‘Forever Home’ A Good Old Fashioned Book Launch With Fane

It was a total pleasure to host our first ever live book launch for ‘Forever Home’ with thanks to our brilliant tour partner Fane.

To celebrate publication day for ‘Forever Home’ on paperback, we’re sharing the live stream of A Good Old-Fashioned Book Launch for the first time ever.

See what we got up to and listen to sneak peeks from our latest book in the Chateau trilogy where we share even more of our Chateau adventures, and welcome guests to the stage to play games and win prizes – co-hosted by Arthur & Dorothy!

P.S. Annoyingly, the original Vimeo gobbled up the first part when the children came on stage with us, so if you happen to have a copy, please let us know! 🙂

Find out more about Fane: https://www.fane.co.uk/dick-and-angel

Order ‘Forever Home’: https://geni.us/ForeverHome

Or at The Chateau Shop: https://thechateau.tv/collections/books-dvds/products/the-chateau-forever-home

Subscribe to our Channel @EscapeToTheChateau.

#escapetothechateau #foreverhome #fane #booklaunch #dickstrawbridge #angelstrawbridge #dickandangel #chateaulife #familylife #chateau #renovation #renovationproject #diy #diyprojects #frenchlifestyle

when we’re on tour we do something that that’s called mythbusting have you managed to get yourself logged on there you put your name down this is quite important because we got one of our first questions and uh the questions don’t put it up just yet uh but instead of mythbusting because this is a book launch it’s not actually a tour with lot of things no we’ll save that for next year’s tour we’ll see you there sorry we save the myth busting forour yeah but we’ve got our very first question and our first question if you’re actually logged on is have we sold the shadow have we sold the Shadow and if you look up there there two answers multiple choice a choice have we sold the shadow yes no right and at this stage what we’re doing is we’re waiting for will to sort of um do the sort of the making sure everybody’s just coming get yourself on I can see a lot of concentrating yes yes it’s a hard one to start you off with but remember whoever wins this gets to come up with the opportunity to get one of the prizes is quite important I have no idea how you’re going to tell me will whether or not everybody sort of pressed buttons or not is it okay oh yeah it’s up there oh 2% okay who’s the two who’s the two get your up and get out where are you okay so now this is where the clever bit comes because we were like why can’t people just put their hand up um but actually it’s all about who was the fastest so will who was the fastest at answering no oh the answer is definitely no by the way that’s a tick that proves it so oh Elena yeah you see Ellena where’s Elena Wilkinson right at the front yeah um can I here in a Angela you let the two you let the 2% get away with it all right you there should be more abuse of the people who think we’ve sold the shadow right if you want to know about the shadow in more details ask the people have been to see us because it’s definitely not for sale and it’s not going anywhere and by the way the clue did you look at the title of the book forever home yeah that was a wee bit of the clue for the question or where we go and so elanar you’re on for the prizes after by the way that’s pretty sharp yeah that well done elanar stretch in later okay right so so it’s a book launch all right we’re going to talk to you a little bit about the book and actually um what some of our friends and family want to know is a little bit about the process now I mean a little fact about this book is that it’s the the biggest book that we have written because we just had so much to say and when you when you actually start writing it’s a very interesting process because you start to relive every emotion every nuance and you forget things and going back to that moment is quite an emotional process but it actually starts with a spreadsheet this this this is Angela and a spreadsheet capturing we disagree about a lot of things in our world okay and the Order of things happening in our life is really quite simple but difficult to remember and if you’ve seen the books in the past if you’ve seen them before even you look at your book now you’ll see there’s two of us writing and so we have to capture both from our both sides has anybody noticed the fact that Angela is in bold and I’m not in bold now does anybody know why no this is not a question um and it’s it’s not because I’m shouty it’s not what it is is we made a very sensible decision with our Publishers that because I tend to have more words in the book that Angela would put Angela’s embold instead of mine to save Inc and to save the planet okay it’s an environmental sustainability decision yeah and I I like that it’s a very simple thing but we made that decision and if you look at all the books there’s a little puddle of ink still left over instead of being used up it was it was Vicki’s idea thank you she she noticed that I actually uh say less and you’ll hear some [ __ ] at various stages in the evening and that’s part of it this book it’s actually factual you write less that’s different from saying less okay we’ll move on from that one we got a spreadsheet and from the spreadsheet we actually work out and we start writing and we write in two different parts of the Shadow and it’s it’s not an easy thing the spreadsheet the you know the really boring part is a huge part of this and actually once we we finish and we agree on the chronological order of it because your mind can make you sort of forget when actually sort of things happen and we have to go through emails and photos and you know sometimes we have to you know check the escape to the shatter you know it is crazy when you’re that busy sort of how how it all works we put it on a shared document and we just both go for it so we take the lead in the bits that we know a lot about you know Roofing electrics and and I’m I’m the fluffier stuff but then we go back M multiple times and we comment on each what each other has written and that is quite a nice thing because Dick will always see a different point of view to the exactly same thing that’s happened that I will and and I’ll and it just makes you remember things but it’s also you can go through life you can be with a partner you can go through life and you don’t see what they are seeing as they’re doing things because we spend a lot of our day working in different parts and doing different things so the same things like an event the first wedding of the Season we come from different perspectives and only when we’ve written it down and we read the other one do you get to see it and there’s other parts like for example we’ve had some things and some sadness you know it’s been a difficult old time in the last couple of years and and the way people have actually got through that and we’ve written things and we’ve only seen them for the first time when we read what the other person’s thought one of my favorite moments when we were writing um we sit in different parts was when in our first book when when I read about our wedding day and it’s a really silly thing but you know we just had been so busy we hadn’t really properly talked about it or reflected about it and when I when I was reading what Dick had wrote um I was absolutely sobbing so it’s all very sweet but then when we’re happy with what we’ve got it goes off to the Publishers and we spend a couple of months um well they spend a couple into English so so we write it and they correct the English and then we spend a couple months uncorrect in it I think that’s fair to say isn’t it we don’t WR English we have lovely chats with Vicki and things we’re talking and we agree that the words aren’t English but it’s what we would say all right because when we it’s because when we do the the sort of we read the book out and we do the audio book um if it’s not what we’ve said we can’t say it the English doesn’t come out that way so for us it’s quite an interesting sort of challenge but at the end of the day um somebody from Northern Ireland somebody from Essex we’ve produced a book and it’s mainly English okay but when you read it you’ll know it’s us yeah that’s absolutely it right so we’re going to do a reading and we’re going to start at the start which is not the start it’s the now yes it’s now it’s where we are now okay it’s easy to forget that it was only eight years ago in 2015 that we move to the pay de lair in France with our two children Arthur and Dorth and dared to do it our dream was to create a multigenerational family home that in time could sustain itself and allow us to all be together that same year my mom and dad Jenny and Steve joined um and together we began our adventure in a beautiful rundown 150 year old shatow back then we dreamt of turning the shadow into our forever family home whilst also creating a business that could support us and allow us to continue Renovations but never in our wildest dreams could have we envisioned what this journey of a lifetime would would take us Angela and I are meant for each other and it’s only because in 2010 we found each other and we were a strong team that we could change our lives and move to France as a couple we’d already built our lives and businesses in England but when we decided our future we went all in with every penny we had to create our new Life In Parallel with continuous Renovations we’ve built a business and done our utmost to provide our children now 9 and 10 years of age with a loving environment to allow them to thrive and with a BAL have a balanced start in life my mom has a saying the harder you work the luckier you get we know we are very lucky people maybe it’s because over the years living at the shadow has been a lot of hard work and at times it’s been bloody exhausting like like many our journey over the past few years has been unexpected and challenging but amidst the adversity we have always been positive in this book we look forward to sharing how some of our very personal dreams are achieved we are always looking to our family’s future especially Arthur and Dorothy’s every decision is made with them in mind and even during the most frenetic times we see every Adventure we have every little Discovery every task we complete as an invest in their in our forever home or a memory to be captured and that’s our mindset going forward on on our life so we V about a lot of people and it is always you know it’s always our memories um and our points of view on things and we realized that this book would not be this book you know if it just was not for so many other people so we thought it might be nice if we heard from some of them and their sort of Fondest Memories and one lady I don’t know if any of you have heard um her mention um her before but her name is Sophie