A Year at the Chateau: As seen on the hit Channel 4 show

Product Information

Her accent doesn’t help but the most irritating thing is that she is obviously reading it from a their script. In 2015 they bought a derelict chateau in the Loire valley and became the subjects of the hugely popular Channel 4 hit Escape to the Chateau. Angel Strawbridge is an entrepreneur who became well known in London for her hospitality business, The Vintage Patisserie. Dick Strawbridge is an engineer and an environmentalist and began his TV career years ago as a team leader on Scrapheap Challenge.

I will start by saying I've known of Dick, Angel, and their Chateau for a couple of years after finding them on HGTV one night when I couldn't sleep. Like many couples, Dick and Angel had long dreamed of living in France, but where others might settle for a modest bolthole in the French countryside, the Strawbridges fell in love with a 19th-century fairytale chateau, complete with 45 rooms, seven outbuildings, 12 acres of land and its own moat. Soon after, we discovered that, in our part of France at least, you don’t pay to park over lunchtime. We hadn't really followed the television series but (naively) assumed that this was a couple with a vision who had acted on their own.In January 2015 Dick and Angel Strawbridge embarked on the journey of a lifetime when they swapped their cosy two-bedroom flat in East London for a derelict château with 12 acres of land in the Loire valley. Dick and Angel take turns describing their experiences in the first year, so we get both of their perspectives. I've read the book, learnt a lot about owning a château and enjoyed hearing about their story from two different view points.

My favourite bits were about some of the cultural differences they encountered in France, that was quite fascinating and hilarious. Find out about her French château life here - French House Chic by Jane Webster and about the Australian Walters family who are restoring Château de Gudanes here. Like many Brits, Dick and Angel had long dreamed of living in France, but where others might settle for a modest bolthole in the French countryside, the Strawbridges fell in love with a 19th-century fairytale chateau, complete with 45 rooms, seven outbuildings, 12 acres of land and its own moat. The different personalities are well drawn but I would say my favourite was probably designer Leo, the King of Style. She also has a tendency to not credit her artists on later seasons of the show and on the Château's social media accounts, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth.I hate it when some reviews tell you what the story is about so I won't do that but a 10 out of 10 book. This is more or less what I was hoping for when I read Downton Shabby, I think—a light read that is chock full of personality and, you know, castle. Dick has a very soothing, melodious voice therefore, in my opinion, he is better at narration but Angel is so lovely that I enjoyed her parts just as much. They appear to be just themselves throughout the tv show and it’s the same on the audio book, warts and all which I love. Keeping a huge home warm takes lots of heating and the drama of finding a suitable boiler, numerous radiators for numerous rooms, making holes in metre thick stone walls and laying hundreds of metres of water pipes - yes, literally hundreds of metres, for running water are not problems that the average home owner has to deal with.