Join our international community and help with gardening and renovation projects near Auch, France

Informationen

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  Beschreibung

  ABOUT OUR COMMUNITY:
  COVID had us all dreaming about the way we wanted to live, and a few of us got to talking about the possibility of a new life in peace and in community. We invited friends and colleagues to join us, and 13 of us decided to come together in this little experiment. We searched for a house that would hold us well and fell in love with this one. And so the community was born.
  Zafer, Tony, Michael, Meg, Jennifer, Wendy and Keith live here full time with our two cats, Biscuit and Noodle and our dogs, Aria and Timber; the others join us for holidays. All of us imagine how to make a different kind of community that feels inclusive and welcoming to all who come and visit us. A central part of life here is having dinner together. We take turns cooking, eating together at our big table, sharing gratitude and talking about our land, our community and our projects.
  
  
  ABOUT OUR HOME:
  The place was begun in the mid-1600s by the Loubere family (the name means “Land of Loubere”) and was expanded over the next hundred years. The most famous person to live here was the Italian Jewish painter, Mario Cavaglieri, who bought the house in 1925. His wife Guilietta was not pleased with this little home in the French countryside, and she moved to a hotel in nearby Auch for six months while Mario tried to paint the house to her liking. Thus, the fantastic ceilings in the manoir, which she liked well enough to come back. They lived here the rest of their lives. The Domaine was made a historical monument in 1996.
  Here we have one big house (the Manoir) and four cottages (or gites) where we live together in a community. In the summer there’s a pool and in the winter there’s a sauna. Year round there is ping pong, petanque and pretty much every board game ever created.
  We have 33 acres of meadow, fields and ponds, and this area is crisscrossed with walking trails. There are lovely nearby villages to explore in this rural countryside. One hour from the Pyrenees, two hours from the Atlantic and 2.5 hours from the Mediterranean, we are located in the middle of beauty in every direction.
  
  We have recently completed renovations on the Manoir, restoring it to it's former glory and providing us with a huge kitchen space to cook and eat together, but there's still shelves to put up, tiling of back splashes, walls to paint etc. There's always a project on the go!

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  Arten von Hilfe und Lernmöglichkeiten

  Sprachpraxis

  Hilfe bei Ökoprojekten

  Gartenarbeiten

  Heimwerker- und Bauarbeiten

  Betreuung von Tieren

  Zubereiten / Kochen von Mahlzeiten für die Familie

  Hausarbeiten

  Handwerkliche Arbeiten

  Hilfe mit Computer /Internet
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  UNO-Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung, die dieser Gastgeber verfolgt

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  Was ist das?
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  Kultureller Austausch und Lernmöglichkeiten

  The vibe 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 taking pleasure in simple things. Here, we love food and sharing meals together, and we love all sorts of card & board games and outdoor activities. We are an international group with wide-ranging experience, and conversations are always vibrant. There is not a lot of opportunity to learn French at the Manoir, as our primary language is English, but most of us are studying French and would be keen to practice. If you're spending a lot of time with Olivier in the garden, you'll definitely speak more French there! We have also found that the locals in Pavie & Auch are friendly and will definitely help you practice, too! We often visit the community cafe/bar together on Friday evenings which is a perfect experience of French village life. Karaoke nights, games nights, guest singers are just a few of the attractions.
  
  The place is 5 minutes away from the village of Pavie, and 10 minutes by car to the Auch train station. There are many charming villages within an hour's drive, and we’re just a few hours car to the Basque coast (eg Capbreton) and the Pyrenees. It’s a perfect location from which to explore the south west of France - and beyond.

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  Arbeit

  We would be thrilled to have folks join us for a couple of weeks (or more) with a keen interest in gardening, DIY and general sorting and organization. We are very happy to host couples.
  
  We're gradually updating and turning what was once a rental property into a home that works for the community and those who remote work. So the four gites will have a freshen up or full makeover depending on the what's needed.
  
  In addition to the home/ office-making projects there are many projects we want to tackle on the grounds. You could work with Olivier, our gardener, in a variety of ways. We need to make a master plan for our outdoor spaces; there are gardening projects large and small. We have hens, a kitchen garden which needs pruning, weeding and tending, as well as many other garden areas that need planning, planting, weeding, watering and pruning. There is underbrush to be cleared and fallen trees to be removed. If you’ve ever dreamed of creating and tending a beautiful garden space, the place could be your canvas!
  
