Summersdale

Synopsis

‘We-have-a-house-in-the-country?’

Lena nodded solemnly.

‘Where?’ I almost shouted, briefly rattling the table. No wait, don’t tell me - it’s Todi in Umbria right? The old manor house, the one with the lemon groves!’

‘Alt-Globnitz.’

‘Alt-Globnitz?’ Suddenly I felt cold.

‘Alt-Globnitz. It’s a really nice place. You will love it.’

In a desperate attempt to save his relationship with girlfriend Lena and take a break from the world of journalism, Roger Boyes agrees to make a great escape from the easy urban lifestyle of Berlin and decamp to the countryside. He has hopes for Italy, but Lena has inherited a rundown old schloss in deepest, darkest Brandenburg.

Needing a form of income, they decide to set up a B & B with a British theme. Enter unhelpful Harry and his Trinidadian chef cousin, an unhinged Scot to advise them on re-branding Brandenburg, some suicidal frogs and a posse of mad tourists. It all culminates, naturally, in a cricket match between the Brits and the Germans on an old Russian minefield. Farce meets romance in this hilarious romp through East Germany's very own version of Fawlty Towers. 

'Roger Boyes' thigh-slapping account of a Brit's attempt to make it in rural Germany will leave you choking with laughter on your bratwurst'

Ben Hatch

'Boyes went to East Germany so no-one else has to. Danke!'

Henning Wehn