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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get a bit annoyed when Dick and Angel Strawbridge insist they're "normal"

312 replies

Frankola · 01/12/2019 13:34

I love Escape To The Chateau. I love Dick and Angel. I really do.

However, it really annoys me when they frequently insist that they are "every day people" and that "anyone can do it".

They ARE NOT every day people! Dick is a respected engineering and environmental expert who has appeared on tele for years before ETC. He's done Scrap Heap Challenge, Coast and all sorts!

Angel is actually a qualified chartered accountant with a professional background in business studies. She was a successful businesswoman in London, creating The Vintage Patisserie hospitality business and also appeared on Dragons Den - where she secured funding for her latest investment.

They were introduced by their agent. Does that sound "normal" to you?

Do every day couples pitch their search for a new life to production companies? Channel 4 even funded their house searching France for them to find the Chateau as they approached them from the very beginning of their project to maximise the potential they saw in this.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for their success. But I find it a bit insulting almost to expect the doting British public to just buy that these people could be any Tom, Dick or Harry (pun intended).

Any one else feel like this?

OP posts:
JudgeRindersMinder · 02/12/2019 22:45

I started watching on the back of this thread and I have to say I’ve fallen a bit in love with them both. What you can’t take away from them is the amount of sheer hard graft they put in

CurlyhairedAssassin · 02/12/2019 23:13

My dad on the other hand had (I say had as many are dead now) a very wide circle of friends from a wide variety of backgrounds, mostly to do with his hobby, that took him around the world on expeditions, and their kids are now my friends.

Ah, that’ll be where I’m going wrong, I’m choosing the wrong hobbies. Grade 3 piano doesn’t tend to require much in the way of attendance at expeditions on the other side of the world. Grin

Girlattheback · 02/12/2019 23:55

I love the program but agree they are not normal. Did you see the mini bus thing they turned into a camper van on Sunday - they looked like a sylvanian family!

TheCraicDealer · 03/12/2019 00:38

It's telly, bit naive to think it's a completely accurate portrayal of the renovations. If you binge watch the first series it's pretty clear a lot of it is shot out of sequence. The episode where Dick is putting the heating in or some other major job is also supposedly when he built the helterskelter for the kids in the playroom, which had already been decorated. But then, apparently months later, the mural in the kids' playroom is shown being "completed" the day before their wedding Confused

There was a lot of mention of specific figures and the limited residual budget during the first series, but to be fair that was all the C4 voiceover. There was obviously an additional income stream from somewhere but I don't think you can blame them for C4 making it seem like that they did it all for 20k. There's a lot of mention of Dick hating paying people to do stuff, so it's interesting that they monetised volunteer work and tours the way they have as a way to get more manpower- seemingly there's a few chateau owners doing that.

My dad gets all riled up about it too (after insisting he doesn't watch it, but "your Mother has it on in the background!") but it's just a bit of light entertainment. I love seeing the transformations and they do obviously work their socks off, so I can take a bit of dramatic license with the narrative!

JolieOBrien · 03/12/2019 03:50

@Girlattheback

It looked very pretty but unsafe ... imagine driving one of those in this country? I think the police would stop you and make sure you have an MOT

JolieOBrien · 03/12/2019 03:52

@TheCraicDealer

They also get paid a lot by channel 4 don't they.

cortex10 · 03/12/2019 06:36

I love the programme but thinks it's getting a bit too blatant with the product promotions (how many more times will they re-run the arrival of the Westminster stone lorry?). Also assume it's no coincidence that son James was on twitter at the weekend asking for feedback whether he should apply to appear on Masterchef the Professionals?

lowlandLucky · 03/12/2019 07:13

Dont forget Dick has an army pension as well, although his ex wife will be entitled to half of it every month if she hasnt remarried. I metDick a few times in N.I, he was a nice bloke.

hsegfiugseskufh · 03/12/2019 09:04

jolie it came from wales so he did drive it in this country. It was the base on a transit van, so probably entirely legal. It was being used for a wedding car, so again presumably entirely legal.

poopatroop · 03/12/2019 09:17

I was lucky enough to go to a wedding at the chateau this summer and had a good chat with Dick while there. They were both very lovely, very hard working and what they show on TV is not just for show.

That said, they both have a good understanding of how TV works due to their backgrounds (particularly Dick) and he said that when they were talking to production companies, they made a conscious decision to make the programme full of fun, laughter and love rather than stress and arguments. Lovely family, beautiful chateau and I wish them all the best of luck.

theoriginalmadambee · 03/12/2019 10:07

they made a conscious decision to make the programme full of fun, laughter and love rather than stress and arguments.

