Escape to the Château
Discussion
ked, lots of slipping slates including some big patches. Joscal said:
Andy_stook_2k said:
They come across as such a happy couple, lovely kids too.
Yes thought this too a great couple nice to see in this day in age.oilbethere said:
That guy fixing the roof! Feck that.
Much as they tried to show lots of dodgy blue nylon rope, he was using good climbing rope, presumably solidly fixed to the roof beams. Still made my palms sweaty though 
I wonder how enthusiastic about drones he was afterwards. "what, you mean I don't need to climb out using 100 year old ladders you found in the loft? Smashing"
It's a very entertaining watch and they seem like very nice people, albeit a bit eccentric (perfect for tv!).
I live quite near them and I've spent the past eight years renovating an old French farmhouse and turning outbuildings into gites so I have some insight into what they're doing, so a few observations from me:-
1) every renovating job you get a professional to do for you costs about five times as much as DIY, but it gets done twice as quickly.
2) the chateau will be a money pit, but if you're going to do it then getting a TV company to film and broadcast it must he£p enormously, plus put extra value on the finished property.
3) this part of France is not the most commercially 'hot' and properties like this around here are probably the most 'affordable' in France. However, we are near Le Mans
4) I know for a fact that C4 are filming similar other brit-owned chateaux in the area, so there's more to come in terms of spin-off series... we were actually having a BBQ at a friend's chateau when they were filming.
5) my roof cost me under €15k to replace last year. However, I got a brit builder to do it, we did seek best price slates, my house is about 25% of the footprint of the chateau and we are only two storeys high. However, Dick's assertion that replacing the roof on his pile was going to cost c€150,000 is stretching it a bit! I know French artisans are bl00dy expensive, but there's some artistic licence being applied....
6) predictably they aren't showing all the dull renovating jobs that have to be done! Angel painting stripes on a wall accounts for about 0.0001% of the work, you are not seeing all the filling, sanding, cementing, wiring, plumbing, woodwork etc etc that goes into doing a place like this.
7) finally, I have absolutely no idea how anybody could have taken this sort of job on before the advent of the Internet! Simply locating services, materials, tools, builders etc plus as an amateur the ability to find out how to do stuff on YouTube is invaluable. Hat's off to anybody who did this more than fifteen years ago....
If you want an idea of what we're doing you can see us on www.LeTertreGites.com or find us on Facebook...
I live quite near them and I've spent the past eight years renovating an old French farmhouse and turning outbuildings into gites so I have some insight into what they're doing, so a few observations from me:-
1) every renovating job you get a professional to do for you costs about five times as much as DIY, but it gets done twice as quickly.
2) the chateau will be a money pit, but if you're going to do it then getting a TV company to film and broadcast it must he£p enormously, plus put extra value on the finished property.
3) this part of France is not the most commercially 'hot' and properties like this around here are probably the most 'affordable' in France. However, we are near Le Mans
4) I know for a fact that C4 are filming similar other brit-owned chateaux in the area, so there's more to come in terms of spin-off series... we were actually having a BBQ at a friend's chateau when they were filming.
5) my roof cost me under €15k to replace last year. However, I got a brit builder to do it, we did seek best price slates, my house is about 25% of the footprint of the chateau and we are only two storeys high. However, Dick's assertion that replacing the roof on his pile was going to cost c€150,000 is stretching it a bit! I know French artisans are bl00dy expensive, but there's some artistic licence being applied....
6) predictably they aren't showing all the dull renovating jobs that have to be done! Angel painting stripes on a wall accounts for about 0.0001% of the work, you are not seeing all the filling, sanding, cementing, wiring, plumbing, woodwork etc etc that goes into doing a place like this.
7) finally, I have absolutely no idea how anybody could have taken this sort of job on before the advent of the Internet! Simply locating services, materials, tools, builders etc plus as an amateur the ability to find out how to do stuff on YouTube is invaluable. Hat's off to anybody who did this more than fifteen years ago....
If you want an idea of what we're doing you can see us on www.LeTertreGites.com or find us on Facebook...
Le Vette said:
It's a very entertaining watch and they seem like very nice people, albeit a bit eccentric (perfect for tv!)....
Your place looks lovely, but I can easily imagine replacing the Chateau's roof would cost 10x what yours did - it's 4x higher, 4x the footprint and has towers etc.randlemarcus said:
oilbethere said:
That guy fixing the roof! Feck that.
Much as they tried to show lots of dodgy blue nylon rope, he was using good climbing rope, presumably solidly fixed to the roof beams. Still made my palms sweaty though I wonder how enthusiastic about drones he was afterwards. "what, you mean I don't need to climb out using 100 year old ladders you found in the loft? Smashing"
Stickyfinger said:
Joscal said:
Andy_stook_2k said:
They come across as such a happy couple, lovely kids too.
Yes thought this too a great couple nice to see in this day in age.Edited by oilbethere on Monday 25th September 20:26
oilbethere said:
Stickyfinger said:
Joscal said:
Andy_stook_2k said:
They come across as such a happy couple, lovely kids too.
Yes thought this too a great couple nice to see in this day in age.Edited by oilbethere on Monday 25th September 20:26
Le Vette said:
6) predictably they aren't showing all the dull renovating jobs that have to be done! Angel painting stripes on a wall accounts for about 0.0001% of the work, you are not seeing all the filling, sanding, cementing, wiring, plumbing, woodwork etc etc that goes into doing a place like this.
Didn't half wind me up seeing her painting stripes over wallpaper when they'd just shown holes in ceilings. 
Good job she has Dick, I don't know who else could cope.
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