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Learn new skills and enjoy moments of relaxation surrounded by nature in Ariège, France

Availability

  2025 

 Min stay requested: 1 month or more

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    Welcome to our ecovillage! Where nature thrives and a new community is growing...

    We're looking for long-term volunteers (several months) : please do not contact us for less than 2 months !

    🔸 Availability : from November !

    ⚠️ Please note: We are a non-smoking ecovillage, and we cannot accommodate cats or dogs to protect the local wildlife.

    🔹 Who we are
    Hi! I’m Florane, the contact person for this Workaway profile.
    We're a small but growing community of 7 permanent residents, including: Jean-Marc, Gaëtan & Claire, the Flos (Florane & Florian) and their two daughters, Gaïa (7) and Yin (2) ...plus a dozen happy chickens and an abundance of wild animals living peacefully around us.

    Our place is nestled in 45 hectares of lush forests and open meadows in southwest France. From our hill, you can spot the Pyrenees, and nearby there's a large pond full of frogs and ducks.

    🔻 The Project
    We purchased the land in spring 2023, and we’re building an ecovillage from the ground up. It’s an exciting time : everything is in motion!

    Our 3 Main Goals:
    🏘 Create a living area:
    Several families are joining! We're currently renovating houses and building 8 eco-friendly wooden homes (thanks to Gaëtan, our resident carpenter), for residents!
    🌱 Build a collective permaculture farm:
    In time, we’ll grow vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, algae, nuts, honey — and maybe produce cheese too. The dream is to become resilient and feed the ecovillage and local villages.
    🎓 Offer a space for learning and sharing !

    💧 Why we host volunteers
    We’re still at the very beginning, and every volunteer is a precious part of our story, like a drop of water helping a river come to life. We dream of re-creating the beautiful community spirit we’ve experienced during our own Workaway travels: people from around the world working, laughing, and learning together.

    We welcome volunteers who are motivated, enthusiastic, and eager to learn, and who genuinely enjoy being helpful.
    Personal responsibility is very important to us: we appreciate people who notice what needs to be done and take action without being asked, like washing your dishes, emptying the compost toilets before they overflow, or picking up a broom when the floor is messy.
    We also value emotional responsibility : being aware of your feelings and owning your experience. For us, it's important that everyone contributes not just with their hands, but also with a grounded and mindful presence.

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Art Projects
    Help with Eco Projects
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Farmstay help
    Babysitting and creative play
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
    Help with Computers/ Internet
  • Interests

    Interests

    Adventure sports
    Mountain
    Camping
    Nature
    Yoga / Wellness
    Dancing
    Outdoor activities
    Hiking
    Cycling
    Architecture
    Animals
    DIY & crafts
    History
    Plant care
    Music
    Art & design
    Books
    Photography
    Languages
    Gardening
    Cooking & food
    Writing
    Performing arts
    Drawing & painting
    Carpentry
    Astronomy
    Hitchhiking
    Sustainability
    Self development
    Farming
  • UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

    UN goals
    No poverty
    Zero hunger
    Good health and well-being
    Quality education
    Gender equality
    Clean water and sanitation
    Affordable and clean energy
    Decent work and economic growth
    Industries, innovation and infrastructure
    Reduce inequality
    Sustainable cities and communities
    Responsible consumption and production
    Climate action
    Life below water
    Life on land
    Peace, justice and strong institutions
    Partnerships for the goals
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Here you can:
    🍽 Share communal meals and laughter
    🏞 Swim in the nearby lake or river
    🌲 Meditate, dance, walk, or just be in the forest
    📚 Learn about ecovillages, sustainability, and our own journey
    🗣 Have deep (and silly!) conversations under the stars

    During our time off, we go to the lake to swim, we rockclimb, we hike... Or just enjoying free time in such an amazing nature!

  • Projects involving children

    Projects involving children

    This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

  • Help

    Help

    We have hosted more than 100 workawayers :)
    And we'd like to change a little now : we'd like to host people for several months - at least more than 1 month each time, so that we can know each other better, and also for the volunteer who's staying to really feel at home.

    We are doing a lot of different things. We're improving the place to turn it into a place where people can live and feel good. This is very wide, and also you could have an amazing idea we didn't have!

    I know that's not very accurate. Please contact us and we'll see together how we can both help each other :)

    Your help would only be for private home/garden (for permanent residents of the ecovillage), not in any spaces related to paying event guests.

    For now, we don't need help in the garden as it... Doesn't exist yet !

