The Chateau Diaries #21 Peep shows, Creep shows, Tour drama overflows

[JimmyJams]

This is when I thought to myself things are not what they seem, that’s a lot holiday money

That's a lot of holidays and a lot of money and despite her grifting that house/chateau will never be warm in winter because SHE doesn't see it as a priority.

 

[Espe]

Just a thought. Could the other people with the same name possibly be SJ's aunt who if I remember correctly is quite well off. SJ visited her when she went home. Could they possibly have been partners in the business? Just an idea.

The French aunt is married to a Scottish man and they also live in Suffolk but not in Framlingham and they have a different surname but there may be aunts/uncles on Derek's side, maybe. Just noticed someone else has mentioned them too!

 

[vampiregirl]

That's a lot of holidays and a lot of money and despite her grifting that house/chateau will never be warm in winter because SHE doesn't see it as a priority.

Agreed mpeth fixed that range cooker in the kitchen for her and they can’t be bothered to fire it up to keep warm lazy just lazy

 

[Milre]

Just a simple correction: Ruth and SJ are really close friends. Ruth isn't very loved by other (female) visitors and friends and wannabee's (something with her voice being annoying for women, but ever so attractive for men).

Really? I find for some reason she looks like a horse... Or a man herself

 

[vampiregirl]

That was Avignon wasn't it?

Yes it was lots spent on that vacation, she was way out of her depth interviewing the hotelier intelligent intro extrovert

 

[Milre]

View attachment 463083

Surprise! A kid with a French mother (and raised partly by her French grandmother) does well in her French exam! What a load of bullcrap!
(I went to a private prep-school where Spanish-speaking students were exempt from taking Spanish classes!)

This article proves that fake news existed long before I was born (lol)...and any father can pay a newspaper reporter for "good press" about his daughter. "Look, sweetie! You made it to today's newspaper! I'm so proud of you!"

Maybe they had some plans to return to France and therefor needed some certification that S speaks French at a proper level? My parents sent me to an extra afternoon school once a week for 4 years to get reports/certificates because they always planned to return home and they were told if I don't attend I will need to start there from scratch (grammar, literature, spelling,...)

Except that he says 100,000 a year on the video. Maybe that's his way of insuring she keeps donating. He'd better get his money up front though. I can't imagine the gift channel lasting years longer.

I understood she made about 5000 Euro with the cadeaux videos and will donate all of it to pay 3 years of school. So aprox. 1600 Euro per year only for schooling.

 

[Clara Burnett]

I find it interesting that IJ tries to appear as being concerned about volunteers, I believe her concern is more about protecting herself from future legal problems

IJ has never showed any interest in the well being of the volunteers at the tit-show-shat-o. On the contrary. I remember complaints from workawayers that did not get enough food when IJ was in charge. She does not share her daughters preference for fancy food, that's for sure. Canned vegetables galore.

 

[Lululime]

IJ has never showed any interest in the well being of the volunteers at the tit-show-shat-o. On the contrary. I remember complaints from workawayers that did not get enough food when IJ was in charge. She does not share her daughters preference for fancy food, that's for sure. Canned vegetables galore.

Probably old habits dying hard after her care home days with the canned veg. Workaways would possibly get the same treatment as care assistants....poor.

 

[JimmyJams]

There is something that really doesn't add up to me. The Cransford purchase for starters, how were they able to purchase that huge house if they presumably only had a property in Glasgow to sell? Did they get a 95% mortgage on it? How did they pay for renovation/conversion? and staff? I can't puzzle it, one of them must have had money prior to this venture, they certainly didn't gain it working for the NHS!

 

[YoungAtHeart]

À propos of nothing at all. A quick sidebar with the wine I found today.
I didn’t buy it thinking of anything other than drinking it, but the name gave me a good snigger-snort.

Edit to apologise for the bloody thing being upside down! Aargh!

 

[ComtesseRose]

creepy davey

I can't belive, you think Davey is creepy. He is not the worst, he may be a bit introverted and shy.
Hanni on the other hand. Yikes! She gave me secondhand anxiety, not to mention about her "Single White Female"ing SJ.

 

[Clara Burnett]

And another comment ! Still not deleted (all the previous ones have now mysteriously disappeared).
REPLY

For prosperity, I made a screenshot. It's still there....

 

[ProfessorPlum]

IJ has never showed any interest in the well being of the volunteers at the tit-show-shat-o. On the contrary. I remember complaints from workawayers that did not get enough food when IJ was in charge. She does not share her daughters preference for fancy food, that's for sure. Canned vegetables galore.

