The Chateau Diaries #4 Jarvis in Jeopardy

[Pno]

I like Cat. I agree completely with her summary of the movement of the junk. Nothing EVER seems to leave the chateau! We watch the stables being cleaned and organised, then a few months later it looks like a dumping ground again. The laundry room quickly reverted to its original state post Tomaz. I’m far from a minimalist myself but even I look at some of the rooms and corridors and think what a load of junk! I bet when everyone’s gone to bed SJ is down by that pile of stuff destined for Emmaus, picking through the ‘treasures’ and putting them in another room.

Im relieved that SJ wasn’t left alone to walk back to the chateau at dusk....

I remember pre-Covid Isabel and Percy taking loads to the dump. And as much as Princess Philip gets on my last nerve he is a gentleman. But seriously can’t eat citrus or dairy? What a nightmare to be on lockdown with.

 

[C’est la vie]

@Pno Ah but who’s to say that the dump staff don’t take the ‘good stuff’ to Emmaus.....and the cycle starts again!
I think dairy might be Mandys allergy but P definitely has more than citrus. Nuts as well. At least with him you know he’ll never polish off the chocolate stash!

 

[ChrissyNH]

Fiona! She was amazing!

(First time posting here -am so glad I've found similarly obsessed people. Who aren't mad...)
Ok I have a question - who was David at Lalande? Was he a friend or a work away. There is no way he was an ex lover.

Welcome @Zebraaah ! Isn’t it great to find a group of fellow cynics and dare I say it, slightly nosy parkers ?! There was a landscape architect called Davy quite recently? Do you mean him? I think he was Dutch or Belgian but not sure. He was a volunteer I think.

Ah wait! Others have identified a David. Hard to keep up on here!

 

[frenchessence]

She is coming across increasingly childlike recently..... with all her "ooh flowers" schtick acting like she's never seen one before, like that time recently she made them stop the car so she could photograph flowers at the side of the road which were completely underwhelming and went on for far too long, and honestly her childlike wonderment on that walk was like she had just arrived on Earth from Mars.

It used to be endearing but sitting there clutching 6 straggly weeds and a mushroom and refusing to put them down to drink her champagne was a bit silly

Can't work out if she is genuinely obsessed with every single leaf and twig she catches sight of, or if its a bit faux "flower hippie" for her brand

Very, very funny ... I thought the same ‘ooo flowers’ Cue the baby voice You are exactly right, it was as though she’d never seen a bloom before. It was ridiculous to walk along with a wilting blade of grass and slimy old fungi and not put them down to sip her drink, it was more infuriating than a toddler who won’t be prised from his ‘blankey’ . No wonder Cat gave her the side-eye. I feel mean to say this but I must be truthful, her flower arrangements are simply dire. In fact most of the time they aren’t even arranged , simply shoved in a milk bottle (ready for LOTL to be effusive over) The other night SJ fawned over ‘Marie’s incredibly pretty table’ and we saw the camera pan over a few untidy bits in vases & some knives and forks on the table. About as basic as you can get. I’ve worked as a florist and if Marie were in my shop I’m sorry to say I’d either be training her up or more likely looking for new staff.

As Heathcliff mentioned, Cat is throwing Marie some fairly dodgy glances, which really amuses me. I think Cat is THE most authentic person in the chateau and I really like her.

Marie definitely seems cheerier without Hanni in the chateau though much of her new found smiliness doesnt quite come off as before. It seems a bit forced. I’m glad Marie is still doing a lot of cooking. She shouldn’t give up her culinary skills for full time florals imo ! Just saying ......

