I'M EVICTED FROM THE CHATEAU!

[Music] hi i'm stephanie and this is my home the 16th century chateau de la land la land was owned for hundreds of years by a family of marquis who were at the heart of french royal life one of them even had the honor of being sent by king louis xv to greet marie antoinette on her arrival in france but far from being a stuffy museum this chateau is a living home i live here all the time and i'm regularly joined by my mother my family my friends and wonderful volunteers from all over the world who helped me to lovingly restore this historic home welcome to la land a chateau filled with life love and laughter good morning i have snuck down no one is around because they don't like me going around filming but it's too exciting i know ian's here and dan's here and i'd be going out to see what they're doing anyway i don't think it makes any difference if i'm filming oh i like this sound this sounds when something exciting is happening but what well good morning good morning how are you hello ian hello and hello the other ian well things are really moving in here yes that's looking really good isn't it yes oh i'm amazed at how much has been done since i was last in here here's the footage from my last visit well it sounds as though very exciting things are happening over here but what what is going on hello hello hello hello what is happening in harrion we're making a whole little that looks like a fun thing to be doing yes well this is for the new plumbing system yes all these pipes up here yes and through there out there into the septic tank best place for them absolutely yes fantastic and how are things going next door well can we have a look oh i've been there for a few minutes oh you sure i'm not disturbing you too much no no i'm sure everyone's going to want an update i can hear stuff going on in there as well well that's running everywhere today insulation hello hello hello hello wow that's going quickly isn't it it's coming a little nice yes look at all that delicious luscious insulation in there that does look fluffy and good it is ideal i have been told by the kitchen that you have got all of the jaffa cakes [Laughter] as of today [Laughter] this is fantastic i love seeing this happening mommy's going to be so happy that's going to make such a difference such a difference do you want to give your hand up i really feel that everything is coming together wow this looks great absolutely fantastic all in the preparation isn't it the room of doom let's go look at the room of doom oh it's gorgeous oh thank you all right well i'm following you to the room here yes i think john is just taking another photo trailer oh jean-marie is digging out well that is amazing this is the second time that we've had a digger in the house uh but luckily this feels less intrusive than it did in the grand salon i've seen the pictures of that yeah we have found oh you've got john marie treasure it's metal but it's not as you wish um where it comes out from underground yes this is absolutely rotten it's kind of ready to go it's so rusty you can't turn this off as you know do i know that yeah there was a problem when we had we had the big pipe yes close that down fully well of course this is fed for a bit on a smaller pipe but johnny says he's more than happy he's got the tools to get in here and actually thread this even while the water's coming through it oh he can he says yes this can all stay what he'll do is he'll replace this section here and then we'll protect it before we but we don't need it in here because it's not town water is it no but i use it for the garden don't they this is the outside tower oh that is the actual outside app it comes up through the inside if you can get your camera yes i'm trying to work out why we would need that in the apartment but what a draft yes that's incredible there's a great big conduit going out under the the driveway so we're heading off oh there's an extraordinary draft coming from okay so so we really need to keep this because we want that but this will they obviously will go into an insulated wall anyway yes so we'll just put uh an access point on there because this works fine okay it's this bit here that's a problem okay great and that's this hole does seem to travel through yes for what reason we have but it may be the same phillips found all the old plans for this section from the 19th century so i'm sure he can get those out later and you can have a look and see if anything is explained on that that would be really good yeah does it show the old and new um no it only shows the new we have a definite difference in floor level here which we're going to have to rethink because of the insulation we need the right level of insulation we're not going to get yeah and what has happened here you're on bedrock wow massive tried to do it's only a little digging can't get bigger in here um so we'll just have to evaluate the levels and uh so we either do one level all the way through or we could do two levels one for good we could do a sprint level um until we've dragged all of this out yeah and we know what's going on well if i'll give you an example we've just cut this little stick here which is the one that's just yeah well we seem to be having that problem in a lot of rooms here at the moment what we'll do with that split level all the chinese where the chinese like wow look at the amount coming out i know it's endless the nice thing about is it's the ground outside is so high yeah so it'd be nice to get towards it much better for the windows maybe the last third of the building which is about where you are now anyway if we could make it a bit bigger than that