Galères grecques - Greek and Pleasant Land

The Noel-Bakers have been living in Greece, on the island of Euboea since 1832. Philip has recently returned from England and has ambitious plans for the family estate. The island is one of the most under developed regions of Greece. Since the local mine closed unemployment has reached 80 % and now the EU has made substantial funds available to help regenerate the area. Philip applied for a grant to enable him to upgrade his family home into a guest house, complete with new kitchen, swimming pool and all amenities, hoping to attract foreign tourists to the area. Back in 1984 the Greek government confiscated the whole estate apart from the house, which included a 10,000 acre forest. They claimed that because his ancestors had bought the land from a departing Turk, it was not his to sell and did not belong to the Noel-Bakers. Philip has been battling to reclaim his land ever since. Philip's father, Francis, was a British labour Member of Parliament in the sixties when a military dictatorship ruled Greece. Francis became friendly with the colonels. With their fall in 1974, the local village took matters into their own hands and formed a committee to get the Bakers out and to take the land back for themselves. So, Philip's efforts to get his land back doesn't endear him to the locals either, especially as they are unhappy that it is he who is benefiting from the EU grants and not them. Can Philip make peace with the local community and will he win his case to get the estate back.