Original subtitles

In the heart of the French countryside,

a magnificent Chateau stood uncared for and abandoned.

Then, five years ago, everything changed...

Wow! Look at that.

..when an intrepid British couple... Turn, turn, turn.

Wow.

..unlocked its front door...

Everything's gorgeous.

..fell in love with its grandeur...

..and embarked on an adventure.

Oh, my God.

Now, over three unique episodes,

engineer Dick Strawbridge and his wife, designer Angel,

look back at how their dream became a reality.

We never went into this project thinking it was going to be

an easy project. It was a massive, massive job.

In this special...

..we look at how Dick and Angel have transformed their 12-acre grounds...

Give it lots of water. Oh, no!

..with an abundance of colour...

I'm feeling a bit smug at the moment.

I've got a cutting garden.

..a wild imagination...

Look at that strong lady!

..slowly but surely...

..turning a neglected wilderness into a magical outdoors,

bursting with life.

Don't crash. Don't crash, you two.

I think all of us just smile when we go into the garden, don't we?

We do, totally.

Whoa!

Since Dick and Angel first moved into the chateau five years ago...

..they've devoted every moment to renovating and restoring it...

What if it doesn't grow back?

..working tirelessly to make it an idyllic place to live.

I can't imagine us not living in France with the family.

Oops! Pick them up, you're going to lose them.

We moved in believing that this was our forever home.

And we still do. And we still do.

So, now we're looking back at how they're bringing

the chateau's magnificent grounds back to life...

Still plenty of aubergines.

..turning the once abandoned estate

into a magical place for their family and business.

Shall we go on a date to work?

Today, with 12 acres of grounds,

seven outbuildings and a moat,

Dick and Angel are hoping to create the perfect outdoor lifestyle.

All right, big boy, we're going to need some mud for money. Where from?

I'm going to show you. Come with me.

Bring... Bring the buckets.

There's nothing that I don't like about living in the country.

What's not to love?

I don't see how we could have the life we have got anywhere else

other than here.

Dorothy, look. We take this...

We throw it in.

And what happens... I want it to go down to the bottom,

I want you to pull it in full of mud.

Pull it in, see if there is any mud in there. Look at this.

Come on, you can do it.

It's really heavy. Daddy, can you help with pulling it in?

Transforming the outdoors is an ongoing project

but, for Dick and Angel, there are no regrets.

The chateau's wonderful

but it's the old park, the estate

that makes it very special, isn't it?

It's a lot of work, isn't it?

They're doing it, look!

Yes! Nearly there!

Come on, it's nearly up. It's nearly up. Come on, you can do it.

You have to lift it over the top, Arthur. Mummy...

Oh! Oh, no.

I can't imagine leaving here without going out in a box.

Even then, I'd probably like to be planted somewhere quite close.

With plenty of work still to be done,

and to appreciate the transformation so far,

we journey back to 2014

when they first laid eyes on the chateau's grounds.

Come on, son, let's go and have a look.

That's a walled garden. That's a walled garden.

Surrounded by 2.5-metre-high walls,

Dick had found his very own sanctuary.

Oh, my God. All 2,000 square metres of it.

Just step very carefully here.

We spotted the walled garden

but it was only when we stepped up those steps and saw it,

did I get overly excited.

South is that direction.

You see all the wires going up the side?

That's where there's been plants

in the past growing against the walls

cos, when the walls have sunshine, they get warm.

You can grow all sorts of exotics here.

150 years ago, the walled garden

would have supplied the main house

with fresh fruit, flowers and vegetables.

This, in its own right,

is years and years of work

to turn it into something phenomenal.

The weeds were 40-foot-tall sycamore trees, you know what I mean?

it has been neglected.

Yeah, I think your biggest frustration

was that you knew you couldn't do anything in the walled garden

for the first part because obviously we had the house to sort out.

My biggest frustration was you bought a chateau

as well as the walled garden.

