Dick Strawbridge puts his foot down over UK return as children beg to be in the spotlight
Back in 2014, Dick and Angel Strawbridge, and their young children, took the plunge by leaving their home in the UK behind for a new challenge in France.
Dick and Angel Strawbridge interviewed on Heart FM
Dick and Angel Strawbridge appeared on Heart FM’s Breakfast Show this morning with Jamie Theakston and Davina McCall to discuss their upcoming return to the UK, alongside their podcast, Dick & Angel’s Chat…Eau.
Sharing their excitement for the family’s Forever Home UK 2024 Tour, the Escape to the Chateau stars admitted there had been one bone of contention while planning the show, which kicks off in Angel’s hometown of Southend-on-Sea later this year.
Dick, 64, and wife Angel, 46, will be accompanied on the tour by their two young children, daughter Dorothy, 10, and son Arthur, 11, but their dad had to put his foot down when the youngsters were begging for a bigger role in the show.
Heart FM host Jamie quizzed the couple: “You’re also heading back to the UK after the summer’s done, on tour,” to which Angel replied: “We’ve got our Forever Home tour, and we take the children with us, and my mum and dad.”
Revealing how much their children enjoy the tours, Dick continued: “They’re loving getting to see different people in different places, and, of course, we meet family - we meet friends all over the place - and they’re getting up and chatting.
“In fact, Dorothy and Arthur just come along and say hello usually, and then they leave the stage. But, after the first time we did it, Dorothy said, ‘can we rewrite the tour so we’re on stage a little bit more please?’
“And this is from an eight-year-old - and I said ‘no’ - they don’t get to do that!”
Elsewhere in the interview, Jamie was keen to ask the stars about their decision to quit the UK and refurbish a chateau in France into a palatial family home.
The presenter said: “Tell us how difficult it was for you, turning back in 2014, to kind of upend the whole thing and embark on this ridiculously daft project!”
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Dick explained in response: “We were ready for it! We’d been searching for four years to find a chateau and somewhere to move, and we were living in Southend, and Dorothy had just been born, and being ready for the move - it was easy.
“I couldn’t live in London, I’m a country boy, the country scared Angela, but France seemed to be a bit different…”
Angel interjected: “I am a bit of a Londoner through and through, and if I was actually going to move anywhere, it had to be a beautiful big castle!”
Dick and Angel’s children have appeared alongside them on their hit Channel 4 show, Escape to the Chateau, which came to an end in December 2022.
At the time, Dick explained the children were part of the reason the series had concluded, with him sharing: "We made the decision because the kids are growing older, and all the parallel activity was not sustainable at this level. We are doers and we are never going to stop completely, but we're also protecting them.
"Arthur is starting senior school and the pressure on our little ones is phenomenal. When he goes there, people may have heard that his parents have done stuff on television.”
