Dick and Angel find their fairytale French castle. Dick launches into fitting a monumental heating system while Angel discovers the chateau's vintage secrets.
With just £20,000 left in the coffers the refurb problems feel endless for Dick with time running out. But Angel is on a creative roll. And the family buy some chickens.
Dick and Angel are due to marry in just a few weeks, expecting 200 guests. But room after room still needs to be restored, decorated and furnished, and the moat still needs fixing.
This More4 version of the first ever episode contains previously unseen footage. Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree buy a fairy-tale French chateau to bring back to life.
This More4 version contains previously unseen footage. Dick, Angel and the family move into their crumbling chateau with flies everywhere.
In this More4 version with additional footage, Dick and Angel prepare to marry in just a few weeks. But room after room still needs restoring.
It's the first ever paid event at the chateau and Dick tries to make a pig-roaster out of an oil-tank. Angel creates a Versailles-inspired downstairs loo. And it's their son's first day at school.
Keen to expand the business, Dick and Angel Strawbridge consider moat fishing, woodland foraging and installing a lift. Will the chateau survive such a monumental conversion?
As winter descends on the chateau and Christmas looms, Dick and Angel Strawbridge rush to complete a huge to-do list before the arrival of the family from England.
The couple get cracking on the 20 rooms that still need fixing. Angel buys a clapped-out van. And what have the tree surgeons done to the lime trees?
Dick buys a tractor, with plans to tame the walled garden. Angel designs a boudoir with black walls and mirrors. The couple explore truffle farming. And there's a wedding proposal in the dining room.
As the wedding season comes to the chateau, Dick and Angel's lives are about to get a whole lot busier. Then there's the barn, the van and the lime trees, as tensions start to rise.
Dick and Angel continue their adventures in a dilapidated French chateau, facing a busy summer of weddings and foodie events, while finally fixing the garden and stables.
It's harvest time and Dick wants to make jam and turn pears into booze. Angel has big plans for a floating geodesic dome over the moat. Plus - a special birthday treat for Dick.
As Dick and Angel prepare for winter, they attend a food festival in Rouen, where they hope to find inspiration over what to do with their fresh fruit and vegetables. Angel adds the finishing touches to the floating geodesic dome in time for a family sleepover, while Dick gets to work fixing the crumbling stucco.
Dick and Angel expand the project by setting up a luxury campsite on the chateau grounds, but they only have six weeks to complete it before the first guests arrive - and the weather is not on their side, with constant rain turning the planned site into a muddy field. They also have to contend with a visit from Dick's family at Easter.
Angel transforms the attic into a studio and storage space for her vintage treasures and takes Dorothy on a trip to Paris, while Dick has his own plans for repurposing some ancient tools he finds in the outbuildings. The couple throws a surprise birthday celebration for Angel's mother, where Dick's purpose-built open-fire popcorn maker is put to the test.
Angel redesigns the rooms in one of the chateau's turrets with a fruits and flowers motif - but an unexpected surprise lurks behind her creations. Outside, Dick is putting together a parkour fitness trail in the 12 acres of grounds, but hits upon an unexpected obstacle buried deep underground.
The temperatures soar as Dick and Angel face the busiest period of the year, as the school holidays coincide with peak wedding season. Dick comes up with an ingenious solution to stop wedding cakes from melting in the heat, but it involves piercing the chateau's walls. The moat is transformed into a boating lake, giving visitors a chance to cool down, and the family takes to the water in a home-made punt.
Before winter sets in, Dick ploughs the wild flower meadow and joins with Angel in bringing the dilapidated coach house back to life, in a bid to create "Café Grandma".
It's harvest time at the chateau. But there's still time for family wheelbarrow races, to give the basement a swish makeover, and to convert the old piggery into a chicken coop.
Dick and Angel are preparing for a magical Christmas at the château, with festive treats for family and friends, including Dick's walnut wine and a super-sized Christmas tree.
Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree enter their fifth year of living in France. With more weddings and events booked in than ever, the couple prepare for their busiest year yet. In order to feed a total of 1,500 guests, Dick and Angel begin renovating the back of the basement, creating a brand new, state-of-the-art events kitchen with a half-ton oven. Engineer Dick faces a complicated plumbing issue. Angel has a kitchen design challenge. And there's a magical birthday party for young Dorothy.