  In addition to gardening, there is general maintenance to be done, such as mending of fences; and also the opportunity to partner with us to tend to our freshwater ecosystem. Our property sits alongside the Gers river, and we are lucky enough to have several ponds and streams as well, which are important to us. We enjoy sitting by them and walking around them; they host our turtles, heron, visiting ducks and fish, and they are surrounded by some of our biggest trees. They are also not in good health. They are clogged with sediment and are likely to be high in nutrients and low in oxygen leading to algal blooms and marginal conditions for wildlife. We have a plan to increase the health of this ecosystem, which would involve creating sediment traps, improving natural filtration of the water with reed beds, and adding rocks and other elements into the waterways to improve aeration.

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  Sprachen

  Gesprochene Sprachen
  Englisch: Fließend
  Spanisch: Gute Kenntnisse
  Französisch: Gute Kenntnisse

  Dieser Gastgeber bietet Sprachaustausch an
  We are an international community; while we primarily speak English, most of us are learning french and many of us also speak other languages as well.
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  Unterkunft

  When you come, you’ll be assigned a bedroom in a gite. Meg is in charge of our rooms and she will fill you in on everything you need to know. Please also let Meg know if there are particular things to eat that you’re allergic to, hate, or love. We can’t make any promises, but we can try our best to avoid what you hate and pile on what you love. We are a primarily vegetarian community and we eat dinner together every evening, taking turns shopping and cooking for one another. Those who do not cook do the washing up.
  In addition to our communal dinner each evening, we will provide you with breakfast (eg fruit, yogurt, granola, fresh bread from the boulangerie and eggs) and lunch (usually Salad/Sandwich makings or leftovers from last night's dinner); you’re welcome to use the kitchen in your gite to prepare that as you wish.
  
  While your bedroom is private, you’ll almost certainly find yourself sharing a bathroom with others—we tend to be about two or three people per bathroom. We have plenty of wifi boxes scattered around the property, too
  
  We will provide 3 meals per day; breakfast and lunch will be self-service in the Manoir kitchen; and dinner is communal each evening. We can accommodate vegetarian or gluten free diets, our communal meals are often both.

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  Was noch ...

  Being part of our collective
  
  When you come, be prepared to join our community. We work and play together, cook and eat dinners together basically every night, our big table filled with conversation and laughter. We clean up together afterwards. We play games when we feel like it; discuss the challenges of the world or the frustrations of our lives if we want to do that.
  
  We suggest you plan to work on projects in the morning, as it can get quite hot here in the afternoons. In the afternoon you can explore on foot or by train or bike or sit by the pool. We gather for dinner around 7 and you are welcome to join us for the evening meal. You’re also welcome to cook if you enjoy that!
  
  Of course, you never have to join in on any activities if you’re not in the mood for whatever reason. Sometimes people cook in their own kitchens in the gites. Sometimes they meditate in the open barn or write by the pond. Sometimes they go exploring and dining in the towns and villages nearby. It helps if you can let us know your plans so we know whether to include you in communal dining each day.
  
  As far as getting here, If you don’t have or plan to rent a car, you’ll find yourself mostly anchored in place or walking to the village of Pavie for your entertainment and necessities (there’s an organic grocery store, a chemist, and a boulangerie all within about a 20 minute walk). We also have a few bikes you can use.
  
  The closest airport and TGV station is in Toulouse (about an hour away by car; 90 minutes to Auch by train). From Toulouse, you can rent a car or take the train to Auch. (It’s best to take a cab/uber from the airport in Toulouse to Colomier station, and a train from there to Auch.) We can collect you at the train station in Auch when you arrive, just let us know when to expect you. Or you can grab a taxi at the airport (for about 180 Euro). See below for details of local taxies if you want to book ahead. Do let us know when you’re arriving so we can have everything ready for you. If you’re taking the TGV from Paris, the best place to get off is Agen. There you can get a bus to Auch and we can collect you there; or hire a car or a taxi.

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  Etwas mehr Information

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    Internet Zugang

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    Eingeschränkter Internet Zugang

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    Wir besitzen Tiere

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    Wir sind Raucher

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    Familien möglich

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  Kann Digital Nomads unterbringen

  Yes, We have communal work spaces and wifi

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  Platz zum Abstellen von Camper Vans

  We have masses of space to park your van!

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  Hier sind Haustiere in der Regel willkommen

  We have 2 dogs already. Aria is excitable and takes time to accept other dogs. Timber is very laid back. Now renovations are over and we have a community member who is allergic to dog hair we have to ask that your dog is kept out of the Manoir- the main building where we communally eat. But they are free to stay with you in your accommodation.

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  Kapazität - wie viele Workawayer maximal

  mehr als zwei

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  Arbeitszeiten

  Average 5 hours a day, 5 days a week