Spinning Plates with Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Episode 73: Angel Strawbridge

Episode Date: September 30, 2022

Angel Strawbridge is the glamorous businesswoman with the amazing red hair who fronts Escape to the Château, now in its 9th series! - which charts her and her husband buying, renovating and decorating a chateau - all while bringing up two little children. I spoke to her on zoom, which made me feel rather jealous, as she sat looking out at the view of their very own moat in the sunshine, while I sat through a thunderstorm in London! We talked about how she’s very dyslexic but loves a spreadsheet; how she works 20 hours a day to get the best of both her working life and her family life, and about how she persuaded her mum and dad to retire to France to live near them, when they first bought their chateau. She also introduced me to the concept of 'guilt presies'.As you will hear, Angel has an infectious enthusiasm for getting stuck into things.  Talking to her made me want to come up with a huge new project and just get stuck in, however outlandish it may be. Warning: she may have the same effect on you.Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis Bextor, it is produced by Claire Jones and post-production is by Richard Jones Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Sophia Lispector and welcome to Spinning Plates, the podcast where I speak to busy working women who also happen to be mothers about how they make it work. I'm a singer and I've released seven albums in between having my five sons aged 16 months to 16 years, so I spin a few plates myself. Being a mother can be the most amazing thing, but can also be hard to find time for yourself and your own ambitions. I want to be a bit nosy and see how other people balance everything. Welcome to Spinning Plates. Hey, I'm outside on this really beautiful morning. It's Sunday morning and the sun is shining and you might even be able to hear birds tweeting it's pretty gorgeous out here actually blue sky you can tell it's september

there's a little little undercurrent of chill in the air but actually it's still really nice and i've had to come outside because uh got extra kids this weekend so So obviously my five and then a couple of them have got sleepovers. So got an extra teen and an extra 10-year-old in the house. So just finished making so many pancakes. But that was quite good because our old nanny Claire came to visit us on, when was it, Wednesday night. And she brought all the way from Skegness 60 eggs. So they had omelette for supper on Friday, and today I'm doing pancakes, and I'm

going to do Yorkshire pudding with them tomorrow, and I don't know. Keep going with egg ideas. Please post your egg suggestions for me in the comments. Don't really. Well, you can if you want, but I think I know some stuff to do next i don't know if i'm gonna get through 60 though um anyway this week what's been happening this has been a busy week for me also i've been kind of transfixed by people queuing to see the queen it's interesting isn't it a proper historical moment of course and i totally i can i can understand people who feel it's significant but i also i mean it's a big investment isn't it 12 hours to walk past the coffin still um they did it for the queen's dad and they're doing it for her

oh titus has come to join me and what else i've in this week well I went to I went to Poland actually I went to Warsaw to film a show called Lego Masters so that was fun I took my two eldest Kit and Sunny we went and did some building that was the beginning of the week and then there's been gigs same for Great Ormond Street Hospital on Thursday night they did a fundraiser at the Natural History Museum which was really brilliant because they raised over a million pounds how incredible is that and then has another show on Friday I was supposed to be doing a gig yesterday in Leeds for Radio 2 but that got cancelled understandably and then today I'm off to do another show so that's my week and next week's really quiet and I'm looking forward to that um anyway you probably didn't need to know any of that stuff you're like why is she talking to me about eggs and her week I literally

don't care um I have got a lovely guest for you this week Angel Strawbridge so I was first introduced to Angel and her and her husband's program Escape to the Chateau oh years ago now by my good friend Gita who is one of my best friends and also plays strings and sings with me on stage she is married to Ed Harcourt who I've written lots of songs with who's also Rich's best friend you get the picture and she said oh I love this program so I started watching it and Angel is one of those people who's got that infectious energy where you finish talking to her and you feel like oh my gosh I've got to get on with loads of projects and she's just got a very kind of head screwed on

let's get it done kind of a way of handling stuff and approaching things and I really like that so yeah she had lots and lots of stuff we could talk about it's a shame we couldn't do in person I would love to have flown over to France to record for you but instead we did it remotely where I was in a thunderstorm and she was in the sunshine that's fine I was dreaming of France while we were talking and uh yeah it was a really lovely conversation so I'm looking forward to sharing that with you and I think I'm going to sit out here in the sun and uh and share it too all right I'll see you on the other side paint a picture of uh of what today is like in France please okay the sun's shining I'm in our um our family suite the

strawbridge suite um and I have a table that the kids have breakfast on in the morning and then I wipe off the crumbs and the milk and I sit on my computer and I do work and um and I'm looking out at the moat um and in fact every don't want to make you sort of this is not this is not jealousy or anything but every window has a beautiful view because obviously we're surrounded by by water and let me just have a quick look out at the moment because oh yeah there's a camper van down the end of the road so we've it made a little parking area for people that wanted to come and see and see the chateau but they used to used to park on on the main road um and because we've got a cheese factory at the end of our road um that does the

most incredible cheese and butter so when you come and bring your you know bring your family i'm going to get you sort of cheese um and butter from the end of the road it's wonderful but these big lorries full of cheese and butter they go like a million miles an hour down the road it's wonderful but these big lorries full of cheese and butter they go like a million miles an hour down the road and they they just politely said to us listen you you need to create a little parking area because we're going to knock someone off one day so um so dick's made this lovely little area and we've got postcards out that say thanks for coming to this show so at the moment i'm looking out there's a lovely moat and there's a camper van with some people down so when you say people coming you mean literally they're just

people who are like having a little drive through through northwest France and they're like let's let's go and have a look at the chateau and just they're outside and they just have a little look to see where you are yeah yeah yeah we've had about I don't know about half a dozen through we've already stopped to said a couple because on um the kids go to school monday tuesday thursday and friday and we bring them home for lunch so um when we collected the children today um there was someone down at the end and and it's always a bit of a bonus if um if they see the kids as well you know they want to see me and dick maybe a little bit they want to see the chateau but seeing answer the dorothy that they're just made up a little bit like living in a sort of

