The BEST episodes of Escape to the Château
Every episode of Escape to the Château ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Escape to the Château!
Angel and Dick Strawbridge swap their two-bed flat in Essex for an abandoned French château. Can they bring its 45 rooms and acres of land back to life?
#1 - Winter Garden Room
Season 9 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/11/2022
Dick and Angel create a conservatory-style winter garden room. Meanwhile, the chateau is busy hosting its biggest wedding ever, so there is also lots of organisation to do. Dick and Angel organise a huge Christmas party for all their family and friends, and it's time to sort out the invites - which involve fudge, sparkles and a tin can.
#2 - Moat, Pineapple Chandeliers and a Wedding
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 6/19/2016
Dick and Angel are due to marry in just a few weeks, expecting 200 guests. But room after room still needs to be restored, decorated and furnished, and the moat still needs fixing.
#3 - Fishing, Foraging and an Elevator
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 12/4/2016
Keen to expand the business, Dick and Angel Strawbridge consider moat fishing, woodland foraging and installing a lift. Will the chateau survive such a monumental conversion?
#4 - Colour Boards, Rendering & an Old Gadage
Season 8 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/5/2021
Angel sets about restoring the Chateau's walls to their original glory using computer mock-ups to try and match the existing colour. Part of a traditional device used for making cider is discovered while clearing out the piggery, so the hunt is soon on to locate the rest of it. Inspired by the ancient piece of machinery, the family collects apples to make their very own juice.
#5 - Bling Birthday Party
Season 9 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/27/2022
After eight long years, the peach tree in the walled garden is finally fruiting, and Dick, Angel, Arthur, and Dorothy can't wait to try the very first peach ever grown by the Strawbridge family. Dick and Angel will also soon be hosting a very important 50th birthday party for one of their closest friends, Sophie, without whom they would never have met.
#6 - Pop-Up Restaurant, Orangery, Celebration
Season 7 - Episode 5 - Aired 12/13/2020
The whole family help to build an open kitchen and create a pop-up restaurant in the orangery to celebrate Dick and Angel's fifth wedding anniversary. Plus: a special fairy-tale carriage delivery.
#7 - Sloe Gin, Library & Ceiling Rose
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 11/22/2020
With autumn just around the corner, it's a chance for the Strawbridge family to make the most of the wild larder on their doorstep. Dick is determined to make sloe gin, while Angel presses on with her plan to create a library in the pepper pot tower.
#8 - Weddings & Aviaries
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/17/2019
The start of the wedding season sees Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree at their busiest, with events booked all through the summer, but there is still time to make improvements. Angel has her sights set on transforming the gravelled area at the front of the chateau into a thing of beauty and the whole family take a trip to Monet's stunning house and garden, where a plan for the chateau's very own water lily patch is hatched.
#9 - Harvest Time
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/16/2018
It's harvest time at the chateau. But there's still time for family wheelbarrow races, to give the basement a swish makeover, and to convert the old piggery into a chicken coop.
#10 - Angel's Palace of Dreams
Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 7/10/2016
In this More4 version with additional footage, Dick and Angel prepare to marry in just a few weeks. But room after room still needs restoring.
#11 - They're Our Flies
Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 7/3/2016
This More4 version contains previously unseen footage. Dick, Angel and the family move into their crumbling chateau with flies everywhere.
#12 - Winter Returns
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 11/3/2019
Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree enter their fifth year of living in France. With more weddings and events booked in than ever, the couple prepare for their busiest year yet. In order to feed a total of 1,500 guests, Dick and Angel begin renovating the back of the basement, creating a brand new, state-of-the-art events kitchen with a half-ton oven. Engineer Dick faces a complicated plumbing issue. Angel has a kitchen design challenge. And there's a magical birthday party for young Dorothy.
#14 - Only 20 Rooms to Go
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/24/2017
The couple get cracking on the 20 rooms that still need fixing. Angel buys a clapped-out van. And what have the tree surgeons done to the lime trees?