In 2017, though,

Dick finally got his chance

and embarked on bringing the walled garden back to life.

OK, so, trois, quatre.

The first things to go were the scores

of self-seeded sycamores.

I fell in love with this place mainly because of the walled garden.

The chateau's pretty but this is something

that is just like a dream for anybody who works outside,

has a garden.

No messing around.

All walled gardens have a very similar feel to them

in that there's a square

divided into four main squares.

What that does is that gives us four distinct growing areas.

South is down here, the sun shines.

This hot part up here,

things should grow faster than the bit down here

cos this is in the shade of the wall -

which means, if I plant a plum tree here and a plum tree there,

there's a six-week difference in when they should be ready.

That's really extended my season

by just going diagonally across the garden.

But before he could grow anything,

Dick needed to clear the 2,000 square metre site.

With the land prepped and his fruit and vegetable

planting plan drawn up,

Dick was already working the soil by spring.

It's glorious weather.

It's warming up.

We have to get things growing.

The clock is ticking, and nature doesn't wait for you,

you've just got to get into it.

So, getting a greenhouse, getting a cold frame,

starting producing our grub,

I'm very excited.

This is fun for me.

But to restore the greenhouse he wanted so badly,

Dick needed builder mate Steve

to help save one of the few original bits left.

The arch has sunk but the keystone's still in place.

I want that arch as it is.

It is actually holding it up, isn't it?

Right, the arch is solid.

To his delight, Dick's walled garden was slowly

and steadily coming back to life.

All he needed was Angel by his side

to make his garden picture perfect.

God, there's so much to learn.

You're going to have to...

Tell me what to do. Wow.

Angela said to me, when I first met her,

she was never going to become a land girl.

Having said that, she wants flowers.

I don't really grow flowers,

so she's going to have to get in there and get involved.

Where will my flowers go? So, where do you want to plant them?

I'm asking you cos you're planting them. Am I going to plant them ?

I guess so.

One thing that I don't think I ever really appreciated

was when flowers were actually in season.

I mean, the first time that I ever saw a load of bluebells

was incredible. I'd never seen a snowdrop...

Snowdrops, the primroses coming through, the daffodils.

Primroses. Yeah! It's good, isn't it?

I did not... They come and go, and you have to enjoy them.

But before she learned about floral seasons,

Angel had to first learn about growing them.

Do know what you want to plant yet?

I've got a bit of an idea.

You might need to start thinking what you want. OK.

Pace that out, see how many Angela steps it is. Right.

Dick is desperate to get me in the garden.

Honestly, within a week of meeting me, he sent me these boots.

I don't know if I'll ever consider myself a land girl.

I kind of like the outfit.

Yeah, I've always had boiler suits, always.

And my little ties in my hair,

so I think I look like a land girl.

Bigger steps, bigger steps, you were doing bigger.

12.

12? OK.

If I'm going to plant,

I need nothing to sting the children

and I can come out here and plant with the children.

That's the thing I need. How are you going to do that?

Well, I'm going to need it prepped.

It doesn't work like that in the garden.

It doesn't work like that in the garden.

Gardening is doing the prep.

And two years later,

the walled garden today is almost unrecognisable

from the lost and overgrown gem that Dick discovered five years ago.

The 40 fruit trees, rows of vegetables...

..and cutting garden, giving it a timeless look

that even the chateau's original gardeners would probably recognise.

Anybody who spends any time gardening at all

just wants a walled garden.

It's got so many ways of using it with the walls, the beds, the paths,

and it's a special area dedicated solely to the worship of gardening.

And the botanical oasis of the walled garden

has gone on to inspire Angel's unique wallpaper

and her extraordinary design in the potagerie suite.

The turret's curving walls,

a floral love letter

from Angel to Dick.

I think I've found... Here's one here, look.

But for the family,

the walled garden is also a magical place

filled with special memories.

Hold up, I used to do this when I was young all the time.

Pass me this rhubarb.

You like soured sweets, Arthur Donald Strawbridge.