lore she was with us last night but she is on holiday today now she introduced us um 2010 here’s Sophie and I always say that because she is our agent um that she gave me dick for 15% of all in in comes and she is a bargain we know bargain and she’s a very special lady and she’s she’s peppered all throughout but in 2019 um it was her 50th birthday and we said look what do you get someone who has everything we’ll do a smashin party for you um probably be next year now um so it eventually eventually happened it took we took our time and we got a little video from Sophie where she’s just sort of saying hello and telling what she’s our thoughts of having worked with us hello everyone happy publication day I am sopie I’m dickan Angel gent and I have the great joy of being able to say that I introduce them to each other on the night of my 40th birthday party um they hosted my 50th birthday party for me as a birthday present it actually happened on the 52nd my 52nd birthday part you because of lockdown and it’s the most incredible incredible light is in the work it’s described in book um I’ve got a little picture to share with you which is selfie I took of myself I was standing in the pagerie suite an angel had just told me whatever I do was I get ready dodra catch the window she wanted it to be a huge surprise because they they especially built this FY um which uh my party was going to be the first event held there and I just couldn’t help myself I just couldn’t help myself and I walked over and I looked through the turret window and I saw Down Below in the world Garden it’s absolutely Exquisite poty area that they’ created for me and it was full of helium golden helium balloons and golden flowers and everything made out for all my friends and family to go celebrates and I’ve got a little selfie that I took at that moment because I wanted to pause and just think okay take a deep breath remember this this is going to be one of the memories for your entire life and so I did I took this little snap myself having just seen that view out of the garden with to enable myself to Cal down before I walk down those double stairs and into this throne with 50 of my closest mates and these amazing cocktails you can read all about it in the book um so I introduced them to each other 13 14 years ago and um you have seen their Journey all the way through um and I’ve always done them incredibly inspirational say um everything they’ve done has really inspired me and in fact I am building my own house and I have my family into uh static Caravans on our building site and so far we’ve only got foundations and I um who knows when we will have a house and I hold dick entirely responsible for that a um hands up who gets thank you and and do you know what we talked about at breakfast this morning concrete yeah we had a conversation about C this morning with with Sophie but we did go on yeah who actually um has oh dick does this dick does that does anybody get any grief for that I have so many people saying I’m a pain in the ass because you know wives say dick does everything my first answer to absolutely everything is no that’s really important to get out there okay so don’t believe everything and it’s not true because I you get well the the truth is you get grief because everyone thinks you say yes all the time to everything yeah but I don’t really what was that I heard you say Arthur not true yeah okay but we do have a question so you next question be ready because remember we’ve already got one person coming up for a prize and if you’re really really quick in this one you’re not allowed to win two by the way sorry what theme what was the theme of Sophie’s birthday what was the theme of Sophie’s birthday was it silver platinum gold or rustic okay you got to press the button you know which one it is yes she did say she did say it a couple of times on there but the color the theme and it was her 50th yeah yeah and it was her 50th you need more clues you need more clues when you get the people who get this song are going oh 50 let’s have a look at the answer please right because everybody knows that um gold is platinum oh go I don’t how I I couldn’t even press the right buttons when I tried this right the answer is gold okay and who we got winning there we go Matt Solsbury where’s Matt Matt how are you we’ll see you later right after the break Matt will come up and they’ll be fighting to see who gets the kimono I can see Matt and that kimono it’s a one siiz fits all type thing is it it was quite cute last night cuz the first person won a a like she chose a kimono and Dorothy said do you not want my [Laughter] picture and she went I’m only joking it it was well delivered line it was well delivered that yeah the people who have been involved in our our adventure and and the way through um we are very family orientated and you know who are the people that are there have been supporting us all the way through mom and dad Jenny and Steve they’re over there yeah yeah com complete another Heroes andung Heroes you know just having the time of their lives going on holiday we are so happy that you’re here and that you’ve managed to do this in between your holidays we love we we absolutely love you um for that now Mom and Dad met when they were 16 years old and they run off to gret a green um to to get married and they always said that um that they when they had the money when you know life was settled they were going to have to throw a really really really big party and invite every everybody but you know life they had children they were busy working and the party never sort really happened and then you know they come on our adventure with us and we were busy and mom was you know feeding everyone dad’s been cutting the grass and looking after the kids and it has been wonderful but when it was their 50th wedding anniversary coming up we said let’s throw this party that we have all been waiting for look you know we’ve bought bought this beautiful home and hosting weddings and you’re such a part of it let’s just get everybody here um and it was in 2019 so you can work out that we didn’t know what was ahead of us then and how special that that was at the time so I’m going to do a little reading because I think it’s as nice as obviously in the book not all of mom and dad’s friends had been to the shadow before and they loved showing it off mom in particular was on cloud n showing people her Cafe Grandma’s sign for me watching their happiness and joy was the best bit lots of the family had found it hard since Mom and Dad had moved to France so the T chance to share their new forever home was very special even dad’s mom Nan was starting to warm to it the next day mom had all her sisters Nan and Dorothy up in the honeymoon suite to get ready as they sip champagne cocktails served in Pink Sugar room teacups it was so lovely seeing mom surrounded by her special people everyone was getting ready and laughing and it felt just like a wedding day as we were served afternoon tea with a mix of savory cheese scon and traditional sweet sweet scans with our own strawberry jam and clotted cream that James had brought with him from Cornwall my dad my brother Paul Arthur my uncles and dad’s friends were all chilling in the salon it was four generations of the family everywhere you looked and in a nutshell that was what this party was all about family the evening meal was to be small plates each having some special significance to Jenny and Steve and their travels through married life the food reminded them of holidays eating out in the East End of London even the meal they had after their wedding it was a diverse menu but James Arthur and I had a bow developing dishes and cooking for such a special day we discussed the menu with Jenny and Steve then Arthur James and I chattered and devised our take on what was required they had BR Bretta to with tomatoes padron peppers FL flash fried in very hot olive oil sprinkled with sea salt asparagus wrapped in petto uh arini with black Mayo black garlic Mayo kery homemade buttered fish fingers and tartar sauce chicken soup with Canad uh tandoori chicken skewers very rare beef served with pepper sauce it was the meal they had after their marriage up and gret a green and that it Perfection had always been remembered all this was followed by French patisseries and an evening of dancing drinking and partying the party had been a huge success um but it’s not a Grand Event without a speech or two to my surprise my mom led the way I’ve never seen my mom talk in front of so many people but she was Fearless it was a beautiful speech celebrating Dad and the whole family and by the end there was not a dry eye in the house once the speeches were done and the tears were wiped it seemed to PA way to the arer where everyone let their hair down and dance till their feet hurt so that Jenny and Steve’s celebration as part of that we also um you know it has to be said throughout the book they’re there because they have been with us for our adventure so far but we also mentioned James question oh we also mentioned James so if you was before I actually talk about James we’re ask we’ got a question so we’ll see if you’re listening to our readings or not um this is a good one for you and you got to be ready because it’s all about speeding this how many dishes did we serve how many dishes did we serve I listed some of them there and there’s a multiple choice there we go uh oh this is technal Tech you can’t you can’t until the question comes up you can’t press press the button I don’t think so just be prepared if you’ve gotten the answer in your mind you can take what do you want to do do you want to dance a sec I could actually scare a lot of people if I said yes to that couldn’t I yes um when when we sort of get together for big occasions we talk about it we plan we have all these conversations and the getting it right for Jenny and Steve there was quite a lot of pressure because we just wanted to be perfect because they hadn’t had it the first time around so if you like it was our wedding celebration with the most pressure that we you’ve ever had okay and as part of that the question how many dishes did we serve um that’s not including the sort of the the scon old rest that list of dishes and there’s your choice go for it 7 n or 10 s n or 10 I have no idea I I actually I counted them up and so we’ll give you a second or two so you got a chance to press the buttons I think I think you’re done yeah no oh we are yeah well then you you’re well done the and the answer is 10 10 well done so you got 10 now who won this is where it gets exciting who whose name come up and guess what Matt Matt where are you yeah you only get one prize bugger off all right okay Holly where is Holly Hol Holly you’re up for this kid yeah see you here on the second half we don’t like the concept