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Hi, I am Vanessa and I am an English woman in my 40s. I am renovating am old farm house and garden in the Haute Garonne, France near the small town of Aurignac. I would love to meet travellers and have some help with the building work and gardening.
My property is very rural and quiet. It is set in 8 acres of pasture with views of the rolling countryside and fab views of the Pyrenees mountains. I like to think of your time with me as part work and part retreat. It is a great place to just chill out, read, write but there is really not much happening around so you need to be happy with that! I love to go hiking in the mountains and there may be opportunity to join me with that.
Gardening
DIY and building projects
General Maintenance
I am especially interested in encouraging women of all ages to travel in this way and encouraging them to do D.I.Y. and basic building work themselves. It is not difficult! I love to meet new and interesting people. I have backpacked myselt a lot around the world and volunteered in this way and now enjoy being a host to other travellers.
The help varies depending on weather, mood and what needs doing at the time. Mostly indoors tasks are plasterboarding ceilings and decorating. Outside the garden needs a lot of clearing, strimming, weeding and I keep a small organic vegetable garden which needs maintaining. There is also some work outside repointing stone walls. I have an old Massey Ferguson which anyone with mechanical skills is welcome to tinker with.
I would like about 4-5 hours help a day, 5 days a week in exchange for food and accommodation but I like to be flexible with that i.e. some days maybe more and some days less.
English: Fluent
French: Intermediate
You will share the house with me and my two cats and will have a very large room with your own bathroom or a double room with shared bathroom.
I am about one hour south of Toulouse. The house is outside of the village and there is no public transport.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Two
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week