Sort of!

Then watch this.

We're going to do a cheers and eat them all at the same time.

One for... One for Dorothy,

one for Arthur, one for Mummy.

Don't eat it yet, don't eat it yet.

One for Daddy.

Cheers.

And it's fresh rhubarb.

Put it in for sourness. Go on.

Sour!

I like it.

No? Mmm.

From the moment they bought the chateau in 2014,

Dick and Angel faced an enormous challenge.

It took quite a bit of adjusting for you, didn't it? A little bit.

There was a lot of flies, a lot of spiders,

a lot of creepy crawlies.

Whoa! Oh, that's not nice.

No, no, no! I really don't like it!

I've learnt so much about nature.

In this unique episode, we're looking back at how together,

they continue to restore and transform

their once neglected gardens.

And when they first viewed the chateau's grounds

five years ago, there was one particular outbuilding

that captivated both their hearts.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Right, this is the Orangery.

For Angel especially, it was a dream come true,

as captured in this video diary footage.

This is really special, isn't it?

This place is really light and airy.

Do you know what? It feels nice in here.

Seeing the Orangery made a perfect location

even more perfect.

You wanted an Orangery because you always thought

it was a very elegant space. Oh, it's just...

How could you not want one? They're such a beautiful...

Such a beautiful thing, um, a winter garden.

But there's also a beauty that you're just looking out

of these really gorgeous windows

into this botanical garden, that's just very charming.

As well as housing exotic plants, the Orangery

would have originally offered a place to entertain guests -

a point not missed by Angel's mother, Jenny.

This might be part of your wedding business as well.

We got so occupied with moving in and living here...

You haven't thought about the business?

Yeah, we haven't thought about that side of the business.

So Dick and Angel saw an opportunity to restore

the Orangery for their planned weddings and events business -

hosting parties, just as it would have done 100 years ago.

I think it's fair to say the chateau was a bit of a party place.

And I think this place would have been full of music

and laughter at one stage.

Nearly everything we've found

has been down the direction of entertaining.

The cider barrels, the cave, and all the empty bottles.

And remember the... Was it Jacques? No, what's his name?

Jean... Jean Francois.

Jean Francois, he's in his 80s,

and he actually remembers them doing tea parties in the Orangery.

SHE LAUGHS

I'd say the Orangery ladies having tea parties. Lovely.

Angel had a vision for the Orangery as an intimate event space,

nestled in the chateau's wild flower meadow.

But to achieve it, they had to do a lot of work.

From installing electricity...

HE LAUGHS

..to creating the perfect backdrop for events.

And in 2015, just nine months after moving in,

it was given a trial run...

CHEERING

We're married! ..at Dick and Angel's own wedding.

You may notice that we've done a lot of work on this place,

lots more to do.

On your plate, you've got a knife, fork and a spoon,

that is your cutlery for eight courses.

LAUGHTER

We had a choice between plaster or buying new soup spoons...

LAUGHTER

Have a lovely meal, and I hope you thoroughly enjoy yourselves.

CHEERING

Angela said she wasn't going to do a wedding.

I was going to tell my mum, tell her parents,

and we were going to go and elope and have them as witnesses.

That was true, that was true, so... And then we found a chateau,

and she said, "Ah, I've got a great idea for a house-warming,

"let's just have our chateau, and have a party."

It was a party of dreams. Yes.

And it was lovely, and it was perfect, our wedding day.

And since then, the Orangery

has been the setting for numerous events.

From beautiful weddings...

CHEERING

..to more intimate moments.

The historic outbuilding once again full of laughter and joy.

We're bringing the life back to it, I think one of the things

we're always very aware of is that the laughter we hear here,

and the people having a good time at events,

it just... It must have been like that.

While the Orangery immediately inspired them both,

it was Angel who saw the potential in a muddy patch of land

behind the chateau's coach house.

Back in 2014, Dick had no idea it would one day become

a luxury campsite.