It's springtime at the chateau, and with the wedding season just a few weeks away, completing phase two of the basement project is becoming an urgent priority for Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree. To cater for all their summer guests, a much-needed utility and laundry room is about to be plumbed in. Angel comes up with a unique way of preserving the 150-year-old wallpaper, while Dick wrestles with a rake while working on the meadow.
The start of the wedding season sees Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree at their busiest, with events booked all through the summer, but there is still time to make improvements. Angel has her sights set on transforming the gravelled area at the front of the chateau into a thing of beauty and the whole family take a trip to Monet's stunning house and garden, where a plan for the chateau's very own water lily patch is hatched.
Dick and Angel are warming up for one of the year's biggest events - Angel's parents' 50th wedding anniversary, which involves inviting more than 100 people to a huge party. There's a bespoke menu to plan and prepare, so Dick has called in the cavalry, with his son James arriving from Cornwall. Together with some help from Arthur, the Strawbridge boys have their work cut out as they create dishes they hope will strike a chord with everyone.
There never seems to be much down-time at that sumptuous French château for owners Dick and Angel Strawbridge. Even as the summer ends after their busiest ever season and the last wedding of the year is nearly over, there’s still a lot to do. While most people would put up their feet and have a Pernod, Dick and Angel welcome an armada of vintage Citroëns that call in at the castle for a rest and breakfast during a fund-raising charity tour of France. And the family, including youngsters Arthur and Dorothy, work on their latest project, doing up a 1980s Asquith bus.
As the beginning of autumn arrives, Dick Strawbridge passes on his conker skills to the family, before the serious business resumes and the next phase of the renovation begins. Dick and his wife Angel Adoree get to work converting the old tack room into a grand entrance way. Angel knocks down walls and upcycles an old glass door, while Dick lays a new concrete floor.
As autumn arrives at the chateau, Dick and Angel start a new project, turning a 35-foot eight-tonne riverboat into luxury guest accommodation, with bespoke fabrics and decking.
After another busy year, Dick and Angel prepare for Christmas with an exquisite festive menu; some beautiful Christmas crafts; friends, family, and some special guests.
Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree's to-do list is as long as ever, and with no guests, weddings or events at the chateau this year, they use their engineering and design skills to tackle some major projects. First on the list is transforming one of the old outbuildings into a supersized workshop for chateau-sized jobs.
With autumn just around the corner, it's a chance for the Strawbridge family to make the most of the wild larder on their doorstep. Dick is determined to make sloe gin, while Angel presses on with her plan to create a library in the pepper pot tower.
Dick and Angel start work on turning the old wash house into a bathroom for their boat on the moat. Angel's imagination runs wild when they discover a huge trench. And a vintage bike gets a refurb.
Dick and Angel Strawbridge attempt to renovate the orangery with the help of a roofing expert and some pre-loved slate, all the way from Wales, They also discover some unexpected history beneath their feet, and Angel finds two old daybeds in need of upcycling.
The whole family help to build an open kitchen and create a pop-up restaurant in the orangery to celebrate Dick and Angel's fifth wedding anniversary. Plus: a special fairy-tale carriage delivery.
In this festive special, the Strawbridges take inspiration from Christmases past in a 19th-century ledger they find in the attic, and create a winter wonderland complete with an ice rink.
Dick, Angel, Arthur and Dorothy share more enchanting tales from the Chateau, as they continue the renovation of their 19th-century fairytale home and grounds. With weddings and events on hold for the second year, Dick and Angel bite the bullet and make the big decision to tackle the exterior of the Chateau. The roof and outside walls are their biggest project to date and the Chateau quickly becomes a building site.
Dick and Angel start work on the biggest, messiest and most expensive job they've ever done at the Chateau - repairing, re-tiling and re-insulating the whole of the original roof. They also transform the preserves cupboard and go hunting in the walled garden for ingredients to make home-grown mint tea and rainbow sweetcorn relish.
Dick and Angel throw a garden party for Arthur and Dorothy's friends, with traditional games including handmade giant dominoes and a treasure hunt around the Chateau grounds. Angel makes a layered jelly with ice cream and another of her specialities - rose petal and honey sandwiches. Meanwhile, the scaffolding arrives and work can start on re-slating the Chateau roof for the first time in 150 years.
