Live with a Franco-New Zealand-British family living in scenic Brittany, France

  • Favourited 1076 times
  • Last activity: 14 Apr 2024

Availability

  2024 

 Min stay requested: at least 2 weeks

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    * Painting window frames and walls, and some dining room chairs
    * General help around the house - we love workawayers who love to cook or help out with the cooking
    * Help with the garden - mowing lawns, strimming, planting, weeding, pruning. Ideas for the garden always welcome
    *️️️️Keen video producers - we have a good quality drone and are happy for volunteers to take great videos of Brittany for us!

    We are a Franco-New Zealand-British family living in scenic Brittany and we have been workaway hosts for close to 11 years now. We love it, as it has, and continues to be a very enriching experience.
    We have 4 children - an 18year old lad who is now at Uni in Lyon and 3 big ones who now live in other parts of Brittany and Paris but are sometimes here during weekends and holidays.
    We are close to the historic towns of St Malo and Dinan and only 40mins from the spectacular Mont St Michel. As we have lived in the area for many years and have children at school we are very much part of the local community. We have our own local river beach only 800metres away and are close to many other great coastal beaches as well.
    12 years years ago we moved into our large old home with barn and embarked on a major restoration work. We created 3 holiday homes in the 300 year old barn, and a part of our house and restored our own house to its former grandeur. We have restored the buildings in an ecologically-sound manner.

    We are looking for enthusiastic people who are keen to help us maintain our large garden and assist with the ongoing maintenance there is to do in a large house. Plus the myriad other little tasks and projects we find along the way! In return we offer you a taste of French life and show you the local sights. Marc and the children are the French ones so their accents are better than Kate's but we can all help if you want to improve your French. We live within a short walk of the local village with it's boulangerie, creperie, cafes and bars and cider factory. As in most of Brittany, the area is steeped in history and traditions and we can share our knowledge of the area, its customs, cuisine and music.

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Language practice
    Help with Eco Projects
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
    Help with Computers/ Internet
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    We are a couple who have both traveled widely and lived in several other countries. We love meeting people from elsewhere and delight in sharing our knowledge and experience of life here in France. We love the workaway concept and our experience with workaway for over a decade has been fantastic - we have met many wonderful and interesting people and have made life-long friends. Some have returned several times and some have even decided to work or study in the area.

  • Help

    Help

    - Keeping the garden and lawn under control. We always need help with gardening, pruning and lawnmowing. We are particularly looking for workawayers who have garden design ideas and skills.
    - There is always some painting to be done - both interior and exterior, big jobs and little - such as outdoor furniture, window frames, bookshelves, and so on.
    - General help with the daily chores in the house which allows Kate to get on with the management of the cottages. We love volunteers who like to cook!
    - Sewing skills to help with making curtains and cushions and other furnishings would be appreciated
    - Photography and video skills are also appreciated. We have a drone for those who are keen to use it.
    - and help on other little projects we dream up as we go along!!

    If you are interested in ecological materials and techniques we can share our knowledge of some of them - such as hemp and chalk floors, recycled paper insulation, geothermal (ground source) heating system, pellet-burning stoves, and others. Equally we would love to learn from others.

    In terms of the work we ask for 25hrs per week. With respect to the work routine we are very flexible and do not have set hours of each day to work so if you'd like to do your work in several very intensive days and then spend days at the beach or head off for a weekend camping that's fine with us, or if you'd rather have more short days and enjoy the house, relax at the little beach which is a short walk on country lanes, and chat over long meals, that's fine too - just talk it through with us. There are of course some periods when we the weather alters plans, but generally you are free to work out your own routine.

    There are many, many great places to visit in the area!! We try to show you around as much as possible - either we all go together or sometimes when we have several workawayers we send you off with the car on your own to explore. There are also buses passing through the village which take you to the coast or the medieval village of Dinan.

    In terms of living in the house, it is a family home and all general assistance in the home is much appreciated, cooking, dishwasher stacking, etc. Generally, we try to all muck in and enjoy the area, the projects, the house and life in general.

  • Languages

    Languages spoken
    German: Fluent
    English: Fluent
    Spanish: Fluent
    French: Fluent
    Italian: Intermediate

    This host offers a language exchange
    Italian - when our son is home in the University holidays.

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    Sharing our large, warm and recently renovated family home with us.

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    We live 15-20mins from both Dinan and St Malo which are historic walled-towns. There are regular buses to both places, plus we are regularly in the local towns for shopping etc, and one of our cars is sometimes available for you, so transport should not be a problem. Nearby is Dinard, a typical French sea-side resort and many wonderful beaches strung out along the coast. Mont St Michel, the 2nd most photographed sight in France (after the Tour Eiffel of course) is a must when you are here. Rennes, always rated one of the top cities to live in France is less than an hour away. Each of the local villages and towns have weekly markets and there are plenty of chateaus, gardens and museums to visit in the area as well as nice coastal and ountryside walks to be done .

  • A little more information

    A little more information

    • Internet access

    • Limited internet access

      Limited internet access

    • We have pets

    • We are smokers

    • Can host families

  • Space for parking camper vans

    Space for parking camper vans

    Plenty of parking for converted vans but large motorhomes won't work so well.

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    More than two

  • ...

    Hours expected

    25hrs per week.

Host ref number: 4584886614db

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