That's what she puts in the buckets to give people at Christmas: canned food (CD, Christmas Eve, 2020). Props to Percy for his filming skills: Isabelle is bathed and softened in a luminous, angelic glow of light that can only be attributed to Vaseline on the lens.

 

[Lululime]

There is something that really doesn't add up to me. The Cransford purchase for starters, how were they able to purchase that huge house if they presumably only had a property in Glasgow to sell? Did they get a 95% mortgage on it? How did they pay for renovation/conversion? and staff? I can't puzzle it, one of them must have had money prior to this venture, they certainly didn't gain it working for the NHS!
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There is something that really doesn't add up to me. The Cransford purchase for starters, how were they able to purchase that huge house if they presumably only had a property in Glasgow to sell? Did they get a 95% mortgage on it? How did they pay for renovation/conversion? and staff? I can't puzzle it, one of them must have had money prior to this venture, they certainly didn't gain it working for the NHS!

Or me.... she’d have been on less than £30,000 and him probs less in the NHS at the time......

 

[oldandoverit]

Yes partly. The timeline is important because it sets the date parameters for any inspection reports. I think folks on here are interested for various reasons, as Princess has alluded to. Were they just granny farming for excess profits or did they run a decent establishment? Did they actually make lots of money out of it, and was that what enabled the purchase of the London flats and the chateau and the SA house and all the stuff Derek bought SJ etc. Does any story that gets uncovered fit with SJ's version of events?

If the inspection reports indicate that patient care was less than par, that will help to tarnish their shiny image in the eyes of many.
Here in the US if someone makes a complaint or voices concerns about a facility, an inspection will take place which is unannounced. Those unannounced inspections are the most telling, as you are catching the staff off guard.
I have no doubt they made a killing off the granny farm. Also interested to find out if they had legal guardianship of any resident.

 

[Milre]

SJ says that Isobelle was a Matron / senior Nursing Officer and someone else has said that Derek was a hospital administrator in Scotland. (Possibly Gartnavel?). They would have both had well paying jobs but enough to have afforded Cransford Hall and renovate it? Possibly. By the time they had sold the Granny Farm in Suffolk, they had certainly made enough to invest in several properties - Suffolk, London, South Africa and Lalande, plus enough disposable income for Derek to have indulged SJ's whims. I suspect that he may have also invested in or maybe financed Gerry's business in 2003. Could this have been when they sold the Granny Farm? A year later SJ bought Lalande., which may have been "her share." SJ refers in a recent vlog to "her inheritance money". Maybe they sold a house for an apartment which IJ has retained, and the addition funds used for the repairs she claims to have carried out. Derek died in 2009 so a fairly short window

I remember SJ mentioned several times that Isabelle was even Britain's youngest senior/chief nurse, so if so there might be some newspaper articles about this, too? Any official report or notification? Or even mentioned in Guinness book of records?

 

[Lululime]

If the inspection reports indicate that patient care was less than par, that will help to tarnish their shiny image in the eyes of many.
Here in the US if someone makes a complaint or voices concerns about a facility, an inspection will take place which is unannounced. Those unannounced inspections are the most telling, as you are catching the staff off guard.
I have no doubt they made a killing off the granny farm. Also interested to find out if they had legal guardianship of any resident.

I seem to remember it was 2 announced and I unannounced a year at that time plus additional unannounced if there were concerns/ complaints.

 

[JimmyJams]

Or me.... she’d have been on less than £30,000 and him probs less in the NHS at the time......

So on a combined salary of say 50K if they were offered 2.5 times salary they could have borrowed 125K. Something is not right!

 

[Jeeves]

I remember SJ mentioned several times that Isabelle was even Britain's youngest senior/chief nurse, so if so they might be some newspaper articles about this, too? Any report or notification?

I can't find anything - have checked the nursing register too but possibly as she is well past retirement age, she may not be on the register any longer. I think that she and D were both RMNs?

 

[oldandoverit]

IJ has never showed any interest in the well being of the volunteers at the tit-show-shat-o. On the contrary. I remember complaints from workawayers that did not get enough food when IJ was in charge. She does not share her daughters preference for fancy food, that's for sure. Canned vegetables galore.

I was referring to her speaking while being recorded by SJ, she once voiced concern that too much had been asked of the volunteers, something along those lines. My point is I believe in the past (granny farm) IJ has had to answer to officials about treatment of staff and patients. She may falsely believe that if she voices concern and its recorded that could help in the future against any legal issues.