of sort of um allowing losers to win but this time Holly you managed it okay so second and you got it I mentioned my big boy James by the way we are a very modern family in that we’ve got sort of um have you ever seen the American series The Modern Family it’s a it’s a really odd mix all together but that’s what we are we’re just that sort of odd family and we got um look at this this is this is me with my boys okay and James did a little video for us so I will share that with you for me visiting the chatow has always been good fun I’ve got all sorts of fun memories whether it’s from the wedding when I was crimping pasties and having a few drinks in the kitchen uh to the recent visits when I’ve helped do some catering the chaos in the kitchen is a little bit like uh a duck on the water nice and Serene on the surface but a furious engine of activity um I’ve always really enjoyed uh memories of cooking with my dad that’s very personal to me um and also Arthur getting involved in the kitchen too has been really special another generation of Strawbridge so for me it’s all about remembering the special moments and that’s anything from serving a cream tea um which was great fun taking a bit of Cornwall over to France and and a particular memory that jumps to mind is when we did a rotisserie there something like 40 chickens that were brined and then barbecue smoked it was so heavy that my dad and I didn’t even have time to argue normally we’ve got enough breath to uh have a little bit of a uh you know who’s the boss of the kitchen moment but in that instance we were both holding on to these 40 chickens putting them into the smoker and then serving them for a feast um for me really I think my memories of the Shadow are always about great food popping to the local markets and also just the generosity Good Times drinks in the evening and it’s always that little moment when everyone’s going to bed I’ll sit down with my dad and we’ll have a a we whisky just as a night cap and have a chat about the day uh so really there’s many things that’s bring to mind when I think of the chatau um visiting it is an absolute pleasure the way Angela’s decorated the place continues to blow my mind every time I turn up and see something new but it’s a renovation full of love and care and attention to detail um I can’t wait for you to enjoy this book I’m certainly going to be toasting my good the good health of my dad and Angela um and wishing them many more years of happiness at the chatow there forever home cheers he’s a good boy yeah my big boy it’s interesting because family is um a huge part of our life but our family is not just the ones that you know there’s blood and there’s family as well and our shadow family um we have people who we’ve talked about from the very beginning who have been with us from that very first time you know the very first person we had employed was Tina and we’ll talk about Steve Bell in the moment but we had all these people in our life and somebody very special in is yeah contan who is one of our shadow helpers and actually he has been with us for 5 years and that’s the exact uh match of the of the book and there’s a few things about Conan that you might not know um he loves to dance so uh when we ever we host a wedding I will be on the bar with him until midnight and then he will do a few bits of Tiding up and then he will dance to 5 6 in the morning he will come in the next day and he will put everything away and Sasha our other helper will not like where quinton’s put things and she’ll move it and it’s kind of a cycle and it’s a big old place uh to lose lose things but oh just just to put that in the context losing something in a shadow is a Monumental pain in the ass all right and what’s more If It Moves once somebody puts it away somewhere and then somebody else moves then there’s no responsibility yeah I I I particularly like the sort of three years I had looking for my socks that went with my Kilt and we found it in a box of baby clothes old baby clothes and I have no idea how that filing system works for anybody but Quinton one of my one of my proudest things about Quinton is he is our he helps with all our translation stuff we’ve actually taught him how not to speak French because somehow he’s forgotten to speak French quite a lot of the time and we we’ve got a video from Quinton now yeah he got married um at the chatau we write a lot about it the book because it was just a very sort of it was an honor for us and it was very special hello strawber J um I wanted to say huge congratulation on your new book um as I was going through the pages it took me um all the way back to my time in Australia when I was um working in a little cafe and telling my manager oh you need to watch that show it’s called escap to the chatau and it’s about um some people renovating a shadow in May where I live and I was like oh wait god um and then I was thinking about the past five years um being with you my shatow family and I was trying to remember my my best memory at the chatow and I think I was like of course it is my best memory is my wedding I mean having all of my family friends my shadow family reuniting um reunited at this place the shadow where um I’ve been working for the past five years and sharing my life with you sharing your life with me um there was a happy place a happy moment in a happy place and um I’m really really grateful for that for um you giving me the opportunity to live What I’m Living what I’ve been living for the about five years with you guys um seeing you um hardworking people achieving everything that you want to achieve um made me realize that anything is possible and everything that you want to do just just do it because you can so um you congratulation again lots of kisses um from my forever home here at the farm um yeah that’s it bye [Laughter] Quinton is a very special man and he’s he’s actually helps his uncle Quinton when it comes to homework and he’s around the place and uh we’re very fortunate with the team we have around us now we’ve got a question for you U on this one the answer wasn’t up there but we need to know what is the name of quinton’s husband and you have a choice quinton’s husband and the uh the choices you have are Alexis Alexi or Alex or Alexa Alexa Alexi Al or Alexa you see work it out yourself but quinton’s husband’s name if you press your button this is a hard one it’s not a hard one one of those little book you speak to you once the music turned on yeah yeah and you got a choice between the other two one sounds French the other doesn’t can you work it out right what’s the answer yes see yeah it is Alexi yeah it was such a privilege when they they had their wedding with us because it was just um we were we were guests as well as helping and it was a it was a party it was a party sort of guest yeah yeah right so the winner please Alexis the answer and the look oh hold on is it Ellie got one too no what hold on what’s going on there Arthur Arthur’s up there Arthur Arthur behave yourself I’m really glad he put that name up cuz anything could have come up when Arthur had actually done it so it’s Ellie it’s Ellie Ellie where are you where’s Ellie hello we’ll see you after the break Ellie yeah those people who are winning you’re going to come up here and then you’re going to see how good you are at French games say no more okay now here’s something that we don’t really talk about a lot we certainly don’t write um about it um but it’s the the camera people that have been with us at the chatau and we have to say that honestly the majority of them have been incredible and part of our shatow family um it’s it’s quite interesting because people come along and we always have a chat before people come along to film in our family home and film with us and there’s certain things that are really quite useful for example if you love poker man that’s a good starting point to get into the house you need to be able to use a camera um oh yeah the first question that’s that’s a relevant part of is yeah pointing the camera is quite useful yeah Y and then and then we go on to Pokémon you have um I’m not so sure as that’s the order to be completely honest you have to have the ability to have your makeup done while um by Dorothy whilst chatting about what we possibly might do today yeah you you got to love C just cuz after really busy um schedule mom makes the best C nights and we all come to it so if you don’t like it yeah and you have to be nice and I it’s interesting because um we had we had number of people were going to say something and Jonathan the reason Jonathan is speaking to you is because he never ever goes on the other side of the camera and because he never goes on the other side of the camera we asked Jonathan to uh if he wanted to this is Jonathan yeah and so he’s got a couple of words for you yeah and you can tell he’s a natural-born television presenter I am here to say happy publication day and congratulations on your new book you’re forever home I am hoping you all have copies of these go and buy one in the lobby or maybe even get it signed that would be exciting uh what a fantastic forever home a forever home for you guys and I am lucky enough that it has been a temporary home for me I have been out in France for about 6 months of the year for the past few years spending some fantastic time with the straw Bridges and all that involves and quite a lot of what that involves is spending a lot of time on the trampoline with the kids because that is a crucial part of the job that not many people know about and it is a really really good way to burn off all those baguettes and cheese so I heartedly recommend it get a trampoline get a shatow and then put a trampoline in the garden but if you can’t get a shatow get a trampoline it’s very good exercise so that is one of the Lesser known facets of a director’s job is to do trampolining also it is crucial that you spend hours every day playing with petal this little girl here is very important girl in my life and anyone who says her breath stinks is a liar an absolute liar and I will not be standing for that her breath smells like rose pezel and uh other French things what’s nice French thing alond Quant her breath smells like alond Quant my time in the shadow has been very memorable the first day I arrived the very very first time I had ever seen a shatow it had been snowing like crazy and as I turned the drive saw the shadow for the first time like something from an absolute fairy tale completely covered in snow it’s a little bit of frost here but we were talking POA white like absolutely magical and I think within an hour 40 minutes of meeting the family for the first time we were all having a snowball fight and making snow angels so that was just a perfect a perfect start to my time with the Shadow and as you see this beautiful shatow