Here is Part 1 of a post on chateau unhinged from a B and B guest who posted their experience at the Dump when Amaury just arrived at the Dump. This was posted less than 24 hours ago.
OPā¢
1 day agoā¢Edited 21 hr. ago
āThere are two images above, this is one thread reply:
I went over 2 years ago. I had never been to Paris, and my partner wanted me to see it. He knew I watched the vlog, still watches it with me sometimes. He planned the Paris days, I planned the Crozon-sur Vauvre days from my knowledge from the vlog locations, and we co-planned a stop in Bourge/the way back through Orlean.
When I went, it was when Selmar was just back with Tati for the first time, bringing her to Lalande. There's footage on his channel, he gave us all a dance class that was hilarious bc nobody could dance. Yeah, Tati was as odd in person as she is on film.
It
was also the month Dan moved in, and guess what - my partner loved Dan and his new channel at the time, and kept wondering why Dan's green van was parked at the chateau early hours every day of our stay (we could see the parking area from our room), but on the dailies we'd see he kept filming it like he drove into Lalande each day anew for work. When he announced in March he'd been living at Lalande for 6 months, it ALL made sense why he was there so many late nights during our stay/why his van was always there in the morning. Cat was there, we told her how likable she was on the vlog and she was just as likable in person.
It was also the week Amaury and Nati met. We were NOT surprised AT ALL when it was announced in December that they were together, it was obvious it was going down mostly because they'd matched so well in a place like that.
Nati confessed at a dinner she'd been driven to seek a therapist bc of how hard her job weighed on her mind - when the whole Selmar slamming her thing happened the March after, I suddenly understood. Stephanie put WAY too much on her 24 hours a day running her building, business, and construction project management. Selmar blamed Nati but the blame falls on the owner here. When I was around Nati, I felt like she thought my partner and I were some of the only other normal people in the whole building of chateau fans. There was also a really cool older Scandinavian lady there.
A retired news anchor from I think CNN was also there during our stay, with her daughter, she was very LA, she did Selmar's head in. The daughter was cool, didn't watch the vlog. Another really cool English couple was there, the husband didn't watch the vlog, but I've spotted them at 2 dinners on the vlog since so they pop through obviously. We meant to keep in touch with them. It was also when the Downton Abbey glasses designer lady was there. Great designs, great lady, we got to try them all on. She had them out to show us other guests at breakfast.
A good amount of guests were really cool types that could share a conversation/were chill/there for the fun. Some,
not all, of the older ladies were very "Single White Female" in vibe, like kicked dogs off the street needing to be healed by Stephanie's accepting glow. Wendy Grimwood was there for the first time, not as a volunteer, as a paid guest. And at any gathering, while others were chatting about all sorts, she'd ONLY talk ALL about Stephanie Stephanie OR all about herself, her apartment, and her son. And she was very sweet, so I would just sit there while she talked AT me for LONG lengths, be lucky if she asked me half a question. I made my partner start interrupting/saving me after a couple days of that. It's a shock how seemingly quiet she is on the vlog as a volunteer. There was another odd lady there, stayed much longer, she's on the vlog.
Most of the private areas are off limits, Nati did the main "guest relations", makes the private & public areas very clear from minute one. Like anything past the red room, anything not the fortified wing/BnB area/the grounds, it's for the privacy of the inhabitants.
But some of the thicker guests "don't get it" - Wendy was so surprised one breakfast that the Lalanders had been very shocked she showed up in their kitchen bc she sees the kitchen so much on the vlog. I slowly explained to her it's a working BnB kitchen, it's a business, not just the vlog. Nati made it clear where we were allowed to go and not, the first 10 min there, on a small tour. My explanation seemed like a mystery to Wendy. I specifically made sure I did NOT bother the inhabitants much while they were working or otherwise throughout the day, or like "search them out" in their areas, bc it was clear there was a few guests that really thought they were there IN the vlog and glommed onto them whenever possible. I think it affects the mental health of the inhabitants, I'm not surprised Amaury and Nati moved away.
Yeah, I could go on, it was a trip. We spent most days doing field trips in the area, very pretty. Only place we didn't hit was Aigurande, the goat cheese guy's restaurant, and the swamp village in Bourge farther away (surprised SJ hasn't vlogged that).
When Stephanie warned Amaury on vlog a couple months later not to get his head done in by La La Land while she was away on a trip, it just clicked. I left Lalande feeling like the vlog was a machine and the BnB was a set to run the machine. We'd got SJ & Gerry a gift, she opened it like a little girl bot who's opened a million presents, none of what she lengthens out on the Cadeaux channel. Just quickly conferred with the stooges on either side of her for 2 secs and moved on. I IMMEDIATELY wished we hadn't played into the whole gift grab thing. I didn't even watch the vlog after for over a month, but the feeling faded and the escapism set back in.ā
VIP lounge tomorrow night then 
leave the empties by the back door, the bin men will be round to collect them 
