A Man has revealed that he bought a crumbling French chateau on Gumtree and transformed it into a sold-out hotel, despite having no previous experience.
Musician Jamie first came across the chateau in 2021, when his friend Boris found the place on Le Bon Coin (the French version of Gumtree).
Jamie was at first unconvinced.
“You go and buy like a half-broken toaster there.
“You don’t go on there and buy a 12th-century chapel”, he said on tonight’s episode of Channel 4‘s Help! I Bought A Hotel.
Boris visited the property and became so enamoured with it that he convinced Jamie to use the advance from his new album to buy the £210,000 hotel.
La Boule D’or, situated in Clamecy, France, consists of a group of buildings, which have been slowly abandoned since the 1950s.
The crown jewel of the hotel is a chapel, which was used by the old hotel owners as a restaurant until it closed five years ago.
Jamie, along with his three friends, spent 18 months renovating the hotel and transforming it into a unique location specifically for artists and musicians.
They documented their journey on TikTok, and Jamie recruited strangers from across the world to help him out with the renovation of the hotel, some of whom stayed for months.
In order to foster a sense of community in the hotel, Jamie and his friends decided to remove all of the TVs to encourage guests to chat with each other.
The hotel has a garden bar, which serves natural wines and beers and the chapel has been turned into an artistic space.
“The most daunting thing I think about actually opening is that we’re going to realise that we’ve had no experience running a hotel before”, a nervous Jamie said, ahead of the opening.
On the day before the grand opening, the rookie hoteliers realised that some of the 11 bedrooms were missing furniture, and had forgotten to make the beds.
To make sure they had everything their guests need, Boris pretended to be a guest himself.
“I feel like I’m forgetting something really important”, he said.
Once the friends had speedily made all of the beds and added some finishing touches to the rooms, they hosted an opening party, with the local mayor coming along to cut the ribbon.
Before the event, the hotel had eight bookings, but thanks to some unexpected walk-ins they ended up selling out on their first night.
“Today was one of the most exceptional days I’ve ever experience”, said Jamie.
“It’s so much more than the four of us now, we’ve managed to create a beautiful community, a family.
“We’re just looking forward to welcoming more people”.
Help! We Bought A Hotel is on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm
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