I don't know like a sort of happy cartoon land when there's like you know you walk along and there's people like hello and they know you and it's all smiley and friendly and I was thinking so when you moved in is it right that Arthur and Dorothy they were like one and two something like that is that right yeah yes zero um Dorothy was zero oh you're so you're so good Sophie um and Arthur had turned two the day before we moved so when you look back to that time what's your memory of it now that bit with tiny children and this huge chateau and all the work that they had well I mean a couple of things I'll always remember the day because I you know and I know you you're quite passionate about this but mums do guilt really

really well and I'd said to Dick um if we don't do a party for Arthur for his second birthday I'm gonna live with that the rest of my life that we didn't do it because we were moving to France so I'd done a I'd done a party for him um the day before we left and I think the the one of the biggest memories I've got as we were sort of saying goodbye to my mum was Dick moaning at me going why did you have a party you've got all these presents and we were trying it's like Tetris trying to fit up all after Prezzy's in um but the I mean in answer to your question I think it's actually better to do it when they're that young because Dorothy actually was like in a papoose all the time she was always on my hip you know she didn't really start walking for another few months when we were here and Arthur was young enough that um that they they don't know any different you know and

for for us sort of saying don't go there there's a hole you'll fall through the the floor below they they've just you know they've grown up only knowing this is their as their family home um that that you know the best friends they speak english and they speak french um and i think actually when the kids get older and they are a bit more sort of knowing and they start to get friends and stuff I think that's when it can even be yeah and I guess you're right actually because then they've got kind of emotional tie and I think when you have small children you you're not really aware of that bit that lies ahead actually when they as you say like they

have their own lives and their own you're kind of rooting for them as well so when they say oh I don't really want to leave my school or leave my friends you're thinking well I get it but when they're small and as you say with Dorothy being only zero you know you put them down and they stay in the same place which is very very helpful if it's exactly essentially a bit of a building sometimes it's really helpful and actually I remember everyone saying oh my gosh you know get sleep and everything when you have kids your life's going to change and it does don't get me wrong but those first few months when they sleep a lot and they can't crawl um was was actually sort of one of the quietest times in my life so I had them only on the first one I know yes yeah I remember that very well I think actually

a lot of people when they have their first baby like this isn't so bad this isn't so bad and you're kind of thinking just wait till they get to like 18 months too and then everything starts although everything you know I know we're in this room but what's beyond that door and where else can I go and all that kind of thing well well it's the first time that you change their nappy and um and they're not on their nappy mat. And you go, okay, I better start moving things around the house now. Definitely. And do you feel like you have two chapters in your head of life when you moved to the chateau and then the world you lived in before and the way you lived before? I suppose it's all tied in with new motherhood as well.

Totally. Totally, totally. I mean, my my early days I mean we all have chapters of our lives don't don't don't we and lots of people I mean I'm sure they say it to you as well you know are you living are you living the dream and you say do you know what I am because I'm loving it um but when I was living in London and sort of building up my career and having a colourful life, that was at the time, that was my dream. I could not imagine ever leaving London. And, you know, I never had dreams of sort of, you know, living in a castle with family, genuinely.

I sort of, my dreams as I was sort of, I guess, in my early 20s were always like, you know, I was ambitious. I wanted to be successful. And then I met Mr. Strawfish and then my dreams were different. But they are very, very, you know, they're worlds apart. But whenever I come back, I will go out and I will see my girlfriends, you know, my friends, and we will go to the same places. And I absolutely love it, and I feel like I've come home. And then I come back to France, and we feel like we've come home.

So I've kind of got the best of both worlds now. Yeah, I can imagine that. And I was also thinking, because obviously, you know, you've actually done so much stuff. I mean, there's obviously at the heart of it is, you know, the family and the chateau and all the hard graft that's gone into building what that is. But you've also got all your business enterprises and all the gorgeous things that are coming out of the chateau or the, you know, homeware things. And I wondered if all of that enterprise is also a way of sort of,

I don't know, I suppose connecting the dots with homesickness really in a way, because if you've got all of those things happening all the time, every you send those emails or have those phone calls it's like being part of something outside of being where you are yeah I mean it is but I think I've always always been ambitious and I don't know you know maybe it's mum and dad they've always been self-employed they've always had their own business um but I from a very very young age you know I was um I'm quite dyslexic so I can't I can't read um very well um and but the one thing that I was exceptionally good at at school was business I mean you know I just I absolutely I loved it and I love a spreadsheet as well and I was really really good at maths and I for my

different things I've done you know I've done I've sort of had market stalls on Spitalfields in Labrador Grows you know I was one of the first people selling cupcakes before the big sort of cupcakes sort of was absolutely everywhere and and I've always had like these little entrepreneurial things then I sort of had my flat in East London and I used to do vintage parties, sort of selling clothes before Brick Lane was sort of, you know, before it was absolutely everywhere. And then, you know, my career sort of progressed and then I did Dragon's Den.

And Dragon's Den was just before I met Dick. And I went on there and I love watching it back because I say the same thing now, but it was over a decade ago and I was like I want to build an empire and at the time if I had because I got an offer from Deborah and Theo but I never took the money actually and it's cool because I'm still friends with Deborah actually she's a lovely lovely lady but it but if I had I don't know my world could have gone in a different direction because I would have, everything I've done, like yourself, I throw myself into.

