Join us at our beautiful chateau near Toulouse, France

Informationen

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  Beschreibung

  Hi, welcome to our profile!
  
  In September 2023, we bought a beautiful Château in the south of France, with outbuildings and 7 hectares (about 17 acres) of land full of meadows and trees, a pond, a water well, and a swimming pool.
  
  The Château is a private home in a lovely French hamlet, about a 50-minute drive to Toulouse, with amazing views of the Pyrenees. The area is magnificent, and we are constantly falling in love with it! No light pollution makes for nights of stargazing and listening to owls calling each other from the high trees. There is a lovely little restaurant, a church, and a post office within a 10-minute walk from the Château. From the property, you can go for long walks or beautiful bike rides.
  
  We're both in our middle 60s and happily married. John is a lawyer and active with cycling and guitars. I am a retired art consultant, equestrian, and active hiker. We traveled throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States. When you come to stay with us, please tell us your stories, and we will share ours! We just planted a small orchard, have begun a formal rose garden, and we would love some advice and help with our horses (grooming, feeding, no riding), garden and fruit trees throughout the year. Our cooking styles are eclectic, with a focus on health and nutrition. We're not vegetarian and happy to accommodate reasonable requests regarding dietary restrictions. Please let us know your allergies/food restrictions before you arrive so we can ensure you are happy.
  
  To get here, it's a short flight or train ride from Paris to Toulouse and a 1 1/2 hour bus ride from Toulouse. We can collect you from the closest village (about 15 km away), but we highly recommend you come in your car, if you can, so you have freedom and go about when you like.
  
  Did I mention we're non-smokers? There is no smoking in the chateau. No vapes, cigarettes, etc. No exception.
  
  We have three dogs: Rambo (Yorkshire Terrier), Napoleon (French bulldog), and Vivaldi (German Shepherd), with us at the Chateau. We will have another puppy arriving this week. We have three horses, Mica, an American Mini horse, Limonero (Lusitano), and Buster (Welsh and Quarter Horse cross), living in the Château's stalls for the winter, and in pasture the rest of the year. Our horses arrived from California just in time for Christmas 2024!
  
  Our first Workaway team cleaned out the stables and organized household basics. We renovated the stables, and are organizing a tack room, planning the arena, building a formal rose garden and orchard, and repurposing an old bedroom into a new laundry room on the top floor (where it's bright and sunny and warm!). We brought a bunch of exercise toys from California and built a gym! Our dream for the future includes a couple of puppies, a llama or two, and maybe some ducks (our last Workaway team made a house for the ducks!) and maybe a few geese once we're settled in a bit more.
  
  Do you have a pet? Sorry, we cannot accommodate your pets (do not bring your pet).
  
  We discovered our DIY skills are not great, and I need to emphasize that we do have paid professionals helping us with big renovation projects; it’s a lot of work, and we need help with all kinds of tasks. If you are interested in volunteering with us, we would love it if you have basic skills and basic DIY knowledge we don’t have so we can learn from each other when you stay with us.
  
  Lastly, we know age is just a number, but we cannot invite you to join us unless you are 21 or older. We are a diverse, mostly, mature, group, and not a lot of fun for teens.
  
  Please write to us if you are interested or would like further information.
  
  John and Micaela
  
  PS, Please be prepared for a short interview (call it a vibe check) as a requirement before we can invite you to join us, and to show us your government ID (driver's license or passport) when you arrive.
  
  PPS, Our first Workaway, in September 2023, was great! Our volunteers were a pleasure, we learned so much from them, most importantly, they taught us how to host with care and responsibility.
  
  PPPS, We do not have paying guests. Workaway volunteers will not be asked to help with any paying guests or maintain spaces used by paying guests.

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  Arten von Hilfe und Lernmöglichkeiten

  Sprachpraxis

  Hilfe bei Ökoprojekten

  Gartenarbeiten

  Heimwerker- und Bauarbeiten

  Betreuung von Tieren

  Mithilfe auf einem Bauernhof

  Hausarbeiten

  Handwerkliche Arbeiten

  Hilfe mit Computer /Internet
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  Kultureller Austausch und Lernmöglichkeiten

  Our place is special to us, and to the many returning volunteers we hosted through 2023 and 2024. We will share how local French people live and eat. We focus on French food that is seasonal and local (no cherries in December here!), although once in a while we will break out with a pizza or curry! Food is important to us, and we like to eat well. We will take you to weekly local markets to stock up on produce for the week, where you will meet our favorite cheese vendor who generously shares slice after slice of some of the best cheeses in the world!
  
  You will learn about Napoleon and his work improving the land for the people, about a historic neoclassical chateau built in the late 19th century, and about the French culture of the area (we have two principal families, one was Resistance and the other was Vichy during WWII). I will teach you about life in France from a cultural and insider perspective and how to live in France in step with French customs and food traditions.
  
  We have a regular weekly lunch at a local restaurant that was founded by the current owner's grandmother (the owner is a trained chef with a resume that includes Michelin restaurants nearby). This is a tradition for us at the Château, and we strictly honor it!
  
  We will share our organizational skills, acquired over the year from several volunteers who came to stay with us. We have been fortunate to host these generous and very kind people.
  
  Do you like animals? We are training our newly arrived horses (from California) to be relaxed and happy in their new home. In the winter, they are stabled and dry, in the summer, they will be moved to our pastures for grazing. You will learn how to grow confidence and to be gentle with them, to groom them and to be at ease. We have a couple of very cute dogs too (and a new puppy), and since we moved here, we make their dog food from scratch. The result is healthier and happier dogs.
  
