Forest life with our French family in Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Details

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  Description

  We are a Franco-American family of travelers, currently parked and living in the forest, just 18 minutes from downtown Nashville. Grégoire and Katie lived in a van for 2 years, traveling Central and South America, and we still take our 3 kids on van trips every summer (and any other time we can). We speak French at home and have a 6yo (Thibault), a 4yo (Margaux), a 6mo (Arnaud), and a sweet pitbull (BellaDog). We miss the full time traveling lifestyle and love having the travels come to us! We have a nice RV with electricity and water as well as a pop up camper, so you can have your own space or come with a friend and stay together. We also have space to park your own vehicle. We live in the last fully wooded area of Nashville but are 7 minutes from a grocery story and fewer than 20 minutes from the heart of downtown. We’ve done Workaway for a long time but let our profile lapse and are starting up again! We enjoy meals together but also have space for you to do your own thing in the RV. We just got back from 2 months driving across the US and Mexico and need some fellow adventurers to bring the adventure to us until our next trip!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Are you a vanlifer or vanlifer hopeful and want to know about longterm international overland travel? We’ve got you! We drove to Argentina and back!
  
  Want to practice your French? Don’t be shy…we speak it as a family.
  
  Come share travel stories and make new ones. And we’ll cook you crêpes one night if you make us something you love too!

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  We both work full time and manage 100 acres of forest. We’d like outdoor help maintaining our trails and eradicating kudzu. That’s the biggest project on the horizon. We have longterm plans to build an eco-friendly treehouse and have the equipment but haven’t picked a spot and gone for it yet! If you have big visions and are handy, we’d love help with that as well. Hanging at the house in the afternoons with the kids while I (Katie) get stuff done, pitching in with dinner, and generally offering fellowship and a helping hand is especially welcome.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  We are happy to help you practice your French! Greg is French, Katie is American (but fluent), and the kids are bilingual too! We’re always happy to learn more Spanish and to learn new words in languages we don’t know!
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  Accommodation

  RV with cold running water and electricity in the woods with a nice fire pit outside. Near Greg’s workshop (he’s a freelance engineer) and a short walk from our house. Not shared unless you want to come with someone. Breakfast on your own at the RV. We have basic stuff (cereal, coffee). Lunch is flexible. Greg works from home but you’ll usually do your own thing. Dinner at the house with the family. Number of meals we provide per week depends on how much work you intend to do, and we can talk it out. We’ve done all meals down to none in the past, although we prefer it when people at least eat dinner with us.

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  What else ...

  Motivated Workawayers have biked to the grocery store and bus stop, but it’s not convenient for public transport. We’ll tell you the spots to go in Nashville depending on what you want to see, from nature to culture to music. We often have friends over for dinner or cookouts in our forest and take our Workawayers (who want to go) when we hang with friends. We are all fully vaccinated and boosted and have had omicron, so we’ve let our Covid guard down.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  We have great 4G connection for all carriers but don’t have cable internet. We let Workawayers use our hotspot for limited access, but you’d need your own internet if you were using it for work.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We have 100 acres! Our dog runs free, but she’s fine around other dogs and leaves cats alone. We’ve had Workawayers with dogs and cats before. Know that we live in the woods…there are ticks, and wild animals, so you can decide how much freedom to give your furry friends. We’ve hosted dogs and cats in the past with no issues.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  From 10 to 20 hours a week depending on our needs and your plans