here someone’s been quite clever and stood like a long way away to take this photo I have had the pleasure of being in a cherry p like this high like high like higher than the sun it felt like higher than the Sun and there was a point where I felt like this is high enough and then Mr Strawbridge gets on the controls and you go even higher so I was here like here higher higher than the the moon and if I wasn’t scared of heights then I think I must have overcome it because you just have to do it you know this thing with ch you just have to roll you have to roll and capture the magic and I shattered my pants these are a few of my favorite Jonathan he mentioned this first 45 minutes he was like playing in the snow actually his baptism of fire was he was with his camera out there in the first 45 minutes cuz it gets cold for the winter but we don’t get a lot of snow and he actually filmed it then we actually had a snowball fight with him he had to get well and truly blooded but but the reason that you had to do a lot of stuff sort of on the on the cherry picker was because we had a lot of work doing the roof and Rend it’s a huge part of the book because it runs in parallel with with covid and now it’s something that we don’t we don’t want to like to talk about listen to this listen to this hold on renders and Roofing yeah is not boring that’s the first time she’s ever said that okay I did a whole chapter on sewage and Angela said oh sewage is boring it’s not if you haven’t got any F your mind I was been totally sarcastic no you weren’t you bloody well weren’t so when but when it comes to Roofing render we write about it because the roofing and the render is actually a huge part of our thoughts and what it’s been on our mind from the very first time we saw the Shadow and we’ve been very fortunate in that we’ve got had um some really quite special people that we’ve been working with with Rob and Steve what we’re going to do is I’m going to we’re going to do a reading now first and then what we’re going to do is we’re going to hear from Robin Steve and let just give you sort of a feel for um what it felt like to get to the end of that particular part of our work when the render and the roof were finally finished it was the most amazing feeling the render in the rear of the Shadow was the last element to be completed a Steven Rob could work there unseen by any guests or anyone looking at the Shadow from the front the scaffold seemed to come down magically as all of a sudden it had disappeared and had been transported to the rear of the wall Garden we obviously thanked Steve Rob profusely but there wasn’t the party there could have been we had decided to save that until the end of what was proving to be an amazing year the roof had been subtly hanging over us since the day we first saw the shadow it had never been too scary but had always been there waiting to be sorted Angela and I above all else didn’t want there to be any millstones past to the children and the costs and problems of the Shadow’s facelift had been challenging so as we walked around the shadow looking up we got really quite emotional as we realized our children would never have to worry about the roof or the render in their lifetimes it was a good feeling I shared every emotion dick was feeling the roof had been a m task and if I’m totally honest it was something we weren’t sure we would be able to complete In Our Lifetime up until this point every spare Penny had gone into our ref fund dick often talks about the fact that he wants to ensure everything is in place for Arthur and Dorothy and there are always those unsaid words the fact that you never know what tomorrow will bring set to have it done and much earlier than we thought possible was huge for us both and the relief I could see in my husband’s eyes said it all getting the roof done was something that um um it was massive it was massive for us and the people who did it um Rob and and Steve they’re a couple now we talk about Rob and Steve and Steve and Rob because they they are together this is why we’re gonna play their video and we’ll talk about them after we sort of U we’ve we’ve played their video but they’re very very special people congratulations on the new book release when I came to the shadow I started doing a bit of repointing on the orangery with a bit of rendering and then dick asked me to do a bit of patio work which I said I couldn’t do which wasn’t entirely true as I wanted to carry on with my repointing and rendering but there we go anyway did then asked me to team up with ruer Steve to help with a bit of the roof little did I know that we was actually going to be doing the rendering of the shatow which was news to me anyway the biggest challenge for me was doing the scaffolding although Rea Steve was he’s always done the scaffolding I’ve never actually done it most of our jobs scaffoldings already up so by the time we got to level eight I was actually not that used to it and we had another two lifts to go where we were fully up to Turk height which I must admit was very high whereas roofer Steve was totally in his comfort zone being in Heights and Roofing most rendering you’re still below roof l so I wasn’t great with that so the next step was giving Angel the color chart for the render so she could choose the appropriate color to put on the building which we’re all glad it’s not pink cuz it was talked about anyway it’s been one of the most amazing experiences putting the roof together and ren on shatow and it’s been a total privilege thanks guys congratulations on the book when I first started at the shatow I got asked if I wanted to reate the orangery and I found that as a real good opportunity for me because I love putting things back as they were and this building really did need some love and attention so when I was up there Roofing angel came up on the Jerry picker and we were talking about the roof and there was a scholar course on the on the original roof and um so she asked me what that was and we talked about it and then we decided that she would like the scholar course back on the roof so I had to teach her how to cut slates and we we had such a laugh cutting slates you wouldn’t think that would be funny but it was it was quite funny so yeah and then after that we moved on to the Shadow and that was a whole different experience dick was talking to me about how I would get there and and get up there so I’m like yeah it’s easy but of course it’s not a oneman job so this is where Rob who started on the orang and we became good friends and now actually we run a business together who would have thought that to get the chance to re-roof the shadow was a was a huge thing for me we used to sit at home watching escape to the shadow on the Telly cuz we had a holiday home in the new in in the area that the shadow is then when we physically moved to France this I’m now slating this incredible building and I’m doing it so crazy The Two Towers were the challenge for us um we had straight bits of baton and we had to make them go around corners it was not easy at all my favorite roof of the whole building whole place was the Folly for me that was time when Dick came up on the roof and me and Robert got this building we were taking the wall plates out and we had this roof standing up on four what looked rotten Rafters and the look on his face was funny just looked like it was going to fall over but CU with Dick and Angel they want things put back as it was so we used Oak and then it the roof went really well and then course they wanted something different so we decided to put eyelid windows in it it and there was another experience and we didn’t even know whether they’re going to work in there or not because we didn’t know whether the roof was wide enough but but yeah it went in and they were really lovely they went in and that is my favorite roof there um the good that is one of the good things about working with Dick and Angel is they always want it back as it was and we they won’t cut coroners everything’s done the right way so yeah I really enjoyed my time working there thanks that is the most either of the two of them have said in one go categorically more than theyve ever said in about two years so and so Rob is Sasha who’s been with us since our very first wedding Charlotte where are you where are you Charlotte we got where Charlotte come on hello she our first wedding ever well Sasha come to work for us for Charlotte’s wedding and she has never ever left so so Rob who is Sasha’s husband um we already knew knew about Rob um and we knew that he could do a bit of render he’s always busy and then we sort of said when we were starting to do the roofs well why don’t you come and sort of help out and that’s where Steve and Rob met but we just have to paint this as a picture for you so whenever we whenever it’s someone’s birthday we always get cakes and we’re always sitting around and Rob and Steve are sitting always sitting together saying oh what you have in dear well do you want to share should we share in a CLA and they’re they’re just absolutely fantastic and they smile about it because actually the two of them they work so well together and they do so much together and now it’s interesting because we’ve been through they they’ve done all of the major sort of roofing stuff that we have to have get done at the chatow and that was a huge part and they’re off doing other things but we will call them back because we have a couple of projects we want them get involved in as well but we’ve got another question for you at this stage yeah question number five there’s only two more questions this is number six if you want to have a chance to these prizes mat Matt do not I’m counting how many roofs has he done and the shadow roof is one the shadow roof count is one how many roofs has roffer Steve done for us fix for us how many okay and the shadow is one and the answer give you a second or two press yeah it’s it’s it’s a hard one it’s more than you think yeah but she gives Clues right how are we doing look at that you see you didn’t have a clue you all guessed and when you guess they all come up with the same don’t they yeah and the answer for that one is actually 11 because some of those we’ve got sheds Arthur and Dorothy sheds have got slate roofs on them yeah and and and actually it was what Steve was saying we had so much fun because I don’t know if anyone does if there’s any roofers here but there are slate C utters and we had to get this perfect sort of semicircle and I wanted to file it but when Dorothy had her and we we just give them little sheds in the garden we cut all of the slates and actually painted The Edge gold so it looked like mermaids yeah you may ask why I did we’ll move on and the winner of that oh Louise where’s Louise Louise Louise where are you come on come on come on oh