Escape To The Chateau - General Discussion

[Mothra]

2 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I would assume that there would be some sort of toilet in there.  There were some cabinet doors that they didn't open, so I'm guessing that the loo is in there, however basic it may be. 

God, I hope so.  Imagine how guests (esp. men) will relieve themselves if there are no toilet facilities.  I do wish Angela (for such is her real name) had shown us.  The toilet must be totally utilitarian and not at all staggeringly charming, like the rest of the boat is.

And lovely as all the extra-chateau additions are (glamping domes on land and sea, those aviaries especially) they are too much imo and interfere with the magic of the castle.  I wish they would confine all their future projects to inside the castle walls.  I understand that they are finding ways to increase guest capacity, but if they keep this up, no one is going to want to stay at a castle which is only part of the background.

As to the aviary, I worry about those birds.  Do the nights get too cold for them?  What happens to them in bad weather?  Do they have winter quarters?  Do they have enough room?

[BradandJanet]

I'm sure the boat has a bathroom inside or nearby, or it will at some point if for guests. I wouldn't pay several hundred dollars a night and not get a toilet and a shower. 

Even if it's for the family, the chateau is in view, so why pretend?

[Chit Chat]

8 hours ago, Frost said:

 I know he's only 6 years old so I feel like an ogre!  I just could use a little less of Arthur on the show.

His antics don't bother me.  And no, you feeling otherwise doesn't make you an ogre!!  Angel mentioned that Dorothy is shy, so I guess Arthur makes up for her quietness! 

1 hour ago, Mothra said:

And lovely as all the extra-chateau additions are (glamping domes on land and sea, those aviaries especially) they are too much imo and interfere with the magic of the castle. 

As I've mentioned before, I'm afraid that Angel is going to junk up the outdoors!  I hope they'll stop adding things to the moat now.  

1 hour ago, Mothra said:

As to the aviary, I worry about those birds.  Do the nights get too cold for them?  What happens to them in bad weather? 

Hopefully they have an alternate place for them in the winter and in bad weather.  I follow their FB page, so I might just ask them that sometime and see if I get a response. 

Edited May 23, 2021 by ChitChat

[SongbirdHollow]

I have quite the crush on James. I mean, just look at him 👀 Another reason to visit Cornwall!

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

On 5 June in the Chateau slot (Saturdays, 7 Central, 8 Eastern) they'll start Vacation House Rules, Season 2 (HGTV U.S.), so I guess this Saturday is the last Chateau episode.    I really miss seeing the family, and their lovely home. 

Edited May 28, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[Chit Chat]

20 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I really miss seeing the family, and their lovely home. 

Do you follow them on FB?  Here's a link to something else they're doing called The Salon.  I haven't joined that, but it might be interesting.  

[DoctorAtomic]

I seem to always be getting the Xmas episodes. 

[Chit Chat]

On 5/27/2021 at 8:11 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

I seem to always be getting the Xmas episodes. 

This is the second Christmas episode I've seen.  I love Christmas at the Chateau!  How cute were those candy cane wreaths!  She comes up with the best ideas and ones that are pretty simple to make.  I need to jot that idea down for next Christmas. 

I was looking at the aviaries and they did appear to be empty.  Many of us were concerned about the birds during the winter there.  I have no idea where they are, but I couldn't see any activity in the cages.  I have faith that they took them in or gave them to people to see after for the winter.   

[Chit Chat]

I decided to Google 'candy cane wreaths', and much to my embarrassment, that idea has been around quite a long time!  In my defense though, I don't use Pinterest (where many images of them are located), so that's the first one I've seen.  Yes, I live in a cave.  ha ha.  

I had to cringe when they all blew out the candles on the yule log, as this was filmed in December, 2019, right before everything went crazy.  Seeing people hugging and kissing on TV seems weird now too,  since social distancing seems so normal.   

I also saw a small kitchen where Dick was cooking the custard, so that answers my question about whether there is a small kitchen behind the dining room.  I think it was in that general area.  FWIW, no matter how one dresses up an oyster, I find them so visually unappealing that I just can't eat one.  That slimy blob laying in the half-shell does nothing for me!!  I did try a fried one years ago, but it's still a no-go for me!  ;) 

I hope that the show will be back to normal in the coming months.  Their resourcefulness and ingenuity never ceases to amaze me.  I loved seeing Angel and Dick working together to get those pom-poms made for the kids' Christmas bags.  It's inspiring to see how many things Angel makes, rather than buying them pre-made.  

[BradandJanet]

I cringed at the candle blowing too. Blowing out candles on a cake is a practice I won't do anymore. 

[Chit Chat]

1 hour ago, BradandJanet said:

I cringed at the candle blowing too. Blowing out candles on a cake is a practice I won't do anymore. 

