Description
Far away hidden in beautiful rural France i recently bought an old little farm with 3 hectares of land. My wish is to turn it into an natural selfsuficient place. The house and land have been abandonned for more then 30 years.. So there is lots to do!!
I will try to do most by hand and would like to create all from natural materials. The plan is to break away old walls, plastering and isolating the walls with cob, creating a natural kitchen and bathroom and so on and so on.. So some more handy strong hands from lovely people who love living simple in nature.. are very very welcome!! 🙏

My first goal is to clear the land (now covered in brambles and weeds) to create a big organic vegetable garden. For this spring and the first veggies i allready created some beds.
I also have 7000m2 Forest land that i would love to turn into a foodforest. So we will be soon able to live of the land and don't need to buy the rubbish they sell at the supermarkets.
Once we have created the gardens i also love to create an nature camping, an outdoor kitchen and ecotoilet. Maybe some natural huts..
Well.. many wonderful plans and i am very open to your ideas and creativity.
If you are handy and have experience with building naturally with wood, cob or straw, have nowledge about permaculture and living natural that would be wonderful.
I have a lot of space and some other buildings that can be renovated, if we get along and you can help me with making it into an wonderful place and you feel well here and love to stay for a long time that might be possible too. All is possible, maybe even a little ecovillage with likeminded souls.

As we are setting up the place and don't have big vegetablegardens yet i cant offer you complete meals, once the food is growing for sure I can provide healthy organic food. But for now if everybody chips in a bit we can create good healthy meals together. Mostly if the weather allows it we are just camping in the midst of nature. But you can also sleep in thouse. I have no electricity yet but i do have water. No bathroom yet or hot shower but with a bucket hot&cold water you can create a nice warm shower. I would love to create a hot tub outside, so you can use that.
ll will be plain simple but in spring, summer and early autum it is lovely to live outside and be one with nature.

Eventhough life will be pure and simple, i love to make it cosy and comfortable for lovely people helping us. Even with having little you can feel rich like a king.
Waking up with the songs of the birds..
The first rays of sun caressing your face..
A kukeldidoo.. Everyday fresh eggs!!
Making a big campfire outside or at the fireplace, listening to beautiful music.
Watching a millions of stars at night..

The area where we are living is very beautiful and quiet calm, you can walk around for hours in the forest. If you are lucky you can spot beautiful birds of prey, a fox, deer or a badger. There are little rivers and waterfalls. The beautiful river the Dordogne is nearby. There are some little villages around with friendly people. At 20 minutes distance by car you have Argentat a lovely little town on the riviere la Dordogne. There is a nice community of conscient natural people living in this area, we often have interesting workshops, dinners together, ecoconstruction meetings etc.

If you can play a instrument you are very welcome to take it with you, i will try to collect some instruments so we can make music around the fire!

Oh yes and i hope you love animals, i love them a lot and there will be many. For now i have 3 very friendly cats, a rescued doggie from Thailand, and 6 rescued chickens. Soon our animal family will expand! Can’t wait to get some goats! And i hope to have some horses too one day soon. We have beautiful trails in the area. We could maybe go for rides if you like to.

Im originally from the Netherlands but left the crazy busy life there 7 years ago, i have travelled our beautiful world and have helped at wonderful projects. I have been a workawayer myself too and a host at a gorgeous little nature project in Thailand. But now its time to settle down at this beautiful place in France.

Looking forward to meeting you!!
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Farmstay help
Creating/ Cooking family meals
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
There is lots to learn, i myself am still learning every day. You can learn how to renovate and create an house in the most natural way. You can learn about permaculture and natural gardening. You can learn how to live in and from nature, with respect for our beautiful paradise and all its wonderfull creatures. Animals are our friends and we can all live in respect with them and in nature without doing any harm.
It is so wonderful to realize that we need so little to be happy.
Nature simply provides all.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
We need strong, fit and handy people who like to really help get things done. Its hard work sometimes but very fullfilling when you see the results.
Mainly the work wil be renovating the house and other small buildings, clearing the land, working the land and in the vegetable gardens. We have many wonderful ideas and we are more then open to receive any ideas or initiatives to make it into a wonderful place.
I will make a list of the little and bigger projects i would love to realise, if you like and it fits the moment, you can choose an project to work on by yourself. I have learnt that it works much better if you have an interest in something and you work with much more joy and love when you can finish a project and feel proud of what you have achieved.
I have helped at quiet some projects where they “use” you as a free worker and you dont learn anything they promise you. I don’t like that. Especially if you choose specific projects to learn something. Sure also i have some shitty hard and boring things that need to be done, but if we do them together its much more fun!
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
French: Intermediate
This host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
You can contact them directly for more information.
Accommodation
We will be sleeping in tents or in the old house. You can bring your own tent if you like and also please bring your own sleepinggear. I can provide a tent and a matrass if you don't have one. Or if the weather allows it a hammock. Or even if you like you can create an simple hut to sleep in.
We will create an ecotoilet/bathroom and outside kitchen soon. If you wish you can you can have a warm shower at the house of an friend now and then. Also i would like to ask you to only use natural soaps and shampoo at my place as we don't want to harm the beautiful nature around.

For food, we can create fresh healthy meals (preferably vegetarian). We have chickens so we have very yummy healthy fresh eggs from very happy free chickens. If you can or like to cook thats wonderful. I love to taste everybody's specialty's!
What else ...
Its a bit hard to get here if you dont have your own transport. The nearest place you can get to by train or bus is Tulle or Brive le Gaillarde. Hitchhiking is quiet easy here as the people in general are very friendly and willing to help you. I prefer to use my car as little as possible but if you can’t get here I’ll pick you up at the nearest place.
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
- Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
max 25 hours- Maximum 3 to 5 hours a day, 5 days a week