And, you know, I would have been trying to do the vintage participant. I would have been absolutely everywhere with it. But I didn't. And I've gone in this direction. And actually from Dragon's Den, in a weird and sort of twisted way, I met Mr. Shrawbridge because we have the same agent who saw me on Dragon's Den in a sort of in a weird and sort of twisted way I met Mr Shrawbridge because we have the same agent who saw me on Dragon's Den and and introduced us and then after I met Dick who had sort of stopped nearly ish and had and had children but having children doesn't stop that that hunger in you you know there's different things that sort of define you pre-children

in your first life. And if your career or a hobby or, you know, an exercise regime, whatever it is, if that defines you, you can't just chuck it away. So you can take a breath and go, right, I'm going to spend,

I'm going to enjoy these moments with my kids of being really young because I'm never apt to get these back. But I've just, I've always had that ambition. And now it just feels so right to be where it is because this ambition is every little bit, you know, I've got a Dorothy design. I've got stuff inspired by the children and the land about us. And in my sort of, fantasy now my dream you know when

I'm having sort of a cup of tea in a quiet five minutes is that in 50 years time that the kids like look back on it and and sort of say oh my gosh this is what mummy sort of designed like all that all those years ago so I think that's what keeps me going I mean there's so much I'm sort of nodding emphatically over here because I think firstly you have a really infectious enthusiasm that even now talking to you I mean it's it's you know apparent in spades and you know your books and in the the show but talking to you now I'm getting this feeling like yes yes let's go and do it what can I do what are the things I've always wanted to do and that's that's an amazing quality it's like you know even through zoom I'm getting that but um also I took And that's an amazing quality. It's like, you know, even through Zoom, I'm getting that.

But also, I took... That's why I love you, though, because you do do it, Sophie. That's the thing. You are that person in bounds. I don't always feel like that, but I am completely... I do find speaking to people like you, where they've got that thing that's just like, let's just do this. I find it really exciting.

Like, it literally, like, makes me feel a bit fizzy when I'm obsessed with like business women entrepreneurship I find it fascinating and yeah just really I love the talk of ambition is always something I'm intrigued by and I'm a bit yeah like sort of attracted to it like a little butterfly towards the light kind of thing but we're made to feel we nearly made to feel um guilty about it if you become a mum not not always I feel like it's become a little a little bit easier now to sort of have your cake and eat it um but but you know when when I sort of first had Arthur um I I didn't know I sort of thought well what do you do now do you give up work and I was like no I'm not going to I was being a bit stubborn about it

and I'd had this tea party about three weeks after I had Arthur it's for 4,000 people on the embankment so you were event managing a 4,000 person event so for the vintage participatory we had all the vintage girls we were

doing sort of hair and makeup and it was three weeks after you had your first baby wow i just remember not even being able to get into and and it was weird because i i had my stockings you know this was the days of stocking suspenders and high heels and my feet were so swollen that I was a different person and I just was like I can't get my boobs in my bra and my dress doesn't fit and my back's like like twice the size and I remember I got the pictures got all my beautiful girls with me and um and I was just I was that little I was the same, but a different shape in the middle. I still managed to do my hair and stuff. And Dick was, Dick was amazing, actually.

He came and supported the whole thing. But I just remember thinking, gosh, nothing fits me anymore. Yeah, but sometimes that's also that feeling psychologically of like, I am the same person, aren't I? And you're kind of slightly finding yourself again, aren't you? And doing all this stuff. And I mean, when you say this was the days of stockings and heels is that saying like that's not really something you do so much anymore you're sort of like found a slightly more manageable version for your life now yeah I mean I'm into I'm into sort of you know um places oh yeah a place it's a great thing but

they're they're perfect aren't they so I've still got it all it's upstairs in backpacks I know where it is yeah yeah well also I love your kimono so the kimono is pretty fabulous thanks that was actually the new thing uh the kimonos because um they they're really flattering um if you're you know you're voluptuous um so I I love my my kimonos now. So they just hide lots of sins. But actually, that's why we had Dorothy so quickly. They're 13 months apart.

Dick says they're Irish twins. Because I was just like, listen, get me pregnant again. Because then I can start my exercise regime. So you really were just like, let's just do this one more time. Another baby. Let's go for it. Yeah. I know.

But I never quite, then we bloody went and brought a chateau. Yeah. I'm glad you're laughing. So that went out the window. With a cheese factory down the end of the road. It's quite a big impulse buy, to be fair. To suddenly go with a chateau. But I suppose a big impulse price, to be fair, to suddenly go to Chateau. But I suppose it sounds like you were just looking for adventure.

That's adventure, isn't it, what that is? Yeah, yes. Also, Dick hates London. Like, yeah, I mean, he likes to go, go to a cocktail bar. And then leave again. And then go to the country again. Yeah. He's a country man uh through and through

um and I've always been a bit of a city girl so um we um quite quickly had the conversation sort of saying where would we live together and we we couldn't decide in in England we couldn't agree on somewhere and actually it was um our first holiday that we could afford. We went to France in Carmin-au-Frois. And it was only a year in to our relationship. And we said, gosh, I mean, you can just buy so much for your money here. And I just thought, well, we could buy, you could have a workshop, I could have somewhere that we could host events. And, you know, I'd spent years driving around, I had sick and tired of you know getting in 12 having this manic setup and then being out and then just not having our own place to do it um so the the idea of the dream of actually owning a place that could be set up all the time was just too much and then soon as you get on the internet if that is the life that you want um you know there was it just all sort of fitted in to what we kind of dreamt but it's not you know