The pandemic makes you look at things in a completely different way, doesn't it!

I really enjoy seeing all of Angel's finishing touches when she decorates the dinner table.  I wasn't sure where she was going with the moss theme, but it sure turned out cute & pretty.  

[dosodog]

On 5/31/2021 at 3:24 PM, BradandJanet said:

I cringed at the candle blowing too. Blowing out candles on a cake is a practice I won't do anymore. 

Years ago I came across this quote and I haven't looked at cake the same way since.

Birthday Cake.  The only food people will eat after someone else has spit on it.

[biakbiak]

22 hours ago, dosodog said:

Years ago I came across this quote and I haven't looked at cake the same way since.

Birthday Cake.  The only food people will eat after someone else has spit on it.

whenever I heard that saying I wondered why people were blowing out candles wrong, spit shouldn’t be involved. 

Edited June 4, 2021 by biakbiak

[DoctorAtomic]

They're airing an episode on PBS tonight with Dick and Angel taking to people on the phone about their own projects. 

They're doing their own v/o. 

[emmawoodhouse]

20 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

They're airing an episode on PBS tonight with Dick and Angel taking to people on the phone about their own projects. 

They're doing their own v/o. 

It's not airing on any of my four PBS stations. 😥

[DoctorAtomic]

Is anyone watching this 'Make Do and Mend' show or is there another thread? 

[Chit Chat]

On 6/17/2021 at 8:27 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

Is anyone watching this 'Make Do and Mend' show or is there another thread? 

Is it available in the U.S.?  I haven't even tried searching for it because I thought it was just in the U.K. 

[DoctorAtomic]

It's on in place of the original in the same time slot on my local pbs affiliate. 

[Chit Chat]

42 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

It's on in place of the original in the same time slot on my local pbs affiliate. 

Thanks!  I will do a search for it.  I hope that I haven't been missing it.

[meep.meep]

It hasn't been on either of my PBS stations, they're doubling down on some sappy Australian thing.  And, of course, the Doo Wap special.

[BradandJanet]

I saw season 1, episode 1 of DIY on TV Saturday night, I think on PBS. This is the show that features other British people buying and renovating French Chateaus. Dick and Angela meet briefly with the owners(s) to give advice, but mostly the intrepid owners are own their own. This is a good series, filmed before the pandemic. I hope the station keeps showing it. 

[Kathy]

I love the DIY series.  

[Chit Chat]

It's not on my PBS station either.  Rats!  I'll just have to keep up with them on their FB page. They were talking about how some people just walk up to their chateau wanting to look around.  They mentioned that one family actually came into the house.  They've had to tell several people to leave.   They don't allow their show to be aired in France because they don't want to be seen as celebrities.  I'm sure they appreciate their fans, but they don't want them just showing up expecting a tour, especially when their children are playing outside.   That is quite rude of people.   I think Dick is going to need to install an opener/closer on the gate to the chateau, with some security cameras!

Edited July 1, 2021 by ChitChat

[BradandJanet]

26 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

It's not on my PBS station either.  Rats!  I'll just have to keep up with them on their FB page. They were talking about how some people just walk up to their chateau wanting to look around.  They mentioned that one family actually came into the house.  They've had to tell several people to leave.   They don't allow their show to be aired in France because they don't want to be seen as celebrities.  I'm sure they appreciate their fans, but they don't want them just showing up expecting a tour, especially when their children are playing outside.   That is quite rude of people.   I think Dick is going to need to install an opener/closer on the gate to the chateau, with some security cameras!

Dick and Angela come across as so warm and friendly I can see why naive people might believe that they welcome any fans who appear on the doorsteps. It's silly, of course. I think there are security cameras, but a closed gate might be helpful if they don't have one already. 

Most celebrities have this problem, especially if they let cameras into their homes and their lives. It's unfortunate, but fame and money come with serious issues attached. 

 

[Chit Chat]

46 minutes ago, BradandJanet said:

It's unfortunate, but fame and money come with serious issues attached. 

 

So true.  It sounds like they want to live a normal life, but once you're on TV like this, that's going to be hard to do.  There are a lot of fans who are either clueless or complete whackadoodles out there though.  They're going to need some heavy duty locks on their doors too!

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm surprised there isn't a gate. 

[BradandJanet]

I don't know how secure the perimeter of the property is. I think there is a swimming pool that is never shown, so it might be a bigger property than it appears on TV with multiple ways to get in. I'm just speculating. 

[Chit Chat]

9 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I'm surprised there isn't a gate. 

I think there's a gate at the entrance, but I've never seen it closed.  Also, I think one can simply walk around it anyway!  

