The Chateau Diaries #12 Carry on grifting

[Fuzzypeg]

Michael Moore - Not Michael Morrison! I got a frisson of excitement too momentarily but it was short lived when I realised my error...

At first I thought it was the Michael Moore ....the American documentary film maker and expose extraordinaire! Sadly not .

 

[Nina Rose]

Surely that is why she has not spend any of the money on renovations yet. She is going to pay her taxes first.

Yes,she has told us that!February is the tax bill month .

 

[La Brocanteuse]

I had watched that couple initially and thought great ! It was then their association with SJ and FRK AND the setting up, so early, of a Patreon account that deterred me. It reeks of jumping on the bandwagon and ‘grabbing a slice of the action’ and also the motivated by mo et thing which I personally, abhor, from these chateau owners. Phillip and Anna had that choice to make and they chose to align with the Chateau Lalande crew (btw I was a huge fan of SJ and still love those earlier more charming vlogs) This money grab is so vulgar. Particularly from new kids on the block.

Credit where credit is due at least SJ had a whole backlog of vlogs before she went and did Patreon )and the too awful for words CATC). I felt disappointed that Phillip and Anna did all this, right now. They initially seemed so untarnished (like earlier SJ).

Having said that, someone here persuaded me to give them another go, so I did, and I enjoyed there natural way infront of the camera. Anna is lovely and also natural with a gentle but good natured manner. They look as though they get on well.So, for the time being I will add them to my watch list. Though I won’t be a Patreon !

It was me! Yes, despite everything, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt...

 

[frenchessence]

Nice write up! I would not be putting my order in for dinner at the chateau. SJ is not the gourmand she likes to think she is and her cooking skills are of the Betty Crocker variety. And of course, let's not forget that there seems to be absolutely no proper hygiene practices in the kitchen. I've seen people dip their fingers into shared food, comb their hair over the table, come in from outside and not wash their hands, and of course this is the shared space for the adhoc beauty salon. Poor Selmar, he really is out of his league when it comes to preparing food. He lacks imagination in this area. For someone with such an artistic bent it surprises me. Originally, he was going to make his damn apple cake, which is really a pie, with a banana thrown in! Why oh why? Then we find this boring but cute pastries with apple and banana, once again, why oh why would you mix apple and banana together unless you are making baby food. He didn't glaze them correctly because, as usual, someone doesn't/can't eat eggs. Egg yolk is the best for giving that wonderful and enticing shiny brown crust. I would just have glazed anyway and left one or two without. I just felt that SJ and the boys tried too hard with everything - the menu, the venue, the table setting - too much! They just never know when to stop. Plus I absolutely hate that RIDICULOUS BLUE GOWN - it wish it would catch on fire and be gone forever, of course, I wish no harm to the wearer.

Betty Crocker Cook I also thought the same about hygiene issues in that kitchen. Never see ANY hand-washing and so true about all the other things you say on that issue. I read in a science report that the Covid virus is so small, you could put more than 1,000 around the circumference of a hair. I dread to think what’s on the floor and surrounding areas once Annelise has finished using the kitchen as a hair salon virus

That gown was pure Fanny Craddock!

SJ’s Spirit Fashonusta

It was me! Yes, despite everything, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt...

I am SO pleased you directed me to give them a second chance. Will keep watching them and let’s watch this space, I’m sure we’ll be discussing them again particularly in connection with SJ as it seems they will be competitive dining with them in due course

 

[Hemerocallis]

I think he was a waiter...

And now he is not waiting anymore ?

 

[Anfield Annie]

Nonsense, it's taxable income. How much and what she can deduct I don't know, but probably all expenses from creating content (incl. Selmar/Nati/Philip's salaries?)

I’m not sure she would want to be setting herself up as an “employer” here...and pay actual salaries.....I believe that kind of business structure comes with a whole heap of added responsibility for your employees..like paying their social and health charges National Insurance equivalent etc....

 

[Hemerocallis]

Perhaps she doesn't listen well to people either and just overrides all good advice given - although she has been reacting to advice and suggestions given here - more using it to sway the moral code in her vlogs to keep the public on side though.

