The Chateau - Forever Home

by Dick Strawbridge, Angel Strawbridge

Return to life at Château-de-la-Motte Husson in the concluding memoir from the Sunday Times bestselling authors Dick and Angel Strawbridge.

Picking up from where Living the Château Dream ended, Dick and Angel recount the newest and biggest challenges they faced on the journey to transforming their once derelict and abandoned château in France's Pays de la Loire into a thriving family home and sustainable business.

When the Covid-19 pandemic engulfs the world, the château faces a new challenge and must find ways to adapt in order to keep the Strawbridge's dream life in France alive. From the cancellation of the wedding season and finding new ways to fund their Chateau journey, to living in an isolated bubble whilst continuing to film their TV series, being separated from family back in the UK to life after the pandemic, this is Dick and Angel at their most honest and heartfelt, revealing many details never seen on TV.

As entertaining, warm and irresistible as ever, this is the final chapter in Dick and Angel's remarkable journey to find their family's forever home.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, France, Biography

352 pages, Paperback

Expected publication January 5, 2027

Reviews

[Marie-France Leclerc]

This book is as lovely as the series Escape to the Chateau. As sad as I am the show ended I do understand the need for them to move on. Hopefully, one day I will make my way there and spend at least one night!

[Katy]

Another wonderful instalment from the Strawbridges. It is wonderful to read the behind the scenes decision process and tid bits of information that you don’t see on the TV episodes .
What a courageous family and extended family they all are to embark on such a life adventure.
Angels creativity & humour, Dicks wisdom and knowledge .. what an incredible force they are working side by side. I will miss their show, but have the utmost respect for giving Dorothy and Arthur the chance to now grow into adults away from a camera.
I’ve read all 3 books now from the chateau series and have loved them all.

[Stephanie Wubben]

Loved the behind the scenes and the tutorials in the book.

[Chloe Sanders]

I adore the book and TV series, and my dream is one day get the opportunity to stay at Château de la Motte Husson!

[Elizabeth Blyth]

DNF

The Good

Nothing good about this book whatsoever


The Bad

I thought given it was shorter than some other memoirs I have sat on my shelf it would make for a good palette cleanser but this was a snooze fest. I think my main issue was that I didn’t enjoy it from the off and I also feel you need to have seen the Channel 4 TV show they were in from start to finish to properly enjoy it.

The Ugly

I don’t DNF books lightly they really have too make me feel like it’s a chore to read it and The Chateau DIY Forever Home went into this territory. I personally didn’t enjoy it and although it took me a while to DNF I thought I have other books I’d like to read so why push on through for the sake of it.

[John Barclay]

I've loved the series, and the books. This is the least of them. Far too much goopy loving the kids stuff and not so much of the fun history and restoration things.

Still, it's a kind of wonderful dream life that we get to hear about.

Meeting them for a book signing made it much more real, and fun.

Glad this is the last of it though as the kids are growing and the shows success has clearly made the pretense that this isn't making them rich seem a bit silly.

Great fun to read the last details though.

[Tansy Roberts]

Another gorgeous book from my favourite DIY couple -- I bought myself this for Christmas and had to slow down reading it so I could catch up on the last season of Escape to the Chateau first. I always enjoy reading anything Dick & Angel have to say about their lives.

[Sandy]

I just love to read about their lives and how they live. They are so opposite of myself and yet family is so important. I cannot doing the things they do or even eating the things they eat. I think they are such a great example of hard work and putting things into perspective.

[Kine Stousland]

Koselig og feel good bok☺️
For å få fem stjerner burde den hatt litt mer enn hva som var i tv-serien.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin]

Own Hardback

Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Sarah Boyd]

Throughly enjoyed this and loved the trip down memory lane of the series and their points of view

[Aliena]

A lovely way to finish off this series. A collection of stories that didn't all make it on to TV.

I've really enjoyed watching the Chateau being brought back to life and seeing the family grow up.

[Pam]

No really new stories here but a charming book nonetheless.

[Suze]

Out of the three, the second book was my favourite, that said this was still good and was nice to recap. Plus a lovely finale to their escape to the chateau story on tv

[Hazel Brear]

Dick and Angel’s style of storytelling draws the reader into their wonderful home and family. I loved everything about this book. Thanks for the years of feel good memories!

[Patricia Hutchings]

A diary form with dark text for Angel and light text for Dick. A book full of recipes and projects to do, as well as their day to day lives at the chateau.

[Penny]

Such a good read! It is really interesting to hear all their stories over the years and is a lovely way to wrap up the end of their château series.

[Bec]

Good way to finish. Could picture all the improvements from the show as I was reading it. Picked up tidbits to make a more complete picture from reading about it

[Kerry]

Since this is the last of their 3 books…I read it slowly because I didn’t want it to end