1. Cast information
    Dick Strawbridge   Angel Adoree  

2. Episode list

3. Background and production
     History of Chateau de la Motte  

4. Other series
     Escape to the Chateau D.I.Y    Episode List  

5. References

6. External links

Escape to the Chateau is a Channel 4 documentary series which follows the story of couple Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree along with their family as they buy, renovate and restore the 18th-century Château de la Motte Husson, and simultaneously juggle growing their both their business and family. The first series follows Dick and Angel's quest to restore the chateau from its uninhabitable state by installing running water, heating and electricity throughout the 45-bedroom castle, which hadn't been lived in for the past forty years. They're working against a deadline: their own wedding, which is to be held at the property. The second, third and fourth series continues their story as they grow their events and wedding business and continue restoration, renovations and maintenance of the castle, and document the family events and milestones going on around them.

Cast information

Dick Strawbridge

Formerly a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army, Strawbridge has appeared on numerous television shows such as Scrapheap Challenge (2009), It's Not Easy Being Green (2006), Coast (2006), The Hungry Sailors and Saturday Farm (2011), Dirty Rotten Survival (2015), and many others. However, his engineering and food experience is highlighted in Escape to the Chateau, with his can-do attitude and engineering expertise often making the work on the chateau never cease.

Angel Adoree

Adoree, who runs a hospitality business called The Vintage Patisserie where she appeared on Dragon’s Den, provides the creative factor and unique flair of the show, often encouraging Strawbridge to add her style and interior decoration skill to the castle as well as the interest in hospitality and entertaining to make their guests' memories there to last.^[1]

Episode list

Background and production

Dick Strawbridge invited Channel 4 to join them documenting their journey in searching for a house. The couple had already spent four years searching for a home to bring up their two young children, Arthur and Dorothy. In contrast to many other home shows, the television coverage was never planned, but Channel 4 paid to document the journey which lifted some of the weight that such a large task would cost. This was in the form of the presenter's fee, in addition to the exposure from the shows advertising, that has allowed the business to uphold it's popularity as a wedding and events venue.^[3]

The appeal of the show may be due to the affordability on face value and lack of demand for such French properties, which attracts many English home buyers. That was the same story with Dick and Angel as when they first started house hunting in France, they were looking at more modest properties such as small farmhouses, until they realised that at such low prices, they could buy a castle.^[4] For £280,000, they purchased a chateau that lists forty-five rooms, a walled garden and surrounded by a moat on a twelve-acre property, ten times larger than the average British house. However, the show makes viewers aware of the large restoration and running costs of such projects, which can become costly for people trying to make a business out of these castles. ^[1]

With policies on rehabilitating older houses introduced in the 1970s, National Housing Agency (ANAH) was created to promote the improvement of older private dwellings, which can either improve or hinder the process. ^[5]Another way to gather funds is through shareholdings schemes. This was seen in Escape to the Chateau D.I.Y with the couple renovating Chateau De Jalesnes, who used wealthy French nationals as shareholders.^[6] Another example, was through a GoFundMe page that saved 13th century Chateau De La Mothe-Chandeniers by receiving €500,000, that now has thousands of shareholders, invested in its restoration.^[7]

History of Chateau de la Motte

From the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, the site of the chateau was used as a fortified stronghold in the parish of La Motte. In 1406, the Husson family, the Seigneurs of Montgiroux, named the castle, Chateau-de-la-Motte Husson.

The de Baglion family acquired the estate in 1600, after that it was rebuilt within the square moat during the period 1868-1874. The current façade is reflective of the efforts of Countess Dorothée who told her husband that she wanted a grand chateau. The purpose of the chateau served as a summer retreat for the family.^[8]

Other series

Escape to the Chateau D.I.Y

Escape to the Chateau D.I.Y. follows Dick and Angel again giving their tips to other British expats in France trying to run a business from chateaus in a similar state to their own. It follows their renovations and possibilities for generating profit. The show has one series with twenty episodes. The initial broadcast was on 9 April 2018 and the series concluded on 4 May 2018.^[9]

Episode List

References

External links

• {{IMDb title|id=6249614|title=Escape to the Chateau}}
• {{Channel4.com|programmes/escape-to-the-chateau}}

• Francis James Child
• Francis J. Beckwith
• Francis J. Child
• Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc
• Francis Jeffers
• Francis Jeffrey Jeffrey
• Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey
• Francis J. Harvey
• Francis J. Herron
• Francis J. Murray
• Francis Jobin
• Francis John Jayne
• Francis Johnson (architect)
• Francis Johnson (composer)
• Francis John Welsh Whipple
• Francis John William Harvey
• Francis Joseph
• Francis Joseph Gossman
• Francis Joseph I
• Francis Joseph II
• Francis Joseph I of Austria
• Francis Joseph Murray
• Francis Joseph of Austria
• Francis Joseph Spellman
• Francis Joyon