We are a retired couple aged a youthful 79 and nearly 65! We live in a comfortable old house set in a hectare of garden with a swimming-pool in a small village in south-west France. Geoffrey has lived in France for 23 years and Peta for 16. We have a family of four cats!
Peta reads a lot, likes to write and would like more time in which to do both, and also loves cooking, while Geoffrey keeps himself busy in the garden, on his PC following the worlds of wine and finance, and doing Sudoku and other puzzles. He also loves music and the opera.We are both very interested in food and wine of all kinds.
Apart from doing quite a lot of travelling which we enjoy, we live a quiet and peaceful life. We are always cheerful, don't take life too seriously and anyone with no sense of humour need not apply!

Midi Pyrenees

We do have a cleaner and a gardener who each work a limited number of hours a week. However, as with any large old house the maintenance is on-going, much of which, in years gone by we would have done ourselves, but due to advancing years is now beyond us! We can, however, teach someone else to do it!
There is a small, upstairs wooden balcony that has rotted and needs replacing. There is also some uncomplicated re-decorating that needs doing both inside and out which is probably the most urgent.
The garden is large and needs constant attention all year round. We would like to build a couple of raised vegetable beds so someone who could do that would be very welcome, as would someone who can cut timber up into logs and split them for firewood!
The work is not 'routine' but more in the form of projects, so we are happy for workawayers to make their own hours up to 25 per week. For example, if you want to pack 25 hours into 3 days (if the task allows it) and have the rest of the week off to go exploring etc., that is fine with us

English, French

Good-sized guest bedroom on the ground floor of the house with one standard double and one single bed. The shower-room is not en-suite but has been recently up-dated and is on the same floor. Cats on the bed are optional!

We cannot provide a car but we do have two bicycles that workawayers are welcome to use and there is a lot of very pretty countryside around. We are happy to provide picnics for you!
There is a daily bus service from our nearest town 5kms away (Maubourget) to Tarbes where there is an SNCF station. While our workawayers will obviously want to 'do their own thing' during their time off, we will also be happy, if time allows, to take them on the occasional excursion to places of interest such as Auch with its amazing cathedral or to the Pyrénées which are less than two hours away and good for hiking in summer and winter sports from mid-December to end of March. Please note that while we are happy to make the occasional excursion to the mountains, we neither ski nor hike so skiers and hikers will need their own transport!
We are also close to Spain, both the Spanish Pyrénées and the Atlantic coast where there is good surfing. On the French side of the border, Biarritz and St Jean de Luz are easily accessible by train. We can help with advice about transport, where to stay/eat etc.

In summer workawayers are free to use the pool as much as they like. There are some golf-courses nearby and we have clubs available which they are welcome to borrow.

Peta is a smoker but Geoffrey isn't. Both smokers and non-smokers are welcome but there is NO SMOKING in bedrooms or during meals. Ash-trays to be regularly emptied especially at night.

For workawayers wanting to improve their French please note that we speak English at home and in the village itself there is little opportunity for visitors to speak French as there are no shops, cafés etc. so little social life. Maubourget, at 5kms away (downhill on the way there, uphill back if going by bike!!), offers more scope for practising French.