Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree traded their Essex flat for Château-de-la-Motte Husson, a 19th-century pile in Pays de la Loire with no heating, electricity or working plumbing. Channel 4 followed the pair, their two toddlers and a rotating crew of local artisans across nine seasons as they patched roofs, plumbed loos and threw increasingly ambitious weddings to pay the bills. Each 47-minute episode charts a single project: hand-printing 1,000 invitations in the apple orchard, forging a wrought-iron staircase, or turning the moat into an ice-rink for Christmas. The tone stays cheerfully domestic; Strawbridge swears at recalcitrant boilers in clipped military tones while Adoree sources vintage velvet and home-schools the children in a turret.
Narrator Tracy-Ann Oberman supplies sardonic commentary over time-lapse vines being ripped from façades and champagne corks popping at finished parties. Ratings held steady above two million, spawning the spin-off Chateau DIY and a 2023 podcast, Dick & Angel’s CHAT…EAU, where the couple revisit their first sight of the 112-step entrance and the moment they realised the asking price was only £390,000. Production ended in December 2022 with the chateau licensed for 60 weddings a year, a fully stocked orchard and a reputation for parties that finish under fireworks reflected in the moat.
Production Details
Channel 4 / 9 Seasons / 52 Episodes / 2016
Main Cast
Angel Adoree as Self
Dick Strawbridge as Self
Tracy-Ann Oberman as Narrator (voice)
