A Tour of This Stunning French Castle

Six years ago, I left my life in England behind. I joined my family to take on the daunting task of restoring this stunning French chateau. Three years later, I started a YouTube channel. And since then, we've shared our story with viewers all around the world. And not forgetting all the friends who've helped us along the way. We do everything ourselves, from restoring the gardener's cottage, maintaining the huge forest and estate, to restoring the grand interiors back to the way they were over 100 years ago. A lot has changed, but we've barely scratched the surface. Our journey here has only just begun. My name's Michael, and I'll be your host for this amazing adventure. This is Doing It Ourselves. Hello, everyone. Welcome to Doing It Ourselves. My name's Michael, and I live here at this chateau. If you don't know me, I've been living here for six years. I live here with my family and we've been renovating it. But if you are familiar with the channel, you'll know who I am. You'll know everything from the last three years. But yes, I'd like to welcome you back because I've been away for some time. And I thought, let's come back in style. Let's do a whole relaunch. Let's go back to the start. We know we're better cameramen now, with better editors. We've improved. We've got three years worth of experience, which we didn't have before. So I thought, let's go back and revisit some of the subjects from the very first videos. Yeah, welcome. Welcome to Chateau de la Bamine. It's behind me right there. But the sky is looking a bit grey at the minute. So I don't know, maybe we can fix that, Florian, with a bit of television magic. There we go. Should be nice and blue now. In the next few videos, you're going to get a tour of the chateau, a full tour. There's some rooms you haven't even seen yet. Nobody's seen them before on this channel. So we're going to talk about some upcoming projects. We're going to visit the grounds. We'll show you around the forest, the lake or my favorite trees. And we're going to talk about hopes and dreams for the future. Let's kick off this doing it ourselves relaunch video with a nice tour of the chateau. Let's go. So welcome. Here is the chateau. We're about to go through the front door. And if you care to follow me, I'm going to give you a little tour. Come on. So hello. Welcome to the entrance hall. So just behind me, you can see there we have a grand staircase. Now, this chateau, I'll give you a little bit of information about the place. This is not the original Chateau de la Bamine. There was one here before. And there may have been another one before that, even before that, because we have dug up some medieval statues. We're talking sort of like 14th century statues that came out of what we think might have been an old chapel. We will show you them later on when we visit the chapel. So we know that there was a very, very old building here. Then there was one that was built in, we think, the early 18th century, which was quite a plain building. Nice, nice and big, but plain. And then it was inherited by a Monsieur Paul de Verneville, and he inherited lots of money. It was actually he married into the family. The chateau originally was owned by his new wife's father. They were young, they were rich, and they wanted to show off. They demolished one wing, rebuilt that and demolished another wing. You get the idea. And they built it. They redid it in stages there. Obviously, there was the First World War. So that kind of put a spanner in the works. And it was never completely finished. But it was finished around 1920. The final finish was done in 19, around 1920. And it's been exactly the same ever since. It's had a succession of owners throughout the years. First of all, there was the Pellier family. They owned it for quite a long time, up until the year 2000, from 1920 to the year 2000, so 80 years it was in their family. Then it went from a couple of different owners who didn't really do much with it. And now we have it. The Pethericks are in possession of a great big chateau with lots of land. And that's quite that's quite that's quite that's quite a feat because we used to live in a caravan when we were children. So just just giving you that a bit of information. So anyway, so I digress. So we're in the chateau. This is the entrance hall. Now, that staircase was finally finished in the year 1920. So it's about 100 and 103 years old. So we'll have a look at that, first of all. This great big bifurcating staircase, which means it goes up and then splits into two, is made from solid French white oak, which was locally sourced about 100 years ago. And it's in the Gothic style. So you have these beautiful carved oak leaves. They call this like a crotchet. It's sort of you have them on roofs of buildings as well. Gothic buildings that have that. And you have this beautiful finial, which is carved from a solid block of oak, and it's sort of got oak leaves. And it's in the shape of a stylized acorn. And you've got this beautiful if you look down here, you've got this beautiful chamfered corners. Very Gothic. It's Gothic Revival, but very late Gothic Revival, because Gothic Revival came back with full force in the in the 19th century. And they did it everywhere. They did it to death. Gothic. But in the sort of turn of the century, it was going out of fashion. And at that point, they'd started to tone it down. They'd started to tone it right down. So it's a very, very simplified Gothic. But it's absolutely beautiful. And if you want to make an entrance, this is the place to do it. So just behind me, there is the the great big front door, which is also in a Gothic style. It's wrought iron. It's absolutely beautiful. And it's got beautiful carved wood all around it. So interestingly, the front door is actually a stylized