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A review by nnjack7
Downton Shabby: One American's Ultimate DIY Adventure Restoring His Family's English Castle by Hopwood DePree
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
4.0
If you’re looking for a book that has a really cool genealogical story, this would be a great pick.
If you would love to learn how money gets fundraised to restore a British castle, this would be a great pick.
If you want to learn what it actually takes to tackle the renovation of bringing a 600 year old castle to today’s livable standards, you won’t get that here.
It’s abundantly clear that the author’s background is in Hollywood film producing: that’s exactly what he did for this castle. But it’s a bit deceiving calling this an “ultimate DIY” when he did extremely little of the labor himself. Overall, I enjoyed it well enough because I’m a huge sucker for ancestry stories that go centuries back; and I totally felt transported to Northern England and all their wonderful culture and nuances that separate them from the rest of the UK.
If you would love to learn how money gets fundraised to restore a British castle, this would be a great pick.
If you want to learn what it actually takes to tackle the renovation of bringing a 600 year old castle to today’s livable standards, you won’t get that here.
It’s abundantly clear that the author’s background is in Hollywood film producing: that’s exactly what he did for this castle. But it’s a bit deceiving calling this an “ultimate DIY” when he did extremely little of the labor himself. Overall, I enjoyed it well enough because I’m a huge sucker for ancestry stories that go centuries back; and I totally felt transported to Northern England and all their wonderful culture and nuances that separate them from the rest of the UK.