Doing It Ourselves - Episode 1

My name is Michael Petherick and I live with my family at Chateau de la Basmaignee in north west France.
My brother and his fiancé bought this building with some inheritance money three years ago and we are slowly restoring it to live in, and run as a business.
It’s always a financial struggle to keep the place going and we have to work hard to keep our heads above water, but we love it and wouldn’t have It any other way.
When they knew that they were buying the château, my brother asked me if I would like to move over and take part in their new adventure... so I packed my bags, gave up my life in England and moved here to help bring this place back to life.
We do all the renovations ourselves including construction, decorating and collecting antique furniture that we buy cheaply to restore. Our goal is to fill the château with beauty and life as it once was.
I have a passion for history, art and all things old.
These videos are a series of stories about my life and experiences living in a French castle.
We film and edit everything ourselves.
I’ll be showing all aspects of life here, from renovation and DIY, to crafts and baking, art, daily life and a bit of fun thrown in for good measure. There’s much more to see and our journey is still just beginning.

Help me to keep making videos and restoring this building by visiting my patreon page.

Follow the château behind the scenes on Instagram

Visit the chateau website

Link to my friend Stephanie’s tour:

All Music Licensed through Epidemic Sound

Michael’s rough sulatana scones.
This recipe works best when done by hand the old fashioned way. Food mixers tend to ruin the final texture.

Makes 8 (double ingredients for 16)
Preheat oven to 220C/200-fan oven (420f)

Ingredients.
240g Plain Flour (or half plain / half bread flour)
1 tsp Cream or tartar
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
90g Unsalted butter (chilled)
45g Caster Sugar
90g Sulatanas
1 Large egg
100ml Milk
( If you don’t have cream of tartar or bicarbonate of soda, you can use 1 slightly heaped teaspoon of baking powder instead. Although the cream of tartar and bicarb’ tastes much better)

Method:
Sift together flour, sugar, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.
Cut chilled butter into small cubes and add to bowl.
Gently rub the butter and dry mix together between thumb and fingers. (This bit requires patience)
When completely combined your mixture should look like fine breadcrumbs.
Add the sultanas.
Beat together the egg and milk in a separate bowl and add to the mix - saving just enough to brush a tiny bit on each scone before baking. (One or two tablespoons full)
Mix well with a wooden spoon until fully combined.
The texture should be a fluffy but firm, slightly sticky paste.
Spoon 8 separate heaped tablespoons of mixture on to your baking tray, lined with a silicon baking sheet or greased baking paper.
Space evenly to give them enough room to double in size when baking.
Add any leftover mix to the scones that seem smaller than the rest. Or scoop some mix from oversized ones to add to the smallest.
There should be 8 evenly sized mounds.
Gently fluff up each scone with the tip of the spoon so each one has a slightly spiky texture.
Gently brush on a little of the remaining egg/milk mix.
Bake in the oven on the middle shelf for 15 minutes, or until risen and golden.

[ninetyninebeat]

Who else got this video randomly pop up in recommendation? Not gonna complain tho 👍

[Sasha-qfeu]

So you bought an old, broken down Chateau and now you're living there whilst fully renovating it? I think I just found my dream in life

[viceshark]

I’m actually surprised this isn’t a television series.

[martinsdontjump]

I feel cheated that this has been on YouTube for 5 months and I've only, just now, discovered it. What a gem!

[storiesofblue]

"It's an absolutely gorgeous day at the chateau" let's be honest we are all aspiring to say this sentence once in our life

[peggyvick]

Michael,
PLEASE take us on a tour, of EVERY ROOM, giving us their history.

[MarinaGarrison]

The BBC or Netflix needs to pick this up as a TV series. This guy is the perfect TV presenter. Informative, well-spoken and not hard on the eyes!

[DFInkarnation]

''the chateau didnt come with furniture'' meanwhile all the furniture he bought for it looks like it belongs there, good taste
if i was in charge wed be sitting in camping chairs and everything would be IKEA

[danielbreugem]

dear youtube recommendations,


you did good showing this to all of us

[autumncottagediarist]

What a lovely thing to do - to release this new channel when we are all in the depths of gloom and worry. Thank you Michael - and keep safe and healthy, everyone!!!

[michellecelesteNW]

He's cute, he cooks, he cleans, he's got a flippen chateau! What mad world is this that he's single?

[danielle]

A guy after my heart. He cleans, bakes, and loves his mom.

[dan_ta_lion]

Imagine living there as a child and discovered a secret door that leads to an enchanted forest 😍😍😍

[the.annethology]

Their kid will be like..
Parents: Go to your room!!!
*30 days later*
Kid is heard shutting the door😂

[rachel]

Who’s watching from the US and completely smitten by their accent and the fairytale-like home? 🙋🏻‍♀️

[lotsoflovemadelief]

"lives in a castle, bakes scones, kind to kids, has a dog and speaks beautifully British" i think youtube has found its new prince charming ^^

[emmagaines]

This is like Downton Abbey, but modern day without the drama.

[SuperBotanica]

it's so nice to see someone using REAL tea and no waste in tea bags

[NDRonin]

Bought it with 'some inheritance money' ...
When my grandma died I inherited about 10.000 euro, but the only chateau I could buy with that was a bottle of wine.

[piperuk]

Everyone has already paid all the beautiful compliments that I wanted to, so, I'm going to take this moment to say : you look like a cross between Robert Pattinson and Daniel Radcliffe 😁👍