I really like this, but at the same time, I think they should show just a glimpse of the stress and disagreements. Unless you are an 'angel', it must be so hard.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 03/12/2019 10:11

I want to see the bits on the cutting room floor Wink

hsegfiugseskufh · 03/12/2019 10:14

madambee I bet there is cross words off camera.

we are renovating a 3 bed semi and we have argued about all sorts of stupid irrelevant crap because that's what having no kitchen for months does to a person Grin

PotteryWheel · 03/12/2019 10:21

@Poopaptroop, was the wedding good, especially the food? And was it difficult to get to?

Oliversmumsarmy · 03/12/2019 10:29

Whilst Dick’s engineering skills might be able to be achieved with education, practice and time Angela has an innate ability with crafts and art that can’t be learned no matter how many courses or time you throw at it.

Yes they are from “normal” families and yes they work very hard but the skills they have between them are more than a sum of their parts.
I don’t think that what they do is just the 2 of them. They do have people in to help.

Having said that I don’t think you have to have extraordinary abilities to run a chateau in France. Judging by the DIY version there are plenty of Brits buying into the Chateau life

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 03/12/2019 10:47

Poopaptroop i WANT ALL THE GOSSIP
what was the food like, how was it, is it only afternoon tea, is the chateau fully renovated?

theoriginalmadambee · 03/12/2019 10:52

@Bollykecks Grin
You don't even have to disagree on things. When we have been renovating something, the biggest outbursts are usually when something goes wrong, and you are left holding something mega heavy or hurting yourself.

Like me standing on a ladder holding some very heavy tiles up and dh couldn't get hold of them or the memorable time dh partly cut of his ear doing up a cupboard. Ohh we have shouted at each other Grin.

TheCraicDealer · 03/12/2019 10:58

DH and I can't even paint a room in our new build together- when we were doing DD's nursery I was on all fours cutting in round the skirting boards at seven months pregnant, and DH announced he "didn't feel up to it today" Hmm he'll also get distracted. The same day he went to take something out to the bin and started weeding the fucking lawn, rocked back up an hour later!

Us renovating a three bed semi would end in divorce, nevermind a bloody chateau. I'd be doing jail time in France two weeks after getting the keys!

hsegfiugseskufh · 03/12/2019 11:03

@madambee

haha! oh yea that is true. I remember standing in the pissing rain outside whilst dp was trying to drill through the thickest wall known to man watching to see if I could see through to the other side. Fun times! I was like WHY AM I DOING THIS!! YOULL KNOW IF YOU GET TO THE OUTSIDE!!! Grin

we have got loads left to do as well. Maybe I need to channel my inner Angel Strawbridge and just go to a charity shop and decorate the rooms we have done with mad but beautiful things. Might make me feel a bit better!

craic dp is shite at decorating. We have a system. He does all the tools bit like the aforementioned drilling through walls, tiling etc, and I do the painting. Though, we have joked that by the times its finished we will be selling it because we'll be getting a divorce! Grin

theoriginalmadambee · 03/12/2019 11:07

@TheCraicDealer 🤣🤣

And that's why I think they ought to show just a little disagreement on the show. If you haven't diy'ed with your oh, you actually don't know each other 😂.

theoriginalmadambee · 03/12/2019 11:16

Yes, yes @Bollykecks

The secret is to devide tasks. Dh all wood work, plumbing, tiling etc. Me painting, grouting, decorating. It's when we cross too much things go tits up Grin.

Bibidy · 03/12/2019 13:15

I love Dick and Angel.

I often think about how much money they must be spending, but then buying the chateau itself only cost them £280k - probably less than the sale of their London flat, so they would have had money leftover from that and no mortgage - plus they both still have other income (Angel's patisserie business, Dick's cookery books etc). Then they have the income from the Chateau itself now it's up and running for weddings.

I guess they save a lot of money by doing a lot of the labour themselves too, particularly Dick. He seems to be able to do pretty much anything DIY-wise and both of them put the hours in.

It does make me laugh though, the episode where they came back to England to pick up the 'Cafe Grandma' neon sign they'd commissioned...the travel and sign alone would be well over £1,000 and that was just a fraction of the refurb they were doing on her parents' coach house.

That said, they do seem to pump all their money into things for the chateau and not much else, so that must help.

hsegfiugseskufh · 03/12/2019 13:29

bibidy I did once think god do they never go on holiday! and then I thought god, their holidays would seem crap in comparison to their enormous chateau home anyway! You wouldn't bother would you.

If it was me I would have put a pool in somewhere by now, but I am not sure it fits with their aesthetic!

Doyoumind · 03/12/2019 13:35

I am in awe of their commitment and hard work. They are such capable people willing to put so much time and energy into things. I can be a hard worker and I have certainly put in the hours but I am also a procrastinator who can be put off by big challenges. Fair play to them.

BitOfFun · 03/12/2019 22:29

It's all brilliant escapist viewing- I love it.