Creating an arts centre and enjoying life in a beautiful village Sauveterre de Bearn, France

Details

• 

  Description

  Hello, I have an arts project in SW France, clearing out and renovation of an old , very old in parts! building and another which used to be the village forge, and making into artist studios and residence for a non profit and the community. Also some garden/jungle clearance! It's in a very beautiful village, with views of the Pyrenees Mountains, mild climate and a river to swim or kayak in.
  Workaway people will stay in the house which is already fixed up in very comfortable/lux bedrooms with showers en suite. I can house a few people at a time when I don't have artists staying.

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  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
• 

  Interests

  

  Self development

  

  Events & social

  

  Pets

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Music

  

  History

  

  Charity work

  

  Vegetarian or vegan

  

  Sustainability

  

  Languages

  

  Photography

  

  Performing arts

  

  Gardening

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Books

  

  Art & design

  

  Architecture

  

  Beach

  

  Yoga / Wellness

  

  Nature

  

  Dancing

  

  Water sports

  

  Hiking
• 

  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

  ...

  ...

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  What's this?
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You will participate in the life of a small French village. It's very friendly here, there is a start up place just outside of the village which has workshops with all kinds of tools to learn to use, for free, ncluding a 3-D printer etc. and quite a few young people with eco projects etc around. There are about 150 families which are English speaking too, and we are an hour from Spain. There are some sports facilities, including swimming, hiking kayak and tennis clubs... pelota and rugby/soccer etc. My project is an arts project and I will be holding workhops and having artists in residence working here for a few weeks at a time on their own projects. I also have a concert grand piano and want to host more music events. Musicians also very welcome. I'm a fan of Brazilian music and I sing it... so guitarists also welcome. It's a very beautiful village, on the Camino de Santiago, with a river to swim in and Medieval buildings all around.

• 

  Help

  I'm looking for people to help clear the building, maybe with some building skills ( building , plumbing, ) would be great, or carpentry etc. but not necessarily, some of the tasks are just clearing out old stuff from the building, and separating to recycle repurpose and dump etc. and or cooking skills to feed those who are here... Preparing and improving current residential building, searching for recycled materials, and on a different note helping with the social media side of things and getting things going with admin. Any social media experience useful and helping improve the web site etc.

• 

  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Polish: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  I'm learning Spanish, and happy to learn to speak better!
• 

  Accommodation

  I can offer your own very comfortable bedroom with shower en suite, and a separate kitchen if needed. My plan is to share cooking , I personally love to cook but I'm also prefer to have those who would like to cook. There are local shops and the local produce is good. I'm mostly vegetarian, but not 100% at times I feel like some meat. I have high speed internet !!

• 

  What else ...

  There are buses to the local towns, Orthez, Salies and St Palais, and Bayonne, trains to the coast and also a bus from St Palais to Bayonne. . The beaches are about 45 mins to an hour away, and the mountains about the same. There are also ride shares and group chats in the village for joint projects and activities. I am an artist and singer, so far the past four years I've been restoring and decorating my residential building and now I want to work on the second building the forge, to make a new studio for workshops . . I have hosted 5 workshops so far, with artist coming from all over the world with teachers mostly from the US. I want to start some community work as soon as the space is organized.

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  Can host digital nomads

  High speed internet available

• 

  Space for parking camper vans

  I can park a like a large Peugeot Boxer van, H2L3 approx

• 

  Can possibly accept pets

  I have a dog and a cat which are very friendly, I can't have animals which risk damaging beautiful furniture

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

• 

  My animals / pets

  Cookie

  

  Pepita

  Lovely and sweet lurcher about 3 years old

Website Safety