say from the doorway yeah what literally split move it split the room in half because then i think that that side could be a bedroom like lens a sitting area like leading out because it's so pretty and this side could be office area because i haven't told any of you what we're planning this room for and that's because i hadn't told its future recipient um and i've now checked with nattie because i was planning all along that this would be a really nice space for the manager of the chateau because natty really needs to be able to have her own apartment where she can get away from it all and try and relax as well because she's a bit of a workaholic and she just doesn't stop and somehow this feels a little bit more isolated and self-contained but then she can split it in between an office at this side with the double doors so she could see all of the deliveries everyone arriving immediately on that side and then if this side is completely separate from that she has her a private apartment going straight onto the chapel in the garden and then also she's on the back pitching corridor and get to everybody very quickly so i think it's a really good place for that it's a really she's really excited about it what we'll do is we'll work out jerry's yes apartment first because the drainage is as much the plumbing to feed everything it's going to be the drain to take it away i kind of had it in my head that maybe we would have kitchen one side kitty's face one side bathroom space i think it's a bit of a pity because that's going to be the nicest wall with all the lights that's the thing are we going to pull out yeah big set of doors um it's just to run under the water if we step down here yeah i'm going to bring everything up to go out there it's still gonna fall we'll do a drawing and then we'll come up with a plan before we go yeah yeah well it's going very well my little stealth attack on filming because no one's tried to stage an intervention yet so i'm going to carry on and go and see if i can see dan and kirsty in the garden they must be working in a different area today i can see thor looking just splendid i can see catwoman over with maggie smith but there's no dan or kirsty so i'm not going to wander around in the cold i'm going to have a quick look at thor and then i'll go back in i can come out to see everyone later i was just looking for you in the vegetable garden uh we changed spots look at that you're like the scarlet pimpernel oh my goodness all of the hyacinths are coming up yeah they're looking good yes these were a gift weren't they yeah um how lovely lovely day for it yeah really bitterly cold yeah so this is all looking better isn't it so much better well my mother's gonna be so pleased well as you've clearly got the situation very well under control i think i'm going to go in see you later oh have you got the gas bottle for your new flame thrower yet i haven't been got one yet no i'm so excited to see that you'll know today is a very exciting day at le land because i have an appointment with the architect i want to finally talk about the facade of the chateau and also many of you have pointed out that when we arrive at the chateau on the right hand side there's a missing window and why is that the case so i also want to talk to her about putting windows back where they're missing so huge day today actually i'm going to run down and see her now [Music] [Music] [Music] including the balcony over the entrance hall and the second is of course the idea of a balcony that is going to link these three rooms the third thing that i want to talk about all right um extreme window checking do try not to fall out yeah uh no actually not no it's here so it's about there that's five centimeters that's it now well ten centimeters this side because you can see the original hinges for the um for the shutters the original hinges on the other side and that's oh that's way way more way better um 40 centimeters oh we're lucky good uh yeah i was worried there for a minute that we couldn't put it back because it would fall in the wall space but i think it's good well done we need to drill behind the painting yeah and see what we find these are all the things that she's found in the local archives and it's it's really wonderful look you can see it's a totally different shape the building there's this little tiny bit that came out in the middle and a much much larger wing on this side with the motor all the way along and the whole dry moat which we thought was a dry moat was in water [Music] recently before the fire before the fire so this is wonderful this is what shuttled la land used to look like this was the shape of the chateau it was far bigger in fact because at the moment the buildings come to about here on this wing and they went all the way to the moat and the moat carried on beyond them these are presumably the two towers that we know were by the lake and it seems as though there was a third one that linked to it with a wall looks nice it looks lovely well i'll be reading all of this um and then finding out exactly what they say about it [Music] so philip has become our master of plans he's been pouring over these obsessively so he's showing the architect exactly what we have is she's wanting to know just how much we have of the dimensions so these are the and she's offering us to use her scanner at the architect's office so that we can get copies of all of these yeah catalin is saying something that i think was beyond even my very large dreaming which was should we consider putting the moat back on the earth on either side yeah which is a really really exciting thought and uh something for the future but i think