I don’t mind Stephanie‘s laying in and working in bed at all. Does it look spoiled? Sure, but that is exactly the character she shows us. The reasonable rich, Chateau owning, only having a business to not go completely broke but making sure her private money covers her lifestyle first, fun, very into culture and arts bon vivant. I would say she tries to emulate the life of the poor gentry gentleman. Having an estate, still keeping up the lifestyle in parts, but struggling to keeping the estate afloat, no official employment (a gentleman doesn’t work) but savvy enough to create schemes that bring in money. The B&B to pay for the Chateau (not herself) run more as private fun than real hard commitment (too many holidays for her to be there all the time), work aways and volunteers because she feels lonely instead of making the B&B running and renovations the important part. Her having a lie in every morning, while staying up very late fits this pattern. It’s a mix between lady of the house and socialite with long entertaining evenings. Parading around in expensive beautiful morning gowns just showcase this more. It’s the perfect modern translation of the Downtown Abbey vibe.
Apart from that- answering mails and editing can be perfectly done in bed, on a sofa, in the car, on a desk. I don’t think she is a person that lacks the energy or the work motivation when not getting dressed in the morning or leaving her bedroom. Not everyone needs that. She produces a ton of footage and has only increased her output. Staying on top of the mails was never her strongest suit, she admitted as much, but she does ok and she employs Natti. I doubt she would describe herself as a self employed Youtuber. I don’t even think she would describe her B&B venture as her job in that sense. It doesn’t fit the narrative for her to hold down a serious job. It more fun than anything else. The B&B was only there to help the Chateau. Never to fund her own life- so basically she doesn’t work to earn her living.
I will say, I love that narrative. It really emulates modern British gentry and their quirks. She ticks many boxes but little things give it away. For example PRO: she is not vain (at least on the surface), educated, interested, not picky in regards to food ingredients but quality, travel, international group of friends, doesn’t NEED to work, no problem in getting her finger dirty, values family heirlooms and things with a history, good at entertaining and I imagine very easy to talk to- but being a true confidant you are not CONTRA she doesn’t put as much importance on quality (especially in terms of interior) anymore, showing off those gift excesses, but most importantly she doesn’t care for the Chateau itself and the land enough. Bad renovations, not tackling important (but not glamorous) structural renovations, not enough interest in the outdoor areas. With her fan base she could market the Chateau highly successfully. Produce from the garden (cider, chutney, jam), cookbook, postcards, prints from old drawings or old maps/structural maps, after COVID- organising exhibitions, those country fairs...
It’s a very charming existence.
Only problem- No idea how much of that is real for her whole life or if we actually only see a small snippet of her reality.

Superb bit of writing and I think you have analysed her lifestyle brilliantly. Spot on. SJ is Downtime Abbey Lite ! I especially agree with your comments about running the chateau. To seemingly not care, or rather prioritise, for the very bones of it, seems foolhardy. F’rinstance, I understand the romance of the restoring the lake but surely repairing the crumbling tower ceiling and the rendering of outside walls is vital work. Or even installing some effective back-up heating would be understandable. Yet she wants to splurge the Patreon funds (I’m not a Patreon btw) on wooden panelling (seriously ?) or create a Platform Française - painted ceiling in the Grand Salon, a room which already looks charming, well, it leaves me incredulous. If the Patreon funds dry up, which surely over time they will, she may regret not using them a little more wisely. Then again, I have a feeling that Stephanie Jarvis’s rather glamorous bohemian lifestyle will never really run out of money. There will always be someone, somewhere willing to step-up and support a pretty, charismatic chatelaine in distress

 

[peony89]

I also found Marie pretty annoying in the Georgian food vlog. The splitting the table in half 'joke' is wearing thin and her attitude was bordering on rude. The chef's cooking was creating content for a whole vlog, who knows how much £££ that creates in terms of ad revenue?

I think SJ is sometimes too relaxed and the extra characters forget it's her house! And equally if they're using the kitchen to film, then surely the dished produced can be used for dinner with some cheese and crackers or something. No need for lots of petulant sulking.

 

[MojoDublin]

I think a Donegal Ditty embroidered onto a Peacock theme toile toilet roll holder? Something in the style of this. I can picture it now, all us Tattlers snarking and sewing the dark evenings away...

View attachment 314865

Kudos .... just EPIC

Kats the only voice of reason with all that clutter - hardly princess behaviour! She's not sucking up to SJ like little P all the time, he doesn't seem to do anything except play with fabrics now and again. Kat's actually getting properly stuck in and getting things done on her own.

He of the land with flaring nostrils

Only works when cameras
Are rolling

Rest of time he’s camera bombing every available opportunity-
Truly deeply sickened by pp

 

[NotAChatelaine]

Very, very funny ... I thought the same ‘ooo flowers’ Cue the baby voice You are exactly right, it was as though she’d never seen a bloom before. It was ridiculous to walk along with a wilting blade of grass and slimy old fungi and not put them down to sip her drink, it was more infuriating than a toddler who won’t be prised from his ‘blankey’ . No wonder Cat gave her the side-eye. I feel mean to say this but I must be truthful, her flower arrangements are simply dire. In fact most of the time they aren’t even arranged , simply shoved in a milk bottle (ready for LOTL to be effusive over) The other night SJ fawned over ‘Marie’s incredibly pretty table’ and we saw the camera pan over a few untidy bits in vases & some knives and forks on the table. About as basic as you can get. I’ve worked as a florist and if Marie were in my shop I’m sorry to say I’d either be training her up or more likely looking for new staff.