Arthur and Dorothy are now seven and eight, and growing up fast. They will soon need separate bedrooms - so Angel comes up with an ingenious plan to create a mezzanine. As the re-slating of the roof continues, Dick and Angel not only launch into knocking down walls and building new ones but preserving old wallpaper, creating memory furnishings from the kids' old clothes, as well as finding time to pick some strawberries in the garden.
Angel discovers that the chateau has a vast attic space running the length of the building and rising to the ridge of the roof. While Dick is glad to have some more storage space, Angel has bigger plans - transforming it into a space-inspired bar complete with balconies from which they can watch the stars. The project will require skylights, a new staircase and unique use of insulation - but proves worth it when a cloudless night provides the perfect chance to look for shooting stars.
Angel sets about restoring the Chateau's walls to their original glory using computer mock-ups to try and match the existing colour. Part of a traditional device used for making cider is discovered while clearing out the piggery, so the hunt is soon on to locate the rest of it. Inspired by the ancient piece of machinery, the family collects apples to make their very own juice.
Work continues on the chateau's roof and exterior walls, but Dick and Angel uncover more issues... And can Papi Steve make a second front door key from the huge 150-year-old one?
Dick, Angel, Arthur and Dorothy enjoy a magical festive adventure in this Christmas episode, with a family celebration inspired by a very special part of France - Colmar in the Alsace region, close to the German border. They discover an enchanting medieval town that makes Christmas feel more magical than ever. It's not long before they are taking part in a festive treasure hunt, sampling local baked delicacies, trying their hand at fondue, and discovering the ice and crémant wines that the region is synonymous with. Back at the chateau, the Strawbridge traditions are not forgotten. Angel, her mum Jenni and Dorothy head out into the chateau grounds to collect the fir and foliage to make the annual Christmas wreath.
The Strawbridges return with more heart-warming adventures and innovative renovations. Dick and Angel prepare for wedding season, as the 'Atelier de Mariage' starts to take shape.
The chateau prepares for their first wedding in over two years, as Dick and Arthur prep a seven-course wedding breakfast, and Angel and Dorothy create dried-petal confetti cones
In the spring, the family turn their attention to the beloved walled garden. On the north-facing wall, there is something rather special hidden beneath the ivy that they would like to tackle; a 19th-century folly in need of renovation. Before Angel can transform the interior, Dick has to tackle the overgrown bamboo forest.
The summer's drought and high temperatures have left the moat's water level lower than ever, and the family work together to save the fish. Over in the walled garden, the recent transformation of the folly has opened Dick and Angel's eyes to the potential of the area around it. They want to enhance the space by creating a new outdoor entertaining area.
After eight long years, the peach tree in the walled garden is finally fruiting, and Dick, Angel, Arthur, and Dorothy can't wait to try the very first peach ever grown by the Strawbridge family. Dick and Angel will also soon be hosting a very important 50th birthday party for one of their closest friends, Sophie, without whom they would never have met.
Dick and Angel visit one of the last unexplored areas of the attic. Among the dust and cobwebs, they uncover more of the chateau's unexpected treasures, including an old train set. With the children growing up fast, Dick and Angel want to create a place for them to call their own - a room filled with vintage games as well as new ones. Dick and Angel have bought a classic Renault 4CV dating back to the 1950s that's in need of restoration.
Dick and Angel create a conservatory-style winter garden room. Meanwhile, the chateau is busy hosting its biggest wedding ever, so there is also lots of organisation to do. Dick and Angel organise a huge Christmas party for all their family and friends, and it's time to sort out the invites - which involve fudge, sparkles and a tin can.
The Strawbridges prepare their festive celebrations, and want to thank everyone who has helped them along the way with the château's biggest party yet. All hands are on deck collecting and decorating the Christmas tree, preparing a festive feast, and carrying out time honoured family traditions. Dick, Papi Steve, Arthur and Dick's eldest son James head to the beaches of Brittany to collect oysters.
This special series revisits the epic transformation of a 45-room French chateau from a ruin into a sumptuous family home. How did Dick overcome the enormous technical and engineering challenges?
This episode celebrates Dick Strawbridge and wife Angel's creativity, with exquisitely designed rooms, stunning bathroom suites, and inspirational design tips.
A look back at how the Strawbridge family fell in love with French rural life - their children surrounded by nature and Dick turning the walled garden into a plot of plenty.
