When Ash Waters and Terry Short traded life in the North East of England for a crumbling château in the French countryside, they had no idea they were about to bring a worldwide audience along for the ride.

Their project — the restoration of Château de Lalacelle, a grand property near Alençon in Normandy — had sat abandoned for the better part of forty years before they arrived. What followed has become one of the most beloved restoration stories online: a couple taking on nearly all of the work themselves, room by room, documenting every discovery for a devoted following through their YouTube channel Escape to the Dream — and, along the way, earning appearances on the Discovery Channel and Channel 4's Chateau DIY.

We were honored when they chose the Feeling's Flame® to help light it.

The challenge every historic restoration faces

There's a particular kind of magic to candlelight in an old building. It's the light these rooms were designed for — the warm, moving glow that once played against carved paneling, gilded mirrors, and centuries-old stone. For a property like Château de Lalacelle, little else captures the atmosphere so completely.

And little else is quite as dangerous.

A château is, essentially, an irreplaceable structure of aged timber, dry floorboards, antique textiles, and hard-won restored furnishings. Hundreds of open flames in a setting like that isn't ambiance — it's a risk no careful steward of a historic home would ever take. That's the quiet dilemma at the heart of nearly every restoration: how do you honor the way a space was meant to feel without endangering everything you've worked so hard to save?

Authentic candlelight, without the open flame

It's exactly the problem we've spent decades solving.

The Feeling's Flame® is the original patented electric candle — engineered so faithfully that its flame color and movement are designed to be virtually indistinguishable from a real wax candle. The difference is what you don't get: no open flame, no soot, no smoke, no melted wax, and no fire risk. Each is built to run for 10,000+ hours, which is why our technology lights museums, landmarks, houses of worship, and luxury hotels around the world.

At Château de Lalacelle, that meant Ash and Terry could fill their rooms with the glow the château deserves, filling their rooms with beautiful candlelight and then simply walk away at the end of the night without a second thought.

The result is the look of a room lit by living flame, in a building where a living flame would be unthinkable.

"Probably the best lights on the market"

We don't have to tell you it worked — Ash said it himself. In his own review, he called our candles "probably the best lights on the market." Coming from someone who has personally restored nearly every inch of a French château by hand — and who knows exactly how a historic room is supposed to feel — that means a great deal to us.

Seeing the Feeling's Flame® at home in a space this beautiful, and shared with the many thousands of people following the château's journey, has been one of the proudest chapters in our company's story.

See it for yourself

To follow along with the restoration, find Ash and Terry at Escape to the Dream on YouTube and @chateaudelalacelle on Instagram. And if you're caring for a historic home, a restaurant, or a venue of your own — or you simply want the timeless warmth of candlelight without the flame — explore the Feeling's Flame® collection and discover what lights the world's most beautiful spaces.