As Heathcliff mentioned, Cat is throwing Marie some fairly dodgy glances, which really amuses me. I think Cat is THE most authentic person in the chateau and I really like her.

Marie definitely seems cheerier without Hanni in the chateau though much of her new found smiliness doesnt quite come off as before. It seems a bit forced. I’m glad Marie is still doing a lot of cooking. She shouldn’t give up her culinary skills for full time florals imo ! Just saying ......

The bit-what-I've-put-in-bold is what really gets me. I'm not a professional florist but have done lots of paid-for "commissions" for big parties, weddings, dinner parties, etc and Marie's offerings are, frankly, pitiful. I know she does flowers in her Patreon videos and maybe they're rather more inspiring. using the lovely (expensive) things she has delivered from the wholesale chappy. Goodness knows what happens to those arrangements afterwards. What we see in CD are leftovers-and-random-hedgerow-bits-shoved-into-a-jam-jar which sends Stephanie into a delirum of wonder. What we see isn't an awfully good advert for Marie's floristry skills IF she wants to makes a career out of it...which I think is her intention.

I realise she's not employed as the Lalande in-house florist but, even so, if I were her I'd use the opportunity to my advantage (in the nicest possible way, natch!) and plonk a large and beautiful arrangement, filled with delphiniums, lilies, etc, etc, in the grand salon - a bit of product placement, if you like!

 

[arwensgal1975]

Cat is lovely, Marie is getting rather annoying and the childlike persona is going to wear thin after awhile. Her arrangements are ok but nothing to gush over. And Stephanie is a hoarder, the junk just keeps moving from one room to the next.

 

[lolander]

I realise she's not employed as the Lalande in-house florist but, even so, if I were her I'd use the opportunity to my advantage (in the nicest possible way, natch!) and plonk a large and beautiful arrangement, filled with delphiniums, lilies, etc, etc, in the grand salon - a bit of product placement, if you like!

That's what she's doing all her Patreon arrangements end up in the chateau after she's done filming. As product placement.

Her goal (from Patreon): "One day I hope to run my own home as a wedding and event venue (preferably in France) where I would like to host workshops, reatreats as well as weddings." She wants to become SJ rev.1

 

[Viva La Loca]

I wondered about David too, think he is an old friend of Nick or Ollie .

He is. SJ said it at one point.

Fiona! She was amazing!

Fiona! Thank you She was great. I would happily give her a hand with her renovation

 

[lolander]

Only problem- No idea how much of that is real for her whole life or if we actually only see a small snippet of her reality.

CD and LOTL are brands. She needs to carefully think what fits into her brand and what kind of message she's sending. She's not lying, but we see a "curated" view.

 

[Viva La Loca]

Last night's vlog set me off on a train of thought as to why Stephanie bought a house with so much land and deep in rural France, when she takes no interest in either. The surrounding landscape is stunning, and she owns a beautiful wood and stream but rarely goes out to enjoy either. Until recently the garden was abandoned and she has to be dragged out on a walk. I get her lifelong desire to own a chateau, but surely one with a smaller garden and closer to urban delights would have been a more logical choice and possibly not that different in price? She's a city girl at heart. Just musing aloud....

My impression of the situation is that they thought they would renovate and sell within a few years and move onto another. I should imagine her fathers illness put a spanner in the works as she said he was in a medically difficult situation for over a year and he was more than likely in hospital in the UK. Then she was there on her own dealing with the loss of her father and a huge crumbling pile. Don't blame her for going back to the UK once a month. Loneliness is not fun when you never intended to live fulltime in such a rural isolated area.

I remember pre-Covid Isabel and Percy taking loads to the dump. And as much as Princess Philip gets on my last nerve he is a gentleman. But seriously can’t eat citrus or dairy? What a nightmare to be on lockdown with.

One less person to snaffle the much loved cheese and there will always be milk left for a cuppa

 

[Heathcliffe]

I hope they film it! Seriously though, and I am sincere on this, I am a bit concerned re stalkers or misunderstood nice generalisms SJ says like "looking forward to seeing you here". Yesterday in Melbourne Australia a girl was killed by her stalker. What triggered his obsession with her was her kindness to him one time, just once. Sorry to be morose it really worries me. PP is not going to be any help.

