Join our family in our Chateau in Pezens, France

Details

• 

  Description

  We are a family that lives mostly in London, UK but has just bought a chateau in the south of France, 15 minutes drive from a town called Carcassonne and an hour to the Mediterranean coast. We are a Swedish/Brazilian husband and wife with a 3 year old daughter and two older kids who split their time between us and their mum in London. We plan to use the chateau as a holiday home and spend 4-5 months per year there. We want to create a self-sustaining little piece of paradise and produce most of our own food etc. We have only just bought the chateau and will spend a few months now planning work and getting planning permissions etc, but we would be happy to welcome our first volunteers in March/April.

• 

  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
• 

  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We hope that someone coming to our chateau will gain experience in permaculture and creating a large and productive garden, as well as plenty of decorative plantings as well. We are already a multicultural family and we hope we can share our experiences with whoever comes to volunteer at our chateau. In addition to that, my wife is an architect and I am a financial trader and we are both happy to share our skills and experience if anyone is interested. We speak English, Portuguese and Swedish in the household but we would very much appreciate a chance to learn some French as its a clear advantage for day to day life. If you'd like to learn some of our languages we encourage you to let us know!

• 

  Projects involving children

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

• 

  Help

  We will create a garden for the chateau as well as plant a food forest as soon as possible. We also have a 60 year old green house needing a complete overhaul as well as plenty of work internally in the chateau. Meanwhile, babysitting help is usually a great thing, as well as someone who can help us cook family meals, ideally with a lot more vegetables than we are used to using.

• 

  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Portuguese: Fluent
  Swedish: Fluent

  This host offers a language exchange
  We need to learn French so if anyone wishes to teach us, that would be great.
• 

  Accommodation

  We have plenty of bedrooms at the chateau that are all in reasonably good standard, the chateau has been maintained even though it was 4 years ago anyone lived here permanently. The first few months we will need to share shower and bathroom until we have had the time to add a few more working bathrooms to the chateau.

• 

  What else ...

  We are close to Carcassonne, a UNESCO World Heritage site, as well as many wine producing chateaus. The Pyrenees and Montagne Noir are also nearby, and the Mediterranean beaches are an hours drive. Barcelona and Provence are both 2.5-3 hours drive. If you don't have a car, we will probably go to the coast most weekends in the summer.

• 

  A little more information

  • 

    Internet access

  • 

    Limited internet access

  • 

    We have pets

  • 

    We are smokers

  • 

    Can host families

• 

  Can host digital nomads

  We use Starlink since its a rural location in France. So far it seems to be working well, but if internet is critical and urgent it may not be suitable. We simply don't have enough experience yet to say how reliable it is yet.

• 

  Space for parking camper vans

  We have lots of space, but a power connection may need an extension cord of 40-50 meters.

• 

  Can possibly accept pets

  We have a 3 year old girl, so whatever pet you bring needs to be safe with children.

• 

  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

• 

  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week