That degreening of the walls is something volunteers could well be able to do.

Oh boy, over 1.5 miles of wall, that is quite a massive undertaking but once done it will just be occasional upkeep and inspection. I greatly respect the desire not to use pesticides to maintain soil health. Nothing is small when ot comes to the Grand Lady Purnon! ❤️ She is lucky to have you.....

I Hope whatever fell off the chateau, the other day, wasn’t too serious! Next year should be a big year, being able to get a lot done! Just finishing the roof is a major accomplishment in and of itself! Enjoy all the haha’s Cheers!

Impossible to imagine the time and energy needed to clear nearly 3 kilometres of stone walls (which have inside, outside and critically the tops) . Your total commitment to doing this in an way that is both environmentally and farm/park friendly speaks volumes about the quality of this project!

You guys need a big busy bee to help you clear the vegetation. Lovely watching you face each task with dignity.

OMG, 2 kilometers, is 6,550. feet for all my American friends, that is a lot of walls to be cleaned. Thank you so much for doing this task without the use of Chemicals, my heart goes out to you, can you take on volunteers to help you. The patreon is really good for funds, but you need labor. The unfortunate problem with water is it's so destructive, and you can't stop the rain, this is a massive undertaking. I am curious about the mysterious haha, hmmm.

What a monumental task! You take so much care for the buildings, the park and the environment. You employ the best people and do all the work you can do by yourself. That’s the spirit! Glad to be able to support you with a small contribution to Patreon!

Another expression for Ha Ha is "Saut de Loup" which has the same meaning

the walls are lovely I just love everything about the chateaus

Smart decision to clear the walls from the plants. The small haha is probably made in favor of a building you can't see any more. Do look for foundations in that area. 👍

Lovely stone wall. Do you accept volunteers? You could see this wall restored in your lifetime. Outdoor accommodations and a cook area. Just a thought. Restoration takes time, money and care. This is where community comes in.

The stone wall into the forest would be there so that horses may jump over that wall during the hunt...as well as the larger hunting dogs..animals ran to the forest for shelter and the men would chase after the animals, deer can jump much higher than horses so the Haha served a purpose!!! Remember they didn't have Lidl, Carrefour or Auchan and ate what they hunted or raised.

Of all the chateau restoration channels that I have subscribed to, I think you have the most beautiful chateau of all.. Thx for bringing us along on your adventures... One question, How many acres make up this property? Thx again for bringing us along...

When I saw the ha ha’s my inner rider just kept thinking what a fun bank to jump. And banks are jumped down not up, so it is wholly possible. Such a beautiful Château and the landscape is amazing. I envy you your walls and gates! Beautiful!

Love this story! Regarding keeping the vegetation down, have you considered getting some goats? Our city uses them to keep public areas clear of overgrowth. After the goats eat (clear out) the growth someone picks them up and moves them around to the next area. Not like you don' have enough on your hands but maybe these little guys can help you out and cut back on some of the labor. Best of luck to you and thank you again for sharing your journey with Château du Purnon!

Look at the Chateau du Theil on KZfaq, where they have had to rebuild much of their walls. The work is not as extensive or as tall as yours, but the method they used for reworking the tops of their walls might be of interest to you.

It is a huge task. Congratulations on your determination to restore the walls. 👍

Thank you for the historical perspective of the "haha".

Thank you for these carefully created videos helps us who are shut in and at the end of our time to get out with you and see things we would never see here in Canada . An adventure priceless!

A small army of volunteers would Help ! Massive task good luck

The enormity of your work is phenomenal! Watching you from the beginning of your vlogs, I not only think you’ll have the energy & capability to be able to do it all, but you will do her justice in the most respectful and beautiful way. I’m grateful that you’re sharing your journey.

It is a real gem you got 💕💕💕💕💕💕💕💕

A labor of Love . Beautiful !

Wonderful work for everyone’s delight

This is my first times seeing this castle. They seem like a lovely couple.I like the way they work together. Very much like Carol and Aidan.