hello you you go did you see how went down it doesn’t work we’ll find you in the end somebody will rat you out you up for it straight after the interval come along prize yeah yeah it’s a competition afterwards right so when it comes down to the restarting weddings and things well I think the roof kind of it went nicely because at the end of um 2021 we all stood out theide the chatow and we looked at the front of the roof and my dad had made the key and it was just this absolute beautiful moment but what you didn’t see well you might have worked out there that the three sort of sides hadn’t been finished and that all started in 2022 the same year that we was allowed to start weddings and the place it it was the shadow was mixed it’d be mixed up you know the render the dust that this render had created had literally Co voted everything in the house and it wasn’t like our wedding if you read the book If you get to the bits Angela complains about how much cleaning had to be done the work that was done compl I didn’t complain it was just more the when we had our wedding there was only a few rooms actually completed and then we had this whole it took a lot there was a lot going on but we started from scratch and it was a starting from scratch again because we had got really slick then we stopped and we didn’t come back for to sort of um restart weddings until you could hug your granny because it was possible to have weddings earlier in France but it was masks separation people weren’t allowed to be together and so we made the decision and people have waited to come along and have their weddings and the first wedding that we hosted after covid was Natasha and Victoria and they really wanted to be here um but they’ve literally just had a little girl called Mia but they wanted to sort of say a few words so here they are looking gorgeous hi ni Angel happy publication day we absolutely Lov reading the excert from the book we just really triggered some lovely memories from the amazing amazing wedding day that you threw for us thank you very much we um first started watching The Shadow back in 2018 and absolutely fell in love um with the whole journey that they weren’t on and we knew um from the very start it was the place that we wanted to get married we went to go out come out and see you guys 2018 we just knew was there we wanted to get married and then when we met you guys we just knew instantly that you you the people we knew you could throw a great wedding party for us to get it all clean yeah like a good a good spring clean of about two years Co lockdown so had to be done with it I don’t know how long it took you but had to be done pretty quickly yeah and everyone was commenting how beautiful the the weding bouquet were and I know Angel mentioned B that it was the eucalyptus that was grown in um the chatow of grounds and a lot of the flowers that were there and um it literally was my vision of how I wanted the flowers to be and and Angel just brought that to life um and it was just incredible so I just want to wish you again a happy publication day the book is amazing we loved reading it and we can’t wait to see you soon thank you very much take care take care bye bye the first wedding starting back was very very special and it it sort of built up to it and as a team we have now and what’s happened since then this year we’ve actually now called up on the sort of the the preco people who were waiting and that that’s been quite special for us it it it is and it is the you know what it’s the heart of this the the book actually all of you know the the the the covid US actually using this time when we couldn’t host any events and that’s you know that’s the Catalyst of how we got the sort of the roof and the render but there’s just something that you couldn’t describe um about having all of your family together again it was just like it was like a party a wedding sort of on steroids it was crazy and it was wedding was like that every wedding since then has has been like that and it’s just such an honor sort of really to to to do it to do them when it comes to the work we’ve done people mentioned in the book there’s uh there’s definitely last but not least Builder mate Steve now Builder mate Steve absolutely yeah he retired he retired Y how long did that last three weeks yeah yeah I think that’s called a holiday normally yeah he he come into to work he said oh oh dick I’m just going to come in for the day was could you’d have that chat you know we we had decided to that that escape had come to its its natural end and you’d had that lovely chat with him and you’re like come on mate we’re not getting any older like any younger sorry yeah Steve is older than me and we were talking about how you phase yourself into retirement and what was happening and the fact that we’d got to the end of Escape we’d had our big sort of finale we knew that we we could sort of make it a little bit easier for everybody but it’s it’s interesting because he he came back for a day a week yeah he said days I’m missing you I’ll come back for a day and then it was very not very long it took and now he’s sort of doing three days a week with us but he he’s a good guy that just means every every weekend’s a long weekend and he loves it all right but we’ve got a lot to thank him for because he has been there sort of by ourside you know I know he’s very much sort of build build m do for you but really he’s just he’s been there for sort of for the family as well I mean sometimes even Arthur and dothy give him a little job to do yeah so we got a video from Steve congratulations on the launch of your new book I hope every read it because it is absolutely brilliant lots of memories in there for me as well was you too you know who would have thought eight years ago when you told me to come and do two weeks worth of plastering because you were getting married and you wanted it just right for Hy mom sweet 8 years later I’m still there and I really enjoy it it’s not like coming to work anymore because you just like really good friends the day you come and said to me we’re going to put a lift in the turet and he’s like how we going to do that KY but we did it and apparently so you say we had 50 mil to spare on the plumbness but well Bry jobs being the same because Angela will come if dick and I are talking Angela comes in we’re going to do this we’re going to do that and me and take look at each other and go really we’re going to do it like that because there’s some some things that because of the way that we’ve worked and we work because we’re old men we work and then this young woman comes in with these bright ideas and we’re like oh Cy really but they are absolutely brilliant and I am just so glad that we listen and just do them because it’s just wow and there are wow moments every day the biggest wow moment well when I you asked me to come to visit you to come and see you and I just turned into the drive saw the shadow for the first time wow what a building I thought wow but then I come to me Angela said aello and she shouted dick I didn’t know who dick were I didn’t know anybody didn’t know who I would comeing to see and then dick strawber come bounding out the bottom doors cuz he’d been in his workshop and I’m like wow I’m going to get to say a lot of dick robberies cuz I’m a fan just like everybody else and I just wow that’s been a real big well moment for me and that’s exed In My Memory every day I can’t believe how many people think and believe that I live at the chatau in a little room and it was only a few weeks ago I heard dick telling somebody he lives in that little room down there and half the people believe him because he don’t tell [Laughter] lies oh it’s so fun it is we have fun every day it’s oh I can’t explain what it’s like I can’t but anyway I hope everything goes well for you with this because I know it will and cheers from me and I’ll see you when he get back that’s beachy yeah Steve beel the only person in the shadow who’s older than me it’s great um just he mentioned about living um in a sort of uh in in a room down there because he’s there he was there quite a lot has been throughout but he is married and he lives and and his wife has actually been um on the television with us as well and we have another question it’s the final question the final question last opportunity to get up here for the prizes and the question is what’s Steve’s wife’s name Sasha Denise or Jennifer what is Steve’s wife’s name Steve’s wife Sasha Denise or Jennifer here you go that’s it press your buttons press your buttons and here we go oh there are they see people have been watching was listening yeah and the right answer is Denise yeah of course yeah who was the quickest yeah she still comes she still comes every once in a while she I think she’s glad to get rid where where’s where’s Vilma ver ver is Vilma hello Vilma hello over here hello see you after the break if you want a prize Well Done congratulations we got six winners we’ll have a little bit of fun I think the children are going to be in charge of the game where you get a chance to choose your prizes so I’m not saying too much of what’s going to happen with that one I think you’re understanding a little bit more of our world through different people’s eyes um and we feel very very blessed and you know and we really we’re so appreciative of of everyone in our shatow family and and and it feels wide but we want to leave you on on really kind of where we are now dick and I had tears in our eyes as we chatted about where we were and where we were going yet again I wanted time to stand still so we could bottle the lovely feeling and Savor the life that we are living though I know time can never stop I have actually come to understand that I don’t really want it to children are growing and becoming more wonderful we continue to find more challenges and as life changes it somehow gets better and better our family is still a story that is mostly Unwritten but what we have managed to do is to find ourselves our forever [Applause] home thank you thank you very much we’ll see you after the break we’ll see you after the break thank you [Applause] thanks we’re back hello we look like we’re ready here um thank you for staying yeah thanks for not running away where are our is every oh no dear God hold qu quiet please for a second just for a second then I’m going to stand back um if you’re one of our six can you come up here please we need your buddies come on let’s have the six come on let’s have you the big six yeah right just to explain what’s going to happen on can we go across and say hello to people you got your microphones interview people H what’s your name Ellie Ellie oh Ellie come over this way come the light watching your nickel I come into the light Angela Angela Angela come into light say hello to people in the light