I can see that there's the ideal of what you're heading towards but that there must have been times when you're thinking is this really going to work because basically if you say you're a city girl then what you're hoping to do is create a destination as you say host events host a place where people will come to come and find you and see you so you've got you know the fact you've had you know you say half a dozen people already come and visit you today you know like having that that thing of just like a little bit of busyness around you but what was what was it like when you're in in the middle of sorting out problem after problem and organizing things and did it ever seem like it might not come to fruition yeah well I mean the search was interesting because that took quite a few years to find the right

place but um but I'd been busy the whole time with with events and tea parties and partying and then having children so I'd never I'd never really known what what having a little bit of time was like so I know I didn't you know I'm always up for everything so I didn't mind having a go at that um sadly I've not quite got there yet we haven't done our two hour lunch breaks but but I wasn't worried about it actually because I think the biggest genuinely the biggest change in my life was when I was living in London and I'd had Arthur and then you know that that part of your that chapter of your life is gone and you know you've got to just love it and accept that that now you're in a new phase of your life so I

think when we moved here just the the thought of setting up the business getting the house ready because we had our wedding here um in the first year that we moved to the chateau we were so busy that that I didn't have time to think about it. And I have to say, I'm not someone that will allow what ifs to stop us. And I think Dick is the same. We just get an idea, go for it, not going to live with regrets. If it doesn't, you know, in fact, we always knew it would work because we weren't going to stop until it was going to work.

So that was it. We were always weren't going to stop until it was going to work so that that was it was always going to make a success of it escape to the chateau is is completely that has surprised us that wasn't we didn't think that we would be doing something that we're in our nine series doing and and how it's been and how it's kind of gone global like that has that that's been a real like wow moment. I mean, me and Dick still popular. Yeah, that's an incredible achievement. But I think it's because it taps into lots of things.

Firstly, that whole like not allowing the what if, but just like let's go for it is really addictive. But I think also there's a part of everybody probably where they think, could I have done that? Just like pull the rug out from under myself and just done a whole, I mean, I appreciate there was planning and you've both got natural aptitude to the actual nuts and bolts of what was needed but just the idea of just doing something that's a real like the flip actually not the just the pipe dream but actually just doing it

but as a family as well yeah we truly believe that anyone can do it and maybe you don't want to take on a big chateau um well actually this is a little chateau compared to lots of the big ones that we saw but you know it could be a farmhouse could be a lovely you know a manoir um they're still so cheap it's it's crazy no no one wants them because because it becomes a lifestyle i suppose you've got to know so much about how to actually keep, you know, keep the character, but actually get it working in a way that we would expect in modern life. In modern life, I think that is, but you can learn anything nowadays. You know, we're in a world where you don't need to carry

sort of a big how-to Bible. You can just go on the internet and learn how to do something. And whilst there are things that you're going to stay away from away from you know like you need someone to come and connect your electrics and and never plaster um there is so much that you can do that unless you try it um you're just not going to know um so that's why I mean we really are we try and give things a go we're not scared of failing things and we know the things that we're not good at that's all that's all good valuable information it's good to know what you can do and also when to get help for sure completely

but when you're thinking I mean I was thinking about when I because when I had my first baby I found a lot of it really quite isolating I was lucky enough to have my mum down the road and I had lots of girlfriends in London but did you ever find that when you had the little children and you were first in France and you were thinking you know I mean I appreciate you've got lots of things to do to keep you busy but what about the kind of emotional side of it sometimes I think that was that was probably in London I think when when I just it's and it's just that little bit of um you've got um your first baby and and also you you're kind of it's quite overwhelming because you're like what do I do with a baby like you know even get I just remember getting off the dress for the first time thinking

I can't live so tiny so you know it can feel overwhelming and and you can't just pop even just down to the shops and go to, you know, just get to the market. Everything is different. And I think, I think at the start, it is, it is like that. But I think by the time we'd got to France, and Arthur was two and Dorothy was zero, I think life, life was, was, was very different. But I think that isolation or that, that how you're feeling when you first have a baby and you're and you change and your world changes I don't think geography plays no I just think I think I think it's you where where you are so I mean I happen to be in London um I

could have been at the Chateau yeah no I think that's true actually maybe it'd be good if I geography maybe it's just that feeling that you just got to like let that i recently learned um a new word actually because i spoke to this woman who's written a book and um it's the sort of science behind motherhood and there's a word called matrescence which is basically like you have your baby is born but also you as a mother is born and i thought it was really interesting because i've never heard of that before and it's a sort of it's not the the scientific neurological social cultural i mean a little you touched on a little bit you're saying about you know what am I supposed to be like now that I'm a mum like which bits of me that defined me before am I I really want to keep going with all those things is that okay and you have to kind of have a little

minute to go well yes I'm gonna you know you said you're being you know quite sort of like strong-minded but really it's not something that everybody should have to think of, really, if you think about it, we should just be able to do it where we want to anyway. It's in yourself, I think, knowing what your balance is, and what your, I just think, as mums, because we do the guilt thing so well, I just think that everything that we do that's not involving the kids is, we naturally feel slightly guilty about doing it. So, you know, I'm quite good at buying the kids guilt presents. So, and if I, you know, if me and Dick go on a

wave for a night or something, or I go to the UK and I work, I come back and the kids go to me, or I go to the UK and I work, I come back and the kids go to me, where's my guilt, where's your mum? They may call it that. They actually call it that. But I think it's fine because the bottom line is you just want your kids to be healthy and happy, don't you? And, you know, and I think if you sort of all of a sudden go, right, I've got to be a mum, and for some people,

they will only want to be a mum and that is it and you know just have to I have to absolutely praise those um but for me personally and probably probably a year a little bit I'll never talk on behalf of anyone else except myself on this one but I did I did not want to have built up my business for like 15 20 years and then say right now I'm going to be a mum because I actually enjoyed what I did and I loved it and I felt that certain things I was really good at and you know and actually that's a really good thing to teach your kids you know that that you can work and you can love it and now the kids like Arthur and Dorothy um as you've quite similarly done they're involved in everything and they they love it I mean we just we just went on tour because we was basically on

tour at the same time yeah and um and Dorothy and Arthur were really nervous because they when we go out they come out with us on stage. And they all get dressed up. Arthur's in a little smoking jacket matching one for Dick. And Dorothy's like rocking this gold jacket. And they come out and they wave to a few thousand people. And that's really quite something. And they're nervous and they had butterflies in their bellies. And after the first one, Dorothy said to Dick and I, I loved that. Is there any chance you could change the show so I could be in it more so you know I was I was worried about so many things but