You are very right , sadly. My wife (before we met, it wasn't me!) had a stalker, and that got very serious and still to this day is something she will never forget. People who are in the public eye can attract nutters easily. They create scenarious in their heads, and when it does not unfold the way they thought it would, they can flip. I would guess women more often than men attract stalkers, though of course (as we all know here) there are some female hatters as well, and one unhinged behaviour often leads to another (some people think flashing is harmless, but it is often the start of things that can lead up to rape, it is all about taking control). As Stephanie's fame grows, she will learn the hard way that you have to be careful in trusting strangers, I am sure this will be something Nic and Michael P will discuss with her. Sorry, getting quite serious here So anyway, over to something NOT so serious, - Marie's weird "oooh a flower! a mushroom!" behaviour. It might also just be a bit attention seeking? She does tend to get stuck in the kitchen, her milkbottle business is not really taking off, and Stephanie is really giving more attention to her toy poodle Phillip and the sexy secretary Nattie...and anyone else showing up. She is not the "it" girl anymore, so she is trying to grab some attention and limelight by stopping them, making them look at her. Just a thought. Or she is just a mad hippie.

 

[Viva La Loca]

Hello! Yes, lycra/dressing gown David that's the one. Obsessed with toblerone. Seemed sad.

Her one is called Château du Masgelier. Her fb doesn't really say what she's up to -i guess restoration is ongoing.

I saw it for sale this time last year on a French property website. As to whether it has sold I have no idea.

 

[lolander]

LOTL is not selling the house. Why bother to establish a non-profit for the house? If she would plan to sell, she would concentrate to solve the expensive structural problems, double-glaze all windows, repair the heating... and leave the decorating to the new owners. I can see Nic and Michael leaving in near future, B&B will be always fully booked by fans and they'll loose their privacy, the house will no longer be a private family retreat.

 

[Yorkshire Terrier]

I think the point being made here is that Stephanie has never known what is a hierarchy (and I'm not speaking of Mummy and Daddy), colleagues (and not a Gerry or a bunch of often very young volunteers), strict working hours (not speaking of lying in bed until noon for your work either) and real goals (not making money to restore your dream rural chateau).
Nobody said that Stephanie was lazy. Just living in... La La Land and thinking that life can be hard (for the others).
We like Chateau Diaries videos. But we have to be lucid too

Exactly this. I didn’t say she was lazy and I did not denigrate her work - but she’s not part of the rat race - commuting - worrying about her job - etc. She does work hard but she chooses her own hours and ‘staff’ and on the face of it enjoys a decent social life too. Good for her - the point I was trying to make (poorly) was that she is fortunate in having choices and that lifestyle isnt the norm for most of us.

 

[66carola]

LOTL is not selling the house. Why bother to establish a non-profit for the house? If she would plan to sell, she would concentrate to solve the expensive structural problems, double-glaze all windows, repair the heating... and leave the decorating to the new owners. I can see Nic and Michael leaving in near future, B&B will be always fully booked by fans and they'll loose their privacy, the house will no longer be a private family retreat.

Makes also sense, we will see, but till then let's have fun

 

[lolander]

Now this is the biggest indication that my mate Brenda is just in it for herself! Quelle surprise!

Sherrie gave a kiss of death to BG's fanpage. It's only to promote her business and trips to the chateaux. She's a business partner, nothing more, if you're not interested in services she provides, there's no reason to hang around there.

 

[MojoDublin]

It’s official

Last nights vlog highlight - sunset
Clarity was found

T.pp
I’ve a permanent allergic reaction to
His nostrils
His prancing
His snorting behind camera to assure us all he’s still there

Marie
needs to realize she’s not a mythical figure
Neolithic man could distinguish weeds
And not stinging themselfs
And she’s not a nymph sipping Champers with her wedding bouquet

Kat
Reigns supreme

Nati
Has a sting in her smile and a glance you’d cease all activities at forty paces .....
Jury’s out on her

New girl
Well I found I was distracted by the VERY knowledgeable PP refusing to get out of shot for her premier introduction - trotted little bug

LOTL still buzzing ...... gotta adore that

Hello to all new members

 

[66carola]

Oh no, just saw latest patreon video. I really never ever wanna see Selmar dance tango again. Does he only know these one move? And to top it he danced with PP... They seem to have only one playlist to dance to. Can't wait to see what you guys think about it but Ruth was in a good mood! Though She gave up on getting dressed near Stéphanie I believe.
And does SJ have some inflammation near the eye? First signs of stress?