You guys need some volunteers. Especially for those walls. Of course, they may need to bring their own RV’s with them.

THANK YOU for not just spraying it with an herbicide. Yes it's easier but usually that means detrimental in some area or another. I appreciate that you recognize that the negatives outweigh the convenience. Are you able to get on with a program such as WOOFERs? I'm not sure if there is a "château maintenance" sector, but there are so many youth programs that I'll bet you could find help in summer for a few months and have more hands on deck. Not so much for the skilled trades, but devegetation seems like a good application. Regardless, it's always such a joy to see your progress and visit new areas of the grounds ❤️ Hope you guys have a fabulous holiday!

Such important work and the scale of restoration is enormous. Wishing you much success in your efforts. The chateau is in good hands with you. Thanks for sharing 😍🙏

Your energy and dedication is truely amazing. Love your updates and appreciate you sharing your progress. Purnon is lucky to have you. Have a happy Christmas. 🇦🇺

Instead of chemicals, what about using a large propane torch to burn out the roots? This is commonly used when ivy needs to be cleared off of walls.

Put on is so lovely! It has the best bones! It will be such a showplace for you both! Best of luck!

Great interesting vlog. Goodness gracious, the huge jobs just keep mounting up. I admire your care and expertise so much.

That third haha looks like it’s meant for horses to jump during fox hunts. They wouldn’t want to take the time to open or close a gate. And I’ve never seen a fox hunt that didn’t have obstacles to jump over🤷‍♀️

I could stay up there all day clearing those walls. I couldn't imagine anything more peaceful

I don't have a chateau... just an old house with about 20m of stone wall and can't even manage to take off the ivy growing back every year ,,, so I totaly hear you ! Maybe organizing a grand "journée portes ouvertes" with people from all over france (and youtube) coming to help. Everybody has 5m of wall to clean and then they get to walk freely in the chateau park. Only 400 people needed easy ! It's a give and give, and maybe a new tradition established. I don't see any other way to maintain this gorgeous wall than with multiple hands !

Use a natural weed killer which is a mixture of 1gall white vinegar, 1cup of salt and tablespoon of dish soap mix it up well until salt is dissolved then spray it on the weeds and within a day or 2 they are dead you can then choose to remove or burn the dead weeds in situ. The downfall is this makes you feel hungry due to it smelling like your outside an English fish and chip shop! 😊

I see this on many vlogs, when removing vegetation from walls, if you did out roots then pull branches you will accomplish two steps. Cause if you just pull branches it will grow bavk...

Vous voilà lauréat du loto du Patrimoine. Bravo!

Just discovered you this weekend, you have quite a task ahead of you (to be young again 😉) and your videos are very informative. When I checked your location on the map it was quite obvious that the grand allée points to Paris, have you found something about that? Greetings from Zürich

I think that the haha to the Woodland was to bring the feel of woodland into the garden without the animals. Perhaps there were many spring bulbs or some special trees planted there for example.

Now we are getting interesting. Well done.

Something that Chateau de Lalande did was too pull off all that they could, but then followed behind with a flame thrower to burn the remaining and stop the regrowth. Not sure if that would help, but may be worth checking into.

you should make a little wall robot that rides on the top triangle of the walls that weeds the top and then drives to a charching station at evening :)

First!! Cheers from Linz, Austria ( freezing, snow) 😎

Wow, that's a lot of ivy to pull off, but I'm sure it will be worth it!❤

Tim, put on some KNEE PADS!

If I took a drink for every time you said ha ha I’d be dead from alcohol poisoning. 😊

Just make a party for cleaning the walls. Sure the job will be done. Hi from USA

Wow, amazing job clearing the walls! It is not an easy task at all. Especially removing vegetation embedded in the fence cap and walls! 🎉 keep up this essentials work, you're doing amazing!!!

