TV presenter Sandi Toksvig says if she could live in any of the properties she visited in the latest series of her show ‘Extraordinary Escapes’, it would be the Swiss-style house overlooking the River Wye from Netflix’s ‘Sex Eduction’.
The QI and former Great British Bake Off host has given fans of the hit coming-of-age show a peak inside the chalet at Symonds Yat East, which features as the home of sex therapist Jean Milburn, played by ‘X-Files’ star Gillian Anderson, and her son Otis, played by Asa Butterfield.
Sandi took comedian Jenny Eclair to stay at the house overlooking The Saracens Head for the second series of Extraordinary Escapes, which is now available to view on Channel 4’s streaming platform All 4.
The trip was Sandi’s second visit to the Wye Valley after she was joined by Bake Off judge and TV chef Prue Leith for a stay at The Hudnells Hideout luxury treehouse near St Briavels in series one of the show.
Before the second series aired, Sandi said of the chalet: “Jenny Eclair and I went to the Wye Valley, and one of the houses we stayed in was flat-packed from Scandinavia at the turn of the 20th century.
“It was used for filming the Netflix series, Sex Education, and if I could live in any of the properties we visited it would be that one.”
The chalet, which Sandi described as a ”kind of early 20th century Ikea”, was transformed into a holiday rental after the first series of Sex Education, with its owner revealing they had received hundreds of requests for stays from around the world because of the show’s success.
It also features in a new book called ‘Extraordinary Escapes: Unique and Wild Getaways Across the UK’, which has been written by former Guardian journey editor Gemma Bowes.
“Set 500ft above the River Wye on the steep slope rising to Symonds Yat Rock, this red timber Nordic chalet is a scene-stealer”, Gemma writes of the chalet in the book.
“It featured in an Ideal Homes Exhibition after being shipped to England from Norway as a flat-pack house in 1912, and was a location for the Netflix series Sex Education.
“A top-to-toe consultation with Farrow & Ball informed the latest revamp, creating a colour-saturated interior with a wonderful Smoke Green conservatory and pinky-brown attic.
“From the wraparound deck with hand-built pizza oven and wood-fired Swedish bath, steps lead down through the garden to a summer house with a secret cinema, then to the river.”
Sandi said of the new series, where she is joined for each episode by another well-known female friend: “We go to amazing places but what I Iove is it’s a chance to have conversations with six fascinating women and see an unvarnished version of everyone.
“There is no script, no list of questions and we are very much in the moment.
‘‘I think making this is the most relaxed I’ve been. I’m not normally very good at switching off.”
Her other companions on the show include comedians Sarah Millican and Sara Pascoe, actresses Sunetra Sarker and Sue Johnston, and artist Philippa Perry.
To watch the series, go to www.channel4.com. The Chalet is featured in series two, number six.