LIVING

It was in 2005 that Canadian Dawn Buckler and her English boyfriend Rocco Barker decided to take the plunge. They lived in London and had been together for a few years; she worked in the media industry and he was a guitarist in a band. They had dreams of living a Mediterranean lifestyle and loved Barcelona. On one of their weekend breaks to the Catalan capital, they decided to explore the outskirts of the city and during that exploration, they found a house in the village of Sant Feliu del Racó just north of Terrassa. “When we saw the house, we knew we had to have it,” said Dawn Buckler.

“The idea was for a designer relaxation pad in the Catalan mountains,” explained Buckler. She would take care of the business side of things and Barker the creative side; they would “completely refurbish the house into five-star luxury, complete with a modern retro design, themed bedrooms, swimming pool, extension etc...[and] include chauffeur, chef and tour guide services as a complete package for tourists who wanted to enjoy luxury in real Spain,” Buckler said. They planned to call it Casa Jetset.

Back in London, she saw an advert placed by a TV company looking for people to feature in a fly-on-the-wall documentary about setting up a business overseas and she pitched their idea for Casa Jetset. The proposed renovation was a hugely ambitious project and the TV company loved the idea; the charismatic couple and the realisation of their dream seemed the perfect subject for the documentary. Dawn and Rocco purchased the house and signed the contracts to live the next eight months of their lives under the watchful gaze of the television cameras.

Eager to see their dream house take shape, Dawn and Rocco wasted no time finding an architect, contractors and someone to help them with translations. After an initial spurt of activity, however, what followed were months of red tape delays and rapidly increasing debts. The couple were living in a caravan on the drive of their home; the cramped living conditions and lack of progress and money put a huge strain on their relationship and they began to argue.