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30 Nov 2024
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Description
- At the start of October, we are thinking of getting a group of 2 or 4 people (plus ourselves!) together to clean the garden and attic, plant some trees, work on our veggie garden and do a few small building projects :) our idea is to do this at the start of October 2024 for about 2 or 3 weeks -
We are Rachna (41), Jaap (39), Tijko (7) and Enna (5). We are Dutch, traveled the world and settled four years ago in the Southern French countryside. We live the 'Coeur des Bastides' region right in between the bastide villages Monflanquin and Villereal, halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse. We are relaxed happy people and love to have people around. Our kids are enthusiastic little minions, always a little timid at first but very open and happy after an hour:) They speak Dutch and French and are learning English very fast.
Giving up our city jobs in the Netherlands, we jumped in to a big new adventure. We wanted something totally different more outside, eco and to have more time for our children and our surroundings. We are very happy with the choice we made.
The castle, that we rent out during the summer months and where we occasionally host a wedding, needs renovations of all kinds; to maintain its old historic details but we also want to make it bit more up to date :) Now it is a bit dark like the middle ages :). Outside is a world in itself. The terrains are big and need some loving care. Using our permaculture experience we are experimenting in our garden and 'potager' to produce our own veggies.
We invite and expect our guests to be part of the family. We invite you to join us in our leisure activities (but don't feel obliged :) and in discovering our new Southern French habitat. This is lots of fun. The French people in this region are very open and helpful which brings us to nice places. Being a temporary part of the family also means that you participate in the life in the house and to perform household tasks together with us or alone.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Off course being in the middle of a different family will give you new views on live... but also discovering the France people, nature, and of course food!! together with us wat a lucky thing ;).
We ourselves have some experience with building, architecture (have been city planners in a former life) , natural gardening, but also want to discover the "new" things that make us and the world happy... like eco toilets.... what a nice things... but how can we make these more fashionable??
Next to us there are some retired owners on the property that are nature loving gardeners, artistic sculpturing painters and the love to such for old stuff in the ground with other France people... they are always active! They can't sit still :)
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
We do have a big list.... ranging from renovation and painting to expert level building, decorating the castle and working in the garden. We have our preferences and priorities but we happily improvise due to what our guests are good at and like to do. Some stuff listed below but it can change as we constantly learn ourselves too.
Building: create a new gate in the old stone wall, make a floor in the barn and put up water and electricity, clean the attic for renovation, build eco-toilets, to mention some.
In the garden we want to chop and plant trees, do pruning, expand our vegetable garden and our pool house and terrace, build eco-toilets, maintain fences, etc. We have a couple of hectares of land in which we made ditches to retain water in the coming years we want to extend the park garden and plant with trees, perennial vegs and medicinal plants.
Besides, we want to see if we can market our place better on the internet. We would love to be able to connect better to a public that is searching for eco-friendly holidays and weddings. We are not what you would call social media experts :) but would love to learn about that!
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
Portuguese: Fluent
German: Intermediate
Spanish: Intermediate
French: IntermediateThis 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
Ok, from experience, we can tell you, it is really cool to live in a castle :D The building has a U form. Our house is in one corner. Your bedroom is located on the inner court with a great view on the castle and has a double bed (140). The rest of the house we share together. Rachna loves to cook so we do have a big kitchen and make a lot of stuff from our own garden. A lot of time we eat Vegan. We love the nature and pick every moment possible to go outside to have our lunch and dinner.
What else ...
We live in Envals, 5 minutes drive from the villages Villereal and Monflanquin. These and the other surrounding villages have a vivid social life and people are open and helpful. Hiking, trails, (mountain) biking, climbing are popular here. There are lots of castles and bastides, prehistoric cave paintings and many other things to explore which make it a really nice place. Moreover, the region is well known for its food and wines and is the no.1 'bio' region of France.
We ourselve myself do quite some running, cycling, hiking and yoga. You're always invited to join! We by the way also have a solar heated pool which you can use.
The place is quite remote from public transport so a car comes in handy but we also travel a lot by bike. We have one mountainbike that you can use. We might buy one more. On arrival we can pick you up from Bergerac or Villeneuve sur Lot.
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
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (24)
A very beautiful place in the middle of nature in Southern France. They own a small castle and a huge chunk of land around it.
Jaap has a lot of energy and is always willing to lend a hand, change your job if it doesn't suit you… read more
Photos
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(4.8)
Communication:
(4.8)
A very beautiful place in the middle of nature in Southern France. They own a small castle and a huge chunk of land around it.
Jaap has a lot of energy and is always willing to lend a hand, change your job if it doesn't suit you… read more
Really cool to see how the projects develop! They have a clear plan in mind what to do and make and instructions are clear. I loved the mix of carpentry and… read more
Dear Foti & Chaia,
What a chilled out team,
Every WorkAwayers host dream!
Chaia, good Sinterklaas singer,… read more
The time with you has been the most serendipitous coming together of truly wonderful people, and in such a magical place! Three weeks I got to spend with Rachna and Jaap and their lovely family and all the other sweet sweet people who just seem to naturally gravitate to this place. It was an absolute golden time, you… read more
The work was diverse and interesting.
We did some gardening, wood work, painting, electricity, old wall construction...
We… read more
Rachna cooking was awesome, she have enough skill to start is own smal bakererie if she want to do.
Jaap is very friendly and give all is… read more
How to say how incredible it was ? We just loved our time there and wish we could have spend more! But we're sure we will get the chance to see each other again, in our part of… read more
Rachna is a very nice, respectfull and kind person. She cooked all the meals for her family, me and the other workawayers during two weeks and she treated me like a sister would do.
Jaap is a very… read more
Jaap et Rachna et leurs enfants sont adorables, intéressants, drôles. Nous avons appris à faire plein de choses (cuisine, ciment...) Le travail fut varié et enrichissant. Le cadre était également grandiose.
Jaap, Rachna, Wilco, Véra, Tijko et Enna, merci pour tout, vous avez… read more
So it it was all i expected and more, healthy and… read more
He is a creative and talented photographer and developed with us some serious woodchopping skills, did plenty of painting and did a lot in the garden and barn.
What a nice start to the day it is to get up, look out of the window and see all the happy sheep. Renovating an impressive castle surrounded by pure nature was such a nice experience. I've… read more
