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Last replied
27 Sep 2024
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Description
We are an English couple living in the centre of a village (Maureillas) in a traditional house with a big garden. We are situated a 30 minutes drive from gorgeous sandy beaches, 30 minutes in the opposite direction and you are in the mountains or a 3 hour walk takes you across the border into Spain.
Gardening is our favourite hobby and we try to cultivate our plants organically and with permaculture in mind. We have a vegetable garden, wild meadow and lawns with flower and shrub borders.
We always aim to undertake a new garden project with our workawayers which will involve small scale building of some sort. In the past this has been making pathways, wall building, installing hugelkultur beds and shed building.
In the event of rainy weather the indoor jobs will involve cleaning, house maintenance and maybe a bit of painting and decorating.
Please read on to the Help section to see what projects we have lined up for our next volunteers.
You will either be staying in our house with your own private bedroom, shared bathroom and living spaces or if we do not have paying guests then you can stay in our gite next door. Over there you would have your own bedroom and private bathroom. If we have another volunteer at the same time then you would share the kitchen and living room with them too, we all tend to cook and eat together.
We really enjoy cooking, especially outdoors, using fresh local ingredients and find great pleasure in sharing meals and laughter with the wonderful friends we have made here. We eat meat and fish so the household is not suitable for vegetarians / vegans. We especially enjoy trying foods from around the world so if you would like to share your recipes with us that would be great.
Our other hobbies include mountain biking and hiking our local paths and trails.
English is the main language spoken in the house but we both understand and speak French and there is plenty of opportunity for you to practise your french with the locals.
We are looking forward to meeting you!
Ade and Hazel
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We would be happy to help you improve your English - the main lanuage we use aroud the house (we do both speak basic French too) and introduce you to locals who would be happy to chat to you in French. I am part of a local voluntary scheme that teaches different languages for free, I have experience in helping make those little improvements that can make all the difference to your English vocabulary and grammar.
We have a broad knowledge of gardening in both the UK and France and would love to share our ideas and enthusiasm for plants and ecological gardening.
Our building projects usually involve an environmentally friendly approach, we use lime instead of concrete wherever we can – we would be glad to teach you how versatile this natural product is.
Cooking is another hobby and we preserve lots of our home grown fruit and veg into jams and chutneys and prepare meals with a global influence, exchanging recipes and techniques is a great way to learn. We love to host enthusiastic cooks.
Help
We are looking for help from the begining of June for a couple of weeks. Our next project will be the renovation of our stone wall - this will involve working with lime render to rebuild sections and to fill in the gaps around the stones. The other task we would like to get done is the construction of another limecrete pathway across the vegatable garden.You do not need previous experience - we will show you how it is done and will be involved too.
If it is raining then the indoor job will be using lime and hemp to insulate an attic wall, this will involve helping to make up the mixture and carrying buckets up and down the stairs...all good exercise!
You would be working alongside us and we can show you what to do but you will need to be strong and physically fit.
We try to use principles of permaculture and are happy to share our gardening knowledge.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Intermediate
Accommodation
You will either be staying in our house with your own private bedroom, shared bathroom and living spaces or if we do not have paying guests then you can stay in our gite next door. Over there you would have your own bedroom and private bathroom. If we have another volunteer at the same time then you would share the kitchen and living room with them too.
We have high speed WiFi
We will cook and eat together, we provide the food but please note that we are a household that eats meat and fish.
What else ...
Sorry, we cannot take pets.
Our surroundings offer beautiful walks or mountain bike trails into the cork forests.
The village has a bar, a restaurant, shop etc and a very friendly community waiting to greet you with a cheery "bonjour"
We have a bike that you are welcome to borrow and there is a local bus service but you may want to bring or hire a car to explore the wider area.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (18)
We loved having him around, he is fun to be with and he is good at joining in and helping with household tasks without needing to be asked.
Come back any time Finlay!
Her eagerness to be helpful and tackle any jobs that needed doing was very much appreciated - she is proactive and keen to learn new things.
Come back again anytime Sara, you are always welcome!
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We loved having him around, he is fun to be with and he is good at joining in and helping with household tasks without needing to be asked.
Come back any time Finlay!
Her eagerness to be helpful and tackle any jobs that needed doing was very much appreciated - she is proactive and keen to learn new things.
Come back again anytime Sara, you are always welcome!
She learnt quickly and was equally happy working alongside us as tackling various tasks on her own. We were appreciative of a willing pair of hands to help with housework and washing up without the need to ask –… read more
We had a very relaxed time in Maureillas with beautiful evenings and veeeery delicious food! 😋
We spent a lot of time together with Hazel and Ade, playing games in the eve, a day trip to Spain, a trip to the beach or just having good conversations. We felt so comfortable, like a… read more
The weather was perfect for working outdoors and the amount of jobs crossed off our "to do list" was amazing. They worked hard, listened to instructions and used their initiative - we really couldn't have asked for more. In addition… read more
She made a good job of weeding, clearing and digging over the vegetable garden as well as being a willing pair of hands with housework and washing up. Come back anytime, Ari!
I felt really comfortable and welcomed during the 10 days I was there. They have such an inspirational lifestyle, it was amazing joining their routine.
I worked in the garden planting, weeding and composting, and also indoor, making… read more
She made some delicious soups, cakes and sourdough bread - she is eager to learn new things, make connections and find her place in the world.
Good luck in your new adventures… read more
I enjoyed sharing the meals with them especially because Hazel is such an amazing cook.
By the way Ade is crazy good at ping pong and I dont think he's ever lost a game.
The jobs were mostly indoors, and were easy and fun to accomplish.
I wish you… read more
It was a real… read more
She helped around the garden and the home and we are grateful for the jobs she ticked off our "to do" list.
Come back anytime Valerie!
Their home and location is incredibly beautiful, sunny and peaceful, very near to the spanish border. There you can go for walks, hikes or mountainbiking (Ade is great at it). Hazel has also deep knowledge of Ashtanga Yoga, so she can help if you are interested.
I… read more
She worked well as part of a team but was also equally happy to work alone without the need for supervision.
She instinctively helped with washing… read more
We worked in the garden, trimming trees and bushes, chipping plants for mulching, unblocking irrigation channels, weeding and some excavation. I… read more
We worked 4-4.5 hours with half hour break called second breakfast :)
I had not only a private room, but the whole… read more
The work there was really interesting and engaging. I was mainly working in the garden and I literally didn’t know a thing about it, so… read more
She was so helpful around the house without needing to be asked, she has an instinct for what needs to be done and just gets on with it.
Our garden… read more
They weren't phased by the task of sanding and painting door shutters and window frames and approached each new job… read more
Her English is very good and she was happy to correct my French, doing a great job with fixing the errors in my welcome pack for French visitors.
The garden looks much better now that the weeds are gone and… read more
He worked really hard in the garden taking on each new task with energy and consideration. He worked well in a team and also on his own making him an ideal member of our little group of helpers. He was enthusiastic to learn and a… read more
The work was fulfilling and not really hard. There are many… read more
She was so helpful, always eager and cheerful and a delight to spend time with. A lot of jobs on our to do list were crossed off during her stay - she worked hard in the garden, performed miracles cleaning our kitchen that had… read more