portcullis, which you would see on a medieval castle. So it's not that shaped by accident. And this design here is called a linen fold. That's very Gothic as well. And that goes all the way around the room. And this is quite a special object. I have told a few people about this before. But this this was part of the royal baggage train of King Louis the 14th of France, the Bourbon King, the Sun King. And years ago, when he moved around the country, he would have had probably hundreds of these and his personal belongings would have been packed in to these trunks by his servants. They would go on to carts or carriages and they would follow him in what was known as the royal baggage train. And we are very, very lucky to have this because this is from the 17th century. So it was made in 16 something. We don't know exactly what year. It could be almost 400 years old. And I tell you what, they're well made years ago because it's in really good condition. So, yeah. So let's move on to some other things up here. We have the obligatory stag head stags head. This is a monarch stag. And I think, you know, it's a monarch by the amount of. Points it has on its antlers, I think it's over 14. It's a monarch. So, yeah, we have monarch of the glen there and nice oak cabinet. Up there is part of a nativity scene carved from solid oak. So you have there you have the Virgin Mary. I think here you might have Joseph. That is a wise man. We've got baby Jesus and a shepherd. They're in different areas of the chateau. So, yeah, we've got the whole set. What's also very interesting is if you stand back, Florian, we just show you this table is actually a little bit wonky at the minute and to spin it around this table. We bought when we first moved here from a local antique shop, literally about 20 minutes from here. And what was really interesting is that when this chateau was sold many years ago, they held an auction and they sold the entire contents. They sold everything, every single piece of furniture, every chandelier, every light fitting. It was it was bad. There was nothing left. But a guy who was the family that bought it in 1920, he was the grandson and he sort of grew up here. He came here in all of his summer holidays as a child. When he came here, he looked at this table and said, oh, the table's still here. The entrance hall table is still here. And we just we didn't say anything. And he also said the same thing about the dining room table as well. He said, oh, the table's still here. But we bought that in the same town about 20 minutes away. So we actually think they might have been from the chateau because sometimes pieces of furniture that are so large. People don't buy them because they don't fit in normal houses. They're built large for chateaus. So we think some of the things that we've purchased are by coincidence, actually the original contents. A lot of the history was lost when the whole contents were sold. So, you know, it's nice to to have things back and things that fit the place, things that should be here. Things that fit the period and things that fit the style. So I feel like a tour guide. If you care to follow me. This is a grandfather clock. This is an English grandfather clock. Mahogany. It doesn't work at the minute. It will work one day. We just need an orologist to to repair it so that, you know, it'd be nice to be in the chateau and hear the the distant dong of a grandfather clock in the distance. You know, it's really sets the scene, doesn't it? So that is. Yeah, we bought that. Everything you'll see, every single piece of furniture in here has been bought in the last six years because, as I said, there was nothing. They stripped the place bare. So I'll just show you a little couple of little things while we're here. A couple more little things. A couple of little morsels. There we go. Look at that gorgeous little. It was gilt once upon a time, which means guilt. Well, you know, if you're dumb, guilt means they put gold on it. But yeah, it was guilt once upon a time. So it's not shiny as it used to be, but it is a candelabra. So an interesting fact. And in English, we would say a chandelier, a chandelier, chandelier is is we would say it's something that hangs from the ceiling, which is a big ornate thing with crystals on it and light bulbs or candles. But in France, a chandelier is this. This is a chandelier, which is a candle. So something that holds candles. And in France, a chandelier is called a lustre, which is like a lustre, a lustre. So so, yeah, so this is a chandelier, actually, technically. And once upon a time, it would have held candles, but it's been rewired at some point. And what they have is now they have these glass, glass candles and they go over this. But it's it needs rewiring because if you were to plug this in, it probably blow the electrics and electrocute you. So we just keep it for for decoration right now. And if you care to observe to to your right, to my left, we have a woman here in a in a wistful repose. And we don't know who she is with. She is possible that. No, no, I'm mistaken. I thought it was St. Barbara, but St. Barbara is over there. So we don't know who this woman is. She is depicted here with a book and a skull. And there's a sort of little god rays coming down from up there. But somebody, somebody, some prude has painted over her ariola to to to protect her modesty. But actually, underneath this layer of paint will be a little surprise. Well, she doesn't actually have a name. So today I'm going to christen this painting, Madam Teton Cachet. It sounds quite posh, doesn't it? But to you and me in English, that means Mrs. Hidden Nipple. So, yeah, that is that's a nice little painting. And behind me, these doors, actually, they go down another set of stairs and then another set of stairs which go into the basement. But we're not going to