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Host rating
100 %
Last replied
10 Jun 2024
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84.6 %
Usually responds within 97 days
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Description
😊Our most recent Workawayers have come to us from Canada, Australia, Poland, the UK, Norway, Lithuania, Ireland and the USA . Thank you everyone.🌞
We are a British couple with 2 children, who love enjoying life, good food, good company, having fun and the outdoors! We live in a glorious Chateau in the stunning Landes region in Aquitaine about an hour and a half from Bordeaux, an hour from the Beaches of the Côte d'Argent (Hossegor, Biarritz etc), an hour from Pau and the Pyrennees with the closest ski slope an hour and a half away. The Chateau is 5 mins from the local town where there’s a Wednesday market, supermarket, chemist, bank, patisserie, open air theatre, doctors, restaurant, bike shop, hairdressers etc even a bull jumping ring. We have lots of animals dogs, chickens, peacock, cats and horses.
The Chateau is on 40 acres or so including woods and was not lived in full time for a number of years. Workawayers help on a variety of projects indoors and outdoors including; gardening;decoration; sorting; cleaning; cooking; helping bring the walled vegetable garden back to life organically (we don't use chemicals), shutter sanding and painting, depending on individuals skills. Workawayers are not involved in any business, the Chateau is a private house. It’s really lovely as the village is very supportive of all our efforts and likes to see and meet the volonteers. We’d like to open the gardens up for charity once a year but there is a LOT to do before then!
We are bringing the Chateau back to life with laughter and work - it’s a voyage of discovery from Salamanders to 100 Sq meters of ‘forgotten really old terracotta tiles under 12 feet of brambles! We try to recycle and re use where we can and are now dab hands with a pressure washer 😎. There is something quite neat about finding the courtyard granite stones flowerbed edging stones under a foot of topsoil and then re instating the beds according to the old plan or indeed finding 3 extra bedrooms we didn’t know about when we came and the random furniture in them! Some of which we are still in the process of up cycling.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Life here in the South of France is all about enjoying life and making the most of everything the region has to offer sunshine, good food, joy and pleasure in simple things. Of course if you want to go to Hossegor Surfing or Bordeaux to the big markets and waterfront fantastic! We love food and sharing meals. Emma is a yoga instructor, indian head masseur, reiki master and professionally qualified seichim energy worker so definitely some opportunities to learn about those things if you're keen. Ross is a horse breeding and racing expert and a former advanced event rider, so if you want to come horse racing wth us at Mont de Marsan or watch the 5* eventing at Pau that might be fun. There is not a lot of opportunity to learn French at the Chateau but the locals are super friendly and will definitely help you practice - all put local friends are French! We do have a private french tutor who comes once a week so you can pay to have a lesson with her or lessons once a week if you wish. She is French and Bi Lingual French/English so there are no excuses not to learn if you wish to -)!!! There is no riding available our horses are broodmares some with foals at foot or not in work, if you would like to get involved with stable work for the private horses you can - mucking out etc. We also have a few brocantes, some lovely bastide villages, the Chapel of Cycling, the Chapel of Rugby is 20 minutes away. The local town of Labastide-d'armagnac is glorious, we have a local golf course St Avit, and even an excellent local rugby team Stade de Montois. Our village has tennis courts and a swimming pool (open in the summer)- but we have one here so you can always save the trip! We are on the route vert for cycling and are on the doorstep of the Gers where D’Artagnan of the three musketeers came from, there’s a big sculpture of all 3 in Condom which is an hour away and his home town of Lupiac which is picturesque and has a 13 hectare leisure lake. Other workawayers have loved going to the Pyrenees, Biarritz, Biscarrose, Bordeaux, Lourdes and Pau. We are in the heart of Bas Armagnac so Chateau visits are very close by! We love learning new things so are keen to share your interests.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
The Chatau and its grounds are ever evolving so at the moment we would be thrilled to have people from two to three weeks with a keen interest in:-
- gardening - all aspects of clearing, tidying, mowing, planting etc
- DIY- anything is useful - if you're a dab hand with plaster, concrete, paving experience, drill, flooring just perfect
- housekeeping - just a massive yes place - the place is huge with lots of cleaning and sorting projects to do
- painting - yes please - lots of window frames to paint, stables etc
- dog walking - if you love it let us know
All the time we learn more about the castle, we’ve also found out it was abandoned for 50 years with a giant oak growing through the winter salon and roof!! We are in the process of doing up the guardians house so there is decoration to be done there as well as in the Chateau itself on the second floor, and DIY. In essence lots of fun things to do.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: IntermediateThis host offers a language exchange
Having moved to France with a basic level of French we are keen to learn more and really fit in with the community. One of the best ways to do this is to be able to speak the language well! We love to help people with their English speaking should they wish to improve.
Accommodation
Accomodation will either be in the Chateau itself in an ensuite bedroom on the ground floor) overlooking the rose garden. We also have a garden house that is sometimes used for bedroom accomodation.
Breakfast is at 8am - yoghurt, toast, fruit
Lunch is at 1pm - a sandwich or soup
We usually eat evening meals together at 6.15pm but if not you will be provided food to cook on that evening.
We do not provide alcohol apart from a bidon of wine per week (3.5 litres) specifically for Workawayers red/rose 1 bidon to share between 2.
We are not vegetarians but can certainly accomodate 3 vegetarian meals a week for the others you may want to cook for yourselves and we will still eat together! We are unable to accommodate vegans or other dietary needs at the current time. Usually workawayers enjoy spending time here and then going off for adventures over a couple of days to the pyrennees, the coast, Lourdes, Bordeaux, Dax, Carcassonne, Toulouse, Biarritz, Spain, île de Rey, surfing or the ski stations etc, covid and weather permitting!
Workaways tend to use blahblah cars or buses to get about which is super reasonable and will often pick up from the end of the drive or have their own transport. There is a bus station in the village which gets you to Mont de Marsan where there is a good train station.
What else ...
Workawayers have recently visited Donostia (San Sebastian), Saint Jean de Luz, Pau (50mins), Lourdes (90mins), the Pyrenees (90mins), Hossegor (50mins), Biarritz (50mins), Condom (1hour); Aire Sur L’ardour (25mins), Bordeaux (60mins), Carcassone. We are basically an hour max from the beach and an hour and a half from the mountains, our most recent Workawayers just got back from Carcassone which is 2.5 hours away via Lourdes and Pau! Apparently we are an hour and a half from the closest ski station but to be safe I'd say 2 and you will definitely be there. For more information about the beautiful area of Landes please visit this tourist website for the Landes .
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
Any size. Campervans are most welcome there are some nice places to park here :-)
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
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Ross, Emz and of course Scar and Aurther, thank… read more
The family opened up the doors of the castle life, and truly you can't really walk away. A piece of you will stay there and will carry on living alongside the family. We came as strangers but left as family.
There is just so much… read more
They are cheerful and kind and great company, they also cooked some delicious meals - all… read more
