Dick Strawbridge fumes son, 11, is ‘too French’ over behaviour change after leaving Britain: ‘Creating mongrels!’
Dick Strawbridge and Angel Adoree have opened up about the differences they’ve seen in their children compared to youngsters living in the UK.
The husband and wife duo – from County Antrim, Northern Ireland, and London, England, respectively – upped sticks for a life in north-western France following the purchase of the derelict Château de la Motte-Husson in 2015.
The pair garnered a huge fanbase following the purchase as Channel 4’s Escape to the Chateau documented the renovations – all while juggling being parents to two young children.
Strawbridge and Adoree welcomed their eldest child Arthur, 11, in January 2013 while their daughter Dorothy, 10, was born in April the following year.
The family recently returned to the UK for their nationwide tour but speaking on their podcast, Dick & Angel’s Chat…Eau, the former Channel 4 presenting duo revealed they spotted a marked change in son Arthur’s behaviour once they returned to their French home.
Strawbridge raised the issue on the latest episode of the pod, titled Getting Back Into The Swing!, when discussing driving Arthur to school for his first day back.
“This morning, going in, Arthur and I had this conversation – you don’t know this – about what’s the word for ‘mist’ and what is the word for ‘fog’?” Strawbridge began.
“Is there a difference in France between mist and fog? Because there is! And Arthur didn’t know.”
Strawbridge then struggled to repeat the conversation: “So I did my thing and said something like, ‘Bloo-yey, bloo-yeh’, and I tried to make my lips sound like a French person which didn’t work. So I didn’t get the word out right.”
The words escaping Strawbridge were “brouillard” for fog and “brume” for mist – something his son was adamant he’d remembered.
Strawbridge detailed: “And (Arthur) said, ‘No, dad, that’s completely wrong’. So we had a whole conversation and then he looked it up on his phone on the way in in the car and he said the same word back to me!
“I’ve forgotten what it is so I can’t even repeat it,” he continued before Adoree chimed in: “But he said it probably a little bit better.”
Strawbridge conceded: “He said it better. He said it with more of a French accent, but it was the same word.
“And I said, ‘You have become too French! You’ve just repeated the same word I’ve said with a different accent!'” an irked Strawbridge said. “It was the same word.”
Adoree chuckled before she revealed her own experience with their son leaning into his Francophilia.
“Last night, you’d made this beautiful soup and Arthur said, ‘I’d like a little sandwich but I’d like ham and cornichons’,” she explained.
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Sharing that even Arthur realised he was leaning into his French mannerisms, Adoree added: “And then he looked at us and he said, ‘I’m French, aren’t I?’
“And it’s those culinary sort of things that remind you that actually our children – whilst they are very, very British – have very French mannerisms.”
“They’ve got the French experience,” Strawbridge replied as they shared a laugh over Arthur’s request for cornichons before the 65-year-old quipped: “We’re creating mongrels.”
After reflecting on the Frenchification of their upbringing compared to British schoolchildren, Adoree commented: “I’m proud of them.”