She does NOT for CERTAIN.

I can only watch this one on mute!! The wifes giggling and childlike behaviour is insufferable

I even can't watch them on mute, noone will give me these minutes/hours back..........

 

[Anfield Annie]

Does anyone know the french libel/slander laws? I am presuming as both parties based in France it would be french law at play here.

That’s correct, it would be the FR law and of the little I know about it is way stronger than the English version...so any defamation, particularly if written in an open forum, can be seen as very serious indeed...and more so if you have a business or commercial reputation involved .

 

[Hemerocallis]

Mmmmmm Gerry haven’t been there since February 2020

He has been at Lala for her birthday august 18 (see birthday vlog)

 

[Raspberrybrulee]

Please skip over this post if you're only interested in Chateau de La lande.

Sorry to derail the thread a bit but as a lot of us aren't getting out too much at the moment I thought I'd throw in another rabbit hole for people to pop down if they're bored/interested. Does anyone remember the three sisters from Oxfordshire in the first series of Escape to the Chateau DIY? They were called Tanya, Marion and Catherine I believe and their beautiful chateau Bois Giraud is in the Loire Valley. They use it themselves but also rent it out. I was intrigued by them and did a bit of research as I wondered about their back story and how they came to own such a beautiful chateau jointly. It turns out they are titled and they were given the chateau by their father the Earl of Macclesfield.

His story is incredible. His family privately own a very beautiful 14th century medieval castle in Oxfordshire which despite being Grade l listed has never been open to the public - it's known as England's lost castle because although it exists it is completely hidden to the outside world in the middle of its own vast and heavily forested acres. The court case involving the Earl was intriguing and although his cousins eventually succeeded in evicting him he ended up laughing as he owned the entire castle contents including a perfectly preserved and rare time capsule library which sparked an international bidding war and netted him around £20 million. The crown jewel was the beautifully illustrated Macclesfield Psalter but there were also original works by astronomers Galileo and Copernicus. He also sold a painting by Stubbs for about £6 million.

Lady Tanya (the oldest daughter and one of the chateau owners and seemingly very down to earth) is involved in a fight for a seat in the House of Lords as due to ancient primogeniture laws she is currently not eligible.

Some links here:-

Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire

England’s invisible castle, this little-known ‘time capsule’ was hauled blinking into the glare of 21st-century publicity during 17 days at the Royal Courts of Justice in 2003. Se…

handedon.wordpress.com

Who's laughing now?

The Earl of Macclesfield has found a golden lining to his cloud. Although due to be evicted next year from Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire, his ancestral home since 1716, in one of the most bitter family quarrels ever to split the British aristocracy, he has recently become one of those rare...

www.standard.co.uk

Daughters of Lords are going to court to fight for their titles

Members of the campaign group Daughters’ Rights — headed by Charlotte Carew Pole — they want to see the aristocracy modernised to allow firstborn daughters to inherit in the UK.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Anfield Annie]

MojoDublin Post 3673325
Please send a link for his page - I'm not techno savvy and need to be spoon fed. Other than that I leave you with "Captain (Colonel?) Tom. 100 years on and not a selfish bone in his body. Thank the gods for him balancing out the inhabitants of ShitO.

Oliver’s Calvert Army, organized by Sarah Voysey

The Lake District Calvert Trust has lost £1 million in income and faces closure. Our 12 year old s… Sarah Voysey needs your support for Oliver’s Calvert Army

uk.gofundme.com

If you wanted to see him in person, his little news piece it’s probably on YT or on the BBC Twitter page or ITV This Morning ...Oliver Voysey. A little lad who you watch for 10 mins and give a little at the end because he’s doing difficult things in his difficult life to be selfless and grateful for what he has. Could teach a few things to a few people we know

 

[The Soloist]

Lululime Post 3672878 I vaguely remember that, but could you remind me what Marie did to get SJ's nose out of joint? Ta.

Clearly by being a genuine empathetic person. A bit weedy (not just the floral arrangements) & needy, but seemed to be attracting a little bit of a following. Maybe got a bit snippy at being used as the chef & having the audacity to want to leave the chateau?

