Profile information
Host rating
80 %
Last replied
7 Jun 2025
Reply rate
67.9 %
Usually responds within 3 days
Feedback
39
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Badges (3)
Details
Description
I am an English artist who is lucky enough to have been able to split my time between New York and a tiny village in the south west of France. Just recently we bought a house further north in the middle of France in the Vienne and are enjoying discovering a new part of France. I've been a fine art photographer for over 30 years and recently finished the work for my fourth book. I'm a BBC radio 4 addict and listen to it constantly during work. My wife and I enjoy setting up the projector to end the day with a late night movie fest. We both entertain and cook a lot. I tend to cook more the traditional roasts as well as the paella on the terrace and the sushi. Nike cooks more of the Asian food as well as the desserts. Our house is often full of friends and guests. I'm usually working on a few projects at any one time from creating a new series of photographs or sculpture or working out a new building/renovation idea for our place in France. I am fortunate that my work is also my great pleasure.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Creating/ Cooking family meals
General Maintenance
Interests
Gardening
DIY & crafts
Languages
Music
Photography
Cooking & food
Books
Art & design
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We always make sure to include you in whatever social life we have while you are here from hosting dinners, to hearing some music to visiting friends. We even have a small theater in our village. Alvin is an artist and always happy to exchange ideas on the arts, photography, music and of course anything to do with film.
We are in the middle of creating a room that will be a library ,so that I finally have a space for all my books which i am always happy to share. We have an electric piano as well for those who enjoy playing. Sadly we don't play but we are a very appreciative audience.
Help
We recently bought a lovely old house in the middle of France We are looking for help with the house as well as with the day to day of living in the countryside.
One of the reasons we love our village so much is its complete contrast to life in Manhattan. If you want a late night party scene, our place is not for you. You need to be in Manhattan! We work six days a week and take Sundays off but as a work away you would be expected to work Monday to Friday five hours a day with Saturday and Sunday off.
A lot of the tasks is very physical, so we always like to tell people ahead of time. It can range from the less physical tasks of shopping or house cleaning to gardening or painting.You don't have to know how to do all of these things before you come to us but you need to be handy, hard working, strong and willing to learn. We live together as a family, so everyone,chips in on what needs doing whether it be hanging out the laundry to baking a cake to digging a hole to installing a fountain. Because we are in a small village, a drivers license is very handy.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Accommodation
We live on a small street in a lovely stone house that was originally the old policemans building for the village. It is on three floors with plenty of bedrooms, so you will have your own room. There are also some out buildings where Alvin keeps his tools and the all important lawn mower as well as a small building on the right of the main house that had originally been the policemen's office in the 1920's.
There is a garden at the back of the house where we enjoy sitting under the trees at the end of the day with a nice glass of local wine.
What else ...
We are in a small village in the Vienne - roughly 900 inhabitants. We have a post office, pharmacy, a small superette with delicious croissant and bread as well as simple, family style restaurant open for lunch and then for coffee or drinks til 9 pm. The village even has its own chateaux .
We are 15 minutes from our two local market towns - Richelieu and Loudun. We are 15 minutes from the start of Loire valley so plenty of chateaux's to visit. We are only a couple hours from Paris on the TGV so you can also take a weekend to hop up to Paris or else stop there first on your way to us. There are plenty of beautiful walks, Just pack a picnic and head out the door. We have a couple bikes that you are welcome to borrow.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have wifi as well as many rooms with desks where you can work when you need a space and some quiet.
Space for parking camper vans
We have space at the bottom of our garden to park a large camper van if you need.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Feedback (29)
The work was very physical but… read more
I ended up spending the month of October with three friends of mine at Alvin and Nike’s, and it was truly an experience like no other. For the first week I worked on the construction site, demoing the old stones and bringing them down the hill. It’s tough physical work, but extremely… read more
That week seemed like a month. I really felt like a member of the family. Nike prepared magical dinners, which we enjoyed with a candlelit dinner. I was never bored, we always went somewhere in the area. There are loads of… read more
Photos
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(4.7)
Communication:
(4.5)
The work was very physical but… read more
I ended up spending the month of October with three friends of mine at Alvin and Nike’s, and it was truly an experience like no other. For the first week I worked on the construction site, demoing the old stones and bringing them down the hill. It’s tough physical work, but extremely… read more
That week seemed like a month. I really felt like a member of the family. Nike prepared magical dinners, which we enjoyed with a candlelit dinner. I was never bored, we always went somewhere in the area. There are loads of… read more
Thank you so much for the wonderful time we had!!
We can only recommend this place for workawayers because it is a beautiful and unique experience!
When Alvin picked us up with is blue converted Morris minor the magic began...
We spent almost three weeks in Bouriège. They were so patient with us being in quarantine for ten… read more
I would recommend them to anyone who is motivated to work, has at least basic social skills and wants to experience first-class hosting within this community.
For you contribution you'll get rewarded with a big variety of… read more
Anyone who is accepted by Alvin and Nike can consider themselves lucky. It was a nice and interesting experience for me and I hope, that I could help… read more
I arrived the same day as Alvin, and 4 other workawayers. which made me feel home from the start.
For me the work task was mostly building and fixing up things. Lots of various projects to do, plus If you had an idea of something to make/fix, were he always open.
Alvin is a very… read more
Alvin. Jack of all trades. Iron Chef. Purveyor of puns. Brings palms to knees. "Slap". Has his own particular way. To slice a potato. To boil an egg. Will build you a wall. Of brick and… read more
Our garden has never looked so good. We are only sorry that she missed seeing and tasting the bountiful results of all her hard gardening… read more
Tasks were varied and included helping to clear, restore and maintain the gardens and assisting with guest-room turnarounds. A lot of the tasks were fairly physical and so suited a Workaway that likes to keep fit.
Alvin and Nike… read more
Let's try to make a summary.
From the first moment we sent them message, they were super helpful.
By the time we arrive to Alvin and Nike's home, they had the house full but we were introduced to Chris, a friend and neighbor who also needed help and we stayed at his house for a week. But every day we dined… read more
c est simplement que vous imaginer aller tourner un film et tout les soirs, tout les acteurs se retrouvent autour de la table et souvent d’autres acteurs (amis, voisins, famille) sont invites au grand diner. Nike et Alvin sont très généreux , on ne… read more
Nike and Alvin have created a magical place full of beautiful things, delicious food and amazing people. They treat workawayers like family and we could feel that they really wanted to get to know us better, spend time together and have fun together.
We did some help with… read more
Nike is so lovely and adorable woman, and Albin is so pleasant and attractive man.
Most of our help was painting and cleaning. It was affordable amount work for sure and they tried to organize the works to make you feel comfortable.
Everyday, dinner was super nice with endless wine.
Usually we ate in… read more
Alvin & Nike
Alvin & Nike
We wish them all… read more