Louisa Dorothy come over into the light the light so welcome you’re so so welcome good to see you come on come on we’re [Music] Miss really well first every time well done M right go across say oh start over this side pleas line you’re speaking your microphone so I can hear okay sorry everyone get into a line please right go hi right okay right uh Arthur is going to now go amongst you to get initials on a pet a pallet all right it’s a sort of a this is a take on a Breton game okay what you’re going to do you’re going to take in turns okay there’s only one attempt each pay attention Tom you’re only good at pressing buttons mate you’re going to stand here and you have to throw your pet onto the board you will have your initials on it and the closest one gets the First Choice closest person gets the First Choice um normally we ask for these seats to be cleared yeah you have that’s like a health and safety brief okay um if anything fact about stand over there and catch it’s worth saying that it’s one of those games that you always think is really easy and it’s a really difficult game get names get get names up gent right what we’re going to do now and I think see we we’ve even got a camera that’s going to watch to see how bad Tom is to start with Matt Matt Matt yeah Matt not Tom Matt Matt’s over there okay was last night Dad sorry for your memory no wait wait wait a second are we where’s this camera is this camera showing going on look there we are Arthur your children yeah you always get some there we go I’m going to say no more that’s what you have to get close to if you toose on the mat you get disqualified just saying good luck Matt love Matt watch who says Matt’s a smart AR now if you like to go and stand by it you know what that’s really cheered me up how really cheered me up well on M don’t touch the electrics Anything Could Happen yeah this is right did you see how difficult that was okay yeah okay on we go oh brilliant good she’s winning we’re winning y well done well done and we’ve got the next one here we go little technique there little technique wa come on speak to people D through your microphone ask are you feeling nervous are feeling are you feeling nervous yes yes yeah yeah okay well question no okay here we go here we go here we go very close meas go on there right here we go mat you’re over there good luck it’s always nice to have a loser in it f his arm that was still good better than who’s feeling quite cocky now hold it close to your mouth when you speaking Arthur going to be right there’s Whispering going on at this end right this is the we’re going in can you actually get it on the board yes some luck good luck right okay here we go okay you’re kidding me it was good it was good first who who’s the winner who’s who gets the First Choice La win congratulations yay congratulations we don’t need you for a while yet mate and because you have one you get to choose what PR you want first your first choice and you’ve got the you’ve got the original art by Dorothy mccamy Slate from the shatow a kimono a magazine from our attic we found and a piece of wallpaper a little signed frame what are you going to choose I might go with the magazine wow that’s a great that’s really surprised me it smells okay yeah well well done well done conrat don’t understand things like that okay good right who’s two second take me do we need to get the microphone do you want me I mean the um me you hold the microphone okay yeah that’s that’s win winner off just measure measure come on yes sir right um I used to be I was a colonel in the Army at one stage and in charge of things you may have gathered my life has changed somewhat yeah wait what about that one yeah that might oh you move that the girls in our house do you see why Dorothy’s taking charge of the measuring yeah we’re very proud AR we 48 there’s also that one okay did you just Talk Amongst yourselves we didn’t say it was going to be that easy did we okay did you actually work out how I did okay so who 47 48 after you need to measure that one Chop Chop on we’ve got chains to get yes ma’am Arthur’s going yes ma’am so this one turn it over what’s the initial e congratulations second place congratulations um I think the stone would be the slate slate fantastic slate where you go congratulations you are you it is it’s been great by the family it’s one of the original states thank you so much there we go who’s next then we should be getting faster now now it’s is that yours m e m e ask what you like something like that what would you like have the kimono yeah great the kimono this is one of my kimonos there you go and next Arthur next up is HR HR HR Bravo What would what you like please may I have Dorothy’s picture oh great choice well done darling thank you original artwork you may be laughing now that could be the most valuable one check on eBay you’ll find out and who’s is this who’s next come on who’s next one that one we know who it is don’t worry you can just it’s definitely not match that’s what we know that and uh the other thing what would you like you’ve got the choice now between the mccamy you got the mccamy or the um or the wallpaper Museum from the wallpaper wallpaper wallpaper do you know what’s really funny Matt gets a mccamy and I’ve never met a bloke who actually understands mccamy yet Matt I have a question what do you understand on a mccamy I should have had three attempts cuz I I came first three times so [Laughter] I know your wife’s going to love this right Thank you very much thank you well done than en find the thank you ask question thank you thank you right give me those microphones say byebye children no I’ll keep it thank you very much for your help we love you we love you no you’re not doing Q&A absolutely not happening in my lifetime huh Arthur wants to answer the Q&A go down go go go go I love you I love you bye L right right thank you for your help gorgeous children thank you thank you um questions get them up there if you get the questions up there we’re going to be answering them and this is where we show that uh it’s very small I got this mine mine I like it like this come sit down down girl oh this is where I get to be in charge um the first question by the way you sent question uh no no I just you get some glasses like me it’s my official look oh you you see this is going to be like this for a while now we’re going to answer some questions and give you sort a chance ask them about what you wish to ask them about um right hold on I just I just take one B where where take your time oh no I I just had one do you need me to look at the tech is up there is a question up there yet mate I think if tick titness gone up would dick and Angel consider doing another open day in the near future oh yes no it was manic wasn’t it who who actually came along to our sort of meet and great yeah hello guys good to see you good to see you those are people who been to the shadow last time we were on tour we couldn’t do the meet and greet afterwards say hello to people sign books my programs things so Angela invited 30,000 people to the shadow I’m going what yeah but that’s what happened and we had the most amazing couple of days in June because in the end a thousand people turned up it it it was it was wonderful and you know everyone had their time slots and and it was just it was it was gorgeous but we got that opportunity I if we were going to do a meet and greet you know it was definitely a good thing to do it at at the chat and all did went on about was the parking the bloody parking hold on one second I had to clear a whole field get rid of all the rubbish make it flat and we had render Rob and roofer Steve in charge of the parking they did a fantastic job but the thing about that the whole experience was it was so lovely to have so many people with us at that point um and but people kept asking Steve for a photo and not Rob yeah and at lunchtime we had a very quick chat so I told everybody after me everybody ignores Steve and asks Rob for a photo yeah we did a complete reversal Steve could work out why they ignored you but they they included w a little bit the thing is W doesn’t really speak that much so no one really knew him so but the answer is yes family Mantra oh Ares I think do it I think we are very we’re very much about just doing it we don’t believe in um sort of excuses you know there’s too many excuses not enough reasons and I think we are very firmly just it’s a bit jfdi just do it I think that’s nice yeah I don’t think it is nice I shouldn’t really said that but it’s um but is a matter of doing it um hold on is you there you are you have to wait and find out moving on I’m quite likely being in charge of this what made you live in France in the first place Angela what made you live I can’t we got a little Comfort monister here and I I can’t say a thing I’m in charge did you get the fact I’m in charge of nothing yeah this is my world so I’ve got the little finger bit going on here but this one is a very important question yeah uh what made you want to live in France in the first place well that was because that we couldn’t quite agree where to live you know living in London love in London and your country country boy we never really agreed where we wanted to live together and it was our sort of first holiday in France in carcas on and we just fell in love with France and we just knew that eventually we would probably live here because we agreed on it holidays you get loved up when you have a ball and you can just picture yourself there for a long time you know those long lunch breaks they sort of having a cocktail enjoying yourself and just relaxing that’s no no no no no doesn’t work like that in this stage but but but that’s what of mind that was what we had in mind but also um I’m a Country Boy and coall Angel couldn’t drive on the roads in Corall cuz they’re too small and um oh reversing down those those windy roads a heart attack sorry London I couldn’t do it I tried I I did live up here for for a time and I did really well but um well I couldn’t do it sorry to all these londoners not me right um this next one is um how were the truffles getting on oh oh yeah we have no idea muffin the chuffle hunter dog definitely muffin um who who was on the show was absolutely useless so no a blood hound you know how blood hounds are known they can send one particle in 10 billion or something you know they can find their way track people down the Truffle dog that came along all she wanted to do was lie down and have her tummy tickle and and what’s it’s really great because the the last who was with her sort of were we we were filming this we’re getting it sorted out and so what we did to get a truffle dog working well you put a big lump of truffle down it sniffs it that I can’t miss it I could smell it all right it smells it and then you give it a