In 2020, they acquired Château de Purnon, a sprawling 105-room château nestled on 24 hectares, for $1.2 million. This price is notably less than Sydney’s median house cost, which recently reached $1.7 million as per Domain’s latest house price report.

“The roof was full of leaks and the water was coming in and we were moving buckets around trying to keep the château as protected as we could.”

The cost of restoring a château

In a YouTube Q&A last year, the couple projected that the initial phase of renovations would amount to €2.7-2.8 million (around $4.8-$4.9 million), with additional restoration expenses to be identified through property surveys. These surveys help determine necessary work and what’s permissible under heritage regulations.

“For both of us, it just seemed like such an incredible adventure to not only live in a château, but to be part of a journey of restoring it.”

Funding the restorations

Château de Purnon is classified as a “historic monument,” the highest form of heritage protection in France, designated by the French Ministry of Culture. Such buildings are categorized by either national or significant regional importance.

Besides government funding, the couple’s key income sources include paid subscriptions to their YouTube channel, streaming services, and brand partnerships. Subscribers gain access to exclusive weekly videos highlighting specific renovation projects.

Felicity and Tim partly fund renovations through paying online subscribers who watch their videos. Credit: SBS Dateline

Their English language content following their restoration efforts has attracted global interest and even financial support from some of their almost 300,000 YouTube subscribers. This perhaps unconventional source of income has been essential to the restoration.

While Felicity and Tim vlog their adventure, other Australians like Ben Ashcroft-Dinning are helping foreigners secure a property settlement.

Helping foreigners buy a château

Ashcroft-Dinning works as a buyer’s agent. Originally from Melbourne but now residing in France, social media has been pivotal in his career. It all started with a Facebook group about châteaux in 2020.

Ben Ashcroft-Dinning acts as a buyer’s agent for foreigners looking to buy French châteaux. Credit: SBS Dateline

“I honestly thought it was going to be this tiny, really niche Facebook group that very few people were going to join,” he told Dateline.

This community of château enthusiasts has expanded to nearly 100,000 members, prompting him to assist in facilitating interest in purchasing châteaux as a buyer’s agent.

Why foreigners want châteaux

According Ashcroft-Dinning, the Australian housing market is influencing his clients. He said that a liveable chateau the size of a large home could be picked up for between around €1-2 million ($1.7-$3.5million).

On Propriétés Le Figaro, an international luxury real estate website, there are more than 1,000 châteaux listed for sale and around 30 are listed for less than $1 million.

Consequences of foreign ownership

Saint-Blancard, a small village of 350 residents in southern France close to the Spanish border, is grappling with the fallout of foreign investment gone wrong.

The residents of Saint-Blancard fear the village’s historic castle won’t survive the winter. Credit: Kumi Taguchi / SBS Dateline

Saint-Blancard’s local castle is in the centre of the town. When a British buyer bought it in the 1990s, the community felt hopeful that the heritage building would be preserved.

“We have this sense of pride. We love these stones.”

The castle in Saint-Blancard was bought by an English man in the 1990s. Credit: SBS Dateline

As overgrown plants travel up the castle walls and parts of the roof have collapsed, calls for the owner to sell have gone unanswered.

However, further cuts to heritage funding continue to reduce this type of support. Rural landmarks such as Saint-Blancard’s castle have been classified as “low priority” in comparison to larger landmarks such as Paris’s iconic Notre Dame cathedral, which has been rebuilt at an estimated cost of €800 million ($1.4 billion) after it was badly damaged by fire in 2019.

Expert says foreign owners need the right motivation

“The state is not a bottomless pit with bottomless pockets,” he said.

While private ownership is needed, Didier emphasises that owners need to have the right motivation and deal with French cultural heritage respectfully.

Frédéric Didier said the French government can’t afford to fund restoration for all of the country’s historic châteaux. Credit: SBS Dateline

Respect is something Tim and Felicity have valued in their local community of Verrue through the process of restoring Château de Purnon.

“And so, our life is all about Purnon and, making our work there successful.”