acre estate. And as it's been a dream of Reuben's to drive a skinny French vintage tractor, Gael allows Reuben to tow a fully loaded trailer with 1000 bottles worth of grapes on board.

Sarah and Tommy convince Reuben to camp for a night, but their site is next to a field where a combine harvester works through the night. The trio have a sleepless night and despite the warming hot chocolate shared round the camping stove, Reuben's reservations about camping may have been founded.

The following morning Tommy gets to fulfil a dream to drive on the famous Le Mans racetrack, albeit in a go-kart, and manages to claim poll position.

After visiting a tank museum and learning the first war machines were similar in design to Reuben's tractors at home, he's humbled to discover a war hero in the family when the friends visit a WW1 memorial site near the Somme.

It's the middle of October, and Reuben, Tommy and Sarah have returned from their holiday road trip through France. But as there's a busy autumn schedule ahead, the team has a dose of the post-holiday blues.

First on the agenda is clearing out the yard's barn as Reuben has a plan to sell old machinery at a local auction. But Reuben's vintage tractor is reluctant to leave and refuses to start. Sarah's lovingly painting an old plough with the hopes there's a buyer for this upcycled vintage machine. And Reuben and Tommy weld together a cow scraper in an effort to bag a good bid.

Their biggest job of the autumn season is an intricate plumbing project which will be a first for the new business. Reuben's neighbours John and Rachel are trusting the young team to remove their decades-old septic tank and replace it with a state-of-the-art system. But when Reuben discovers the pipework is buried throughout the carefully tended cottage garden, they must work out how to carefully excavate the couple's prized box hedges.

As Tommy is turning 18, he's old enough to fulfil his childhood dream to follow in his family's footsteps and become a qualified lorry driver. But before he can take lessons from his dad's cousin and haulier Neal, Tommy must pass a medical test.

When the auction day arrives Reuben invites brothers 17-year-old Miles and 11-year-old Sidney to join the team for the sale. And as they roam through the lots, Sid spots a petrol buggy he likes the look of, and Miles admires the livestock on sale in the auction ring.

When Tommy's 18th birthday arrives, the friends take him trials bike riding, Sarah goes on a secret birthday cake mission, and they celebrate his rite of passage together over a pint at their local.

It's winter, and a plumbing project turns into a disaster when rainwater lifts the septic tank out of a neatly dug hole. The biggest job of the season is digging out the playground of a Victorian village school before it can be renovated into a B&B. But when Reuben's digger cracks through tarmac, they accidentally damage an ancient underground drain.