treat and I goes wow I’m into this and then it looks for truffles couldn’t find the whole bloody truffle sitting on the top it w wi past it yeah yeah yeah and you got a very embarrassed sort of uh truffle dog handler sort of pointing up it’s bright bloody yellow you know so she doesn’t lose her truffle and so we don’t actually know do we no we don’t but I but I think eventually am I right in saying that you know the bo will come and and sort of maybe kind of sniff around the the trees once it once we do get some and we we are sort of convinced that at some point you will I mean it can take up to 10 years it’s an investment for the future isn’t it I can’t see I know you can’t see it I’ll read it out to you it’s my job are there any rooms left in the chatow to refurbish or have they all been done PS love you both oh Laura thanks darling thanks um other new rooms left yes we’ve got three kind of spaces in the Attic that haven’t apart from insulation haven’t really been touched um but it’s it’s one of those things that you never really finish so we’re kind of going sort of and starting you know going back to the very beginning and doing a few bits um um hold on we had a very simple rule by the way way and this is part of our sort of the ethos you can’t repaint and redo anything until you’ve done everything once any hands up who thinks that’s a good rule hands up we think Angela thought that was a good rule yeah bloody right she didn’t yeah first time dick went away to work I came back and she repainted the salon all right so the the idea we get to the end before we start redoing things but there is a redoing that has to be done when you think about because we’ve been in there eight years and we use it for events so there is a sort of a refresh required but we have got the rooms upstairs but the chatow is more than just the house itself that’s a really important part of what we we’re doing and how we’re treating the place because you saw in Sophie’s um uh video she was talking about the the Folly and that whole area and some of the other projects that are going on like the pig side side one yeah so this year um we have done some work we not me I’ve done some work in the um in the pig sty it’s got a new roof and you know there’s a floor and and it’s actually now Dick’s Art Studio he has not used it yet because we’ve been busy haven’t had time going to go write poetry and do watercolors when you retire you heard it here first when’s that oh I have no idea right answer you’ll be like Steve honestly if I said you could retire tomorrow you’d be like can I do one day a week to to be fair we are when it comes to how we do things and what we’re B say we’ve got to a stage where having caught up on all of the stuff that took place through Co we’re looking forward and we’re looking forward in a way that’s actually really quite exciting because the idea of the weddings and what’s going on we couldn’t offer weddings where we had people who had been waiting what was the longest person that been waiting six years yeah six years because people plan the wedding in advance and all it takes is that Hiccup and then then we couldn’t get everybody straight back in because when you lose a couple of years from the diary they can’t go straight back in and and all of that took a lot of going so now we we we got all sorts of events that are sort of about to come back online but we’re not doing that until we’ve actually we’ve now got to the stage everybody who had booked for accommodation has been everybody book for wedding we honored everything this year and it’s just it feels really gorgeous to sort of be able to look forward there’s a question and um how many people have fallen in the moat since you’ve lived there is a lady oh Arthur has Arthur hasn’t really fallen in I that that wasn’t really Fallen that just got a bit wet was it is there another time you haven’t told us about Arthur this is one of the things everybody was sort of worried when we had little children when they were sort of two and three you know what about safety nobody lets a 2-year-old go out and wonder by themsel anyway do they so they were always with us and that was never an issue and to be fair they weren’t allowed to go out by themselves until in fact very recently because they we never let them wander off without us we did have one lady who was over by the domes who missed the step took out the fence and ended up in the moat after only she she she was blessed her she she was she was happy and and and and she she was a bit embarrassed but equally happy and um fishing her out was hilarious and now by the way I reinforce that particular weakness and nobody has been managed to knock it over yet Jo it was just that that moment when because it has that happened once and and when and I watched it in slow motion okay she just she just tumbled um and then Sasha gorgeous Sasha grabbed her and absolutely just got assaulted you wouldn’t you wouldn’t have even known that’s the the whole thing was just matter T up and get away yeah what if the kids don’t want the Shadow or decide to move what if the children don’t want the shadow that’s question we’ve never we’ve never we never really sort of been been asked B that until now but actually it’s a good question because you know what you just don’t know what tomorrow brings and and I think um was saying something similar to this today wasn’t we was that you know what we have set this up as as their forever home we’ve got multigenerational living but we also make it really really clear that there’s absolutely no pressure and we I we expect them to travel the world but you know for us and this is you know whatever happens tomorrow we just know that we’ve done the best that we can and they have got some security now so I just think you know what you can’t you can’t expect it’s like having a business where you just want your children to take it on and the reality is sometimes they they might not want that and I just think we just got to sort of see what some other holds um we are very aware that the bag Leones had the Shadow and the shadow beforehand for 600 years and when we when we got the shadow we had been down we went to a place called chatow valandre and down there HRI owned shatow valandre and it’s quite well known in France because it’s down in the lir itself it’s one of the big lir shadows and all the garden is vegetables so you got rows and rows of cabbages and rows of broccoli and they’re all they all look Immaculate the place is really really special and we were chatting to hre and looking at his English garden and we um discovered his grandfather and his grandmother bought the chatau one was Spanish and the other was French but hry was more French than a French thing being French yeah oh sorry American am Spanish and American Onie was so French and that was just a generation away you know his so his parents had had their parents weren’t French yet he was so French and if you think of Arthur and Dorothy we don’t know what they’re going to do how it’s going to go it depends how they Link in and who they’s talking about having a kangaroo sanctuary and AR’s talking about having a restaurant you know but they’re nine and 10 yeah yeah I don’t know what you said but I’m agreeing y but you know we’ll we’ll know there’ll be be having their own bits and pieces going on and and and the thing is all we do is give the opportunity to do our best and I’m going to turn my toes up before we have to worry just saying 20 years that that that’s the facts and it’s true so um I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that moving on um if you could relive a cherished moment in time at the shadow what would it be wow um I’ll start with one okay coming around the corner you know that coming around the corner but we we Rive it anyway so that’s not that’s a bit of a cheat but you know you’ve seen on the Telly where we come around the corner um that one was the moment where the excitement in the car was so much because we we knew but we’ actually known before we got there that we were going to buy it you know we just we just knew that anyway but I think it was the party the when actually um The Christmas Extravaganza and it was you know after the cameras been put down and everybody danced and it was you know it had been such a buildup to it and it was just we watched everyone get drunk and and just you know throw everyone around and dance and it was just such a beautiful moment um I I just I love that as a cherish moment it’s interesting when you see our shows being uh we can see them in we’re in France now and you can see it being repeated and every time somebody has a glass in their hand and says drink responsibly it comes up all the time and I think it must be a British thing they’re really worried about it but but our party was it was a long party and it was a great party and that that that was um it was great because we had people coming together you see then you start listing them because our wedding to achieve and have our wedding in the first year was just we were so knackered and so tired to get to that point and Angela burst into tears you know in at 3: in the morning before our wedding day when we because you had I think was it you hadn’t had a chance to do something and because it was physically Gro it was it was it was I think that’s why you know the party at Christmas you know when you’re just there in that moment and you’re like yes yeah yeah it was good it and that that made life you know for us it gets really quite special um here we go this says can you wish our friends Helen and John good luck for the wedding on Wednesday we visited you at the shadow in the summer Helen John go for it yeah congratulations we’re sending you loads of Love okay yeah and have fun you got to smile on a scale from 1 to 10 10 being the hardest how easy is it to do mccamy and this is from Matt no it’s not is it Morgan Kemp Williams would like to know how easy it is actually it’s quite simple I have no idea let’s be it’s a it’s a it’s one of those it’s just one of those things when you’ve got a great cook like a great dish that you’ve cooked and it’s really really easy because you can start with something very very sort of simple um and if you just know kind of for three or four knots you know like a a l egg um knot and a square knot you can actually kind of nearly create anything um and honestly Dorothy has got some really gorgeous stuff where you just get a beautiful branch and you just put all your lck knots and it and it you know hangs down and you can cart and die and I would say it is quite an easy thing to do I find it easier than crochet and sew in and KN in there you go moving on watching live from Australia congratul ulations on your book can’t to get waiting my copy who looks after the shadow when you are not there and the answer is Jenny and Steve