Escape to the Country hunt derailed by ‘perfect town that has everything’ as BBC host gasps ‘what happened?!’

Escape to The Country presenter Alistair Appleton was left gobsmacked and asking ‘what happened?!” after guests on the show decided to derail on their original property choice, instead opting for town life. 

In 2008, house hunters Pauline and David were looking for their dream home in the countryside before the tiny townhouse with "everything" captured their hearts.

The married couple from High Wycombe set their sights on moving to a rural retreat in West Wales when they appeared on the BBC show with a budget of £325,000.

On the show, Alistair took them to a mystery house in Portfield Gate, Pembrokeshire, which was within their budget and worth £300,000.

Automatically, David seemed to be sold by the converted stable block, especially after they discovered the price of the charming property. 

However, Alistair revisited the couple in 2022 to check if they had found their perfect home and the couple revealed that they had done a U-turn after they set their eyes on a town just 20 minutes away.

Ultimately, it resulted in Pauline and David deciding to buy a modern four-bed detached house in Narberth, which had everything they wanted.

Alistair asked the couple: “It's not what you asked for at all, what happened to the mystery house? 

“Let's spin back the clock, and you were all set to buy the mystery house, it was very beautiful but very remote. David, you were quite set on not being in a town."

David replied, as reported by : "I think I like to be alone sometimes in a broad sense, and so the idea of a countryside one was appealing to me, but this is a very quiet area of the village, you're out of the village here and turns out to be just what I wanted, although I didn't know.

“One thinks you know what you want to move to, but when it comes to the going and the looking, especially the way it's done with Escape (to the Country) - it helps you to really find out what it is that you want.”

Pauline added: "It's not what we thought we wanted when we went on your programme.

"I think we realised it was too remote for us. We found this, and we knew it was the one straight away.”

She admitted that they had “all the things” they needed in the town, including “lovely” restaurants, shops, a doctor’s surgery and a dentist.

Pauline concluded: “It's a really lively community of people, fun-loving and lots of interesting projects on the go at the moment. We are really, really happy here."

Recently, Escape to the Country has been hit by a tragic death after one of the show's buyers, named Neil, sadly died just three years on from their appearance. 

In the spin-off series where hosts revisit buyers, Denise took a trip to North Wales to catch up with some old buyers but was left distraught after hearing of the passing of the star who featured with his wife Angela during an episode in 2018.

Escape to the Country is available on BBC iPlayer.