'I've had seven marriages and two babies'

WHEN she played at being a matchmaker, farmer's daughter Caroline Gee had a better success rate than Blind Date's Cilla Black. "I've had seven marriages, with people either happily married or about to be. And two babies," says the farmer's daughter from North Yorkshire.

She displayed her dating skills organising The Farmer Wants A Wife campaigns for Country Living magazine. Then the idea was adopted for an ITV series.

Her new TV task involves matching people and places. Country places, to be precise, in BBC2's new afternoon series Escape To The Country. The aim of Gee and fellow presenter Nick Page is to find the country home of their dreams for city dwellers eager to sample the good out-of-town life.

As a North Yorkshire farmer's daughter raised on the Scarborough/Filey coast, she's certainly qualified for the job. "I was lucky enough to grow up on a farm. It was the perfect childhood," she says.

As a teenager, life was more complicated. "There was only one bus a week that went to Scarborough, and didn't come back until the following week. We were desperate to buy lipstick and meet boys," she says.

"I shot off to university in Bristol and pretty well straight to London after that. But I've always been close to places where I can get out into the countryside. I've just been back to North Yorkshire for four or five days and got my fix of countryside."

Although 35-year-old Gee loves the country, she's just as happy living in London. But she understands people's yearning to move out of the big cities. "As a nation, we all say we need our countryside," she says. "Most people's dream is one day to have their little place in the country."

There was no shortage of volunteers, mostly from London, but also from Leeds and Bristol, to take part in the programme. Gee plays at being an estate agent, not just for couples and families, but a single mum and retired people as well.

"I know every inch of Great Britain now, which was one of the good things about doing the programme. I discovered all the nice places and little villages," says Gee, who was recruited by producers who'd seen her present The Farmer Wants A Wife.

"I'd meet the people, talk to them about their tastes and requirements, what sort of property they wanted and where it should be. Then we showed them four properties, and they chose two to have a look at. Needless to say, it's not easy," she says.

The obvious requests were for a certain number of bedrooms or space for an office so people could work at home. Others wanted the garden they couldn't have in the city.

She also had to deal with unusual requests. "One guy said he was building an aeroplane, so he wanted an outbuilding big enough for that. I assumed he meant an Airfix model, It turned out he was building a full-size plane," she recalls. One couple, living in the middle of London, wanted to go green and needed somewhere they could generate their own electricity. So they were after a property where they could set up a wind turbine or river power."

The current state of the property market made things harder for her. "Houses, the real goodies, come up and go so quickly. Quite often, we found a property and, before we had a chance to look round or tell the family, it would have been sold. So my heart goes out to people who are looking for houses," she says. "We did jolly well really, considering the way the market is. Half a dozen made bids on a property. Some couples are waiting to hear the outcome, others haven't come to fruition.

"What's happened to quite a few is, even if they didn't buy one of the properties we found, they focused on the area or village we showed them. We might not have found the right house, but helped find the right area or helped them narrow their search.

"So far, I've had more success at farmers and wives, although it's early days with my property people. They're still muddling round with their offers."

There were occasions when Gee had to tell people to tailor their needs, that they must scale down their requirements because they were unrealistic.

"I'd tell them we could get them four bedrooms, five acres and the location if they went a little further North of Leeds. If they wanted to be in one of the commuter villages, they'd have to settle for three bedrooms and a small garden. There were firm words sometimes, but I never fell out with anybody."

Gee still works for Country Living, organising campaigns for the magazine. She came up with "the madcap idea of doing dating for farmers" in 1999 and has run three successful seasons of The Farmer Wants A Wife. A second ITV series is scheduled for screening later this year or early next.

Being a TV presenter was never an ambition but she's really enjoyed the experience. "I'd love to do more, and still hopefully do other things as well," she says.

A return to country living is a possibility for her one day. "While doing the programme I kept seeing nice places and thinking I could buy them if I sold my flat," she says. "I'd love ultimately to live in the country. I'd also like to have a little place in town. I'm greedy that way."

* Escape To The Country is on Monday and Tuesday at 3.30pm, and Wednesday at 4pm, on BBC2