If you haven’t watched Escape to the Chateau, you have to check it out!  I discovered the documentary series, Escape to the Chateau, about a month ago when it first aired on HGTV.  Escape to the Chateau is a British show that started in 2016. It follows the British couple, Dick and Angela Strawbridge, as they buy and renovate a chateau in Martigné-sur-Mayenne, France, while they raise two young children and run their event planning business out of the chateau.  After searching for four years, the couple finally found the chateau they love.  They bought a run-down 16th century chateau that requires everything such as basic things we all know and love – electricity and indoor plumbing.  Each episode, the couple tackles a different renovation project.  In later years, the episodes focus a bit more on their event planning business, such as hosting weddings and parties.  Each episode shows the hard work and long hours the couple puts into their projects.  Dick Strawbridge is an engineer by trade and handles all the technical aspects of the renovation, while his event planner wife, Angela, handles the design and decorating.

The show is widely popular in Britain and it spawned a spin-off show called Escape to the Chateau DIY.  In the DIY show, Dick and Angela consult for other British chateau owners in France.  As France has many abandoned and rundown chateaus for sale at a reasonable price, many foreigners, a third of whom are British, are buying the chateaus.  These British chateau owners plan to restore their chateaus back to their former glories and the owners do most renovation projects themselves to save money.  These owners operate on a tight budget and timeline, as they need to have the chateaus up and running quickly.  Most owners plan to run a bed and breakfast or event business out of their chateaus in order to cover the cost of maintaining the chateaus and the renovations.  Dick Strawbridge provides advice on technical projects and Angela provides help with design ideas.  I enjoy both shows equally and each episode is inspirational and entertaining.  As you meet different chateau owners and follow them through multiple episodes during their renovation projects, you end up cheering for them.  The chateaus featured in the show come in all shapes, sizes, and ages.  Even before the restoration, each property looks stunning and fairytale-like.  The transformation of each room the owners complete is just beautiful. 

Each episode seems to encourage me to embrace DIY projects that I (well, most likely my husband) might have to do around our house (of course, not even close to the scale seen on the show).  The show also motivates me to almost reupholster an old chair on my own and makes me appreciate the beauty of a vintage claw foot cast iron tub.  I have always appreciated seeing vintage and antique things restored and the show has a bundle of those.  The beautiful French countryside scenery, the food, and culture are the backdrop of each episode.  Little do my family and friends know, I’m secretly taking notes on the renovated chateaus and one day I hope to visit some of them.  Perhaps one of the chateaus would be a great locale for our group of friends’ milestone birthday celebratory trip?   Escape to the Chateau and Escape to the Chateau DIY shows are such great fun to watch and provide a real escape from our current state of the world.