ESCAPE to the Chateau’s Dick Strawbridge gasped “we’re f***ed” after spotting a “hopeless” problem with his sprawling property.
The hit Channel 4 show follows British couple Dick, 61 and his wife Angel Adoree, 43, new life and home in the Martigne-sur-Mayenne region of France.
Cameras have been documenting the couple for the past five years as they renovate their 19th-century castle.
Dick opened up about the challenges of renovating a property of this size, which boasts 12 acres of land, seven outbuildings, five floors with 45 rooms, six chimneys and 15 fireplaces.
The couple set about working out exactly how much it would cost to run the sprawling castle today.
However, they were left stunned when they discovered the number of windows the castle had – leaving a panicked Dick exclaiming “we’re f****d”.
The couple examined the 19th century spreadsheet, which had been preserved in great detail.
It revealed that in 1869, a roofer was paid around 40p a day, a locksmith around 50p and a labourer 25p.
Dick said: “If you multiply it by £20 – any of these numbers, that will give us what the costs are today. The total is nearly £47,000 – £50,000 francs goes to £100,000.”
He added: “If you think today, if you had a plot of land and you were spending £1,000,000 building something, you could never hope to get something as grand as this.”
The episode explored the origins of the property, explaining that the Chateau was built as a gift from the young single Baglioni to his wife.
The French may have abandoned these landmarks, knowing what money pits they are. And his first target – the windows.”
Dick discussed the cost, saying: “Divide £1,000,000 of expenditure over six years it took to build it, and we’ve got next to nothing.
“We’ve got the skills – you’ve got the skills, not me!” Angel laughed and her husband replied: “And sheer effort.”
Work harder, work faster,” Angel joked.
Dick set his sights on repairing the windows – but was left gobsmacked when he discovered the vast number that needed replacing.
Admiring the windows with crafted frame oak and its own unique cast-iron handle, he said: The detail is phenomenal, the amount of work that has gone into them, they’re really quite special.
“Having said that, they’re falling apart, the glass is barely being held in, sometimes we have no glass. The wood is so rotten that it’s on the edge of crumbling.”
Channel 4 viewers then saw Dick count the number of windows, he got up to 59 before declaring “this is not even funny”.
The couple were also under a pressure to complete work on the property as they ahead of their November wedding – around nine months away from when the episode was filmed.
Angel commented: “Time’s ticking, I really didn’t appreciate the enormity of the job – it’s not just a slap of paint and a taxidermy head.
Dick was left panicked by the sheer amount of work, adding: “We have a massive task ahead of us.
“Going into every single room, I think ‘Okay, there’s about a month on each room’ multiply that by the number of rooms and November is actually very close – we’re f****d.”
The subsequent seven seasons of the show saw the venue transform into a wedding venue and a thriving business despite the pair only having a shoestring budget.
After the stunning restoration, the public can now book out the chateau for their own wedding.
It can cost somewhere between £19,000 and £38,000 to make the Chateau your wedding venue, and it is currently extremely popular.
Escape to the Chateau is available to stream on All 4.
