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Drew and Jonathan Scott are getting back to their country roots for their new HGTV show!
PEOPLE chatted with the twins, 47, all about their upcoming series Chasing the West and why this project is especially nostalgic for them.
The eight-episode season, which premieres Wednesday, July 30 on HGTV, follows the expert builders and real estate pros as they help families looking to trade their busy lives in the city for a slower lifestyle out in the country.
While Drew and Jonathan enjoyed browsing a number of properties in Texas, Arizona and California with each buyer, it also made them miss their own childhood growing up on a ranch in the Canadian Rockies.
Courtesy of HGTV
“It was sort of bittersweet because we could share what we loved about growing up on a ranch with all of these families,” Jonathan told PEOPLE of working on the new series. “On the flip side, I miss it. It was so fun to be in the mountains.”
The brothers grew up on a 160-acre ranch at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada. As kids, they experienced all the hard work that goes into caring for animals (Drew recalls having “30 head of horses”) and maintaining such a massive property.
“It was like a blast to the past for us. It was nostalgic,” he says of filming the series. “We were riding horses every other day and I haven’t ridden in years, so I was sore.”
The dad of two — he shares son Parker and daughter Piper with wife Linda Phan — notes that while they know what it takes to run a ranch, some of the prospective home buyers they met with were in way over their heads at first.
“We learned a lot over the years from being on a ranch and the hard work that it takes,” he adds. “But all these homeowners that we’re dealing with, they were oblivious. They thought it would just be a dream to leave the hectic, busy pace of the city and have a relaxing life on a ranch. No, it’s hard work. So we really were that wake-up call.”
Jonathan notes that many of the buyers were focused on getting as much land as possible, “because when you live in the city and you don’t have a bunch of land, that is appealing.”
However, he and Drew had to constantly put into perspective what it means to have that acreage.
HGTV
“The more land you get, the more expensive it is to maintain. And I remember whether it was mending fences or catching cattle that escaped — that was so much work,” he says. “So you have to size it appropriately for your needs.”
Jonathan explains that while “your dollar can stretch further when you’re out there,” it’s also easy for homeowners to “waste a lot of money” if they focus on getting as much land as possible while ignoring what they really need in a family home.
The brothers got to revisit some favorite ranching activities for the new series, including chopping wood, off-roading in ATVs and brushing up on the art of lassoing.
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While the brothers remember “hating” certain tasks when they were younger, like clearing rocks so their horses wouldn’t step on them, Drew recalls to PEOPLE a sweet memory that he always looks back on fondly from his time on the ranch.
“My favorite would probably be in the evenings, I always loved having a campfire,” he says. “My dad would play the guitar, and we would just sit and sing and watch the sun go down. That was magical.”
Chasing the West premieres Wednesday, July 30 at 9 p.m. ET on HGTV.