On the second floor, looking out the window, here you can see...

Oh, there's a moat, it actually looks like some water's

gone across there with all the rain, into those trees.

In 2018, Angel's first challenge was to convince Dick

of her ambitious plans.

I just think having another dome would mean that we could have,

maybe, a family stay in it.

And we would sell them, like, you know, for weddings,

people are always asking, "Is there more accommodation?"

How big a dome do you want? Like, huge.

SHE LAUGHS

I'll show you what seven metres looks like.

That's quite big. That's perfect.

Maybe we've got to get rid of some of the bits here...

It's not bits, darling, they're called trees. OK.

You get the point? Yeah. Seven metres is big. Mm-hm.

SHE LAUGHS

It's not always rosy.

Sometimes we argue, but actually, it's all worthwhile. Passion.

Yeah, passion. Yeah, you've got to care. Yeah.

Angel's grand plan to transform the barren field beyond the moat

into a glamorous campsite was uncharted territory.

We've got a bathroom and a kitchen, and a whole area,

outside area, to be landscaped.

And I've never ever done any landscaping before.

I've never had a garden. SHE LAUGHS

I've been having total sleepless nights about this,

because it's new, it's not in the chateau,

which means that it's got to be great.

But this is kind of how I think it will look like.

But with only six weeks until their first guests,

their strict building schedule was soon scuppered.

The weather's against us,

but it looks like it's going to be like this for the next week.

The thing was, we had probably the wettest spring

you can imagine to do this in. Oh, gosh, yes. And consequently,

all the timelines got compressed.

We were literally slopping around, past our ankles in mud

for most of it. You just couldn't do a day's work.

Despite the weather, work had to continue.

After the framework had been built, the dome needed a cover.

Going to be opening it out, and then pulling this side over it.

Right, OK, we're up.

Pivoting around, Steve's pivoting around them.

Right, set it down.

I think what was funny about the domes was we've got

this instruction booklet, and it had, sort of, two men,

like little... Stick men pulling it.

..stick men, and it looked really easy, you know,

"And you just pull it over." SHE LAUGHS

OK, pulling them up.

HE EXHALES That's looking better than it was.

I think tea, now.

Ready for tea?

When the sun finally came out,

Angel was ready to design the dome's interior.

I like the lightness in here.

That extra two metres has made the world of difference in here.

This dome is huge.

But I'm going to fill it. SHE LAUGHS

The trick is, with these very modern geometric shapes,

it's got to be...

There's got to be touches of the chateau in here.

I don't want to disturb the view too much.

Dick, however, was struggling with the level of luxury

required for a night under the stars, Angel style.

It's not glamping unless it's glamorous, apparently,

and so, for us, that involves a wood-powered hot tub.

Glamping is not camping, that was news for me.

Because for Angela, the concept of glamping is a hotel.

HE LAUGHS

Yeah? SHE STUTTERS

Yes... Yes, I think that's probably fair.

Oh, in fact, I want it...

Probably... I think because it was camping,

I felt that it needed to be... And it wasn't the chateau.

I felt it needed to be the most amazing thing ever.

The wood-fired hot tub, however luxurious,

needed to be moved into place, all 160kg of it.

This is going to go over there and look pretty.

OK? OK, to begin with.

Oh, Jesus, that's heavy. THEY LAUGH

OK, set it...

What a stupid idea. Get yourself off again, ready?

One, two, three, lift.

Right. OK, we got it?

Right, I'm happy, is everybody else happy?

What the hell? Four men, a tub...

..combined age of 212. LAUGHTER

Spinning it around now, please, moving it around towards you, Craig.

Round towards you.

More towards Rob. It's there, it's there, it's not a bad position.

With just 24 hours before the first guests, Dick and Angel worked

into the night to complete their ambitious outdoor transformation.

I think Angela's very aware the clock is ticking,

the guests are coming, and she always wants to do more

than is actually physically possible in the time.

She knows that she wants it to be perfect,

and that's all she's ever going to accept.