I was also worrying like is it too much for the kids you know you know asking them to go on stage with us but but you know you just I think I think you've just got to close your eyes listen to your belly and sort of know whether know whether yeah I totally agree and nobody you know you know, I think you've just got to close your eyes, listen to your belly and sort of know where the line is. Yeah, I totally agree. And, you know, you know your kids really well and you'll know if that seems something that they really enjoy and they're getting something out of or if they're, you know. Like when I was doing the kitchen discos at home,

like my now 13-year-old would just miss most of them. That just isn't his bag. He doesn't want to get involved. He's not very interested in that. And he doesn't really come to my gigs. And that is fine. Like, okay. I kind of had some kind of rooting for him really to be fair like yeah you've seen me sing already you don't need to sit again um once is enough no and it is it is it is completely fine um do you know this is, you won't remember this, but many, many years ago, and I'm talking about 15 years ago, I think we, I was at a party because I used to do a little bit of work for Premier Models.

And you were the first famous person that I ever talked to. It was me and my friend Aaron. And we had this conversation on the sofa. And afterwards, it was about 10 minutes that we chatted for and and afterwards me and Aaron was going gosh she's so beautiful and she's and she's so nice as well like didn't expect her to be that nice so I just thought I'd tell you I always brace myself when people say they met me and I'm like oh god please don't don't let me in horrible so So that's a relief. I'm feeling a bit more chilled now. So when you say, so was it a premier models event?

Party, yeah. You know what? That's probably more like 20 years ago, you know. I know. Isn't that crazy? But actually, that's really nice. And I was thinking our path must have crossed because I realised, yeah, you were doing loads of stuff with events and events management all

throughout the sort of noughties and building up what you were doing loads of stuff with events and events management all throughout the sort of noughties and building up what you were doing. Yeah. And also, something you said, you're not the first person who I've spoken to who says that they are dyslexic but really love spreadsheets. I've actually heard that before. And I think, honestly, if you can look through that stuff

and get familiar with spreadsheets, it's actually a massive advantage of just the fundamentals of running a business I mean do you still get quite in invested in all those things and really enjoy it oh yeah I love it um you know I'd still do I do I my accounts Dick's accounts I do Chateau's accounts um I'm not letting that go I mean I like to know what's going on that's the thing um you know and I think I think if you're going to do anything in in life because I um I loved the creative side of things when I was growing up but um but actually I did train to be an accountant so that's what I used to do at Premier Models I used to do a bit of their um accountants things that I used to work for the

Reckless Reckles I used to do all of their bookkeeping. I absolutely loved it. But I put everything on a spreadsheet. Like, you know, our calendar is on a spreadsheet. Like, absolutely everything. Because I can manipulate it. I can work out what's what. And I love it. And also, I just like order.

You know, I like it because I think when you've got a lot going on, if I'm not, you know, if I'm not sure, if there there's too much I don't feel like I'm in control of it so seeing it all in a spreadsheet makes me feel happy. Yeah it's sort of clean and everything's in its right little box um yeah I totally relate to that I do I mean I don't I wish I was I get a bit daunted um with no that's not quite true I love looking at some spreadsheets but when it comes to business stuff I can be a bit um if um with no that's not quite true I love looking at some spreadsheets but when it comes to business stuff I can be a bit um if I have a meeting with my accountant I'll keep up for a certain degree and then after that I'll spend the whole meeting hoping that I'm making the right face for um you know the reaction I should be happy for whatever he's saying and then

um yeah I'll go home and think a lot that didn't go in really which is I think I've basically got half my dad's mind and then half my mum's when it comes to financial affairs well the the bottom line is that you've just got to understand the you know the bottom line that's very true yes and and if you if you get that so um that's the only important thing but this is where you've got to know where you're good at things. And because I like, oh, sorry, we've gone down a rabbit hole here, haven't we, talking about accounts and stuff. No, but you know, I think it's really cool because it's one thing to see the surface thing and the beauty and the world that you've created

and something that people want to watch and be part of and have your things in their home that's that's wonderful but if you don't have that underlying thing I don't think people think about it enough and and actually I think if that's something that you've got under your belt I think that's a I think it's a big deal but also it you know it's cool to like remind people that that stuff's important oh my gosh it is important and if you don't understand your your own business and i and i have to say um i get a lot of emails now sort of saying where do i start and what have you you have to put on every single hat in your business um and at least try it and and if it's not for

you that's fine let someone else do it but you've got to know how it's running because you know there will be problems it's always problems and it could be you know it to know how it's running because, you know, there will be problems. It's always problems. And it could be, you know, it could be legal. It could be intellectual property. It could be, you know, finance. It's all human resources. There's so much that goes into the business. And actually having a small business where you've only got you is quite a lovely thing, you know, because as you grow bigger, sometimes you don't earn more money because you've got so many more expenses so you know you've for me now I'm like I say to a lot of people keep it small and controllable unless you've got this ridiculous like I want to well world

domination um because there's this little bit in the middle that is really really hard work to grow grow your business but for whatever reasons I've always had this kind of big ambition and I'm still I'm still on the journey you know I'm taking like Dick's on the journey you know the kids are on the journey my mum and dad are on the journey they I mean they are complete unsung heroes because you know they moved to France with us and and they made everything sort of manageable I didn't realise they moved with you so they moved at the same time yeah ah yeah that's really special oh I see that's that's a big that's a big um that's a big emotional heart there already as well you've got your your mum and dad there yeah and actually did sort of say to mum um I don't think I can go without you and she and she she had a restaurant at the time and my dad's always been a duo like he did his apprenticeship in that at Hatton Gardens

when he was 16 um so they've always worked their whole life and they were like what do you mean give up work wow that's a big deal how about it yeah so they so they gave up work. Had to sort of do retirement posters for my dad because he was just like, he did this retirement party and kind of wrote it on a card about this big, put it at the bottom of his window. And we turned up and we were like, Dad, you've not told anyone you're retiring. And he was just like, it's going to happen over time.