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, ChitChat said:

I think there's a gate at the entrance, but I've never seen it closed.  Also, I think one can simply walk around it anyway!  

We haven’t actually seen the entrance to the full property, only to the area that marks off the courtyard to the Chateau and the outbuildings that now house Angel’s parents a ton of the property is out in front and on all sides. 

Edited July 2, 2021 by biakbiak

[BradandJanet]

Episode 2 of DIY was on WGBH Boston,  Saturday at 7:00 p.m.: Johnnie and Ashley, Phillip and Angelina, John and Michael. I hope some other PBS stations pick this series up because it's great fun. Single mother Fiona will be on at some point, and she's my Chateau Hero.  

[biakbiak]

On 6/30/2021 at 6:00 PM, ChitChat said:

It's not on my PBS station either. 

Peacock has all the seasons of DIY. 

[pasdetrois]

This series has disappeared off of my cable lineup.

[badhaggis]

4 hours ago, pasdetrois said:

This series has disappeared off of my cable lineup.

The season is over. It seems like it flew by. At our house we've started watching "Clarkson's Farm" on Amazon Prime. Jeremy Clarkson from "Top Gear" and "The grand Tour" starts operating a farm he owns. To us it hits the right tone as something to watch before bed. 

You can find the forum here: 

 

[pasdetrois]

Thank you badhaggis. My cable lineup dropped it about two months ago, about four episodes in I think. 🤕

[BradandJanet]

Saturday night, I was channel surfing at 7:00 and saw that the Original Escape was on one PBS station, and DIY was on the other PBS station. After weeks of whatever, suddenly these shows are back. Can't they just leave the schedule alone so we British TV people can get our fix? 

[DoctorAtomic]

I think DIY has been on my PBS for most of the summer or whenever I last commented. They only had the Make Do on for 3 weeks or so. I like the latter better. 

I can't find it, but I read that the whole shebang is on Peacock. 

[Pine]

Any news of further episodes?

[Chit Chat]

55 minutes ago, Pine said:

Any news of further episodes?

Unfortunately not!  I follow them on FB, so maybe there will be some news sometime in the near future.  

[emmawoodhouse]

I have a question. I caught this show a couple of seasons in, so I don't know how they afforded the chateau. Did Dick have an inheritance (Angel's parents are still alive)? Even run-down, that couldn't have been cheap.

[Chit Chat]

2 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

I caught this show a couple of seasons in, so I don't know how they afforded the chateau.

I don't know many of the details, but I believe they got it (in US dollars) for $380,000.  That's pretty cheap for a castle, but there's no telling how much money they've poured into the place.  Of course Dick is able to do so much of the work, so that saves them a bunch of money.

I believe that both of them were successful in previous careers, so maybe they had a bit of money saved up.  Maybe with the TV show that's allowed them to be able to put a lot of money into it too.   Dick and his older son wrote some books years ago.  Of course they might've taken out a loan, but they've not gone into the details on any of that.  

I read recently that they've been able to start back with having wedding guests and parties at the chateau again.  I hope they'll be filming again soon, but I haven't heard a thing on that.  You can go to their FB page and interact with them.  They have some contests where you submit projects you're working on.  You can win stuff from them.  I'm not creative enough to participate, but I try to keep up with what they've been posting.   They just showed all of the delicious fruits and vegetables they got from the walled garden.  It all looks yummy, especially the grapes! 

[CrazyInAlabama]

There are also tours of the Chateau, you can stay there, or the Glamping sites, all kinds of events are possible, and you can pay to work in the gardens and fields with Dick.  Yes, you pay, and do the work.  They also have that fantastic online store too.     

Dick has had several previous TV shows, does appearances, publishes books, and all kinds of other things that bring in a lot of money. 

[DoctorAtomic]

22 hours ago, emmawoodhouse said:

I have a question. I caught this show a couple of seasons in, so I don't know how they afforded the chateau. Did Dick have an inheritance (Angel's parents are still alive)? Even run-down, that couldn't have been cheap.

I don't know either. Clearly, once they got up and running, I'm sure weddings are pricey, and they're quite busy during wedding season. I don't know how France works, but I assume you could get a loan. They could have had a business plan, schedule for making the money, etc. 

Like it was said, we don't know how much they had up front to plunk down. 5% is not even $20K. It's not like they're fresh out of uni. They could have easily had that in savings. 

[emmawoodhouse]

I had no idea what Dick or Angel did before buying the chateau, so the response have been helpful. Some of the renovations have been pretty costly. For instance, I just saw an episode in which they had a backhoe digging out front on a Tuesday that had to be graded over by Friday to accommodate a wedding. 