In the spring of 2018,

Angel's bold vision for a luxury campsite...

..became a reality.

This whole project has felt a little bit different,

because I've always tried to take the outside inside, into the house.

And this time, we're doing it the other way around,

so you've got your inside outside.

And it's a first, it's a first for me, definitely.

But I think it's worked.

I really, really love it.

What was once an unloved, muddy field...

..now a glamorous camping space

within the sanctuary of the chateau's grounds.

So if you want to understand my pain,

my pain was the fact that glamping isn't camping,

and it had to be...

..better... If not as good, better than staying in the chateau.

Yeah. OK.

I think that just explains the pain of doing glamping here.

When Dick and Angel brought their 45-room chateau in France

five years ago, they also took on the stunning 12-acre estate

that surrounds it.

When we arrived, all of our views were there, beautiful views.

And I've got to say, it is still beautiful. Even the pollarded trees!

In early 2016, Dick decided to cut back the lime trees

that lined the front of the chateau.

The tree's sleeping, so we're giving it a haircut while it sleeps.

That's what pollarding's about.

CHAINSAW BUZZES

Unfortunately, his decision didn't go down that well with Angel.

I am freaking out a little bit. Why?

I hadn't really understood this fully.

Um, honestly, when you said they were going to be pollarded,

I thought they were going to have a little haircut.

It's, um...

..very different.

They look really bald, baby! Honestly!

Like, seriously, are they going to grow back enough

in time for the wedding season?

This area here is kind of where I've proposed, um,

that everyone sits to eat.

Because if it does rain,

we can't have everyone eating in the orangery or the house, really,

and it'll probably be warm in the summer months, so...

When they start to grow, all the sap will rise,

and we'll have shoots coming out of the top, here, and this...

When?

Um, March. Our first wedding's in May!

I know, I know. How high will they be?

I don't know. I can't... I can't give you the answer.

I know you're panicking. Um, but, darling, it has to be done.

Yeah.

It's nature. Trust nature. Those trees want to live.

They want to grow big and strong again. I know.

So, it's done now. Yeah.

But looking after a few trees is one thing.

Learning how to maintain an 8,000 square metre medieval moat,

quite another.

The moat, it's beautiful.

Obviously, it defines this space, because for, what...?

The 12th century? That's 900 years, 800 years

of, um, a castle being here, surrounded by water. I love it.

Dick and Angel's chateau stands on the foundations

of a medieval fortress.

And the moat that surrounds it is the same one

that has protected it for hundreds of years.

I must have a problem over here. look at the level of that moat.

As it's fed by a nearby stream, all Dick needs to do

is keep an eye on it, particularly during the winter.

The water level is high.

The water level should be at the level of those stones,

but we're blocked up. The moat's not emptying.

Overflow pipes ensure the moat can't flood the chateau,

as long as they are clear of leaves and debris.

The water comes into the moat.

When the moat gets filled, we've got two overflows here.

The stream takes it down to join the River Mayenne.

The River Mayenne joins the Loire.

You go out to the Atlantic and you can go anywhere in the world.

The moat may be 900 years old,

but it's probably the first time in its history

that the owner of the property's unblocked it himself.

You hear the difference in the noise? Listen.

WATER RUSHES

Now, that difference in the noise is everything escaping.

And with a bit of luck, um...

..the water level will be down within a day or so.

But it's just learning your house, cos along there, I've got a...

I've got my plug. The moat's got a plug, which is phenomenal!

It's, like, it's sort of a two-foot diameter boxwood cork

that, if I lift it up, I can drain the moat.

I'm trying to find an excuse to do it!

The moat,

it could really do with being dredged, but that's a massive job,

and it's not high enough up my priorities yet.

But it's something that's going to be quite exciting,

because then, after that, the water will probably be clearer,

and it'll just be different. Mm.

Dick has always been intrigued by the moat,

and back in the autumn of 2016,

he decided it was time to find out what lay beneath its surface.

