A review by ashleejuanita
Downton Shabby: One American's Ultimate DIY Adventure Restoring His Family's English Castle by Hopwood DePree

3.0

2.5 stars. I REALLY wanted to like this. I tried. The author is just too annoying and, frankly, stupid. I would have rather heard more from dr Rolph, who we only hear from briefly. It just bugged me that someone would uproot their whole life on a whim, and not even learn some basics about the country they’re going to, and constantly blame all their ignorance on “being a yank”. It also wasn’t a whole lot about the actual work, more of him talking in circles of how much there was to do, and not enough money/time/people to do it. He constantly harps on that, and yes, I get it, it’s insane and overwhelming, but that’s more what I expected to hear when I pick up a book that has DIY in the subtitle.