A couple who won a lavish £250,000 French château in a Channel 4 competition are now planning to use it for their ‘fairytale’ wedding.
Natasha Manners and Xavier Bhoyroo beat 11 other pairs in ‘Château DIY: Win The Dream’ to get the keys to a ‘magnifique’, six-bedroom, 18th century residence set in rural Normandy.
The ambitious DIY renovators, based in Weybridge, Surrey, have long dreamt of a life in France but have never had the funds to afford to live there or consider it as a possible wedding destination.
But now, after excelling in a number of challenges to prove what it takes to run a lavish French estate, the pair, both 36, are set for an idyllic life abroad in the charming village of Ceaucé in the Orne region of north-west France.
The incredible three-storey property, which is Channel 4’s biggest daytime prize to date, boasts four bathrooms, two lounges and five additional rooms.
There are also two barns, formal gardens and an orchard for the soon-to-be husband and wife to enjoy when they tie the knot at the sprawling estate.
Reflecting on the momentous win for their dream home, Xavier said it is ‘mind-blowing’ to have landed Channel 4’s historic prize.
He added: ‘It hasn’t sunk in yet. It is a really impressive property in a beautiful, quaint French village. We feel like we have won the lottery.’
Natasha Manners and Xavier Bhoyroo (pictured) beat 11 other pairs in ‘Château DIY: Win The Dream’ to get the keys to a ‘magnifique’, six-bedroom, 18th century residence in rural Normandy
After excelling in a number of challenges to prove what it takes to run a lavish French estate, the pair, both 36, are set for an idyllic life abroad in the charming village of Ceaucé in the Orne region of north-west France
Bride-to-be Natasha revealed that the couple had an ‘affinity’ to France and had initially hoped to rent a French chateau for their nuptials. However, the eye-watering cost meant they were unsure if it was likely to be a possibility.
Natasha, who is head of e-commerce for a beauty firm, said: ‘Xavier used to holiday there as a kid in a camper van and speaks a bit of French and we both love fine dining and nice wine.
‘Our plan was to rent a château in France to get married in. We had an Airbnb wish list of fairytale châteaux we could not nearly afford to book and now we have won the venue it has brought our wedding forward by two or three years at least.
‘And it is our own house, so we have the opportunity to put our own stamp on it for the wedding.’
The amateur renovators, who have two children – Esme, three and Jude, one – spent six gruelling weeks learning to renovate rooms under the watchful eye of head judge, designer Max McMurdo.
After the final episode aired recently, Natasha recalled: ‘I was on maternity leave and Xavier had just been made redundant. So we thought “We have nothing to lose. Let’s go to France.”
‘Our only goal was to avoid being the first couple to go home.’
The loved-up couple, who met in 2021 after matching on dating app Bumble, had only done ‘bits and pieces’ of DIY together on Natasha’s former Edwardian flat.
Yet it was ‘nothing on the scale’ of the extensive renovations that competitors had to undertake on the show.
The incredible three-storey property (pictured), which is Channel 4’s biggest daytime prize to date, boasts four bathrooms, two lounges and five additional rooms. There are also two barns, formal gardens and an orchard
Reflecting on the momentous win for their dream home, Xavier said it is ‘mind-blowing’ to have landed Channel 4’s historic prize
Recalling the challenges of filming the programme while looking after their young children during the competition’s first heat, Natasha said: ‘We’d be getting home from the site, getting them fed, bathing them and putting them into bed and we wouldn’t be in bed ourselves until midnight.
‘Then we’d spend hours watching YouTube tutorials to figure out what we’d be doing the next day.’
After six weeks of learning the ropes of DIY, the couple now plan to convert the chateau’s attic into two more bedrooms for even more space.
They are also eagerly anticipating creating a space for their young children to grow up and play in, and have told their daughter that she is set to be a ‘princes in a castle’.
Natasha said: ‘I’m not daunted by any of the DIY. Being on the show taught us that we can do any of that. It’s mostly just excitement about giving our children the ultimate bedrooms.’
Meanwhile, Xavier, who works as an advertising operations director, revealed that the couple are hopeful will be able to build a relationship with French locals and continue their current jobs while working remotely in France.
Revealing their innovative future plans for an events business, Xavier said: ‘We will hold weddings at the château but we also wanted to think outside the box.
‘We love Traitors and are planning to hold murder mystery fine dining weekends.
‘There would be a cocktail party and as the weekend goes on, you find little clues and it all comes to a head at the dinner party where you find out who did it and why.’
The couple have even entered into a pact with fellow finalists Josh Hawkins and Josh Wild, both from Cumbria, that the winners would allow the runners-up to wed in the château for free too.
‘The two Joshes also wanted to get married. They have been dear friends to us and we would love nothing more than for theirs to be the second wedding at our château,’ Natasha revealed.