this is something we could start thinking about in the future or we could do it as a sort of um a mirage of water by doing blue plants where there would have been the most right i'd like that so both both are possible [Music] so we're brainstorming at the moment and that idea was the possibility of using a mirror to give the illusion of a moat by reflecting the sky which i think is a brilliant idea as well so we've got either that very contemporary route that we could go down to do it or the putting back of the actual moat or doing it through gardening so there's quite a lot of options and things for us to look at right now [Applause] who has agreed to come and help us with his mini so this is the system very good system the trailer fits in the tractor doesn't so they push it in by hand and then fill that from the mini digger and then pull it back out again the tractor and then the tractor takes the soil off and away i love how the ceiling is coming on good it's really getting so nice now it just feels so much cleaner in here doesn't it yeah yes i mean it'll be great when it's white as well but it really feels good across the corner yeah on the far side where the toba cupboard is yes and then all the way along this side then there's a top cover triangular yeah and then we're going to we're going to take a an angle all the way across that back wall so that i cover all the pipe work in but i'm going to put some hatches in there so that we can get to the inspection points rather than just going flat it's going above still there are 12 valley coming at an angle like this any colors because you can see the angle of the pipes welcoming a great big boxing cross what do you think i thought i'd come in at like 45 degrees i think that's prettier than having a box i thought it was more attractive you don't you don't looks more like a barn then i feel it's a bit modern as opposed to a box which yeah it's a shame because it's only really this one that's stopping it from being a quite tidy box yeah if a bit of wood could have carried on like the top of that box along there and you know with it up to it as it could go there that would look quite nice and then we just need a little bit around that one pipe okay you could do that too i think that might be that might be better than what yeah because then it would look as though that bit was original i think we had a bit of wood carrying on like that yeah then i think that that would be better all right let's go for that good decision mate that's what we like to see making decisions getting things done i'm going to make some little hatches because right at the end there again above the corner cupboard there's four rodding eyes up there so oh we do need to get to the rodding irons oh you never know what a bit of rodding's required absolutely never okay lovely leave a hatch there again there we are boys just when you thought you were finished it all changes we said squid [Laughter] i am so excited about my meeting with the architect it's just amazing to think that she's going to start planning the exterior of the chateau because i love doing the interior we've got davey working on the gardens with dan it's going to be really exciting with that but i felt that architecturally i really needed an expert to work out what to do about the facade and so she's given us loads of fantastic ideas even to the point of do we put the moat back one day so wildly exciting i have got these old papers that she's given to me um and i'm going to be translating this whilst i am away yes whilst i am away because i'm packing because another intervention has been staged by everyone in the house i know and i am going on an enforced break i'm not even really supposed to be filming on it so we're going to a friend's house a friend has really kindly offered me her house in the don philip is going to be taking me and i'm not supposed to be doing anything whilst i'm there it's just for four days week three days yeah i think so honestly you've just we've tried to take away all the work from you but people just keep coming in and i mean look how much better i am i'm really so much better but you're still in the evenings you're so tired so i'm going on an enforced rest which i actually think will do me a lot of good however i am taking a little bit of work because i do want to come on that's going to be so much fun i want to translate that i'm actually really excited about that so i'm taking the de gaulle book this is also really exciting i received this book in caddo at the chateau beautiful book on the hand-painted de gourne wall coverings and it was just unbelievable it arrived when it did because the previous day i had been looking at them because i've always always loved the gourne and i would love them in my bedroom i just it's a dream and so i had contacted them and i told them all about our restoration here and about the channel and everything going on and just after i opened the book which already felt like a sign in caddo at the chateau i got a wonderful email from dugonia saying that they would love to work with me and sending me loads of ideas and they've been fantastic and so i really think that this might happen actually so i'm taking this with me for lots of ideas and more design books so there to come as well and i'm quite excited a nice peaceful time in the countryside right thank you for that yeah let's prevent you from working now well come on let me do fun stuff yeah that's really fun fine okay we can i think that's a happy medium okay i will miss you a lot i'm gonna miss you so much have a lovely time yeah take some rest and i don't want you to use that phone many hours a day i love the