    Daily tasks are basically:
    🍽 Cooking for the volunteers,
    🧹 Leaving a clean and tidy kitchen after meals,
    🪵 Bring some firewood in the house if it's cold,
    🚽 Empty your compost toilets...

    We’re looking for motivated, proactive, and emotionally mature volunteers. Please don’t wait for reminders; we value initiative and shared responsibility.

    👷🏼 We provide everything for safety : safety shoes, safety glasses, gloves, earplugs, masks, old t-shirts for painting or dirty stuff...

    🎨 Our way is giving a lot of freedom for volunteers:
    After two weeks you can have a "creative project", for example going around the place and say : "hey, I have skills to draw something beautiful in your living room, are you okay to buy some paint for me?" or "oh, this tree is so beautiful, can I build some benches to put around it?". Someone made a furniture to hold all the spices jar in the kitchen, another draw the map of the whole place... To leave a small piece of you here 🥰

  • Languages

    Languages spoken
    English: Fluent
    French: Fluent
    Dutch: Fluent
    Spanish: Beginner

    This host offers a language exchange
    This place CAN be a good place if you want to practice French! But please note that we always prefer to include everyone in the conversation (if there's a non French speaker). So it depends a lot on who are the other volunteers!

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    🛖 Accommodation :
    In the main house, we have 2 bedrooms with two single beds each, and another bedroom with two bunk beds. Compost toilets and shared bathroom with other volunteers.

    🥘 Food :
    Organic only. It's important for us ! We provide basic vegetarian food but we don't provide things like coffee, chocolate, peanut butter,... If you need something more, there's a small supermarket not so far, we can lend a bicycle.
    We are not vegan nor vegetarian, so we sometimes cook meat for ourselves : just saying, in case that's a problem for you.

    🪥 Ecological products :
    Please bring ecological soap, schampoo, toothpaste, deodorant... That's important for us also. We have a "less and less plastic waste" and "buy organic/local" policy here.
    We provide the washing machine liquid.

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    📶 There is no phone reception at the main house. WiFi is available for 4 hours/day during free time. Need more? A 5-minute walk gets you reception.

    🚉 How to get here
    From Toulouse: Train to Pamiers (1 hr) → Bus to Aigues-Vives (45 min)
    From Carcassonne: Train to Limoux (1 hr) → Bus to Chalabre (45 min)
    👍 Hitchhiking is common and many volunteers have made it here that way too!

    ❗ A few notes
    Phones addicts might struggle here : digital detox is part of the experience!
    Please copy-paste “ecovillage” in your first message title to show you’ve read our profile.
    We do not accept volunteer inquiries from people looking to become residents. If you’re interested in that path, I'm sure you'll find us!

  • 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

  • Can host digital nomads

    Can host digital nomads

    This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.

  • Space for parking camper vans

    Space for parking camper vans

    This host can provide space for campervans.

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    More than two

  • My animals / pets

    My animals / pets

Host ref number: 121934479154

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Photos

A person with braided hair and a colorful, patterned headscarf is using a yellow and black tool to write or engrave on a wooden surface.
A person wearing gloves and a cap is working on a wooden structure attached to a wall, using tools and appearing to assemble or repair it outdoors.
Four people sit on padded mats in a colorful indoor climbing gym, while one person climbs the wall behind them. Bright holds decorate the wall.
Two glass jars filled with vibrant pickled vegetables sit on a wooden board beside a rustic loaf of bread, sunlight streaming in through the window.
Through leafy trees, a scenic countryside view unfolds: open fields with hay bales, a shimmering blue lake, distant hills, and a clear, bright sky.
The image depicts a group of 11 people standing in front of a lake, with a mountainous forested background, all embracing each other.
The image depicts a room with two beds, a window, and a skylight, featuring white walls, a wooden beam, and a beige carpet.
The image depicts a red tractor pulling a trailer with three people on board, set against a picturesque backdrop of trees and a blue sky with white clouds.
A person wearing a tan jacket and orange and blue pants is working on a stone wall, with a red bucket of mortar nearby.
The image depicts three individuals working on a garden path, with one person using a shovel to clear the way, surrounded by trees and a clear blue sky.
The image depicts two individuals constructing a metal frame in a garden, surrounded by lush greenery and trees, with one person holding a piece of metal.
Two men are standing in front of a large stack of cut logs, with one man sitting on top of the stack and the other standing on a pile of wood.
The image depicts a serene river scene with lush greenery and trees surrounding it, set against a cloudy sky. The water is calm and peaceful.
The image depicts a serene landscape featuring rolling hills, lush greenery, and a tranquil pond, set against a cloudy sky.

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