The Chateau Diaries #210 PhiPhi. He's the first Real Housewife of Lalande

Status
Thread locked. We start a new thread when they have over 1000 posts, click the blue button to see all threads for this topic and find the latest open thread.
New to Tattle Life? Click "Order Thread by Most Liked Posts" button below to get an idea of what the site is about:
Full disclosure I don't watch their videos or anything else, but are all these chateau people absolutely nuts?

Chateau delaruche thought running a B&B would be easy?
I don't run a B&B and know it's not easy, it's a lot of work. I mean, who did they think was going to do the cleaning and cooking?
They don’t have a YouTube channel, they have a strong Instagram presence and a newsletter (I don’t read or subscribe, but one of the proprietors was a professional writer before B&B life so she’s leaning into her strengths).

I don’t see this reel as whining about the work, but an advertisement showing how they are good hosts. Clean bathrooms! Dinner, breakfast, brownies, drinks! Picturesque! You might think of course you have clean bathrooms, beautiful rooms and food if you run a B&B… but that’s not the case for every B&B we talk about on here. 😒
 
  • Like
  • Heart
Reactions: 27
Not that easy to sell these chateaux, as we've discussed before. It could take years, even if there isn't some specific local issue (wind farm, busy road etc, etc) to complicate things further.
Isn't that the case for any house sale no matter where you live? Location, location, location! Granted, a chateau maybe not be as easy as a 3 bed house in a sought after area. BUT, from personal experience, always a minefield no matter where, unfortunately! ;)
The buyers of my last home made a significant offer over any other prospective purchasers, only then as completion date drew nearer, wanted £20,000 off their original offer. Was never going to happen as they got an absolute bargain in any case! Turned out they were developers - says it all!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Wow
Reactions: 10
Brief off topic post: Have you heard about the programs where little kids read to cats in shelters in order to increase their reading skills and also help the cats at the same time? My friend’s 7 year old daughter has a weekly appointment at the local no kill shelter to read to cats in order to improve her reading skills.

Here is an article detailing a typical cat reading program for kids and the ways both cats and people benefit from the having stories read to the cats.Evidently many cats love having stories read to them.

View attachment 1908468

We used to have a read to dogs in libraries programme - I think the odd Librarian still does it if they have a calm, sleepy dog to take. FABULOUS idea - whatever animal you choose. Maybe not squirrels...........or hedgehogs.
 
  • Haha
  • Like
  • Heart
Reactions: 9
Came home early from work started watching this and dozed off-seriously. Th curtains are hideous-all the soft furnishing so matchy matchy no textures or contrast or making it look evolved . The scale of pelmet all wrong as are the grey/taupe walls with fabric- all the scale is off with the prints too. So twee and tacky with the hideous chairs looks like a care home. Curtains unlined and tacky bed ewww I feel my eyes may not recover. Even the furniture layout is so wrong. Oh well they try
It would be curious to see what sort of house they left behind. We have seen their two leather chairs. The only indication of their style there.
They have no sense of what goes together at all . I cannot see them staying in France . Was it Steve’s dream and is now Sarah’s. He does not look that happy and I think they are lonely and maybe finances are stretched with no real income . They probably imagined their workshops would be a roaring success and his drawing by numbers graphic design would be appreciated.Another couple duped by Fanny. They thought they would find friends have endless parties. The house does not make it a home…..

---

S

Several of my camelias have been flowering since Christmas, where they are sheltered. My mum's are too. We are on the coast
Mine are out on the south coast uk. The Williamsii group of camellia are very hardy. ( many initially collected by our family from Caerhays castle in Cornwall….) Cornish snow is a favourite of mine. not out now! Small delicate white flowers…..
Japonica group are less hardy and flower later.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 12
Came home early from work started watching this and dozed off-seriously. Th curtains are hideous-all the soft furnishing so matchy matchy no textures or contrast or making it look evolved . The scale of pelmet all wrong as are the grey/taupe walls with fabric- all the scale is off with the prints too. So twee and tacky with the hideous chairs looks like a care home. Curtains unlined and tacky bed ewww I feel my eyes may not recover. Even the furniture layout is so wrong. Oh well they try
Shrek and the Sewer are to decorating as Saint Kathy is to painting! 😂 😂 😂