 

[The Soloist]

I only saw it in the comments. I say good for him. If he can help by selling his designs under his own name, and also be emotionally recognised and fulfilled, then good.

Has he not done any in the whole year of lockdown?

I think many just send gifts as thank you's for the vlogs. Stephanie was putting out so many videos a week at one point one can't say it wasn't impressive. Vlogging and editing does require time , energy, and work. Her channel is providing entertainment and I don't see anything wrong w her getting compensated just like all the other crazy YouTubers out there (who provide much less interesting content)! However, I agree about the gift giving. It's getting ridiculously over the top. Can't the fans see this?! I don't know if the gift sending will start to decrease but I hope so! There is just so many now and it's not really as special. If people want to send them gifts fine but I think Stephanie needs to buckle up and stop vlogging them which just encourages more to be sent. Thank the senders privately like other YouTubers do.

End rant.

I think they send them because they think that she is poor little Stephanie who needs to have cake & chocolate to cheer her up. Because she is living in a crumbling old millstone round her neck & she needs little treats from them. Because they have been led to believe this tale of woe from someone who has a big smile even in the face of such dreadful adversity. What a trooper she is.

 

[La Brocanteuse]

@Hemerocallis Well, now that he's been taken on in his filming and social media role, I guess not. Unless you mean with regard to SJ...

 

[The Soloist]

Bonjour

you might have forgotten a few other income streams

you tube - 3 channels
One is SUPPOSED to be charity
Failed to get charity status .. opps

3 channels combined income 12 k per month
For ... 8 months
Prior to that possibility of 6 - 7 k
Gifting

on the non taxable channel
Gifts total combined for 11 months possibly over 30 k

appreciate an update on new totals

au revoir

I cannot tell you how much I love this. No wonder she has hired more staff. It must be a full time job keeping up with what real work she should be doing for her money instead of sitting in bed with a lovely cup of (free) tea & a piece of cake (that she probably barfs up afterwards).

Why would anyone dress like that to sit at home opening cardboard boxes in the middle of winter? I thought she was going to spill her melted camembert on her skirt, I was rather disappointed when she didn't! I see some of the gifters have got the measure of her: sending Playdough, a stole with a teddy bear on it, dolls' house crockery, and OTT sparkley gift wrap that a five year old girl would love; all certainly age appropriate for the 45 year old child! What dreadful Christmas stockings, but thy were the right giant size for the acquisitive queen. What's the betting that, by next Advent and Christmas, all this stuff will be lost or forgotten, never to be seen again?

I could throw something at the screen when I hear that awful laugh and the unnatural hand gestures. These gift grabs surely have to stop soon; they are abhorrent.

She thought it was hilarious that Selmar is always covered in stone dust after working on the tiles - really sympathetic of her; It will be her fault if his lungs are damaged. I wonder if his pride was hurt after all the criticism of his apple pies of which he was so proud.

No empathy for anyone has she?

Morning Darlings! Little bird told me that someone was whining about how unfair we are here and how our eyes see what they filmed but not in the way that they intended to... too bad

This is genius.

 

[Jeeves]

I don’t doubt it.....likely the workaways (those who are providing actual physical labour to renovate, like the 2 magic plasterers) will be getting paid something and the owner is saving at least €200-€300 per day by not calling in local artisans.....everyone’s a winner ! Oh...other than the local artisan who’s not getting paid to do a proper job

if I recall the man who owns this is French...so no excuses ....he cannot blame lack of knowledge of the rules

I understand that he is German speaking Italian.

 

[Krypgal]

Hi, I'm new to this site. I joined after watching Michael's whining YT vido. I feel that MP really needs a shot of reality in his life. People work. They then rent or buy themselves a home or project that they then carry on working to renovate/decorate to their tastes. They don't make a couple of YT videos and expect the world and his dog to support him in his project while he basically does nothing more than a little bit of filming whilst his senior father and his friend (Sean) do all the work on his renovation. Its obvious that Mick is a grafter but he's got his own property to graft on which I'm sure would give him more than enough work at his time of life. Michael should be ashamed of himself.