way you knew you couldn't say at all bye bye take care miss you already we have arrived in paradise honestly it is so peaceful as far as the eye can see it's just woods and countryside and i'm incredibly happy to be here the exciting news is on the way i translated this as best as i could the french is rather modern french and it's easy to understand but there were some words i just couldn't see clearly enough to see what the word was but this is what i've made of it this house agreeable because of its location is in a style of architecture which is ostentatious in the area where it was built i think meaning that for our area it's a very ostentatious chateau two square pavilions decorated at the top with mashulations and covered walkways form the wings of the principal building they still do there are two main square towers that form the main part of the old wing moats full of water both in the east and the south join with a surrounding wall which is unattractive to the eye the surrounding wall isn't there anymore we enter the courtyard by a stone bridge after which is a drawbridge very different from those usually used in fortresses so this is amazing we had a drawbridge and it was a drawbridge that's very different from usual drawbridges and it doesn't tell me in what way it was different so it's very frustrating but quite fascinating also we cannot see this chateau as simply an ancient and beautiful country house so he means that it really is a fortress not a home from this point on things get rather confusing nevertheless different objects that reflect decoration rather than defense are illegal i do not know what he means why are they illegal so there must have been a law around the time that this was written which meant that either you could not have a fortress because unless you had some sort of license to have a fortune i'm making this up i do not know what it means uh it wasn't possible to have that or it means that if there was a fortress you couldn't turn it into a normal house you had to keep it as a fortress and maybe some of you will know the answer to that uh this was written in the 19th century he carries on to say their execution could be done without deteriorating the property by removing the walls of the pavilions to the point where they meet the attics which would remove the mastulations and the covered walkways well thank goodness that wasn't done we still have the matulations and the covered walkways and he continues by destroying or replacing the drawbridge with a stone arcade well there was no stone arcade but the drawbridge has been destroyed so that was done the moat once dried would be considered an ordinary boundary as from their walls their depth is only 10 feet and that was also done uh parts of the moats were dried out so i feel the time none the wiser it's it's raised more questions than its answer but it is fascinating we know that we had a drawbridge and we know that when they decided to do some work to the chateau in the 19th century there was a law that came into play i'm sure that some of you will be knowledgeable about this and i would love it if any of you could let me know i will also be putting a copy of this on my patreon site so if any of my patrons speak french some of the words that i can't quite make out you might be able to make out and that might give us a greater understanding of the meaning of this document but i won't be spending all of my time thinking about this whilst i'm here i'm here to relax though i have to say it is so beautiful that i'm going to slightly go against natty and mummy's wishes because i do want to show you around this area it is splendid so in the next vlog you'll be having a little trip around the dardon with philip and me a huge thank you to all of our patrons at la land who are making this vlog possible especially our duffer and dauphine of la land yale and ether dan bander whaling banshee brian barnard brandon and john michael cecilia begum denise behrens jill bidwell candice black band candace and ed burkowski clara butcher paulina calabro chloe chalikani steven sarah cole zoe dork sakura dennis saying dixon jackie ellison nicholas w fairfax tracy ferrari caroline first abigail grant fifi greenberg crystal hardy brenda harris delaine holbrook kim hasselhoff david and tong henderson jacqueline holmes priscilla hubler brian kelsey and phil burnt jimmy kemp nadia kennedy lisa laforge david samuel land morgan lawley victoria lepin janet huff lombard marina frank martin meredith robert miller cathy nuri jc award maureen palmer teresa sloan frank broposki and james snow tomorrow price armin rahman tonya renee rjb bettina rojeck hanny ross mary ryan elizabeth scanlon sven schreiber lisa schultz jennifer shanks patty sue who susan stevens and the leaf house sarah thornton colleen troyer renee vilelli victoria jessica walker brandy walton laura watkins lucas wallen james whalen cheryl whittaker christine wilson winnie de la cockapoo greg with david young and ludovico oranazzo and thank you to all of you you

Channel: The Chateau Diaries

Views: 130,652

Rating: 4.9476728 out of 5

Keywords: chateau de lalande, chateau diaries, chateau life, chateaux in france, chatelaine, escape to the chateau, escape to the chateau diy, french castles, french country home, french country house, french country living, historic house, life in a chateau, living in a chateau, living in a french chateau, stephanie chateau, stephanie jarvis, chateau de la lande, the chateau diaries, restoration, diy, transformations, chateau tour, renovations, chateau architect

Id: kWzGNtevBpg

Length: 30min 55sec (1855 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 23 2021