#15 - Escape to the Château at Christmas
Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 12/19/2021
Dick, Angel, Arthur and Dorothy enjoy a magical festive adventure in this Christmas episode, with a family celebration inspired by a very special part of France - Colmar in the Alsace region, close to the German border. They discover an enchanting medieval town that makes Christmas feel more magical than ever. It's not long before they are taking part in a festive treasure hunt, sampling local baked delicacies, trying their hand at fondue, and discovering the ice and crémant wines that the region is synonymous with. Back at the chateau, the Strawbridge traditions are not forgotten. Angel, her mum Jenni and Dorothy head out into the chateau grounds to collect the fir and foliage to make the annual Christmas wreath.
#16 - Mollusc Madness & Key Moulding
Season 8 - Episode 7 - Aired 12/12/2021
Work continues on the chateau's roof and exterior walls, but Dick and Angel uncover more issues... And can Papi Steve make a second front door key from the huge 150-year-old one?
#17 - Attic & a Celestial-Inspired Sky Bar
Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 11/28/2021
Angel discovers that the chateau has a vast attic space running the length of the building and rising to the ridge of the roof. While Dick is glad to have some more storage space, Angel has bigger plans - transforming it into a space-inspired bar complete with balconies from which they can watch the stars. The project will require skylights, a new staircase and unique use of insulation - but proves worth it when a cloudless night provides the perfect chance to look for shooting stars.
#18 - Storage & Memory Furnishings
Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 11/14/2021
Arthur and Dorothy are now seven and eight, and growing up fast. They will soon need separate bedrooms - so Angel comes up with an ingenious plan to create a mezzanine. As the re-slating of the roof continues, Dick and Angel not only launch into knocking down walls and building new ones but preserving old wallpaper, creating memory furnishings from the kids' old clothes, as well as finding time to pick some strawberries in the garden.
#19 - Great British Garden Party & the Roof
Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/7/2021
Dick and Angel throw a garden party for Arthur and Dorothy's friends, with traditional games including handmade giant dominoes and a treasure hunt around the Chateau grounds. Angel makes a layered jelly with ice cream and another of her specialities - rose petal and honey sandwiches. Meanwhile, the scaffolding arrives and work can start on re-slating the Chateau roof for the first time in 150 years.
#20 - Chateau Roof & the Preserves Cupboard
Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/31/2021
Dick and Angel start work on the biggest, messiest and most expensive job they've ever done at the Chateau - repairing, re-tiling and re-insulating the whole of the original roof. They also transform the preserves cupboard and go hunting in the walled garden for ingredients to make home-grown mint tea and rainbow sweetcorn relish.
#21 - Gardening & the Coach House
Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/24/2021
Dick, Angel, Arthur and Dorothy share more enchanting tales from the Chateau, as they continue the renovation of their 19th-century fairytale home and grounds. With weddings and events on hold for the second year, Dick and Angel bite the bullet and make the big decision to tackle the exterior of the Chateau. The roof and outside walls are their biggest project to date and the Chateau quickly becomes a building site.
#22 - Escape to the Château at Christmas
Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 12/25/2020
In this festive special, the Strawbridges take inspiration from Christmases past in a 19th-century ledger they find in the attic, and create a winter wonderland complete with an ice rink.
#23 - Orangery, Daybeds & Unexpected History
Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 12/6/2020
Dick and Angel Strawbridge attempt to renovate the orangery with the help of a roofing expert and some pre-loved slate, all the way from Wales, They also discover some unexpected history beneath their feet, and Angel finds two old daybeds in need of upcycling.
#24 - Escape to the Chateau at Christmas
Season 10 - Episode 5 - Aired 7/10/2026
Winter brings magic to the Chateau as Dick and Angel host their annual Helpers' Christmas. With ambitious feasts and handmade gits the celebration culminates in a chilly surprise.
#25 - Wash House, Trench & Vintage Bike
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 11/29/2020
Dick and Angel start work on turning the old wash house into a bathroom for their boat on the moat. Angel's imagination runs wild when they discover a huge trench. And a vintage bike gets a refurb.