Let's talk about: Poldark series premiere

 With the premiere of the BBC series Poldark on PBS this weekend, I knew I needed to watch it. 

I didn't know anything about Poldark going into this. 

I haven't read the books. I haven't seen the original series. 

I was able to watch it on PBS online for free. 

Poldark is a British drama adapted from Winston Graham's novels.

In the series premiere, Ross Poldark returns to Cornwall, England after fighting in the American Revolution. 

I found this really interesting because as the fourth of July approaches I have been wondering what it was like in England, especially for those who fought in the American Revolution, after we won. 

I have been researching it a bit and hopefully will have a post up about my findings/ thoughts on that in the next couple of weeks. 

Ross Poldark didn't seem to believe in England's reason for fighting. He more than once makes a comment about tyranny and that England chose the wrong side. 

When he arrives home, he finds that his family and friends thought he was dead. 

His father has died and his estate is in ruin. The woman he was in love with is now engaged to his cousin. 

Poldark has to face the challenges this new life holds for him. 

Poldark is played by Aidan Turner. I really loved watching him in this role. I think he is going to be great in this show and it is really fun to watch my favorite dwarf (he was Kili in The Hobbit!) again. 

 I can't say that it pulled me in the same way some other BBC dramas have, but it did pique my interest and I will continue to watch it to see what happens and how the characters develop. 

*Did you watch the premiere?

*What did you think?

Let's talk about: Escape to the Country

Over the weekend I discovered a show I really love. 

I watch it on YouTube on the channel TheOloxxl.

It is called Escape to the Country. 

Escape to the Country is a BBC series in which a host helps people to house hunt for their perfect country home. 

So far I have watched episodes that have been in England, Wales, and Scotland. 

The prospective home buyers are shown three homes. 

The first two tend to line up with exactly what they want and have asked for. 

The third one that they call the Mystery House usually has some element to it that it is different from their list of wants (maybe it is just across a border into another county for example) but is usually really well suited to the buyers. 

I have seen at least four different hosts , all of whom I have liked, but so far my favorite is Jules Hudson. 

He is s an English archaeologist, television producer, and presenter. 

My favorite thing about him is how he responds to comments from the house buyers by saying "Isn't it just." It sounds so British. I love it. 

This show is very different from the typical American home buying show for many reasons. 

First, not only do they take the buyers around to the three homes, but they also have one to two segments about the history or culture from the particular area. 

Also, the buyers don't pick a house at the end. 

Sometimes it will have a follow up voice over at the end letting you know if anything came of the showings, but most of the time it doesn't. You usually know whether the buyers are going to pursue one particular house or not, but sometimes you don't even know that. 

I don't think it would do well in America for that reason because most of our shows seem to be motivated by "which one will the person pick". 

I kind of like that about the show. 

I always have my favorite house and ,to be honest, I am pretty sure I could happily live in about 80% of the houses I have seen on it so far. 

It is also interesting to see how different the British homes are from those in the United States. 

Our mindset here tends to be the bigger the better. 

The homes shown on this show seem to mostly be much smaller and they will go into a room that seems small to my eyes and exclaim over how spacious it is. 

I love that as well. 

I have really enjoyed every episode I have watched. I love seeing how each home is so different from the last and seeing the beautiful countryside of each place they visit. 

 

 If you enjoy property-type shows or just want to look at some cool homes I suggest watching some of these episodes! 

 There are a lot of episodes on TheOloxxl!

Check them out and let me know what you think!