I can tell you quite categorically, we have no idea what's in here.

When we arrived, I think I was interested in what was in the moat

cos in this part of France, you get different fish -

you get catfish, you get pike, you get all sorts of things,

as well as the carp and the roach we have.

I think, without actually finding out what was in there,

it was hard to say what the health of our moat was.

British fishery experts Andrew and Ben were called in

to carry out a piscatorial census.

If there's any number, we'll catch some today, definitely.

Whether there were five or 5,000 fish in the moat,

they still needed to be caught before they could be counted.

So 300 metres of net was spread across the moat,

and, to everyone's excitement...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

..dragged to one end.

What have we got? A carp. A carp?

Oh, it's a lovely little carp! And again.

They are not very big, those ones,

but the babies means there's big ones.

Ah! Work harder, Ben, there's more fish!

I'm loving it, I'm loving it. We got fish!

Right. OK.

Right. What have we got?

As well as counting the fish, Andrew temporarily stunned a few,

so he could carry out a quick health check.

This is your predominant species, carp, which are breeding nicely.

But it's not very heavy.

When we did the survey of the fish,

we actually discovered that there was a good, healthy system.

Big fish, little fish.

So we had breeding, we had healthy fish,

and I think that the totality of that allowed us to say,

conclude that the moat's in good nick. It's not in bad order.

Er, in the moat, there's roughly 500lb weight of roach and carp.

These things can eat 4%, 5% of their own body weight a day in the summer.

So, you know, they are a little bit stunted.

It's easy to turn them round, easy to get them to grow.

By knowing what fish we had in the moat,

it gives you an idea about the health of the whole ecosystem,

cos the little fish eat the little larvae.

We've got dragonflies, we've got bats, we've got swallows,

and everything's predating on it.

And just to find the whole health of our ecosystem

was important, wasn't it? Absolutely.

We'll let these all go free?

I've loved seeing the-the moat

have a little bit of life in it, actually.

They're all fine in there.

Swim, be free.

Look at that, they've all gone.

Two years later, Dick and Angel were shown a new view of the moat

and chateau when they visited their local archives.

Look at those trees. I know!

Can't say that any more, can you?

Giverne, our trees are smaller... Ah, OK.

..because Dick cut them all off. OK!

Pollarded, I pollarded them.

C'est necessaire. Oh. Ssh!

Are there any other pictures around the chateau or any of the properties

around the chateau? This one.

Wow. Everything looks different.

The chateau's design might not be that accurate,

but the artist did capture

the leisurely life of its aristocratic owners.

Has that chap got a moustache? He has got a moustache.

In fact, he looks like you.

Seeing people actually in a little boat on the moat

just reminds you about, this place was built for leisure. Yeah.

For-for-for enjoying things, instead of just graft and work.

Yeah, they just, they looked so...relaxed!

Honestly, they looked like they'd never done a day's work

in their life.

"Darling, come out with me and bring a bottle of chilled wine."

It's just a different life, isn't it? Yeah, so...

We-we pictured all of that through one little postcard.

But by the July of 2018,

Dick had decided that the chateau did need a boat

and that he and builder mate Steve would build it,

or at least try to.

The boat is going to be quite simple.

Dick's punt would not only be useful as a working boat,

but also fulfil a rather special request.

We had a holiday up in Dinan on the north coast, didn't we,

and Dorothy said she wanted a boat, didn't she? Mm, yeah.

Dorothy said, "I want a boat." So we built, um, The Floating Dodo.

Mm-hm. And that was quite...

That was quite special. It was lovely. It was lovely.

Wow, lots of bamboos. Let's come to here.

We've got to choose a mast.

And when you have a bamboo forest on your land,

Arthur and Dorothy can have any size mast they want.

Good.

Oh, it's that one!

Oh!

Whoa. Hold it up for me. That's a big mast, isn't it? Yes!

Here we go. This one looks likely. Are you ready?

