Not only do we have a wide choice of used books available, we'll also send your next read to you free of charge. In 2015 they bought a derelict château in the Loire valley and became the subjects of the hugely popular Channel 4 hit Escape to the Château. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The journey from starting with an empty beautiful shell of a building to the final fabulous home they create is inspiring and uplifting, and immensely enjoyable to follow. 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.

Channel 4 has been following and documenting their journey since 2015 when they bought the derelict château. Without it, I’m just reading a miserable tale of a woman left in a freezing chateau with 2 young children surrounded by millions of flies with no instructions from her husband on how to work anything. First, this book is missing something essential for all memoirs but especially ex-pat memoirs — dialogue. Sad to read that it was all premeditated for television and not just two (fairly) ordinary people who wanted to do something different.I loved this aspect of the book together with the artistic inspiration I felt on following Angels decorating projects. Things don’t always work first time and as Dick finds out; something as simple as drilling a hole in the wall is a momentous task that takes him days as opposed to hours. As warm and entertaining as their much-loved show,A Year at the Chateau is a truly irresistible story of adventure and heart, epic ambitions and a huge amount of hard graft. 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.

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 château, complete with 45 rooms, seven outbuildings, 12 acres of land and its own moat. They did talk of a few meetings with their neighbors, but there were very few details, which may have been at the neighbor’s request since she wouldn’t allow her children on TV. As warm and entertaining as their much-loved show, A Year at the Chateau is a truly irresistible story of adventure and heart, epic ambitions and a huge amount of hard graft. While there are certain insights that are interesting (such as expat life in France) but too much is devoted to describing wedding preparations and gushing about how "special" their life is (seriously, three times in one paragraph!

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.