Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
28 Apr 2024
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 4 days
Feedback
24
Email verified
Badges (2)
Details
Description
David and Francoise are a couple with a cat. David is a writer (fiction and environmental non-fiction), teacher, journalist, and runs an environmental nonprofit community interest company. He works from home. Francoise also works part-time with adults with learning disabilities. Together they have recently initiated a local Climate Action Group. Their cat Pancho sleeps a lot of the time.
We live at a strategic crossroads in rural Wales, in between the Cambrian mountains, the Brecon Beacons and the coast. The house is a short walking distance from the local library, swimming pool, post office and shops. It is full of books, mostly in English. There is a piano and other musical instruments. The garden comprises a vegetable patch and small greenhouse, where we grow food. There is a workshop/art studio at the back of the garden.
Since August 2021, David is in a wheelchair and works online from home. He needs help with day-to-day tasks relating to the non-profit. (There is no need for care work).
Types of help and learning opportunities
Charity Work
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
Animal Care
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
You will discover the good life in a friendly small Welsh town. You will learn about ecological footprint reduction, green living, national politics, and writing with David. You can practice languages with Francoise, and stroke the cat. You will experience the Welsh countryside, and have space and time for your own projects. You can participate in the development of a nascent local climate action group.
Registered non-profit
This host is a registered CIC in the UK and is looking for help with their non-profit project. Please check directly with them if they can provide sponsorship. More info can be found here.
Help
You are ready to help two hours a day for six days a week: organisational and social media tasks with the non-profit, which is about dealing with the climate and nature emergencies. You will learn certain skills so you must enjoy gardening, cooking vegetarian meals, political and practical work jobs and are interested in supporting a nascent Climate Action Group (projects include: a Repair Cafe, a Community Orchard, Tree Preservation Orders).
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Russian: Fluent
German: Beginner
Dutch: Beginner
Polish: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
David is a published environmental journalist, fiction and non-fiction writer in English, who taught writing for many years. Francoise's mother tongue is French, and she enjoys practicing the other languages she knows: Russian, Dutch, German and Polish. Pancho the cat wants to learn to speak bird.
Accommodation
You will have your own bedroom, and share the upstairs bathroom (bath, shower, basin and toilet). You will have access to the garden and the workshop at the back.
You will share the kitchen, an open-plan kitchen/dinning room where David works on his laptop and that overlooks the garden: stove, fridge, microwave, kettle, dishwasher. There is also a camping kettle and a small fridge in your bedroom. We ask that you do not bring meat into the house. You will share our meals free of charge when you are cooking the meal. We will not pay for your food otherwise.
We have reliable BT WiFi in the whole house. You can use our washing machine at agreed times. There is space in the workshop to store a bicycle.
What else ...
David has had students, work associates and guests staying before the Covid pandemic and everybody enjoyed it. Francoise shared happy houses elsewhere for a decade before moving in: she fell in love with David and the area when volunteering at a local yoga ashram.
There is a train station and a bus station within short walking distance. This is an historic town on one of the main droving routes. The area is appreciated by cyclists and walkers. If you wish to learn or practice Welsh, there are plenty of opportunities in town.
We try to reduce our ecological footprint: we eat some of the food we grow, have solar panels, water butts, a greenhouse, fruit trees, cycles, and an electric car.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have a good Wifi connection and each guest room has a table and chair.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
3 hours x 5 days or Maximum 2 hours a day, 6 days a week
Feedback (9)
David and Francoise are very… read more
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(4.9)
David and Francoise are very… read more
He showed a proactive attitude to problem solving when things did not go according to plan: he did not lose his cool, kept his sense of humour and remained solution-oriented. He was excellent on supporting David daily with his online teaching. He is a very good listener.
He… read more
It is also great fun staying with them.… read more
She was good at all the tasks we gave to… read more
