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(CNN) — What do you get if you put a former opera singer, two ex-boyfriends, her French mom, an adopted Scottish brother, a Dutch tango teacher, a Norwegian flower designer and a cheery Argentine home supervisor collectively into a sprawling 40-room French chateau?
Buying the chateau
Stephanie Jarvis pooled her sources with her ex and determined to purchase a chateau with him.
Michael Potts
“For the price of my two-bedroom flat and Nic’s two-bedroom flat, we were able to buy this chateau. It was the same amount of money as the sale of those two. It’s completely insane,”Jarvis says.
Jarvis had grown up in a giant house in England after her British father and French mom purchased a giant nation property and set about making it into a house for Alzheimer’s sufferers. Her mother and father, each nurses, believed dwelling in stunning environment can be helpful for the sufferers. So the Jarvis household moved into the attic and positioned the sufferers into the primary home under.
Flash-forward a number of years and Jarvis, then 29 and half-heartedly pursuing a profession in opera, determined she missed dwelling in a giant, joyful house surrounded by individuals. So she pooled her sources with her ex and determined to purchase a chateau with him.
“For me, I just love being with loads and loads of people around me. There’s nothing I enjoy about the thought of living alone in a flat.”
Chateau de Lalande
Jarvis scoured the French countryside for the right chateau, one not too near main roadways however not too removed from vital facilities (like cheese outlets and good thrift shops).
A dashing ex … and an elusive one
Potts, who was remarkably encouraging of his then-girlfriend shopping for a chateau with her ex, just lately purchased into the property, and now Chateau de Lalande is collectively owned by the three of them.
While Jarvis spends a lot of the 12 months on the chateau, the opposite two house owners spend a vital period of time away.
Stephanie and Michael Potts, a co-owner, recognize spur-of-the-moment disco events, James Bond nights and indulgent Versailles-inspired galas.
Michael Potts
Nic, referred to as “the elusive Nic” within the “Chateau Diaries,” usually shuns the highlight and prefers to not seem on digicam when Jarvis movies her vlog.
His spouse, Marie, and their son, Antoine, characteristic prominently on the vlogs, nevertheless, and have grow to be a beloved a part of the roving forged of Lalanders who inhabit the chateau. The household lives in Belgium through the college 12 months, however are renovating a separate house within the chateau.
They spend lengthy stretches on the chateau over the summer season and winter holidays. They additionally determined to trip out the pandemic there.
“I think it takes a very strong woman to be fine with your husband still owning something with his ex, especially when it’s not just a little something, when it’s this big part of your life, and in fact, I would say that Marie embraces it more than he does … It was [Marie] who said “Nic, we’ll Lalande. We’re having it [the lockdown] there.’ “
Volunteers keep it running (and help plan elaborate costume parties)
Jarvis recruits an ever-changing group of volunteers who have skills in cooking, cleaning, gardening and landscape design.
Volunteers are helping Jarvis to restore the chateau; pre-pandemic, they helped her attend to the guests. Free room and board is offered in exchange for their work. And sometimes they just stay on indefinitely.
Dutch tango instructor Selmar Duin showed up at Lalande just as the first lockdown hit France. He drove up to the chateau in his camper van, accompanied by his dog, Diesel. Initially shocked by his appearance (he’d been on the road and unaware Jarvis was locking down and no longer taking in her scheduled volunteers), his carpentry skills and ability to MacGyver solutions to the chateau’s problems proved so useful he has been officially hired.
Argentine Natalia “Nati” Oliveto was so capable as a volunteer she was hired to handle all guest reservations, house management and fan mail coming into the chateau.
Other volunteers help with elaborate table settings and decoration projects. Since Jarvis loves a theme party, volunteers need to have an appreciation for spur-of-the-moment disco parties, James Bond nights and extravagant Versailles-inspired galas.
Staying at the chateau
Before the lockdown, Jarvis’ main income came from renting out five rooms of the chateau as a bed and breakfast. She supplemented that with music workshops and other events held on the grounds.
Chateau de Lalande is featured prominently in “The Chateau Diaries,” the unlikely YouTube quarantine hit that has made a star of Stephanie Jarvis and her friends and family.