D7D2B000-DD09-44BA-83F2-77B1DD0F293A.jpeg
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: 13
Back in the late 70's and early 80's when my husband and I started holidaying in France together we used to stop in what we called French France hotels en route to our destination. They were indeed la France France profonde. There were no ensuite bathrooms or private toilets. Depending on the size of the hotel there would be one toilet per floor or two floors and a bathroom for all! The toilet was generally a hideous black hole of a pokey cupboard with no windows, no wash hand basin and a light that was on a timer with the switch situated outside! But I digress. The main point of this post was the decor of the bedroom. The wallpapers nearly always seemed to be in shades of brown and orange. And they weren't just on the wall. The ceiling would be papered with the same paper as would panels of the doors, wardrobes and bed head. And, of course, the disgusting toning nylon carpet. Those hotels have virtually disappeared and been replaced by faceless chain hotels with no character situated at every motorway exit. I do still feel nostalgic for those little hotels. There was always an excellent evening meal and copious breakfast and they were nearly always in little villages or town centres that begged to be explored and are now just passed by.
My family say ’French France’ too. My nephew has been to Normandy and Paris but says he prefers where I live better as it’s ‘French France’ out in the sticks with wonderful neighbours and a real community. Of course it could be that they fed him red wine at the age of 15…
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: 18
What exactly has Amaury been doing during the past months - apart from moving his workshop and digging trenches for the electricity to the, FFS, courtyard fairy lights? :unsure:
Official plant waterer especially when there are restrictions in force.
I knew a boy named Cockayne and girls named Tequila Sunrise and Tia Maria.
One of my daughters had 2 girls both named Unique in her class a couple of years ago.
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: 8
Beautiful chateau not the most bubbly personality, I only watched a bit as her talking in monotone in black and white put me to sleep. Not sure she is thick skinned enough to be making her life public
She needs to sort out the volume between music and narration.. my volume control was up n down like a fiddlers elbow.... I'd love to hear her thoughts on the chateau you tubers she's watched... especially CD's...maybe she will become more comfortable in front of the camera the more she produces as I think she is going to struggle..
 
  • Like
Reactions: 12
It is completely beyond me why, now that she has the money (and clearly should have done this when she first went to buy the chateau) is to pay for a full and extensive structural survey of the WHOLE property. not just the bit she wants to renovate now. That is what Dick Strawbridge and any other responsible purchaser does first. From that, a professional can be engaged to draw up a schedule of works clearly showing the best and most cost effective order in which these things should be tackled. The piecemeal approach - SJ saying the first thing she must do is buy furniture - is indicative of her "no idea" approach. Her scattergun approach is insane and costly. However, clearly viewers do not mind that she needs tens of thousands of pounds spent on structural remedies, and decides instead to award these to her CUZ so that every penny stays in the family. I am beginning to think her patrons like to see her waste money in the name of being entertained. For while we sit here complaining about her, she is gaining more patrons, gaining more monthly income, being given more opportunities for self exposure and thousands, if not tens of thousands of gifts which are never shown on the gift grab, nor, I bet, disclosed to the tax man. The chocolates she was sent at Christmas (which she did show) alone were worth hundreds of pounds, Imagine all the clothes, champagne, spirits, perfumes, make up, luxury food hampers, linens, etc she is sent. It beggars belief.
[/
It is completely beyond me why, now that she has the money (and clearly should have done this when she first went to buy the chateau) is to pay for a full and extensive structural survey of the WHOLE property. not just the bit she wants to renovate now. That is what Dick Strawbridge and any other responsible purchaser does first. From that, a professional can be engaged to draw up a schedule of works clearly showing the best and most cost effective order in which these things should be tackled. The piecemeal approach - SJ saying the first thing she must do is buy furniture - is indicative of her "no idea" approach. Her scattergun approach is insane and costly. However, clearly viewers do not mind that she needs tens of thousands of pounds spent on structural remedies, and decides instead to award these to her CUZ so that every penny stays in the family. I am beginning to think her patrons like to see her waste money in the name of being entertained. For while we sit here complaining about her, she is gaining more patrons, gaining more monthly income, being given more opportunities for self exposure and thousands, if not tens of thousands of gifts which are never shown on the gift grab, nor, I bet, disclosed to the tax man. The chocolates she was sent at Christmas (which she did show) alone were worth hundreds of pounds, Imagine all the clothes, champagne, spirits, perfumes, make up, luxury food hampers, linens, etc she is sent. It beggars belief.
wait until she travels to Dubai with Gerry. Will the sultana meet her and lavish her with endless gifts?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6
People have commented here about Dan's scrawny appearance. To me, he has the look of a long-term smoker of weed. Remember the guilty looks when Fanny went into Amaury's workshop and the two of them and Sabine seemed to be hiding something they were smoking? The recent trip to Morocco? Probably bought some supplies there to bring back to France for smoking. Not to mention the VW van, hippy wrist bands, cravings for McD...
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: 19
Status
Thread locked. We start a new thread when they have over 1000 posts, click the blue button to see all threads for this topic and find the latest open thread.