It's a bit bigger than anticipated. What do you reckon? That looks nice.

It's very long, isn't it?

So it's The Floating Dodo from the Port Husson.

We called it The Dodo because when Arthur was born,

he couldn't say Dorothy, cos he was one.

He always used to go, "Do, Do, Do."

And then, in, in his trying...

..we started all calling her Dodo, to make it easier for Arthur.

And we still call her Dodo!

She's going to really appreciate that when she's in her late teens.

No, she's not.

We've got a dodo flag!

But we had to get on the actual water.

Hoist the pennant, sir. Look, look at it, it's going up!

The Floating Dodo is at the top, how's that?

OK, the pennant is up, ready to go. Oh! Whoa!

We are floating.

So me being sort of an Aries and quite fiery,

I love being near water. I do find it quite calming. Yeah.

Hooray! THEY CHEER

Taking a handmade boat out onto the water, though,

did test Angel's astrological affinity.

We're all OK!

Launching it, um, it was hilarious, because...

Oh, you didn't have to make a lot of noise about drowning

and getting a wet bum.

But I was getting a really, really, really wet ass.

HE CHUCKLES

It did leak. Yeah. It was a little bit wobbly.

I'm just testing it going round in circles.

The Floating Dodo's sea trials may have proved that the boat

was both a bit unstable and leaky.

It is a punt, you see.

But it also showed that there was quite a lot of fun to be had

on the moat.

We have talked about swan pedalos

but I think that you...

..said I wasn't allowed.

A conversation involves two people.

I've been talked at about swan pedalos.

Oh, look, a fish just nearly jumped into the boat! Did you see that?

In this special, we're seeing how, over the past five years,

Dick and Angel have transformed their magnificent grounds.

Feet up.

Come on.

Now we're looking back on how they've managed to adapt

from city life to country living.

How can you not fall in love with just being outside

when you just have such beautiful surroundings?

And with 12 acres to play with,

Dick has had the chance to introduce his family

to the finer things in life -

like freshly laid eggs.

Living in the city, Angela never had the opportunity

to have poultry or chickens,

and the eggs are different,

and it's just not the same as buying an egg

when you have your own chicken eggs.

Fresh chickens' eggs each morning may be a treat for most people,

but Dick and Angel still decided to go large.

Since our first days of courting and dating,

Dick used to bring me geese eggs,

and it was the best thing I'd ever had in my life.

In September 2018,

Dick earmarked the Chateau's 150-year-old pigsty

for his latest acquisition.

God, it's magical.

So beautiful.

Six oies de Guinee, or Guinea geese, were on their way,

and he thought a perch in the old piggery would be perfect.

Right, that's going to be a bit of fun. Come on.

Once he'd worked out how to get in.

Ridiculous.

Nobody's been in here since we've owned the place.

Good.

Eventually Dick, with the assistance of chateau helper Contin,

succeeded in making the old piggery

both goose friendly as well as fox hostile.

There you go.

Dad!

Argh! There they are.

You come through.

The next day, five-year-old Arthur received his first lesson

in goose management.

Look, there's one out.

They have freedom.

Yay!

It's about making sure the children

understand our relationship to animals.

In fact, they do get look after and,

in fact, they give us something back.

That's quite important. That is quite important.

HE SCREAMS

DICK AND ANGEL LAUGH

Within days, the geese were already receiving a home upgrade,

courtesy of Arthur and Dorothy.

Did you know that the gooses' swimming pool

is actually your sandpit.

Did you know that ? I know.

We're going to fill it all the way to the top, aren't we?

You can count on me. Count on you? I will count on you

because you're my health and safety expert.

HE BLOWS RASPBERRY

The children now are used to

the fact that the geese and the chicken are out.

They go and feed them with the leftovers that we feed them.

They do all sorts of bits.

Not bad for five and six. Yeah.

And as they get older, they'll take more responsibility.

Wahey!

In we go. Hooray!

We've got another swimmer.

They can speak geese and I can.