but they keep going on holiday yeah I don’t they’re never there at the moment so we we we sort of um pet yeah so it’s a variety so often mom and dad are there but we usually sink it so that we actually are there other them or us contan has been there for sort of a couple of nights and we’ve got Tina there at the moment so we’ve always because we’ve got so many kind of animals that need to be sort of fed um there is always someone at the chatow but it is it’s normally our team or Mom and Dad you saw Quinton Quinton said about his forever home The Farmhouse quinton’s moved because he’s from mayn but um he’s moved and bought a little farmhouse in our village at the far side of our village and um it’s a work job you know it’s it’s worse than hours probably with the gutting that took place you know it’s it’s smaller than the shadow obviously but there so much work to be done on it and so when he and Alexi come and sort of stay in the shadow look after it’s like holiday yo yeah oh I put them in the honeymoon sweep put a bottle of champagne in the fridge yeah yeah absolutely but it but but there it’s it’s our team we’ve always our team there and that’s that’s how we get make sure it’s um looked after um this one here what’s the most surprising thing you found or Unearthed if we go to we’ve got you know we’ve got a a a tower of Curiosities in the tower of Curiosities we’ve got some we’ve got some bits in there but what’s the most unusual you know know how Keen we are to find things and just bring them back to life we actually had at the rear of the Shadow Shadows are unusual they don’t have toilets I’m going to talk sanitation for a bit they don’t have toilets and there was one toilet that had really what didn’t even work properly when we arrived but out the back there was two double toilets outside L doors into the shadow but they were outside L and on each one you had a big board with two holes in it and you sat side by side to have a poop yeah and then it dropped two meters down from where you and there was a little bit of water and a little pipe that went out to the moat so fish could come in and eat your jobbies wonderful um hadn’t been used for a long time so I was short there was going to be treasure in there so we actually do you remember these days I do funny enough it never made television yeah yeah but but it was a bloody great big Hall down to the bottom so was in there and had a look around do you remember um cuz we have found loads and loads of stuff I mean there’s been you know in the in the kitchen where you know they left all of the gorgeous sort of ciders sort of barrels and and all of the um what all of the jugs and and they enough in the Attic we found lots of stuff but it but it that’s a really clever question because a lot of the stuff we have found you would nearly expect to except for maybe all of the gorgeous wallpaper but do you remember the thing that looked like some like medical that was like a specimen sample thing and it was beautiful it looked much scarier than that it look like you sucked something I something with it it was it was wooden it’s wooden box with the sort of the they yeah yeah we we don’t even know what they did yeah it’s very but it did look like a sort of it was very scary it could have been for fun we’re not we’re judging we’re not judging it did look it looked that shape and and I remember the only thing is I’ve got it in my mind now it’s not a good thing I remember putting it in the drawer thinking just in case someone thought it was something different I’m going to hide that so and then and then we found oh yeah CU Sasha would really enjoy finding that wouldn’t she love to know where they’ll put it then we found you know we found the the cares um thing with all the the spikes on and and we didn’t know what that was actually um it was um and then Jack bleon who we’re still friends with um he came over and told us what what that was weird it’s like a big leather collar with spikes on it which means a calf can’t suckle and that’s how they actually stop a calf suckling it’s it’s it does look like something that goes along with other thing in your um don’t say it goes with your [ __ ] mask but that’s the sort of thing I was thinking about at the time so I think I better move on very quickly now I thought they both together okay all right here we go Arthur what’s your favorite Pokemon I have no idea what that meant hand up anybody who understood that word thank you well done well done well done yeah I agree Arthur I’m with you mate can you use use a camera no and you know what’s next for you I’m I’m not retirement yeah retirement we we talk about retirement we talk about retirement quite a bit but we’re not that’s not actually what we we’re silly busy I mean we’re obviously here sort of launching this book we’ve just started um a new a new gorgeous series um um of books with f and of course thank you but they they’re beautiful and Illustrated these have all been Memoirs but this is completely different a little bit more like our older stuff that we’ve done the Vintage tea party stuff and you’ve done a lot of the made at home stuff where we’re doing recipes and crafts so we’ve been incredibly busy sort of doing that we are got tours we’re on tour we we’ve got we’ve got America next year we’re doing um our UK tour the America Tour was was in there and it’s been done we’re going quite soon in and then because people in America were’re going across to see them put in another dates we’re off in New York as well so tour then we’re back back to the UK for our biggest tour ever and that’s actually do you know what the big thing for me is we see the United Kingdom and the children get to ride we don’t know that they’re going to be with us for all of the tour because they have to go to school yeah but in France it’s interesting our our our the head mistress was when we went to Australia she just said yeah take the kids it’s better than school for education and so they were very happy for Arthur and darthy to go and know Chris are we allowed to talk about how um podcast yeah okay great are we allow to I got I got bollock yesterday for saying that yeah because because we’ve been doing a podcast and get ready we doing a podcast you guys are the first to I did tell her offl you can’t mention it you can’t mention it but actually I really want we all really wanted to because we are doing um a podcast and we’re having so much fun doing it because we get to sit up in our attic and that sounds a bit weird but the parall the insulation and everything you Ober it the CH it’s up there we sit in there we have a g and tonic and and do you know what it it is so sort of free form you can say whatever you want do whatever you want it’s just quite special and you can WR in and get a dicks tip you see I tried to get her off the subject when I moved away from the col from the C and the things in that drawer so you know if you have a star just just WR in so and we also can’t tell you much about this right but we’ve got this massive project dicks had this idea enough enough enough you’re not supposed to be saying this we’ve got something that we’ve wanted to do for a long time at the shatow yes and we’re GNA and we’re going to do it we’re just working out how we want to do it um but it’s going to be it’s going to be really really fun the kids have been asking lots of questions today um and at the end of this thing that we’re doing um whoever is the going amazing don’t say say anything be quiet exactly but hold on the ignoring all the detail we are busy and we’ve got to relaunch for the next wedding season we’ve got all these other things to to do as well so what’s next um lots more lots and and we you know there’s family everything we’re just we will continue to just make sure that we always strive to kind of get the balance right and make sure that we get to go on a day every now and again as well I’m going to make this the last question I’m sure we are we out of time yet will it’s like the voice of God only it will y yeah what advice would you give to a person aspiring to start a renovation project and business okay um we our answer is always the same go for it you know just just that’s that’s what become what the other thing is you know buying a shout is pretty bloody stupid isn’t it it doesn’t matter how you look at it but I would say if you want it do it because it’s brilliant yeah but you got to plan you know we did a lot of planning on everything we did um and and you’ve got to be if you’re going to make a business out of something you’ve really got to think about how you are going to to do it because you know and and be and be proud of that and I think once you once you write it all down and you know I think that’s been part of what a lot of really boring stuff behind the scenes that we do we’re thinkers we’re we’re planners we kind of you know put all of the steps out in front anything is possible you know and a lot of people say oh you’re you know you’re an engineer or you’re a designer you know we’ve done so many things over the last 10 years that we have never ever done and you go and you look and you research and you have a go and sometimes you foul and you know things don’t work they they look really easy on YouTube and they’re really not but that’s all part of the process and you know we’ve had an absolute ball at doing it so I think you know what you said is you just got to do it definitely our maner I’m going to add one little one in never mind we’ll pay overtime mate um do you ever miss the UK we keep coming back we are British and that’s something that we are very aware of so it’s not that we miss it because we come back anyway um we have our life well and truly established it Arthur and Dorothy people ask about the language they are completely fluent French speakers you know without accents and they and they sort of yeah and we we see it might sound silly but we actually see our friends and family more so have have moved and they come and they bring us baked beans and cies chocolate and and you know all of the things that that we miss and then we we come home and you know we I think we’ll always call it home just because because it is and and we’re home and we’re sort of you know going around all the supermarkets and there just something wherever you go go into a supermarket it’s just so much fun and and we just we we we love it so we s we sort of Miss it but we we’re not away and we don’t feel very far away from um from England Britain Britain United Kingdom um by the way we supported Ireland in the rugby yeah it doesn’t matter who you supported we didn’t do very well did we but um with that thought thank you very much for your attention and thanks for coming thank you for coming guys thank you thank you very much lovely yeah we see you all very soon thank you bye take care thanks very much