France
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We are Ian and Kate, a semi-retired English couple, needing help at our former watermill in Vendee, West France.
We bought the property 25 years ago and spend 50% of our time there, mainly in the Spring and Summer. It’s a beautiful location with several hectares of land, at the end of a country lane, with the river right next to the house – great for country lovers.
We have 2 grown up sons who live in London and Grenoble respectively, and occasionally visit; otherwise, it’s just us and lots of lovely cats – no other pets, just the local wildlife.
We speak English at home, but have lots of French friends and neighbours who often drop by.
Gardening
General Maintenance
Help around the house
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
In the Spring, when everything, including weeds, starts bursting into leaf and flower, there’s masses of garden maintenance to do – weeding, pruning, mowing the lawns, trimming hedges, planting vegetables and flowers – we need help!! And, even better, if anyone with a flair for garden design wanted to make suggestions, and create new beds and borders, we’d be delighted.
We also have a guest cottage which is rented out from May to September, and help with housework and preparing for the visitors would be really appreciated – thorough deep cleaning including windows etc.
We also have a big swimming pool which, in May, needs cleaning and preparing for summer.
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Up to the end of May you can stay in the cottage; after that, we offer a big double bedroom in our main house, with shared bathroom and shower room.
We live quite a simple, rural life, but with all modern conveniences! The local town is about 2 miles away, a nice bike ride. We're equidistant between Nantes and La Rochelle (for budget airlines) and half an hour by car from the long sandy beaches of the Atlantic coast.
We have boats for rowing on the river, bikes, and, of course, the swimming pool.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
More than two
4 per day, 5 days a week