Honk, honk. Honk, honk.

For Arthur and Dorothy, though,

learning to rear geese is only a small part

of their idyllic life at the chateau.

I think their life here is being shaped by what's going on.

It's a gorgeous, very privileged upbringing.

Give it lots of water. Oh, no!

For the past five years, Arthur and Dorothy

have been fully immersed in a completely rural lifestyle.

And as far as Dick and Angel are concerned,

it's the perfect childhood.

I grew up in the '60s in the countryside,

and... A very different world.

You could say it's simpler in other ways,

but I think the thing was, children were allowed to go out and play,

and be self-reliant and go and do things, build dens, get out.

We'd leave after breakfast,

come back at teatime when we were starving.

I can't wait till the day that they go off and play,

we're not quite sure they are but we know they're safe,

because they've got a little bit of common sense.

We're going big game hunting.

I'm going to stay with you, dad.

Of course you are.

I think I saw something crawling through the trees

at the far side of the moat.

Do you know what I found?

I found poo.

We're going to see if we can find out what's doing the pooping.

I think the children are naturally inquisitive

so if you give them answers, they don't forget.

They're at the stage now where they're learning for life.

There's a wild animal here

and it's pooping in one place.

It wants other wild animals to know that it lives there.

That's actually called marking its territory.

Right, what I'm going to do,

I'm going to have a look at the poo and see what sort of poo it is.

Dorothy loves nature.

She just loves nature in every single guise.

Dorothy and I will spend more time looking out the window,

and seeing things.

Watch. Do you know why I am doing this? Why?

I don't want to touch poo with my fingers.

Ew! That is disgusting.

Arthur comes at nature in a different way

because Arthur will see a deer and he'll say,

"What's that called at the supermarket?"

"What's deer called, is it venison?"

I just...

They come from two different angles.

See the little furry bits there?

Yeah. That looks like hair.

See if it looks like hair... Does it look hairy?

I think it's got a hairy bum.

OK. That means it may have eaten something with fur on it.

Most of the animals like that, they go out hunting

and they go out hunting at night.

I often think they probably don't know how lucky they are.

And they will do one day, hopefully.

Sit beside me. OK.

That's night-time.

Watch, watch, watch,

that's our bridge, isn't it?

Something must have trigger the camera. Argh!

What is that? A wolf!

A wolf?

Yeah, it looks like a wolf.

Look at the shape, it has white bits under its chin. Hasn't it?

It's quite big.

Could be a pine marten.

They're open, happy children,

and for us, as parents, I think,

if you've got that, you have cracked it.

We'll continue working at it, won't we?

Dick and Angel have worked hard to transform the outdoors

and create an extraordinary life

for both them and their children...

We've actually got there.

I've turned him into a country boy.

Come on!

..but that's not the only thing to be celebrated,

as we've seen over the last three special episodes.

When they bought their chateau in 2014,

their lives changed beyond recognition.

We're going to start a new generation

of Strawbridges in advance.

Le petite Strawbridges.

Moving their young family from a small flat in Essex

to an empty, 45-room chateau in France was an extraordinary gamble.

There's been an electrical fire here.

And the fact that the 150-year-old building

needed an enormous amount of maintenance...

We have electricity.

..made their decision even more daring.

And it's warm water.

Wahey!

But with Dick's engineering skills...

I thought it wasn't going to work for a second.

..Angel's imagination... I would wear that.

..and a lot of hard work,

both inside...

..and out...

..they've breathed new life into an abandoned chateau.

But on the other hand...

We're not finished yet.

We've got masses more to do.

Coming later this year...

Angela!

..A brand-new series of Escape To The Chateau...

All about, maties.

..filled with a little bit of light gardening...

There's 35 tonnes of bloody stones to move.

No part about this is making me smile.

..some subtle engineering...

THEY LAUGH

..fine food...

Your very first oysters. Chew, chew, chew really hard.

..and the occasional minor mishap.

Oops.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media