But, you know, they love it here and you've got you've got to have the space you've got to be able to have you know an independent space for all parties I think but when when you can do it I mean your mum's down the road isn't she that's the thing yeah um but it's so good because it's good for them and their and their spirit and and it's good for for the children it's good for me and dick there is yeah no that's really lovely so just imagining in the future if suddenly you know arthur's like okay i'm moving and you need to come with me and you know maybe that'll be you one day you'll be upping sticks and going i've got a business here arthur and's going, I can't do this without you. Yeah, I never thought that.

Thanks. Well, we're already, this is why we're doing it, but he has already set up the Orangerie as his restaurant. And Dorothy, on the other hand, she's already said that she wants to travel the world. And I'm fine about that. Oh, golly, don't worry. It won't be for at least 10 years

yeah at least 10 years I know I know but you know that's something you just can't worry about at this stage because you know it's too many too many things to worry about just box them all up and yeah you can't get het up about something a decade in advance it just yeah you'd never move and you'd like lock the kids in probably I get that feeling sometimes I'm like oh my gosh just stop the spiral for sure definitely I don't know how you do it honestly I do not know how you do it it's incredible um well having having lots and I mean you look so great and um but yeah five I mean do they start looking after each other still waiting for that day to be honest um that doesn't seem to be happening but I tell you what I was thinking this morning um

before I was speaking to you I was thinking about the thing I mentioned before about the control freak thing and I thought actually that is one thing about having a lot of kids that's been a good side effect is that I cannot actually micromanage as much as I probably did with my first two and I think it's that's probably been quite good they've had to get a bit more self-reliant because I can't physically be across everything anymore and I think that's that's probably been quite a good good outcome um yes I would say so I mean Dick's got Dick's from seven um and so is my mum so we've got big big families on on either side and you know what they're just all really good people of really good hearts and you know it's

I think I think a job as a parent if you can install the values in them quite early on I mean Dick says show me show me the the boy at seven and I'll show you the man. Yeah. And I just think, so once, you know, you're nearly there. Nearly there, yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, then you're kind of, that part is done. And then it's sort of them just sort of, you know, developing and finding out their personalities. That's very true. Although the show me a boy at seven and I'll show you the man quote always worries me a bit because I feel like I need it a bit longer than seven years.

Just can I extend it a little bit? 21? No. Honestly, be around Dick for a day. He's just a man of, he's got a saying for absolutely everything. It's fantastic. We're going to write a book one day of Dick's sayings. It's probably in there already.

Yeah, exactly. You mentioned your parents. So when you grew up, both your parents were working, were they? Yeah. So your mum, she's a restaurateur. So that's what she does. She was running a restaurant. So, yes, she was for about seven years.

But actually, our whole life, Dad's been a jeweller. And Mum used to assist so my mum always did the bookkeeping and and sort of did uh all all of the window dressing and my dad um he he can make anything he's a very creative on that side but he would repair jewelry and you know they started with a little shop in in Essex and they got a bigger shop and you know and now my brother actually he runs um he's taken over and he does all of the stuff now. But it got to a point where mum was just like, I actually want to do something. Like kids are grown up, they're doing their own thing.

I want to do something for myself. And she just took on a restaurant. Wow. In her 50s. Oh, that's so cool. She just went for a brand new venture. She just fancied it. You know, she's such a good cook.

And I think this is where, you know, personally, I get the, we love hosting as a family. Like my grandma, absolutely everybody. It's just in our blood. You can't come into our house without people saying, you're hungry, do you want something to eat? You know, and mum's always loved that. That's the way that she's always given to the whole family and friends is by cooking so she sort of thought um and I think it was for for her she wanted to do something that wasn't my dad's jewelry I've got complete respect for that um and I used to so every Christmas after mum sort of whenever she took it on we worked I came home for whatever I was doing I'd

sort the house out for put the Christmas tree up and then always work Christmas day being a waitress oh that's lovely yeah so you know that's what families do isn't it they all got to help out yes yeah and so it's just you and your brother in your your family from when you were little but yeah but then you've got all these aunts and uncles and all that. Loads of cousins. You know what that's like. And is that all in Canby, Ireland? Yeah.

So that's in Benfleet. And actually, no, mum and dad are both East Londoners. So mum was in Dagenham and dad grew up in Stepney, so a mile in. So all of dad's family is all still that direction. And Mum was the only one that moved out to Essex. Everyone sort of stayed in Dagenham and all of those. They were proper cockneys. That's brilliant, though.

And I love the fact your dad was in Hatton Gardens as well. I mean, that's such an area. That's got so much history, that whole area. Yeah, completely. I used to go up with him as a little girl and I used to sort of take me around all of the um you know the places and and there's people opening up diamond packets and do you know weirdly though um I don't wear jewellery that's funny but I suppose you've probably seen so many things like with your mum with the bookkeeping and with, you know, sort of helping out with the set dressing

and then with your dad having an actual artisan craft, like a proper... There's lots of strands, aren't there, that kind of might have fed into your... things you could see people doing and how you can get things done. Completely. I don't think you realise it when you're a kid either.