go there yet because we are going to go into the Chateau's library. Well, hello. Let me just switch the light on. A little discreet light switch there. So this is the Chateau's library. It's technically not a library because a library is a collection of over 1,000 books. And we don't have over 1,000 books in here. We just have a few. But this is the place where you would display your library. So so behind me, there are these these great big cabinets for displaying and storing a library. And you can see they've got glass in. Now, these aren't made of oak. They're made of something a bit cheaper. And we know from some other areas that are hidden up that originally it was painted to look like oak, which is quite a fashionable thing to do years ago. You know, after the First World War. Oak was scarce because all the brave young men that used to go and cut down the trees, a lot of them died in the war. So building materials were scarce. So they would import cheap pine or or something else. And then they would have artists come in and paint it to look like oak. And underneath this white paint, that's what's there. But somebody has sort of, you know, it looks a bit dingy. It looks a bit dark in here. This is a north the north side of the building. So, you know, it doesn't get that much daylight. So they painted it a nice French gray. And I think it looks beautiful. It would be nice to have some sort of gold edging on it. But, you know, I'm always wanting to put gold on everything. Billy's always raining me and saying, you know, don't make it too tacky. You know, it's meant to it's not meant to be Versailles. So so, yeah. And interestingly, this these panels here were glass. They are still glass, but they've been painted by somebody, which is good because it's a great place to store junk. Those of those loads of cookbooks and Mrs. Beaton's cookbook there. Yeah, loads of cookbooks and junk. So it's good that they're painted. And let's have a little look. Let's have a look in the cupboard, shall we? Should be a bit nosy. What's lurking around here? Ah, this this is interesting. This is what is this? I believe it might be a ceremonial helmet of a pompier, which is a fireman in France. And in France, the firemen are a little bit different to the way they are in the UK. They're actually double up as an ambulance. But they do have, unlike the the English firemen, they do have a ceremonial military style dress, which they wear for special occasions. And this is an antique. What do you think? Does this suit me? It's a bit wobbly. It would have a chin strap normally, which would keep it secure. Which is lovely, actually, very nice. I believe that might actually be the chin strap there, which has been tied up over the front instead of underneath. I think that's what it is. So we'll put that back. And what else have we got in here? How old is this book? Let's have a look. This book may even be older than the United States of America. It's a religious book of prayers for every religious holiday, Catholic religious holiday, like Saints Days. Yeah, you've got all of the different ones. You've got Epiphany. So this would start Epiphany, which is usually the 5th of January, I believe. So it would start with Epiphany. And also it has hymns, prayers and hymns and stories. And this book is probably about 400 years old, I think. It's not a bad condition for 400 years old. We do have some older ones. Before people had iPads and iPhones, they would carry around a book. And usually you would get this sort of book for, it would be given to you for your confirmation. Or when you became an adult, you would be given a book and they would be very, very expensive, these books years ago. And they were a book of prayer. And you would carry it around with you. And if you were feeling very pious and you wanted to say a prayer to the Lord Pious. Speaking of pious, it's Piety. Piety. Yeah, Piety. Look, it's a book of piety. There we go. So if you're feeling pious and you wanted to say a prayer, you would pull out your little prayer book and carry it around with them. But actually, you would have collections of these as well. If you were rich, you could have a full collections of them, different volumes. Aha. This is very interesting. This is a walking stick. So if you're feeling a little bit infirm and you needed, you know, a bit of support for your aching joints, your dodgy knee, you were taking a little walk down the street, but you encountered a little ruffian who tried to steal your wallet. You could take the sword out and run them through and you'd keep your wallet. So there you go. And that actually belonged to my grandfather. So that that's not a recent purchase. It's it's Victorian. And in the film Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr., he has an identical one, actually, as a prop, which I did notice that he's got. He's got my grandfather's walking stick there. So there you go. Ah, ah, speaking of swords. What's that? A cutlass? Very nice. You know, I was thinking of making myself a Captain Jack Sparrow costume, and he does have a very similar one to that. I think he's a bit shorter, his one. But yeah, I tell you what, this place is full of surprises, even though I don't know what's in here. So, ah. On the subject of being pious and religious here, here we have the baby Jesus. Very sweet. You know, there you go. Born in a manger. And the lowly cattle watching on and all of that. He's part of the the nativity scene. And he does have a little oak manger there. Just a little manger there. So that's meant to come out at Christmas. And what we do is we try and keep most of them separate throughout the year. And then at Christmas, we bring them all together. So there you go. That is the cupboard. And this is a 110 year old gramophone, which still works. Yes, I love this one. Gets me every time. Favourite