Escape to the Chateau DIY

I am not a chateau owner but I followed the original series with Dick and Angel and enjoyed it immensely. Even more interesting to see other British people buying up these beautiful houses and returning them to life after many years of being abandoned. A lot of hard work goes into restoring these places and requires a lot of dedication.

In each episode there are several homes being featured on each episode and the owners are seen tackling various restoration work, some of which causes a lot of stress due to timescales for events booked. Yes, there is a fair bit of recapping, but to be honest I do not mind this, seeing the houses become lovely family homes after years of neglect. A thoroughly enjoyable series, there is a lot of humour and quite often Dick and Angel Strawbridge appear to give advice. Ten out of ten.

This is a great series. Being the owner of a two story brick Victorian built in 1855, we can identify with the trials and tribulations of bringing an old house back to life, and still having money to eat on. I don't understand how they can afford to keep going unless they are being compensated to some degree by the producers of the series. Anyway, they are definitely brave hearts to take on the challenge.

Many people dream of moving to France or having a holiday pad there. We are lucky, we have a holiday pad and I have to say that we have loved watching this series. Yes, getting work done in France is extremely hard and yes, it is very expensive so you do learn. Seeing how others have been (brave or stupid?) enough to take on even more of a project and to risk more than we dared to risk has been amazing. It is entertaining, informative, light hearted, realistic and so much more. It helps that the production team have also been able to demonstrate how down to earth and likeable the chateau owners are too - it really has made those watching the program feel part of what is going on and this has been helped by the interactive facebook group which all owners appear to be participating on too. This has also added to the vibe. Yes, the reminders after the advertisements or when they swap to another chateau can be a little annoying but this seems to be the UK 'thing' now. If it was safety related I'd suggest it was implied in legislation somewhere which the UK would take to the n'th extreme and which the French would probably ignore ;)

David Higgins says it all for us, a terrific series for lovers of France but completely spoilt by the recaps and to-ing and fro-ing between the various locations. A much better idea would be for each episode to concentrate on one Chateau and follow the story through with no recapping after the adverts. Most people have a memory span longer than the adverts. I have complained to c4 about this but of course no one has bothered to reply.

I LOVE this show! The recaps are unnecessary but they don't really bother me. Some of the homeowners are more appealing than others. I do question the serial procrastination and suspect that it is done to create television drama. Once I got past Dick's moustache (please trim) I am very impressed by his skill and find him very amusing. Angel is incredibly clever and artistic. I have stopped questioning her plans because I know I will like it in the end. The wallpaper museum is an example. What is the story with the turbans? Not especially flattering. In season 2, episode 28, the couple doing up the bedroom suites did a lovely job. The curtains made for the ciel de lit were gorgeous but did they really not press the sheers? It ruined the entire look of the room.