Originally I thought Michael was a fun person with a bit of get up and go. It slowly dawned on me that all he was doing was money grabbing from total strangers, so that he could carry on pleasing himself. His videos have become more and more boring and the amount of drone shooting (paid for by his adoring public) is monotonous. But his begging for me and more money has become more and more noticable. He wasn't memorable from ETTCDIY and it was only CD's videos that had brought him to my attention. The more of his YT videos that I have watched the more amazed I have become at his blatant begging for money and now even plates (at Christmas), I now find myself watching them just to see what he's begging for next, although I no longer watch the adverts.

He was employed by the lovely Angel to paint/draw a design that she had huge input into on the initial design. If he wanted to make an income from any upcoming revenues, this was the time when he should have voiced his expectations. It seems to me that the "boy" is peeved that someone is making money from something that he was paid to do and is now not satisfied with getting money for nothing just from his YT, Patreon and GoFundMe sites, he is fuming that he has been missing out on extra money. If I worked for Mr Ford and designed a car that I was paid to design, I would hardly expect Mr Ford to give me a cut of every car that was sold and call that car after me.

As to the rest of the Petherick family: poor Gwendolyne, the whole family has taken over her space when she was vulnerably emotional from the loss of her mother. Yeah, Mick's a grafter but they do have their own place so why have they now taken over the other cottage. Where does Sadie and her daughter and boyfriend/partner live? In the Chateau? Billy does do some work, but he doesn't really seem to give any support/affection to Gwendolyne. He's too busy with his buddies, doing god knows what. The poor woman looks lost and lonely most of the time while the leeches have just taken over.

After MP's performance on Friday, showing himself to be stressed and depressed from all of the negative/nasty comments on here about him, he seemed to perk up on the Petherick video about holes. If he doesn't want to receive negative comments, I guess he's in the wrong game. You have to take the bad with the good. Another shot or reality is needed there. I do wonder why there are so many people who are prepared to pay for him to live this wasteful, playful, extravagant lifestyle - one has to wonder how empty their lifes are?

Just had to get this off my chest. I'm enjoying the site. Its nice to have somewhere where people appreciate the shows I enjoy and where we can have an honest discussion, rather than the sickeningly sycophantic twaddle that is seen on YT comments.

Great summery

 

[Rory]

That’s correct, it would be the FR law and of the little I know about it is way stronger than the English version...so any defamation, particularly if written in an open forum, can be seen as very serious indeed...and more so if you have a business or commercial reputation involved .

Thankyou Annie. Whilst not related to libel laws I have a memory of reporting on public figures private lives is protected as well eg politican mistresses is it privacy laws?

 

[lolander]

can't find who said it, but someone said that the B&B at lalande is shut down? you think she read things here and realized? I can't imagine she'll want to let many strangers in after what's been said maybe she's closing it down for good?

The price for the room is quite high, if her fans come it'll be a good business. It's only 5 rooms + 2 gites, Nati&Philip (both on payroll) can handle the tidying up, linen change and breakfast easily. It'll make a great watch for us too, a home invasion horror movie, remember to buy popcorn when the restrictions are lifted!

 

[Anfield Annie]

If anyone hasn't found it yet, the Chateau La Croix Honnet vlog is superb. No money-grabbing, really likeable people with taste and style, making excellent videos about their very sympathetic restoration of a chateau in Normandy.

took a 3 minute peak....saw a section of video where he went to great lengths to show & tell why he was able to knock down a dividing wall in the salon (taking up floorboards, videoing joists) when a 5 second look at the wall to see it was plasterboard stud which would (& did as we saw in the video) just peel away very easily ....but then that wouldn't have puffed out the video content I guess!!

their place is obviously much smaller than the usual shat o set ups we see and looks to be in better condition. Maybe it's just me but its clear she fancies herself as Angel Strawbridge mark II.

I don't know these guys back story or how they came to be there in the first place but I'm always fascinated how people can (a) buy a chateau & (b) afford to spend all their time renovating it themselves ...so therefore not working or earning money elsewhere .