Northamptonshire councillor's barn of hidden treasures revealed by TV show Find It, Fix It, Flog It airing tonight

Garage owners often don’t have space for a car as junk and rubbish accumulate in the makeshift dumping ground – but imagine if your garage is 60ft by 60ft!

When Braybrooke’s Jim Hakewill inherited his father’s barn in his village, the huge garage that once hosted dances and banquets became a storage facility for family and friends.

Last cleared out in 2009, unwanted and unused items built up but when Jim saw that the team from TV show Find It, Fix It, Flog It was looking for barns and their contents, he leapt at the chance.

Now a show featuring Jim – a North Northamptonshire councillor and former Kettering mayor – will appear tonight (Monday, April 15) on the Yesterday channel as well as streaming on UKTV.

Jim said: “I answered a request for people with barns full of things – mostly rubbish – that the Find It, Fix It, Flog It programme could feature in their new series.

“I didn’t expect to hear any more but a researcher came and looked and a few weeks later the stars of the show Henry Cole and Simon O’Brien arrived with their camera crew.”

The barn the family call the ‘big shed’, because it was the biggest on his father’s farm, was designed and built in 1965 as a grain store and for mixing food for the cattle on the farm.

Jim welcomed the film crew to the barn in November, when presenters Henry Cole and Simon O’Brien rummaged through big shed.

He said: “They were cracking jokes and having fun. I’m a fan of the show, I like to watch it.”

The pair chose a number of items that were taken back to be restored and valued by the team behind the show – expert restorer Gemma and mechanic Allen. The selected items have been fixed and sold, with the help of expert valuer Ronnie Archer Morgan.

Jim said: “They went around and grabbed what they wanted and took them away, two items each. It was last cleared in 2009 for our daughter’s wedding reception. Every time since then, when someone had something they wanted later it was put in the barn.

"It had been used to store about 100 tonnes of wheat for the farm and a combine and a tractor.

"It’s now embarrassingly full of lots of things and I’m using it to kick start me clearing it out and resisting myself, friends and family storing yet more stuff in there.”

Jim has now received the money for the fixed and flogged items.

He said: “We are going to give a portion to Homestart Kettering, use part of it to fix the roof, and with the bit left over put towards a holiday."

If he doesn’t attend Mawsley Parish Council meeting tonight, he will be watching the programme with his family.

He added: “This could be the start of a glittering career! I’m feeling motivated now – the shed will be cleared through eBay and skips.”

Watch Jim at 8pm tonight on Yesterday or on UKTV play.