  My husband is learning French. Although I'm not a French teacher, I am fluent and happy to help you with your French when you ask for it! We are both fluent in English. We would be delighted to help you improve your English (or your French).
  
  In California, people shook their heads in disbelief that we would invite total strangers into our home. The truth is, we appreciate the cultural and social exchange that results from our volunteers. We have been very fortunate to attract people we value and who value us. We thank them, loudly, and publicly, in appreciation. We do care and we do appreciate the investment that volunteers make when them come to visit us.

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  Arbeit

  In general, we need help with the horses and dogs (feeding, grooming), photography, cooking, general organization, and verified social media and admin talent.
  
  The Château is a private home with many things that must be brought back to life and used again. If you love architecture, design, gardening, and nature and would like to help us restore the Château and organize it and its gardens (learning what to grow and when), we would love to welcome you!
  
  We need help to maintain our herb garden, weed our gravel driveway, and develop beekeeping skills. We use eco-friendly methods for this. We need help with organizing/label tools, clear meadows and stalls (check fencing, manure, etc.), and keeping the pool pretty (summer only!). Our current projects include restoring doors and locks, clearing brush, creating a tack room, and organizing the original 200-year-old stables.
  
  Previous volunteers helped us install a new floor in the guardian's house (the Gentilhommière), and reimagine furniture to make the rooms more welcoming. Volunteers have helped us with curtains, photography, social media, and organization of the household linens and kitchen. There is DIY to be done throughout, including assisting to put up wallpaper, cleaning out the stone cellar and helping with the animals. Lots to do.
  
  If you are keen to learn about caring for animals, seasonal French food, local customs, general French culture, and are interested in having a go at this with a couple of former Californians, we would be delighted to have you!
  
  We ask our volunteers to stay from 2 to 4 weeks. Your stay involves participation at mealtimes - setting the table and clearing up - and hopefully lots of conversation! We all pitch in here, and it's part of the fun.
  
  Do you have verifiable digital nomad skills? Bring them on! We are keen to have our internet site/social media polished up and shiny so others can see what we've done (with your help!).

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  Sprachen

  Gesprochene Sprachen
  Englisch: Fließend
  Spanisch: Fließend
  Französisch: Fließend

  Dieser Gastgeber bietet Sprachaustausch an
  My husband and I speak fluent English. I also speak fluent French and Spanish. If you want to come to polish up your French, just let me know, I would be delighted to help you with language and cultural learning!
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  Unterkunft

  We are a private home with spacious and clean accommodations. If you are a couple, we hope to offer you an apartment annexed to the Château in a south-facing corner of the ground floor. It has a private entrance, shower, and WC. It overlooks the park and has a small utility kitchen. If you are single, we offer a private room with a shared shower and WC (not more than 3 persons per bathroom).
  
  We would like your company at dinner so we can get to know you as it's the best time to relax and tell stories about your life and learn about life in France!
  
  Breakfast is at 8.30 am - coffee/tea, yogurt, croissant/bread, butter, marmalade, muesli/granola, fruit, and fresh orange juice.
  Lunch at 1 pm - is a salad with a sandwich or soup
  We eat evening meals together at 7.30 pm - soup or salad, main course (protein and starch), and dessert.
  
  We do not provide alcohol apart from the table wine served at dinner, and all our tap water is potable (drinkable).
  
  We are not vegetarians but are willing to accommodate your vegetarian requirements. Please be truthful about your dietary requirements. There is nothing more stressful than finding out someone is vegan when they applied to tell us they'll eat anything. I promise, we will try to accommodate any allergies or food restrictions you have. Kindly keep in mind we are a private home, not a hostel or commune.

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  Was noch ...

  We are very active on social media and happy to give you our Instagram + website and all our details (address, contact information, etc) when you are invited to join us.
  
  To get here, it's a short flight or train ride from Paris to Toulouse and a 1 1/2 hour bus ride from Toulouse.
  
  We can collect you from the closest town (about 15 km away), and we highly recommend you come in your car, if you can, so that you have some freedom and go out when you like.
  
  The Château is in a beautiful but isolated rural community surrounded by agricultural fields. We have a private park and meadows. The closest bar and restaurants are about 20 minutes by car.
  
  What can you do during your free time? The Château has a bridle path that is a good 2 kilometer walk, up and down hills. There are walking paths behind the Château, in between fields and in forests. If you have a bicycle, please bring it and explore all the countryside around us. If you have a car, the world is your oyster! Hiking in the Pyrenees, excursions to Toulouse and Carcassonne, maybe beyond, to Bordeaux and Biarritz. The Mediterranean is a couple of hours away too (think beaches in the Camargues and Rousillon). We had one volunteer come to stay because our Château is closest to the highest peak in the Pyrenees - we drove him to the base, he climbed Aneto - and we picked him up when he was done! I am very proud of that.
  
  No smoking is permitted in the rooms or any part of the chateau.
  NO PETS (no dogs, cats, lizards, rabbits, etc.), unless it's a horse ;)

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  Etwas mehr Information

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    Internet Zugang

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    Eingeschränkter Internet Zugang

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    Wir besitzen Tiere

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    Wir sind Raucher

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    Familien möglich

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  Kann Digital Nomads unterbringen

  We have 4G fiber optic cable and updated excellent WiFi. We would love to host digital nomads and will trade your verified blogging/social media skills for a room! Talk to us and let us know how we can work together.

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  Platz zum Abstellen von Camper Vans

  We have a large parking area that might accommodate your campervan. There will be no WiFi/internet access to campervans. Please tell us what kind of campervan you have so we can ensure you have room for it.

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  Kapazität - wie viele Workawayer maximal

  mehr als zwei

Website-Sicherheit

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