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.

I really enjoyed this program, Dick and Angel are the perfect couple to present it. Apart from the entertainment value I have really enjoyed the insight to being a Chateau owner. Really hopeful that there will be a series 2 in the very near future.

It's interesting to hear the comments about the recaps being an American thing. I believe someone said it was "dumbing down" for the American audience. I am American and I thought it was a British thing because it is most frequently seen on British shows such as Grantchester, Endeavour, Midsomer Murders, etc. I enjoy all of the programs and just ignore the recaps. I'm sure American television shows are too dumbed down to be watched in the UK. It's not like British viewers would enjoy dumb American shows like Stranger Things, Friends, Big Little Lies, CSI or Breaking Bad, right? If you don't like the recaps or coming ups just fast forward.

I'll give it an 8 just for having Dick and Angel in it, but wish the production company hadn't put so many recaps in the show and all those "Coming up" previews. Some popularized American thing we're very very sadly adopting. Recaps interrupt the flow of the show, as do these previews, the first 2m 10s of the show is best avoided as it spoils the 'surprise' of the show. And all the subsequent, "Coming up" numerous previews throughout, it is dumbing down the audience, spoon feeding the show for those who have a need to know what the show is going to be in 10 mins time before they've even seen it. Viewers will either watch the show all the way through, or not bother at all, do we really need to know what happened 10 mins ago or what will happen in 10 mins time.

All these Americanization program gimmicks are ruining our programs in the UK. Such a shame it has blighted this one. Maybe the show was made to be sold off to that market as well, hence the dumbing down of the show to suit those conditioned to such a format.

Location great, people in it great, presenters great, the show is great, a lot of hard work went into making the show no doubt, well worth a watch!, but there are just too many recaps & coming ups. Any further shows produced by this production company about anything, just cut down on the recaps & coming ups.

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 ;)