Favourited 48 times
Hello! We are a friendly, creative, fun, well travelled male couple who own a beautiful 18th Century Chateau in the French Pyrenees, 50 minutes South of Toulouse, "the Pink City", 30 minutes from the Spanish border & just 10 minutes from the nearest large town of St-Gaudens with its shops, market, amenities & train station.
Our home is set on a hilltop in 10 acres of stunning, grown gardens with gorgeous views of the Pyrenees & the valley below. Bringing the house and grounds back to their original splendor has been a labour of love & we are happy to share such beauty with others.
We have a tubby cat, hens, Koi Carp & even a pair of swans to share our home with us.
The garden is full of English roses, flower borders, rare & exotic plants, herb & vegetable gardens, a large pond, a bamboo forest & woodland. We also have a lovely swimming pool & an art studio.
The area is very rural & pretty much unchanged by modern life; it's a wonderful place to meet French folks & learn about rural life, enjoy nature, go walking, mountain hiking, cycling (we are often on the Tour de France route), water rafting, skiing in Winter, do some speleology, drink coffee & buy locally sourced, organic produce in the local farmers market in the charming village of Aspet, learn about gardening & even pop into Spain for some tapas!
We are at the edge of a hamlet and therefore it's very quiet and private.
We can offer Workawayers comfortable accommodation in our very private, detached, fully fitted, 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom Cottage near the pool.
We are looking for people with good gardening experience to help us look after the grounds, vegetable garden & woodland, as well as people with DIY experience to help with maintenance chores & larger jobs whenever possible.
We speak English, French, Italian, Thai & Chinese so there's scope for cultural and language exchange. We are also very knowledgeable about plants, so there will be plenty of opportunities for discussing plants, garden design etc. The sky is the limit!
We have 2 bicycles you can borrow and we can pick you up from the local train station at St-Gaudens, which has many daily trains from/to Toulouse. We are also happy to drive you to the local market in Aspet or take you with us to the larger town of St-Gaudens when we go shopping a couple of times a week.
We are great cooks and shall provide you with meals as well, of course.
Art Projects
Language practice
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
We speak English, Chinese dialect, French, Italian and a little Spanish, so there's scope for cultural and language exchange. We are also very knowledgeable about plants, so there will be plenty of opportunities for discussing plants, garden design, landscaping, treatments, foraging etc. The sky is the limit!
We are looking for people with gardening experience to help us look after the grounds, vegetable garden & woodland; we are also looking for people with DIY/building/plumbing experience to help with maintenance & larger jobs when possible, such as sanding and painting shutters, repairing fences, leaking taps, repairing outer walls etc.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
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.
Lovely detached, 2 bedrooms 1 Bathroom Garden Cottage with central heating, kitchen and patio located near the swimming pool and surrounded by luscious gardens.
Meet rural French folks, go to local farmers markets, attend village fetes, enjoy nature, go walking, mountain hiking, cycling (we are often on the Tour de France route), water rafting, skiing in Winter, do some speleology, foraging, speleology...
Nearest station 10 mins away & trains take around 50 mins to Toulouse.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
There's a large field behind the barns with its own access. there's a bathroom not far
Two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week