song. Yeah, enough of that. So that is a gramophone. We do have a huge, absolutely huge collection of records for it. And I'm not sure, I think they're called, I think they're 78s. I think they're 78s. I'm not sure. They're made of shellac, I know that. And there's quite a collection there. So it'll be fun one day to go through them and look for some classics. So moving on. This now, this is very special. This clock is is absolutely stunning. It is. It has a very special story. It was actually owned by. None other than Marie Antoinette. No, I'm joking, it wasn't really. We don't know who owned it, but it's a beautiful it's a beautiful clock and it's got a glass dome under. They always had glass domes over them years ago because they were intricately cast and they were gilt. And they had obviously you didn't want to get dust in the mechanism and things like that. So they would cover them in these beautiful glass domes. So you can keep keep them clean. And that is why underneath the gilding is very, very well, it's almost pristine. But below below is something very interesting. If we just move this antique fire screen out of the way. So this fireplace behind me has there's a very special story to this fireplace, unlike the fake story that I just gave you. This fireplace was actually from the original chateau, the one that was here before the one that they demolished and it was taken out and it was put back in. Now, this this fireplace was a gift and it was gifted to General Charles du Vivier, who owned the chateau before. Paul de Vernville, who built the new one, it was owned by him and he was a general in the Prussian war and he was one of Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte, one of his generals. And obviously he, you know, did a lot of things that pleased the emperor Napoleon, and he gave him this fireplace as a gift. It's a beautiful greenish black marble. I don't know if you can see in the light there, but it does have a hint of green. But what's really interesting is under here. This is this cast iron fire insert is what tells you that it was from Napoleon because it bears his symbol, which was the bee. And it's here, the repeating bee pattern, the honeybee. Something you just walk past every day and don't really give a second thought to. But it was given to General Charles du Vivier by Napoleon Bonaparte. And it's here. Here it is. There we go. But I'm sure he gave everyone fireplaces and I'm sure I don't think it was very special. He probably gave them out like sweets. He was a very opulent man. You know, earlier when I was talking about how they used to paint wood to look like cheap wood, to look like wood. Well, here they painted metal to look like wood. So they've painted this solid cast iron safe to look like mahogany. This is also a crystal chandelier. Like I said earlier, a chandelier in France is a candle holder, a candlestick. I have no idea what they're for. What is that for? Do you know what that's for? It's not a candle holder, is it? No way to put the candle inside. Are they vases? They're crystal. Crystal vases. Very nice. I've never seen those before. But they are there in the in the sort of chasse style. The chasse means hunting in France. So they're in the chasse style carved oak. These are foxes. And on this side, you have some hunting dogs and surrounded by beautiful ferns. And they look like oak leaves. But they do have a ding to them, don't they? Yeah. You know, there's no cracks in it because it dings. So they are. Yeah, they're vases. That's what they are. So this grand. You might have to stand back, Florian, because this is huge. I want you to get the whole thing in. Can you can you see this? Can you see all of it yet? Can you see all of it? Because it's quite big. This is an 18th century armoire, which means wardrobe. This is an 18th century armoire. And Billy bought it for one of the bedrooms. And it doesn't fit up the stairs. It doesn't fit up. I think it fits up the stairs, but doesn't fit through the bedroom doors is too big. So it's here and this is where it will stay. And it's actually I've just got deja vu. I've said this before. I said this in my first video, and that was exactly three years ago. But it is our cleaning cupboard. So here we are. And I tell you what, a building like this, it needs cleaning a lot because more more rooms, more space means more dust. So this is the cleaning cupboard. And you might find there used to be a vacuum in there, but we've got a new bigger vacuum and it has to be hidden out the back now. So, yeah, that is the cleaning armoire from the 18th century. So it probably dates to about 1650. 1750, sorry. It's it's very, very old. And I believe it's carved from walnut. And it's in the Rococo style, which was very popular with sort of Louis the fifth, Louis the 15th, Louis the 15th could have even been the late the late 17th century. But I think it's early 18th century. Early to mid late. I feel like I'm on Antiques Roadshow. Yes, no, no. My appraisal is it's probably worth about two million pounds. Yes, it's not. It's probably not worth that at all. Oh, look at this. This smoking cavalier here. Looks quite cheerful, doesn't it? I don't think that's tobacco smoking in there by the look on his face. Anyway, moving on. Yes. Yeah, I won't put my feet on there because it's not really something you want to put shoes on, but it's a beautiful suite and it's a beautiful library. It just needs some work. It needs. We haven't done anything in this room apart from put furniture in here. We need to polish the floor still. We need to varnish the floors. We need to repaint the ceiling, which is a bit dusty and grubby in places, and I still I'm absolutely certain that there needs to be some gold trim on those cupboards. So after I have to ask Billy and see what he says. So should we move on to the dining room?