I saw some comments recently on FaceBook about how the Chateau owners recently featured on Escape to the Chateau DIY have progressed with their renovations, so I did a bit of research.
Let’s start with Le Fleur which is located in Gonneville-sur-Honfleur, Normandy, the home of Anna (the English fashion designer) and Philipp the Italian filmmaker along with their 2 two daughters. You will recall seeing Philipp excavating the hallway to install pipes, as well as working furiously on getting their private quarters livable ahead of the colder months. In the meantime Anna designed some beautiful (and very “girly”) wallpaper for her daughters’ room while Philipp totally renovated and insulated the windows, walls and floors.
Anna gave us some interesting insight into their history, this is what she had to say on Facebook:
I’m Anna, an English former fashion and textiles designer. I moved to Paris aged 23 to work for Balmain, and stayed for the croissants, wine and of course my husband Philipp, a German speaking Italian film maker.
After 10 amazing years, getting married, buying and renovating 2 places and having 2 babies, we decided city life was no longer for us.
Philipp had been dreaming of buying a chateau since the day we met and finally convinced me, which is how in 2018 we ended up coming to visit our chateau. It wasn’t an easy process but after 8 months we finally got the keys in May 2019. I quit my job, and we did several months of traveling back every weekend from Paris as Philipp began solo renovations until we finally moved in the July.
Since then it’s been over a year of full on renovations and starting our new guest house business. We finally opened our doors in August this year with 3 guest rooms, in a less than ideal moment but we’ve been so grateful for all the lovely guests we’ve already been able to welcome.
Having a small budget means we do most of the renovations work ourselves, learning a lot of new skills as we go, building muscles we never knew we had, and getting creative to make the chateau as personal as possible, so when we’re not hosting you’ll find us probably covered in paint or dust but it’s all part of this crazy adventure and we wouldn’t change it for anything!
For viewers who recently met Anna and Phillip on Escape to the Chateau DIY, what they have achieved is truly remarkable. Their dream, of what to us viewers seemed like a monumental task, has become a reality. Their Chateau is open for guests (restrictions permitting) in one of 3 lovely rooms (click for photos lefleur.fr/en/rooms-bnb-honfleur).
I’m sure you will all join us in wishing Anna and Philipp much luck in their new venture and wishes for a long and happy life at Chateau le Fleur.
This is their website https://lefleur.fr/en/ and their Facebook page www.facebook.com/lefleur.guesthouse
