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Original poster

Escape to the Chateau

150 replies

The80sweregreat · 06/06/2016 12:20

Channel 4 last night ( sunday). Dick Strawbridge and his partner have bought a 45 roomed Chateau in France, looks beautiful on the outside, but crumbling inside and needs extensive work. Everything you can think of! Bats in the belfry that are protected and have to stay too.
Did anyone watch? I really enjoyed it, but what made it for me was how laid back the couple were about everything!

OP posts:

ppeatfruit · 07/12/2016 17:42

Yes exactly Budgie Also Emaus is brilliant for 2nd hand furniture, they even mend and do up electrical stuff. (we have 4 lovely old fashioned central hanging 'gas' lamps). They were under 12 euros each.

Budgiebonbon · 07/12/2016 20:41

ppeatfruit I could hug you- we have been racking our brains for days trying remember what Emaus was called.

Original poster

The80sweregreat · 07/12/2016 20:53

The lift is bonkers. I believe they have won the lottery really as its all costing loads and doesnt seem to be worrying them.
I liked the botanical room,but a bath at the bottomof the bed? Seemed odd.
Dick is fab at everything practical though. I wish my dh could do all of this !

OP posts:

ppeatfruit · 08/12/2016 08:53

That's sweet Budgiebonbon (geddit!!) yes Emaus is fab. dd2 collects those old fashioned printed kitchen storage tins, they're so cheap there!

OMG The bath at the end of the bed MADNESS , there's a reason why baths are usually in tiled bathrooms. They'd get damp on the bedding and the condensation in their room. Let alone modesty issues Maybe they'll hang waterproof curtains round it or something... completely ruining the dimensions of the room !!!!

yoyoyoy · 08/12/2016 11:20

Why the hell doesn't he say no to her ridiculous ideas occasionally , instead of meekly giving in every time .The lift idea was daft enough and then she said she wanted it in the centre of the tower and not at the side . Did they say how much the lift was costing , surely it would be obscenely expensive but then clearly they are not really in the dire financial straits that the voiceover keeps stating . Lucky for them that they have onsite babysitters so she can spend her time faffing about with crafting .

ppeatfruit · 08/12/2016 11:57

Their partnership is very much loin instigated IMO (on his side ) I wonder how long it will last?

The houses round here have dropped in value dramatically , they'd have trouble getting their money back if they decided to sell.

woesinwonderland · 08/12/2016 17:53

I can't believe they're putting in a lift that doesn't even look big enough for a wheelchair. What's the point?

They weren't considering the accessibility for wheelchair users, it was because Angela didn't want to walk up the stairs!

ppeatfruit · 08/12/2016 17:59

Well I thought they mentioned that it would 'open up' the place to everyone, meaning for the elderly too, so that would include Dick then . I said upthread that they BOTH need to keep walking up them stairs 3 or 4 times a day Or lay off the croissants and eclairs!!

BorpBorpBorp · 09/12/2016 11:16

They weren't considering the accessibility for wheelchair users, it was because Angela didn't want to walk up the stairs!

If she didn't want to walk up the stairs maybe she shouldn't have bought a fucking chateau with fifty gazillion stairs! Can you tell I'm not mad keen on her?

woesinwonderland · 09/12/2016 11:21

I'm not particularly keen on her either. Dick really grates on me too. He is just so smug.

woesinwonderland · 09/12/2016 11:32

Just read their website

They fell in love in 2010 and neither could believe their luck.

I'm sure Dick's wife couldn't believe her luck either. Interestingly there is absolutely no mention of Dick's older children, one of which he featured with on Scrapheap Challenge.

Kidnapped · 09/12/2016 11:49

"Their partnership is very much loin instigated IMO"

That just made me choke on my coffee.

ppeatfruit · 09/12/2016 14:53

Kidnapped I love that expression, I heard it on Midsummer Murders!!

They're repeating the Chateaux a lot aren't they ? I settled down to see this week's last night and it was last week's

Weren't Dick's old family together on Greening your Cottage or something? I remember his oldest son was phoar material

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 09/12/2016 15:12

I saw the trailer for this. DH and I both said "He's got a new wife!"

The first Mrs S is lovely, even if my mother used to spit "Oh she so bloody wholesome!" They were trying self sufficiency near Tywardreath and had loads of their kids and their friends helping them out, and it always seemed to be summer. What happened to all that?

Imagine snogging that moustache. Ew.

ppeatfruit · 09/12/2016 15:17

Maybe the 1st Mrs S just wasn't good enough in the stencilling department !

BorpBorpBorp · 09/12/2016 16:08

You could see some tension between Dick and Brigit in It's Not Easy Being Green. He had just retired from his army career, and it must be quite difficult adjusting to being around each other all the time after that, plus buying and renovating a Devonian farmhouse with umpteen of your children's university friends underfoot. The cracks were showing. He seemed happier with her than he does with Angel though.

ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe · 09/12/2016 16:11

Well, Angela's decorating motto definitely seems to be "if it sits still long enough, lets stencil it", but Dick is so quick to demolish things.
I do wonder.

ppeatfruit · 09/12/2016 16:29

That's the show I first saw him in Borp It's Not Easy Being Green. Thanks! With his gorgeous son .

Funny I didn't notice HIM at the french wedding.

SukeyTakeItOffAgain · 09/12/2016 17:03

Cornish not Devonian

Choccywoccyhooha · 12/12/2016 01:08

I didn't watch the series earlier in the year, but have watched this one, though it makes me feel horribly uncomfortable, I feel like I am complicit in him parading the new wife in the faces of Brigit and his older children.
Bright is a friend of a friend, I see her comment on friend's FB feed sometimes, she seems so lovely.

pimmsy · 12/12/2016 01:50

ppeatfruit

Emmaüs have an online store now, marginally ( enormously ) more expensive than the countryside ones because aimed at a more urban audience but worth a look.

www.label-emmaus.co/fr/catalogue/gros-mobilier

ppeatfruit · 12/12/2016 08:38

Oh thanks plimsy

Did anyone see last night's ? After all the problems and it must 've cost thousands, with 3 or 4 workmen, the lift looked fine, also the decor to the rooms in the tower which it went up through.

The Xmas meal was nice (though no sign of Dick's first children). Even the kitchen looked better because they'e painted the walls a light colour.

woesinwonderland · 12/12/2016 09:34

Oooh Chocchy do you have any inside info? I wonder was the breakdown of their marriage caused by an affair? Also how do Dick's elder children feel about things? It seems they have been written out of history.

BorpBorpBorp · 12/12/2016 11:36

ppeatfruit I did glimpse the son (James) at the French wedding, but didn't spy the daughter. James is married with 3 kids - can't remember if I spied them all at the wedding or just him.

ppeatfruit · 12/12/2016 12:27

Thanks Borp ! I must 've been looking elsewhere . Did he still have long hair? Was he still as gorgeous?

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