My Floating Home

In this new series, presenter Mark Evans charts the exploits of individuals, couples and families who aspire to leave landlocked suburbia behind to live in stunning aquatic homes that float on water. This opening episode meets Mark and Holly in Chichester, as they design, build, launch and furnish a unique floating home in an area of outstanding natural beauty. They want to design a ground-breaking floating house in the middle of all the narrowboats and pleasure cruisers moored along the Chichester riverbank. The design has unique features, such as cedar baffles that prevent outsiders looking in, and a beautiful mezzanine leading to a rooftop deck-space for socialising. But transporting the boat's superstructure to Chichester in one piece and on time proves a challenge. And then they must fit it all together.

Mark Evans meets Dwayne and Janet, who have a dream to design and build an experimental oversized houseboat, so they can take their home with them anywhere on the vast network of UK canals. Never having lived on the water before - nor even driven a boat - taking the plunge with building their own floating home from scratch is a huge challenge. Also, water-loving couple Lydia and Wout live on an old steamship and have decided it's time to modernise and join a small community of floating homes on a canal south of Amsterdam. Will they be able to get their spectacular home, with its wraparound deck, to its mooring?

Mark Evans follows British-born Steve King and his friend Rick Keith, who meet up in Maine, New England, every year to restore old boats. Now Steve wants to make his own tiny floating home - and, by using recycled materials, he plans to spend no more than ú7000 on it. There's also Michelle Lanker and Bill Bloxom - outdoor-loving environmentalists who want to make a floating home with a breathtaking design: the curved roof of their boat will be covered in grass and solar panels. They also plan a huge underwater basement, with a window looking out into the fishy waters below. But making the window thick enough to withstand the elements proves a real struggle.

Mark Evans follows two couples building homes on the water, including one that features a three-storey layout complete with sun decks.

Shirley and Russ want to join a community of 600 floating homes in Canada. They're set on a luxury ranch-style floating home with wraparound decks, but the launch is hair-raising - one slip and it will be a disaster. Also, Glenn and Margaret build a nautically themed floating home with a high barrel ceiling in a marina on Vancouver's north shore.

Mark Evans meets Milt and Judi Taylor, who want to swap their Oregon apartment for a floating home in the forests around Portland.

Susan Dunn is passionate about building a stunning floating home using the latest in contemporary design in Seattle, Washington. And Harry Janzen and Tina McComb dream of a massive three-storey wilderness retreat.

In the Netherlands, a water-loving couple build a superlong floating home deep in the heart of canal country

An adventurous couple build a nautical-theme floating home in a marina with stunning views of the sea and mountains. Features of their abode include port hole windows, arched doorways, a high barrel ceiling, and an outdoor deck.

A couple builds an oversized house boat so they can travel all over the U.K.

Nature lovers, Harry and Tina live on Canada's Vancouver Island and would like to move onto the water full-time and find the perfect mooring at Maple Bay Marina on the island's east coast. They build a massive three story wilderness retreat with a second floor glass wall leading onto a patio deck, complete with a huge roof terrace. While trying to move it to the mooring site, the wind immediately grabs hold of it, pushing it straight into another house. Finally, they win the battle against the elements and tie the new home onto its mooring overlooking the bay.

Mark and Holly have wanted to live on a floating home all of their life. When a mooring becomes free in Chichester Marina, UK, they decide to take the plunge and build a floating home from scratch. They hire an award-winning architect to come up with a modern single story design with a roof terrace and floor to ceiling windows. After some major design issues, their minimalist, ultra-modern floating home is finally complete and it's the perfect relaxing retreat they've always dreamed of.