to feel sympathy for the first Mrs straw ridge

[Wordsaremything]

Husband, ex military man appropriately named dick, did a lot of telly in the early noughties about engineering projects, and living green etc. Involving all his family.

Seems he's had a mid life crisis and is now with a young cockney vintage person called Angel, has started a second family and is now living with her and youngsters in France in a ruin d chateau allegedly bought for. 280 k with 12 acres and a renovation budget of 20k.

All lovey Dovey. Constantly nose bumping etc. Decorating the honeymoon suite. And Lo! Her parents have arrived to live with them ( and no doubt contribute to the budget.)

All feels very yuck.

[Naturebabe]

couldn't agree more op!

[Oldie2017]

I have only ever seen the most recent Chateau programme and they are doing a very lovely job of it. The marriage looks typical second marriage to me and not my cup of tea. As his first children are grown up things must be relatively straightforward but I hope his will includes the children and grandchildren in relation to inheritance of his half of the chateau and it does not all go to the new wife although French law does require you to make a separate French will for French assets and forces inheritance to children and splitting of estates in a way English law does not.

On the series you can really see the age difference and also class difference - presumably he compromised on class and low income of hers in order to get someone young. There is always some compromise involved in these ridiculous relationships where the new wife is the age of your children.

[KERALA1]

Slightly icky to have one programme with one wife and then another one with the newer younger model found myself rather .

Hope wife no.1 is living well.

You can opt for English inheritance law to apply to French property if you want. Children of the first marriage can get royally shafted in this sort of set up sadly.

[Confused24]

Angel is 10 years younger and aged 47. Wouldn't exactly call that a midlife crisis! People are so judgemental! Lots of people divorce and move on. I doubt very much his ex wife cares about what his doing now when they separated 17 years ago jeez

[Confused24]

7 years not 17 sorry!

[notaflyingmonkey]

I once bumped into him as I was checking into a hotel for a conference. Thought the reason that I recognised him was that he was another delegate, so said a friendly hello. He said a very pleasant hello back. I walked away and cringed when I realised he was off the telly.

[Joinourclub]

presumably he compromised on class and low income of hers in order to get someone young

That's a really fucking disgusting thing to say. You make it sound like choosing a wife is like buying a racehorse.

[placemark123]

This has made me google everyone involved and they all seem like they are living good, interesting lives. And Angel is apparently a chartered accountant so the quite unbelievably snobby person upthread can bob off, having a chartered accountant for a wife is hardly scraping the barrel of society.

[IfYouGoDownToTheWoodsToday]

Oldie are you Hyacinth Bucket?


Just googled their website and they are fully booked until 2019, so they are doing very well. Good luck to them both, they deserve it with all their hard work.

[londonrach]

She has strange ideas and strange tastes but each to their own. Theres alot of money behind their schemes but great fun watching. Like car crash tv.

[londonrach]

I remember them making that lift in the tower...went on months..

[cretanlover]

To those who are condemning Angel/Dick I say get a life it has nothing to do with anyone but themselves. No-one will know why the first marriage broke down but it did it happens and everyone will get over it eventually. Has it occurred to anyone that Dick & Angel may have met and fell in love. When you love someone age is immaterial. I for one think they are a lovely couple well suited and I wish them the very best.

[FluffyNinja]

expat Do you know the ex wife or are you upset with someone in your own life, as you seem intent on re-reviving this thread twice now to comment negatively on his new family?
Seems a bit over invested just for a (bitchy?) chat thread.

[VMonkeyJuggler]

Personally I find some of the comments on this thread horrendous!
I imagine a lot of them to be written by bitter women possibly dumped at some point, maybe I'm being harsh but why else would they be so filled with venom!!!

Who knows what goes on behind closed doors n frankly, it's no one's business! I do find that when information is lacking, people feel a need to fill in the gaps, usually taking a judgemental moral high ground!

The first Mrs Strawbridge seems more than happy with her new life & frankly probably doesn't care that much about what he is doing! He has a great relationship with his children from the first relationship which I imagine would be her first concern!

Don't even get me started on the snide comments regarding current Mr & Mrs Strawbridge! They are together & happy, have a beautiful family & a thriving business!

Angel (& no it's not her real name but who cares) scored backing from the Dragons Den for her vintage hospitality company & thru hard work made the business successful. Money from that company had been invested in a new project which is also doing well!

Maybe the venomous judgemental witches (& warlocks) should stop pointing their twisted fingers at a family that is working & clearly happy n look to their own families & sort them out. I'll wager if we pointed similarly judgemental fingers at them they'd be less than happy! Squirming as their less than idyllic families come under scrutiny!

#LetHeWithoutSinCastTheFirstStone

[brizzledrizzle]

Zombie thread !

[Scrapheap]

He's only got one love - and that's him self.

[KittenBeast]

My parents met him on a number of occasions, he was very interested/involved in one of my father's renewable energy projects, according to my mother, the man's a...well...he's a dick. I find him fairly grim.

[extinctspecies]

why is this thread trending when the last post on it was 2 months ago - and then it was a zombie thread?

Must be to do with the prog on TV now.

[squoosh]

I was wondering that too. It must be receiving traffic from somewhere. Maybe a Dick Strawbridge fan appreciation site

[KittenBeast]

how odd, extinctspecies, it just came up on my trending wotsit!

[expatinscotland]

Maybe the first Mrs S got sick of him.

'I went right off Rick Stein though, when he traded Jill in for a younger model.'

He did just that. She got, quite rightly, a massive divorce settlement and now advises other women going through it.

[expatinscotland]

It's trending because they're back with another series about the chateau.

[theeyeofthestormchaser]

Op, your user name is completely unsuitable. You’re not good with words at all, judging by your post.

[GerdaLovesLili]

[Coyoacan]

I love the automatic assumption that it was the wife who was dumped.