Region: Brittany

Hi, I am James and along with my partner Jennie we have purchased a former lockeepers cottage on the edge of Lac de Guerledan in Brittany. The property itself has been empty for some years, formerly owned by EDF and is situated in a stunning rural location on the banks of small lake and close to the village. Saint Aignan is a very small community village with a bar, epicerie, church, marie and school. Lac de Guerledan is a very busy resort in the summer months for french families. There are numerous watersports, fishing, walking, cycling. We have Kayaks and bikes to use. With the limited facilities that we have, we will make you as comfortable as possible and hope that we both enjoy our time together.

Region: Provence Alpes Azur

We are a family with two children aged 7 and 5, a daughter and a boy. We have a nice house in a touristic small town, with a swimming pool, not far from Avignon. I am interested in getting the children used to other cultures and to english language: I am looking for an english speaking woman to spend a few hours a day teaching them english in an informal way, or taking care of them. I speak fluently english.

Region: British Columbia

We are a little family of 3 (Oliver, 30, Meike, 35, and Emil, 2) who are seeking connection to the land and community. We value sustainability and want to live a satisfying, healthy and creative life. We have just bought a piece of property with the intent of starting an organic farm and forming an ecovillage. We would like to invite like-minded people in our age group (20-40ish) to inquire, help out, learn and perhaps join and create a wonderful interdependent community with us. We are located only minutes north of Greenwood and only an hour from Osoyoos. 142 acres with Jewel Creek running through it. It has crown land on 3 sides and trails all around. Less than 2 km to Jewel Lake. This summer we are focusing on establishing our homestead to prepare for the winter. We are renovating a log house, one of the few buildings that are already on the land. We are planning to eventually build a cluster of natural homes designed to minimize ecological disturbance and maximize use of the fertile, previously cleared areas for organic farming and gardening. We will use building material sourced from our land as much as possible. We are big fans of cob buildings and round houses. We will produce our own power by setting up solar and hydro systems so we hope to get off grid quite quickly. Grey water will be treated naturally and used for irrigation. Composting toilets will provide humanure for some gardens and plants. We want to consume food that is produced locally, ideally on our own farm, but always sustainably. Our organic farm will supply residents and visitors with fresh, organic food; surplus can be sold on local farmer's markets (twice a week in Greenwood) and to restaurants in the area. We will build root cellars to store fruits and veggies for the winter. We are going to incorporate Permaculture principles: zoning, swales, terraces, composting, humanure, mulching, rainwater catchment, hugelkultur, just to name a few. Some of us have experience with biodynamic gardening. We look forward to meeting many cool people and are excited about what we can accomplish!

Region: Lower Normandy

We are a Kiwi family living in historic Normandy, renovating our amazing 400+ year old farmhouse whilst perfecting our French and generally immersing ourselves in French life. We are returning the house to it's traditional majestic beauty by reinstating the thatched roof and exposing it's stone and oak features, whilst at the same time adding modern twists of glass, metal and bold colour, and the occasional 'kiwi twist'. We are a couple who have travelled and worked in many different countries and enjoy learning about different cultures. Here in France, we have a simple but good life enjoying the outdoors in our pool, jacuzzi, trampoline, kids play area, etc. We are in the countryside just outside an active village, our 6 year old son goes to the local school (a 3.5km cycle to the center of town), we're close to all the historic D-day sites, actually on the D-day 'route-de-libertie', the evocative Abbaye d'Hambye is 5 mins away, it's 40 mins to the famous Le Mont St Michel, and we have easy access to port and airport connections to the UK etc. We're in the midst of an extenstive ecological project to rethatch and insulate our chaumiere. This involves many preparatory phases such as paving and decking terrassing and drainage, exterior insulation, lime repointing and double glazing. Additionally we are in the midst of many other projects - the construction of oak spiral stairs and mezzanine extension; instillation of wooden kitchen worktops and repair of 300 yr old oak flooring; planting of a New Zealand garden; and several craft projects such as the polynesian/celtic inspired carved facing boards for the new thatch roof (a great project for anyone with a passion for wood carving / wood carver). We use natural traditional products where ever possible and have a simple organic vegetable garden and we are looking for enthusiastic generally capable people who would enjoy helping us in exchange for access to this fantastic part of France. We are of course happy to assist those wishing to improve their French and/or cultural understanding of France and assist you with access to tourist sights where we can.

Region: Berlin

We run a park similar to 30 such parks that exist in all over the world. They are a place for lingering and meeting, and radiate a new spirituality that rejects all forms of violence and discrimination, appealing to the sacred dimension of the human spirit, seeking to discover freedom and meaning. We are 30 friends from different countries, who bought this piece of land and this farmhouse. We are financing it from our own pockets and with the help of our friends. There is no any institution, organisation or company sponsoring us. The transformation into a park of study and reflection goes step by step and all the work we do ourselves is voluntary work.