[BradandJanet]

I remember something about Angela and Dick not taking French government historic restoration status on the property. This status would have provided money for work but would also have imposed rules and regulations. Many of the DIY people took the grants, but Angela and Dick wanted freedom to restore the property the way they wanted. They must have had enough money to do that. 

Both Dick and Angel had successful careers before they got married and decided to buy the chateau. They were careful about how they spent their money, but the TV show must have helped. 

[Kiddvideo]

New season on Peacock! 6 episodes. I’m watching the first episode, and they’re going through all the work they did while events were prohibited due to the pandemic.

ETA: Binged the series while I couldn’t sleep. Some great changes and Dick got a new toy — a wood working machine in a new shop! I didn’t care for the pool house. It’s probably the one major project of theirs I thought wasn’t great. The steam from the pool on the windows, the open toilet, the view of the dirt road. I think it should’ve been a sauna and cold water dipping pool.

The chandelier and library looked great, but the library was a bit small with all the shelves. I guess it’s not intended to be a family reading room, though.

Loved seeing them and their lovely property again!

Edited October 7, 2021 by Kiddvideo

[Chit Chat]

On 10/6/2021 at 8:52 PM, Kiddvideo said:

Loved seeing them and their lovely property again!

Thanks for the update!  I don't have the Peacock Network, but I'll look into it.  I see that they have a 'free' option.  I'll see what you get for that.   I'm not a fan of being nickel and dimed to death by all of these streaming services, so I might have to wait and see if any episodes show up on YouTube or somewhere else!!  

[Chit Chat]

I was able to sign up for the Peacock Network (free) and am able to access Season 1 (I missed their first seasons).  I'm hoping to catch up with all of them, but with the free version, I might be limited as to how many episodes I can get.  I will see if I get the newer ones as soon as I have a little more time. 

Yay to seeing the castle in it's early stages of renovation!!  That's what I've been wanting to see.  

[Kiddvideo]

3 hours ago, ChitChat said:

I was able to sign up for the Peacock Network (free) and am able to access Season 1 (I missed their first seasons).  I'm hoping to catch up with all of them, but with the free version, I might be limited as to how many episodes I can get.  I will see if I get the newer ones as soon as I have a little more time. 

Yay to seeing the castle in it's early stages of renovation!!  That's what I've been wanting to see.  

Yay! Glad you’ve gotten to see it.

It’s pretty insane what they’ve accomplished. I wonder if they ever sit down.

[Chit Chat]

On 10/6/2021 at 8:52 PM, Kiddvideo said:

ETA: Binged the series while I couldn’t sleep. Some great changes and Dick got a new toy — a wood working machine in a new shop! I

I watched the newest season, episode 1.  I'll catch up with you soon!!  I'm trying to go back and watch all of the previous seasons that I missed too.

Dick always amazes me with what he can build.  Remaking those doors for the workshop was a lot of work!  I think it's so sweet how they involve the kids in just about everything.  The Lego holder for the different rolls of tape was genius!  They never waste a thing either.  The little pull-out muffin tins for little items was great too.  

I'm like Angel in going through discarded stuff looking for treasure.  It's amazing that some of that stuff was left behind.  

Those grapes in the garden looked so yummy.  They certainly have a green thumb when it comes to gardening!  I look forward to catching up with the current season.  

 

[Chit Chat]

On 10/6/2021 at 8:52 PM, Kiddvideo said:

Binged the series while I couldn’t sleep. Some great changes and Dick got a new toy — a wood working machine in a new shop! I didn’t care for the pool house. It’s probably the one major project of theirs I thought wasn’t great. The steam from the pool on the windows, the open toilet, the view of the dirt road. I think it should’ve been a sauna and cold water dipping pool.

The chandelier and library looked great, but the library was a bit small with all the shelves. I guess it’s not intended to be a family reading room, though.

I just finished episodes 1-3 of Season 7.  I'll catch on past seasons later on.  I agree about the pool house.  That steam will probably make that wallpaper on the ceiling come down fairly quickly.  I don't think it would've been too much more of an effort to put a proper wall & door to the toilet, after all, this was supposed to be for guests staying on the boat.  I didn't like the tiles lining the top of the pool either.   

I liked the library.  It was small, but cozy!   I also liked the luster paint that Angel put on the ceiling of their sitting room.  I was surprised that the wallpaper went up so quickly in the library, seeing as how they didn't show her hanging it!  Even Dick seemed surprised that it was there.  I think it's beautiful though.  I appreciate all of the hard work that both of them are doing in order to restore the castle.  I'd never sleep knowing that I had that big of a to-do list!!  It must be exciting to get up each day and get to work on such a great project.  Meanwhile, most of us will get up tomorrow and slog through another week.  ;)