Michael Potts
In 2018, she began appearing in a UK reality series called “Escape to the Chateau DIY,” which features several Brits fixing up French chateaux. Her appearances on the show were a hit, and it inspired Jarvis to start her own YouTube channel, featuring other behind-the-scenes moments at Lalande. She taught herself to film and edit but the daily running the chateau didn’t leave a lot of time for her new hobby.
And then …
… the lockdown!
When the pandemic hit, Jarvis found herself in the perfect place to quarantine, with one big problem: Without paying guests, how would Jarvis pay the bills?
“Lockdown modified our enterprise fully. It closed it down, completely,” she says.
“But it did not change our life very a lot as a result of we’re a large family. And there’s a lot area, and a lot backyard, that we did not actually really feel locked down in the best way that some individuals have.”
Jarvis started filming more of her daily life during quarantine, sometimes posting as many as five half-hour videos a week.
“I’m so fortunate as a result of it is simpler for me to make a lot content material due to the individuals round me. You know, I can get up within the morning and I’m going to wander round. I’ll ask Marie what she’s doing, I’ll ask Selmar what he is doing, I’ll ask Dan the gardener what he is doing, after which I’ve the movies. I’m fortunate, however that is due to the others. If I used to be sitting right here on my own, I would not be capable of make 5 movies a week.”
Jarvis’ fans have created an online community, who anxiously await each episode’s first live airing, and comment along during its initial broadcast.
“I believe I’ve been surprised by how a lot having the ability to be a part of our life has helped some individuals, who have been fully remoted. Some girls have been saying they have not seen anybody else since March.”
YouTube stardom
Before the pandemic, Jarvis had about 10,000 followers. “I used to be excited as a result of I bought to 10-thousand,” she says. Now she has surpassed 100-thousand followers.
She receives letters daily from grateful fans who say her videos have not only provided entertainment during the pandemic, but have also actually helped alleviate their depression.
Jarvis’ friends and families have become stars in their own right, being recognized in airports and stores across Europe. Her delightfully disapproving French mother, her adopted Scottish brother (usually attired in a dizzying ensemble of clashing plaids), and her new South African stepfather all have their own social media accounts and followers.
The much anticipated wedding of her mother (Jarvis’ father died in 2005) was turned into a “Midsummer Night’s Dream”-themed extravaganza, which aired on the reality show and featured in several of Jarvis’ blog.
Chateau renovations
Money Jarvis earns from Patreon goes towards fixing up the chateau’s chapel and restoring a now-drained historic lake on the property.
Michael Potts
“Patreon is about $22,000 (USD) a month, which is totally life-changing. And I did not launch it until February, so that is since February, it is gone from zero to $22,000 a month. It’s simply insane.”
Jarvis is now able to tackle restoration work she didn’t know she’d ever get to.
Since that Patreon account is a nonprofit and all money can only be used for renovations, she now earns her personal income (and keeps the chateau running) via the money earned from her vlogs. “Which implies that my YouTube advert income retains everybody in meals and, let’s face it, wine,” she says.
Vlogging European culture
Jarvis’ vlog adventures are spotlighting an area of south-central France less known to tourists. Besides highlighting life in her chateau, there are trips to the nearby Limoges factory store and to local brocantes and thrift stores brimming with ridiculously cheap French fashion.
“Europeans journey a lot and we’re actually responsible of not visiting our personal areas. We go to work on a regular basis after which we go on vacation. And we do not take into consideration what’s round us. And I used to be actually responsible of that. Because of the vlog, I’ve found my native space far more as properly.”
For now, Jarvis is happily hunkered down in her chateau for Christmas, celebrating each day of advent with a different vlog, and eagerly anticipating such Lalande traditions as the “Boxing Day Barbecue.”
She’s glad her videos have been enjoyed by so many people this year, and hopes others might consider saving a chateau, too.
“I believe French chateaus, they form of need to be a factor, ? The superb historical past … it might be fantastic if individuals come and begin to get captivated with restoring them and taking care of them.”
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