Yahoo News Dick and Angel Strawbridge reflect on 18-year age gap and most romantic moments
The Escape to the Chateau stars reveal the most romantic moments
Dick and Angel Strawbridge reflected on their 18-year age gap and most romantic moments, with Dick telling Yahoo: "We fell in love very quickly."
The Strawbridges returned to our screens with mini travel series Secret France in recent weeks but the stars have no plans to film another Escape to the Chateau series. This autumn, the couple are returning to the UK with their 2024 tour Forever Home which launches their latest project Jack of All Trades to find a person in the audience who can apply themselves to anything from washing a goat's feet to building a water feature.
Looking back on how it all started, the Escape to the Chateau stars spoke to Yahoo about their early days that saw them make the life-changing decision to move to France and renovate a chateau. Dick, 64, and Angel, 46, reflected on falling in love with each other.
Dick and Angel Strawbridge reflect on age-gap
Dick said: "We fell in love very quickly actually, soppy but we did. We made the big decision that we were going to be together because of the age difference. The age difference was something I was very aware of...
"I knew when I met Angela, to say we were going to be together meant having another family because she was always meant to be a mum and we just knew that. So when we first got together, it was always going to be right, let's go for it. And it didn't take very long to make that decision between the two of us. We just knew it was right."
Their age difference didn't faze Angel at all. In fact, she knew straight away that their love "felt right". Angel said: "When you when you fall in love properly and it's that love at first sight you just don't even question it. There were no worries. There was no anxiety, the age difference which you [Dick] were slightly worried about, but I didn't have a problem with that at all. It just felt right. It was not really thought about. We made the decision to be together and then we were just together."
Their ages fast tracked their romance as Dick said they had to have children quite quickly when they met in 2010. The couple set their hearts on the idea of renovating a chateau and building a family together in rural France.
Dick explained: "If we were going to be together, we had to have the children quite quickly to be honest about it, because I was upward of 50 when I first met Angela. And so consequently, that whole mindset about what we were doing, we wanted to start living our life straight away.
"And that's why we had to make the decision where we were going to live. We knew we were going to have a little kiddy winkles. And the idea of them being bilingual and going down to the shop to get sort of baguettes in the little village of France was a good idea."
Three years into their relationship they welcomed their son Arthur in 2013 and then they had their daughter Dorothy in 2014. The following year, they married in a fairytale wedding at their family home. Their family story has played out on Escape to the Chateau which was filmed for nine series from 2015 until 2022.
Dick and Angel's most romantic moments
We saw how creative Angel and Dick were on Escape to the Chateau. The couple have brought their creativity to their relationship over the years by planning some of the most romantic surprises. "I planted the wildflower meadow," Dick said. "She always had flowers in her life because working in hospitality. She always had bought flowers. So I think planting the flowers."
Angel said she loved the wildflower meadow but she added: "I would say the most romantic thing that you've done me, and I love that, is the poetry. He writes me poetry. We haven't had as much time recently. That was really lovely." Dick joked that he "sounds soppy". "We are romantic and a bit cheesy in our way," Angel said.
Dick was amazed that Angel whisked him away for a romantic break away to Florence in the early days of their relationship. "I've never been taken away," he said. "And I literally didn't know what was going on. I got taken away to Florence and we had the most amazing time."
Angel also shared the time she recreated Dick's grandfather's turquoise and gold parker pen, a Parker 51, which no longer exists. "So I bought three vintage Parker pens off of eBay and I made it into this one pen. All the different elements off of it," she said. "We were in Cornwall. I came to see you when you were filming. That was a little gift that had a lot of thought."
What's next for Dick and Angel
While Escape to the Chateau won't return for another series, the Strawbridges promised they aren't going anywhere. They are focusing their efforts into their other projects away from the TV including their UK tour Forever Home as well as a new book, A Taste of the Chateau, and their podcast.
Angel said: "We've got this other project that we're launching on our tour, which is the Jack of All Trades and we are going to have a festival here and we are gonna absolutely capture it and share that. We're launching it in October and that's gonna be a lot of fun. We haven't gone anywhere. We've got our podcast. We're still sort of really engaged with our community."
Dick & Angels Forever Home is touring the UK in 2024.
