Escape to the chateau with Angel Strawbridge

Big dreams came true with hard work and determination to turn a ramshackle French chateau into a home and business while we watched from our sofas

Angel Strawbridge, star of Channel 4's 'Escape to the Chateau'.

WHO doesn’t love an episode of Channel 4’s Escape to the Chateau? But I wonder, did owners Angel and Dick Strawbridge ever think, what have we done, moving with their children Arthur and Dorothy from life in England to the 19th century Chateau de la Motte Husson in Pays de Loire, and all the work that ensued?

“Never,” Angel tells me. “We knew it was going to be a mammoth task but that’s what attracted us in the first place. Having this incredible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity really drove us in the early days when we had to get the basics installed like heating, electricity and a working toilet, all in the dead of winter. Giving up isn’t in mine or Dick’s nature.