Angel Adoree reflected on why her family’s beloved French chateau had experienced such a bad year as she detailed how storms had impacted area.
Updating fans on the state of the signature building after they returned following their recent UK tour, Adoree revealed how the poor weather conditions had been detrimental.
On the latest episode of her podcast alongside husband and fellow Escape to the Chateau star Dick Strawbridge, the conversation was steered towards the self-sufficient lifestyle the family has with their two young children, Arthur and Dorothy.
“I’m as excited about the landscaping as I am about the swimming pool,” Strawbridge, 65, stated.
Delving into their upcoming new tasks, he added: “I think that area of low-maintenance for the Mediterranean garden thing, that’s going to be really, really interesting.
“But all of that is a huge project, and it’s one of our bigger projects.
“Going into the greenhouse, it’s cleared quite a bit for the winter, but Dorothy eating our rocket in there.
Dick and Angel detailed how their children enjoyed sampling food grown at the chateau
“Arthur loves the lamb’s lettuce, but Dorothy was loving it – she said it’s the best rocket she’s ever had.
“It’s the only rocket I’ve ever seen her eat.”
“It’s true, because rocket, when it has a bit more substance to it, can be quite peppery,” Adoree replied.
Further detailing how her pre-teens enjoy the food the chateau grounds can provide, she added: “And Dorothy loves figs.
“And I think we’ve mentioned previously we had a really bad year with figs.
The chateau had experienced ‘a bad year’ for figs
“We had really big storm early on that took all the young figs away, and they grew back but never quite ripened.”
She continued: “It’s a shame because the fig trees, oh my God, if the weather had been alright we’d have had the most amazing crop – they loved it.”
The couple are hading towards a significant milestone as next year will mark a decade since the family upped sticks from the UK and started a new life for themselves in the French chateau.
Their journey was documented from 2016 to 2022 on Channel 4’s Escape to the Chateau, which garnered them a loyal following who likes to keep up with them to this day.
With their son and daughter having spent most of their lives in France, they joked on the same episode how Arthur had become “too French”.
“This morning, going in [to school] Arthur and I had this conversation – you don’t know this – about what’s the word for ‘mist’ and what is the word for ‘fog’?” Strawbridge began.
He continued: “So I did my thing and said something like, ‘Bloo-yey, bloo-yeh’, and I tried to make my lips sound like a French person which didn’t work. So I didn’t get the word out right.”
Storms had impacted the iconic chateau, the Strawbridges explained
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The words Strawbridge had been attempting were “brouillard” for fog and “brume” for mist – something his son was adamant he’d remembered.
Strawbridge detailed: “And (Arthur) said, ‘No, dad, that’s completely wrong’. So we had a whole conversation and then he looked it up on his phone on the way in in the car and he said the same word back to me!
“I’ve forgotten what it is so I can’t even repeat it. He said it better. He said it with more of a French accent, but it was the same word.
“And I said, ‘You have become too French! You’ve just repeated the same word I’ve said with a different accent!'”