I would love to work in such a project helping you to rebuild this magnificent chateau. It would be fantastic

You need a team of interns or volunteers to clean that vegetation from the wall. It's not skilled labor as much as mindless repetitive work. Local kids would be ideal so that you don't have to house and feed them 3 meals a day. Because it's going to take a really long time and when you finish, you'll have to start all over again. Not every job requires a museum curator or conservator. The French seem to really love and identify with this part of their heritage, I don't see why they would perceive it any differently than cleaning up a roadside or waterway. It's a matter of national pride. I was in a service group in college that paid to pick up trash for a weekend between Rapid City, SD and the Mount Rushmore monument. It's a distance of about 23 miles. Yes you understood that correctly, we paid to pick up trash. We paid for our lodging at an area summer camp, and our food and transportation to Rapid City and back for the pleasure of picking up the castoffs of our fellow citizens and patriotic tourists. We voted to pass on the opportunity the following year. What it taught me was not to expect too much from free labor. For many years the Boy Scouts had done it in exchange for a contribution to the organization, but stopped when the funding was eliminated. They got us to do it once, but not twice. You might investigate if there's a natural treatment to inhibit vegetation once its removed. Hedera helix really is an horribly invasive species and not just deleterious to stone walls. If you have much wooded land, there are countless trees under attack from ivy right now. The amount of damage it does when left unchecked it nothing short of amazing.

Wish I was there to help 💕

You have beautiful greenhouse or orangerie, I would like to see it restored!!

Cut the base of the Vines and let them die would make it easier to pull off the walls👍

How do you heat up the chateau and how well is it insulated? Very fascinating videos. Thanks for letting us be a part of the restauration and preservation of something so beautiful.

💛💛

Can you use the measurements tool on Google Earth to simplify your measuring?

For the haha with an unknown purpose - did you look into where the tree line was originally, and what the propose of that area was? Those trees look to be within 100 years, might have originally looked quite different. Also, the way those hahas are shaped reminds me of animal crossing in Canada. Animals don't have a fear of jumping in, but then can't jump out. Maybe it's a crossing point of some kind.

❤❤❤

Doggie needs a companion, no?

You have most likely thought of this, regarding the haha in the woods: the trees there now were, of course, not there when the wall was built. Try discovering on your maps what kind of view would have been possible without this tree in the way. Perhaps an allee of some kind.

Your third haha appears to be either for chasing deer etc out of the park or for horse hunt egress or both

Have you investigated the idea of doing a "controlled burn" of the vegetation on the walls??? - it might not kill the plants entirely, but it would make de-vegetating the walls a lot easier. I don't know if using a blow torch to scorch the plants would damage the stones? Just an idea!

Wow! What an epic job you both have ahead. She's in great hands. Tim, is there some sort of natural herbicide you can use that will do the same or similar job as the chemicals?

I wonder how much of the walls saw action in world War 2? Any history there? I can see where this somewhat hidden wall would come in handy to resistance fighters and folks seeking a place to hide.

Even if you used chemicals you would have to pull the wood vines etc. right?

🎄👏🎄 Tim you care TOO TOO much about the environment, which I applaud BUT spray that vegetation first off so it has less time to do more damage then go manual❣️ OR I wish the nearby community offered to help you. That's another question I've had - are the French people doing much about saving these chateaux ? They appeared to be interested enough to visit on Open Day so I would hope you received lots of offers of voluntary help from the locals. You have taken on a wonderful mammoth task. I admire your passion, strength and courage greatly ❣️ God bless you with miracles 🎄🙏🎄

Wonder if one of those weed burners might be useful for the de-vegetation of the walls?

Maybe a working bee to help devegitate the walls?! I'm sure a lot of people would be willing to lend a hand.

Go around the bottom of the walls during winter and cut at ground level and let the weeds die before pulling them

I wonder if the landscaping around the third haha was just never completed?

Этот плющ можно корни внизу подрезать когда засохнут и убрать ветки,так наверное было бы легче,чем лазать и срезать каждую ветку.