Yeah. No, it's just what it is. Because it when um when you're a kid either yeah because it just sort of like it just penetrates you without without you realizing and then when you sort of when you grow up um I don't know if I am yet but when when you do you you just realize what an influence you have on your on your kids and you know I think that's why Dick and I we like to involve them in everything we do um and as know as I say I would always just be going up to London with dad and I'd sit in the shop for hours and and you know and then when I was old enough you know probably about 11 or 12 years old used to help out on Saturdays and and I've always

sort of had that um and that's why I love you know you involve the kids in as much as you can and I just I just think you know whether we're doing right or wrong you can only do what what what you feel at that moment it is right and and I just think we just got to go for it and stop worrying about yeah I agree with all that definitely and I think as you say you know with the kids you know your family and if there's things that that you're passionate about that make sense to you I mean amazing you're gonna have all these amazing diaries of their early childhood with all the TV shows and they'll be able to see things and be like, oh my goodness, and reminisce.

And that's an amazing archive for them, isn't it? Oh, completely, completely. I mean, that's one of the reasons why we carried on doing Escape to the Chateau. Because, I mean, even we look back and we just, oh, I forgot about that. And does it ever get to, do you ever have days where you're thinking, oh, I don't really want to be be filmed today or is it not really something that you ever you don't

really feel like that yeah well I mean we've got a lovely lovely sort of crew we've only got um we've got two people here ever so Chloe has been here for years and years she's part part of the family really and then there's a pd which is the um the sort of camera person um and so it's really really intimate but the thing is if i'm busy or or i've got a headache or some something um then we don't film because um you know it's not that we have to film. They're nearly always here. I mean, at the moment, they're in the ward garden. The sun is shining. Dick's got hives.

They're doing bees. We've got, you know, all the wildflowers are crazy. The peonies have just come up. You know, the eucalyptus is green and absolutely bursting. The ward garden is gorgeous. So right now, they know that I'm busy. I'm talking to you. Chloe was really excited. She's know that I'm busy I'm talking to you and Chloe was really excited

well I love the fact that you've only got two people I don't know if you realize how loved you are I think that's so nice that it's a really small group and and as you say you can just do it because it's what you want to be doing but actually there was something I did want to ask you about because um I have step-parents and so I'm always curious when people have also got the step-parent role so obviously when you met Mr Mr. Strawbridge, he had, I mean, adult children, I guess. They must have been in their 20s? Absolutely. James was, yeah, just in his 30s. I can't remember. It's so long ago now.

But yeah, James is, Charlotte's 35 and James is 39. So what would be your advice for how to handle that dynamic of a relationship? Because obviously when you fall for someone, if they've got children, then it's part of the whole, that's the package, isn't it? It completely is. Do you know, I think it's very dependent on every family. Now, it sounds like I'm sitting on the fence here. dependent on every family now it sounds like I'm sitting on on the fence here but but Dick's um Charlotte and James who we love so much are very much part of the family um they were older they understood life um I think it's much harder if you kind of take on younger children that might not be

um as understanding and you've just got i think you just got to throw yourself into into what whatever dynamic um uh throws at you um and and see what see what happens because you're you know i mean dick dick's um got a great relationship with with james and charlotte arthur and dorothy have a great relationship with them ar Arthur is uncle to James and Holly's three children. So Dorothy is obviously aunt. And when Arthur says to Indy, you can call me uncle, and then he goes, who's Indy's older than Arthur. Oh, my goodness.

That's so sweet, though. I love all that. We've got such a modern family because what I think families are just so like they're so different now aren't they you don't have your 2.4 it's so varied um I just think you've just got to embrace and and and love and love it I mean we had a Christmas here in the early days um and there was a one two three four five year old. And it was hectic, you know, but it was, it was just lovely. And we're still, you know, every year, we're sort of still sort of developing and, and Dick's first wife, she's happily married. And we was all at

Charlotte's wedding together. So I think, I think it can be fine you've just got to be um open and up for it and I think one of the things that's really can be a lovely bit of when you have your own kids is when you sort of step back and see all the relationships that they're forming with all the other significant people in the family so when you said about you know him and Indy and saying you can call me uncle and it's like that's something that's just theirs you know it's not to do with anyone else it's just for them and I think I think that thing where you can step back and just look around the room and see who's talking to who and all the dynamics it's like really oh completely well Dick's daughter Charlotte she um she's got a beautiful voice and and many many years ago she

wrote um an album of um Charlotte Strawbridge I think you can still get it on iPlayer, but she doesn't even have a copy of it herself. And Dorothy is obsessed with it. She knows all the words to it. So when we was in Edinburgh on tour, we was over at Charlotte's flat and it was just this gorgeous moment that Dick said, Charlotte, get your guitar back,

sing some of your old songs. And then Dorothy was helping her remember the words. And Dorothy was sitting on her lap and they were both singing this really old, it's like really folky and everything. And I thought about, I'm in tears, yeah. And I could see Dick sort of feeling quite emotional. And I was thinking, is this a moment to get my phone out? I was like, no, I can't stop the moment.

