Life after Escape to the Chateau: Dick & Angel Strawbridge clear up the rumours
Dick and Angel Strawbridge's Escape to the Chateau journey came to an end in December 2022 after nine incredible series. Like many loyal fans, we've been invested in every renovation project, DIY dilemma and family update over the years (we even got to visit their home, Château de la Motte-Husson, in 2022!) but what are Dick and Angel doing now? And will they ever sell their beloved home?
'We have no intention to move, ever. Full stop. I've never even had that thought process,' Dick Strawbridge tells House Beautiful UK, shutting down rumours that they're planning to put their chateau on the market.
'Sometimes I get so annoyed that I'm tempted to stick up a big "for sale" sign outside the front to confuse everyone,' adds Angel. 'This is our forever home. Everything we have ever done has been with the fact that we won't be moving. The children will inherit the house, so what they want to do with it is up to them.'
Despite Escape to the Chateau ending, the TV duo have been busier than ever. They spent much of last year exploring France in a brand new travel series, Secret France with Dick & Angel, they have a new book in the works, and the couple will embark on a 33-day UK tour this autumn. When they're not tied down with work and events, Dick and Angel are doing what they love best: DIY at the chateau.
'There's always something going on here,' Angel tells us. 'One thing we are going to invest in is a swimming pool. It's a really indulgent thing. We've had to work out where we can place it because the front of the chateau is a bit too open. We have a lot of visitors. The walled garden feels very private; it feels like our own space.'
Dick and Angel have poured their heart and soul into renovating Château de la Motte-Husson, which boasts 45 rooms, a moat, and 12 acres of land. 'The house is in a really nice state at the moment,' says Angel.
'It's very comfortable because of some recent spring maintenance. A lot of love has gone into the walled garden and we recently laid some new paths. Dick has planted a lot of new trees and flowers, too. Our main focus for the past year or so has been on the outbuildings. Things have been changed, moved around, and completely cleared out.'
Dick and Angel are experts at taking on challenges. When they first viewed the chateau in 2015, they were given a 200-page document with reasons not to buy it — but even that didn't stop them. 'There were 13 pages on asbestos alone. I had to translate every one of those words from French to individually work out what the problem was. For us, there's no problem insurmountable. That mindset has been a game-changer. Things like that don't scare us,' says Dick.
'I think during our first year of Escape to the Chateau, people always thought, "It's the end of Dick and Angel's French dream". Fine if that's what people want to think, but we just fix things and move on. We don't live with any regrets.'
DIY aside, there are some big family changes on the horizon. 'We have talked about Dick retiring this year as he's 65 in September, but we're not too sure what that looks like,' says Angel.
The couple have shifted their focus from filming to family life. Their two young children, Arthur and Dorothy, are now fluent in French. 'Dorothy is top of her class in maths, which makes me even happier,' says Dick. 'The kids love to help around the home, too. Dorothy spent 25 minutes trying to light a fire because we were cooking sausages for the staff. She doesn't give up.'
And the question we all want answered, will there be another series of Escape to the Chateau? 'We would never say never,' Dick tells us. 'We made a very sound decision at the start of 2022 because of Arthur and Dorothy. We didn't want to have the cameras here all the time to make it easier for them.'
Angel, with a grin on her face, adds: 'We're very open to having a little update in the future. We made the right decision about Escape to the Chateau. The beauty of doing it when we did is that the kids were young and innocent. Having cameras around all the time would be different now. We want to protect them. We take one year at a time, but who knows? We will never say never...'
For more information about Dick and Angel's tour, visit thechateau.tv.
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