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Description
Ciao....Hi there.....we are a couple in our 50s/60s Irish & Italian . We live in a small village called Camandona in the Alps in Northern Italy (population: 300) in a big old rustic house. We have a big garden & vegetable garden of which needs working on. We also have a cabin in the mountains (40 minute walk from our home see photos top right & middle below ) which we want to do work on, clearing out an old barn to create an holistic setting. We both work Paolo is self employed in the timber business and I (Ruth) am an artist I manage creative workshops for kids & adults & I also do Reiki treatments & guided meditations & teach English. This is an ideal place for those seeking tranquillity, at the foot of the Alps it offers amazing views and forest walks. It is situated between Milan & Turin more or less an hour from both airports. Camandona has a shop & a bar and is about a 15 minute drive to the nearest town. Not a place for night life 'movida' or shopping! The bus service is very limited too. However should our guests need to be driven somewhere or picked up & left off at local train stations we are happy to oblige as we travel in & out of nearby towns frequently.
Our other family member is our cat 'Moona' who is Irish, so, a bit crazy but sweet!
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Interests
Sustainability
Pets
Culture
Self development
Farming
Plant care
Music
DIY & crafts
Books
Art & design
Photography
Languages
Gardening
Cooking & food
Writing
Performing arts
Drawing & painting
Carpentry
Animals
Hiking
Mountain
Yoga / Wellness
Nature
Fitness
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Social activities together: Cooking, exploring and learning about simple Italian mountain food in this area especially the raw milk cheeses, and many others. Mountain/forest walks & learning about the old ways of farming along the pathways & of course going to the local bar for an aperitivo mixing with the locals .
Teaching English & Italian & maybe a little piedmontese (the local language everyone still speaks). Arts & crafts skills. Nearby towns offer a wider range of cultural activities, museums, medieval villages, natural parks & more, see the "what else" section for information on this subject.
Sharing our knowledge about holistic practices.
We believe sharing different cultures from our guests enriches our curious minds, including everything form language to food to crafts to religious beliefs & political opinions, all these & more offer a sea of learning in all aspects.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
We need people interested in the outdoors so, some knowledge about gardening would be great.. We also have a big attic space which needs cleaning and sorting out (maybe a rainy day job) We'd be mostly working together depending on our work schedules, we are very open to suggestions & sharing ideas & skills and having a bit of fun in the process.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Italian: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
Paolo speaks French but I have very little so I would be very interested to learn this language.
Accommodation
Our guest will have their own comfortable bedroom on the second floor of our home and share a bathroom with us. There is another bathroom on the ground floor but it doesn't have a shower yet.
We tend to eat 3 meals a day & lean towards vegetarian type options (but we are not veggies) we eat a balanced diet and we are sensitive to where our food comes from so, lots of fresh fruit & veg, wholemeal flours, legumes and of course risotto rice (as it is local) every now & then breakfast out for fresh croissants & cappucino or dinner out for an authentic Italian pizza! We believe it's good to eat together as it's a social time, but we understand if our guest would prefer to to eat alone.
What else ...
Forest walks/mountain trekking or a dip in the nearby water fall would really be the hightlight of where we are. There is a very limited bus service that goes once a day & stops in various towns. Biella is the biggest town 15km from us, population 50,000, which has some interesting points to visit like, old textile empty factory spaces, exhibitions, Biella Baptistery in romanesque style 10/11th century, botanical gardens, Sacro Monte & santuary of Oropa, Oasi Zegna a natural preserve, Menabrea Botalla museum & others, the old town of Biella has many old churches & medieval buildings to visit & offers amazing views from the funicular trip up to it. Ricetto is a fortified middle age village in the Biella area worth visiting. Turin & Milan are not so far away both offering a lot to see & do in both cities.
We live a simple life, a little zen style I guess, with no real house rules but seeing as the house is old there are a few bits to be aware of. Respect for everyones' space & time out is essential in our home.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have a good internet provider which would be ideal for digital nomads/writers also because the area is quiet & we believe in the utmost respect for those moments when one needs time to focus. We also have a taylor designed meditation room ideal for this activity.
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
Photos