It was so, so gorgeous. But it's right because actually actually what you know parents aside actually everyone else forms their their own own relationships and it is it just feels it is really lovely I won't keep you for much longer but I just wanted to ask you I mean I know that you said that you know you had the version of you that you felt was you before kids and then you felt like well I'm just still going to keep those things because they define me and they're important but was there anything that you felt did you feel there was anything that was sort of shifted because you were now a mum did it did it influence your your creativity or your drive in any way or did it feel more like you were on a trajectory and

you just sort of strapped them on your back and like we're still still on the same journey well I think there is that moment when you're learning what your new you is and and I think you know you feel like well I know that I felt like a different person and I and and I'm always battling with knowing what the balance is um of you know work to family life kind of ratio um but you know I think a couple of years I've got to be honest with you I think I was on that journey of learning um the new me and then all of a sudden and as I say everybody's journey is different I kind of felt so empowered because I was just like, I'm a mum. And you're allowed to be. I mean, you know, it's not, this wasn't sort of like self-paced,

but I'm a mum, I'm a wife, I'm a businesswoman. And actually, they say that you can't have it all. And somehow, because, you know, I'm working 20 hours a day, I don't know why, I've managed to kind of get a little bit of everything in and I love my life but I just think you have to whilst you're working it out like not give yourself a hard time about it and just know that it's gonna know that it's actually really good advice I think that whole thing of giving yourself permission to just figure it all out a little bit because there does seem to it is a big shift and things and you have to kind of let it settle and I think it I think some of it took me a really long time I mean like literally I feel like maybe like a good decade or so actually I've just kind of slightly I mean

it's partly getting older as well and also my my line of work you know you have to kind of find the new version that fits the age you're at and the lifestyle you're really living. Agreed. But you've just, you're still sort of, you know, coming up with things. And what I love is that you're not going, right, what's the next thing that's going to be really popular? You're just doing things that are really fun for your family. And then they get legs. And in a way, there's a real synergy between your, you know, your disco cooking and Escape to the Chateau because you did it and included your family. And it's just, and then everyone has absolutely, absolutely loved it.

But I think the reason it took you a decade is that you have five children. So it's like you were saying, you can't have four hours sleep. You just have to work 20 hour days and then you can just about pack it in. No, well, I have always sort of done that. to just have to work 20 hour days and then you can just about pack it in no well well i've all i have i have always sort of done that and dick has always been the same but you have had five

children so i think you're sort of settling is because as soon as you've probably felt settled yeah someone else popped up but you know one one thing actually why not that i'm interviewing you but um i've always followed you since that moment that we had that chat on the um on the sofa and you were just you were you were so lovely but I just when you was doing um the um the dance um dance show um with our with our mutual friend Debra yes exactly but I read this article um afterwards just about that you was sort of that you continuously lived with with your guilt and um um because you just thrown yourself into it and I just remember at the time just being like really wanting to contact you and just say I hope that you look back at that it really like fond memories as well.

Because you know what? That's just who you are. You just, you throw yourself at everything and you would try your best. If you look back at that and sort of said, well, actually I'm only going to 50% do it or 60% because I've got to be a mum. That would have been something that you had to,

you would carry around forever. So I think you did. No, it's true. Well, I love the fact you wanted to contact me. I mean carry around oh definitely yeah so no it's true thank well I love the fact you wanted to contact me I mean I do definitely look back on it a fondness I mean my the thing about Strictly is that it's it's very intense but it's only uh like three or four months of of your entire life you know it's like it's a very it's actually when you look back on it it's quite a small it's just very very intense so your brain is like elsewhere but you're right I mean everything I do you can't really do any job um at a less percent can you you know if you're doing it you're doing it like that's just it like I can't you know that that is it just be proud of that

because that's who you are and that's what makes you and your wonderful family so just so honestly I'd say praise it I feel like we should be sitting outside in the sunshine in your walled garden drinking like some champagne while we have this conversation some local sparkling bubbly eating covering ourselves in in in cheese and butter I feel like that's what should follow next not just that I have to because I've literally been having a thunderstorm while I've been talking to you it's just not it's not fair that it's that it's um the sun is shining here so well let's have that as as a day when um when things are a little bit settled we would absolutely love you to come over and come to the wall garden

it's do some fishing or go to the thrift stores you know maybe more someone else can fish while i go shopping ah see isn't that lovely do you have that feeling now like let's go and do it i think um i think i really like talking to people who make me feel like that. I've had it with quite a few of my guests, and it's sort of invigorating. I know I had it with Katie Piper, and I know I had it with Sarah Willingham, who's a business entrepreneur. I get it with people where they've got that sort of energy of just getting on

and seizing the day. I think it's a nice feeling. Maybe I don't always feel like that. I don don't know I'm sort of somewhere in the middle some days I'm like yeah loads of energy so much to do other times I think oh my goodness I can't quite be bothered which is why um probably why nobody's asked me to do their podcast about, about being a working mom. They're worried I'm going to bring the mood down. Anyway, Titus and I are still in the sunshine. Um, Richard's hopefully making me a cup of tea and then I'm going to send him all of

this stuff and he's going to create it into a lovely podcast for me, isn't he, Titus? And next week, what have I got for you? Oh, well, actually, it's really nice and quiet I'm only going away for one night next week which is good because this week I've been away four nights I think it is and that's a little bit too much for me although in November I've got a trip coming up where I'm away for the longest I'll ever be away from have ever I've been away from my kids oh windy um going to Australia asia i'm going to be away for two weeks and just to rub salt in the wound i leave on one of my kids birthdays great so yeah i'm kind of starting

to talk to them a bit about that the kids so it's not a big shock when it happens but you know it's a good good opportunity to go and do these shows so uh i think i'll be having fun and rich is going to come with me so that'd be nice anyway that's a while off now in the meantime you know lots to be done and uh i've got a couple of podcast recordings to do for you this week and please do keep the suggestions coming they're so so helpful and actually i think you're going to see this series that there are a few people that have been coming up with suggestions every time. And I've actually managed to get a chance to speak to them. So that's good. Anyway, have a lovely week and enjoy this last bit of September sun if it's shining on you too.

And I will see you soon. All right. See you in a bit. Have a lovely week. Bye bye. lovely day. Bye-bye. you