Escape to the Chateau review: an inspiring fairytale about crumbling walls

2 questions for you.
Why are you watching it?
Could you do better as a producer/director of a TV series?

Dick and Angel are undoubtedly a talented and engaging couple perfect for TV, putting that aside itā€™s all a load of billocks just like countless other progs of the same ilk.

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If only they would stop saying - in just 2 hours the guests will be arriving when knee deep in mess!!!

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So you are watching!
Takes a bit of organising Tim to put that programme together.
Life needs to be a bit of a fairy tale and I think that these 2 may be making a living out
of their own style of dreaming adding some practical points.
Seeing that restaurants and such in UK are finding it so hard to work in UK even with great publicity and big followings.
I seeā€¦still see small success stories come alive here in my region.

@barbara_deane1, I watched some of the first series as I find Dick Strawbridge entertaining but it soon become formuliac so I stopped - man and new quirky wife uses his engineering background (and deep pockets) to renovate wreck in foreign country and shock horror itā€™s a great success, the end.

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And donā€™t forget, Tim, all the false jeopardy as the producers try to rank up the suspense and excite the viewers. Always apparently having no money for vital work or being in complete chaos with just a few hours to go until some falsely staged deadline. oh, and the British tradesman saving the day when theyā€™ve been let down by the workshy and useless French artisans!!

It was a bit of a farce but, I suppose, necessary for the ā€œentertainmentā€ value. Only watched the first series.

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This is one of the most annoying aspects of the ā€œDIYā€ series - that plus the endless repetition - though I believe the series is being aired during the day (we always watch on catch-up). Daytime TV does get a lot of people dipping in an out of programmes so it helps someone who just watches 10 minutes know what is going on but is annoying if you watch the whole thing.

Well every one if it so annoying perhaps just do not watch it;
Bravo to all those people with their deep pockets who want breath life into
crumbling old chateaux.
I would do if it if I had the courage, energy and euros.
Laissez faire ā€¦are you not the people who enjoy others spending their
treasure as they feel best.

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Ah, but itā€™s the sort of stupid thing I might do if left to my own devices - I need to be reminded just how much hard work it entails. :slight_smile:

yes it really is hard work.

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And it provides ingredients for a bit of a giggle.

Well it is amusing how a small feast is created as if magic.
What looked like a reck of a building seems to sparkle with fresh
attire and totally dressed up for the occasion. Food appears in
no time and guests arrive at a moments notice.
As long as we know that this is all Strawbridge style.

Not always. The electrician only took a mi ute to see what was wro ng with the dishwasher.
The strangest thing is how surprised they seem to be with tge cost of repairs and then upkeep.

@barbara_deane1, you missed a couple of words - totally contrived.:wink:

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Yes Tim but it is still a dream for these people and as I have said before life needs
dreams.

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We paid 2000 euros for 2 days work putting the plumbing in and electrics in our new kitchen.
Someone quoted 3000ā€¦supply and demand. In our area there seems to be plenty of work.

As Barbara says - itā€™s TV so difficult to know how close to reality (could have been a scripted or semi-scripted comment).

However, I agree. In fact it was one of the things that put my wife and I off from buying a larger property or one which needed more work - the realisation that the purchase price was just the start.

I guess the point is that sometimes people achieve impossible things because they do not realise they are impossible and just get on with it.

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Iā€™m not an avid viewer of this nonsense but I had to smile when I caught an episode the other day. The couple who were renovating a place and a beautiful job of the interiors they were making but they had ignored the basic rule that you start from the top down. All their work was threatened because they had neglected to fix the roof for starters and now they hadnā€™t the money to fix it. A few lectures on Cathar history to a bunch of English elderly seemed unlikely to generate sufficient income to fix it either now or in the foreseeable future. Then to cap it all while fascinating Iā€™ve never seen anyone plant roses using a mini digger. For the cost of the plant hire she could have engaged a paysagiste with a spade!

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Yes pure nonsense and a good dose of that keeps us smiling;
I found it odd to dig up a chunk on the floor in the reception area and
allowing the cameras to focus on the view!
At the same time receiving guests in that same roomā€¦almost making a feature
of the ugliness of the ruined floor.
Been asked to go on a few programmes like this in the past but I know that the production
team always wants a little disaster.

It would not surprise me that they ā€œencouragedā€ Stephane to dig the floor up.

Quite surprised the tiles were laid straight onto clay though - or at least that the floor was still nice and even after well over 100 years like thatā€¦

Must be a nightmare for damp.

They are worried about 1, 000 euros to make their roof watertight, we could easily spend more than on ours and we do not live in a chateau.

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