If you dony use chemicals they will get back fast than you can clean the entire wall

Cleaning it's with hand is OK for now but it will start growing again in spring. Then best thing to do is spray roundup if they start growing again For some plants I saw growing on the wall there is now other solution.

thank you for not using pesticides on the walls ❣️

IF YOU DO NOT MIND ME SAYING.... THE MOLT.... WE DO NTO KNOW HOW DEEP IT IS BUT EVER THOUGHT ABOUT GOING TRESURE HUNTING... NOT KNOW HOW FAR BACK IN TIME IT GOES.... AND THEY DEAL IN SLIVER AND GOLD.. AND MANY OTHER THINGS....

I am curious to know how much land the estate consists of?

There are natural weed killers, like salt and vinegar solutions. Wouldn't it be much easier and less time consuming to pull down dead and dried plant matter? It doesn't have to require poisonous chemicals.

Could you use a blow torch to burn off the vegetation on the walls?

Would burning the vegetation off be an option?

Did the former owners ever leave any records of how large a household and staff lived at any one time on the estate? Some of the big country houses in Britain often have detailed records going back centuries. They also often have account books. I wonder how many men it took and how long to build 2 km of walls? No doubt the costs would be in Livre what ever that would convert to now? Was the grand allee also once part of the estate? I sometimes watch the Urbex kids who love to explore abandoned places. It's surprising how often they find old places that sit left rotting with a cabinet or shelves of ancient records just turning to mildew. The places are often caught in family inheritance disputes yet no one lifts a finger to secure the places or protect and conserve the records. I don't understand them? How hard would it be for the executor to at least protect the records? The stone looks so much like the building stone all over eastern PA in the Poconos. Some variety of shale I think? Smallish pieces that stack up almost like brick. My Dad used to dig it up all over his yard and build dry walls with it and it was fairly stable. Some of yours looked like dry walls too but it's hard to see on a little screen. Ouch what a lot of work. I hope you make it to a satisfactory conclusion someday. BTW - there are a few colonial era estates in Virginia and the south that had hahas. The parks around the Trianons at Versailles had them too. They used the ditch type more often in the south perhaps because it wasn't as expensive. Even those at Versailles were the ditch type - at least what I saw.

Just wondering if you have thought about getting in volunteer's? Stephanie Jarvis has volunteer's staying with her all of the time . Roof over the head and meals provided goes along way.

Крышу как долго кроют?Дожди и снега идут.В чем дело?Стоит и стоит недоделанная крыша!

The Mysterious 3rd HaHa looking onto a ‘forest. The video is not terribly clear, but it looks to me that that patch of scrub trees on far side of HaHa #3 are a result of last left on maintained for, my best guess, at least 25 years, likely longer, perhaps 50 years. The size of the biggest tree I can discern over the HaHa is maybe 20 years old (that’s a guess, since I don’t know the species. So, assuming Im correct I recommend a good walkabout in that area to see if you can find a focal point out there - remnants of a gloriously big tree, a Folly, a fountain, a sculpture or something of interest 100 years ago. Of course w Nazi occupation, there’s no telling what might have been worth stealing and small enough to load in a truck. A sculpture, whether from antiquity or more contemporary might have sprouted legs. If a sculpture, it’s likely the base is still out there buried in years of dirt and debris. One of those metal detectors might help you find a clue. If I was there, that would be the project I’d raise my hand for!

Do you have a shredder?

Why do he clean the wall for vegetation? No need, the wall is so nice with this vegetation.

Couldn’t you use a blow torch On the vegetation on the walls to kill it and make it easier to get it off?

Are these walls boundry walls?

Just a thought... What about getting/ hiring a cherry picker to speed things up?

you add it up wrong its not 2km its 4 km cos theres two side to the wall good luck

🐐🐐🐐🐐🐑🐑🐑

Что то такое ha ha?

It’s shame that previous owners of the numerous chateaus did not invest in on going maintenance of the property and chateaus. They lived in Luxury and lazyness and now others work so hard and spend so much money to preserve them

Sadly I am unsubscribing. I cannot afford to be a Patreon and see little of what you are accomplishing within th chateau. I get frustrated over the minimal amount I actually get to see. I wish you only the best in your massive endeavour.