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

[Frankola]

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?

Dick is my dream man. Or actually, dream Dad 😂. God, the things I’d get him doing. To have a man that loves and is good at DIY would be heaven on earth to me.

I do wonder about finances, and how much they had to start with.
There’s a very good reason why these places are relatively cheap - at least compared to a good sized family house in more expensive parts of the U.K. - there are an awful lot of them and very few people can afford to maintain them.

A relative of dh’s has one. It had been beautifully restored before he bought it, but it still costs a bloody fortune to run. The previous owners had run it as a successful enough business, but I was reliably informed that they absolutely bit his hand off when he got his cheque book out, metaphorically speaking. He once told me that the heating oil alone, in a part of France where winters can be pretty bloody cold, cost €50,000 a year. Just as well he has sufficiently deep pockets.

I would hope that nobody without very ample means would start thinking ‘anyone can do it’ after watching these programmes. The cost of buying such a place is just the start of money being eaten up at an alarming rate.

dick strawbridges wife looks older then 41 you need glasses ha ha

I wish they would expand their topics on the show. I mean how many times do we have to see Angel sewing and giggling sessions with the kids. It would be nice if they talked about all the different wildlife that lives on their estate, what is Dorothy and Arthur's school like, how about some stories on their cat and dog, what it is like to work in their vegetable garden... The list is endless.

Man leaves wife and then marries woman 20 years younger than him, not exactly unusual. The observation about their skills is spot on, not found in many people.

I have totally enjoyed it. Me and dh often have a giggle about them rowing off camera but it's just nice viewing.
Of course, like anything, you have to suspend your disbelief a bit. But if I remember they started with about 250k which is a fairly normal amount for people of their age and stage
Yes, the channel 4 cash will have helped on the big projects they filmed for the show (the lift in particular) but good for them. They both seem very hard working, intelligent, creative and warm. I'd far rather watch that than people evaluating strangers naked bodies or the other host of shite that seems to have become C4s destiny.

Dick is awesome! Is there anything he can’t do? I wish my DH could turn his hand to a fraction of what he does. He made a Willy Wonka mechanical lift ffs!

I love the inspiration that Angel’s designs bring and find it as useful as other home makeover programmes on TV, but with added glamour - something I wouldn’t have aimed for before in my home.
My DH is also an engineer, and we do all our own diy so it’s also quite relatable (although, thankfully, we have 36 fewer rooms than they do in their house to decorate and maintain!)

The ‘anyone can do it’ bit is a joke. And IMO dangerous to anyone daft enough to think it’s true.

There’s a reason why chateaux seem so cheap to buy - there are a lot of them, and you need extremely deep pockets to maintain them properly - and that’s without any renovations.

A relative of dh has one. It had been beautifully renovated by the former owners but still (at the time) cost only about the same as a good family house in some suburbs of London (not a mansion and not central London.).

It’s not as big as the Strawbridge one, but the relative once told me that the heating oil alone cost €50,000 a year. He can afford it, though. I gather that the former owners (who ran it as a business) despite evidently loving it, were very keen to offload it and practically bit his hand off.
As I said, deep pockets...

Article in the Times today and the Mail about their bullying behaviour.

A close friend had to work with him, never again! Lazy, rude, boorish , I see it all the time now and had to stop watching.

What utter twaddle. Both of Dick’s older sons have been in the programme at various times. He remains close to them, But people move on. Life changes.

Dick did not run away with Angel. He met her after he had separated from his first wife, who incidentally is now happily remarried again herself. He also made a programme with his chef son in 2012 and 2013, which was three years after he separated from his first wife, so clearly no issues there.

I've always assumed it was mostly theatre and editing -- never occurred to me that they actually do most of it themselves or spend a lot of time with their children or any of that. Maybe they do, maybe they don't, not much is revealed. "Here's one I prepared earlier" may or may not mean that someone else came up with the concept, developed and refined the design, and produced the item. In almost any field, it's normal for big designers to employ juniors.