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Description
Come help a family turn their house in the foothills of the Pyrenees into a center for the arts and wellbeing!
We are a family of three, Lucy from England, Doré from France and baby Selkie who is 18months. Our house is completely away from the village and overlooks the mighty Bugarach mountain.
We need help turning the wonderful family home into a space to host groups.
Our project is to host retreats by amazing teachers of dance, singing, theatre, movement, coaching, communication.
We are looking for volunteers between December til April. Because the energy of the place is pretty strong we like to keep the energy turning so we can take volunteers for 2 weeks at a time. We have lots of projects planed for building an a dance terrace, outdoor kitchen and cabins in the forest in the 2020 spring. So we a really interested in people who have building or carpentry experience in springtime.
We are also always in need for someone who is great with toddlers and likes to take our little one out on walks or just play with her by being silly, making up games and dancing with. Selkie is really sociable and loves having new people around and it gives us a little break so we can actually get other things done!
Outside of helping time we enjoy to sing and make music, share songs and jam. We like making fires down at the firepit especially on a full or new moon eve.
Can take singles couples and families.
I Lucy, am learning to speak french so would love to have someone to practice with although it's good if you have some level in English so you can help me out and we can understand eachother.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
General Maintenance
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Language practice
Art Projects
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
It certainly is something to live halfway up and mountain, see the mists below you and learn where the sun and moon rise and set on the landscape. Everyday is different here, the weather makes the light different, the energy of the day different.
We can certainly take you to some remarkable sites that are important for historical and spiritual reasons. There are many caves and mounts that have been pilgrimage spots for thousands of years, including the sacred caves that Mary Magdalene is said to hidden in following her miraculous escape from Jerusalem on a boat with no sails or ours.
Here the rural French life is all about clean air, pure foods, healing waters and vast horizons. Living here feels super nourishing for the body mind and spirit.
In our spare time we love to get creative in the studio and paint and draw. Having people around really inspires me to be more artistic as I love just chatting away and painting together with someone, its a beautiful way to get to know someone.
All volunteers will be offered reduced rates on further retreats that will be held in the future. We hope you will enjoy to be part of this project in its early days, and we hope that it will develop and thrive for many many years to come.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
For this winter, the weather although mild is not the best for working outside so we will not attempt any big building projects until Spring. This winter we need help painting walls, decorating, making compost, preparing the garden for spring planting, refitting kitchen cupboards. We would also LOVE to build a sweat lodge, so if there is anyone out there that has that knowledge we would love to host you we have done it only once before. Also we want to construct a geodesic dome to create an art grotto!
For Spring we want to build the dance temple! Because dance is church! A platform in wood with a canvas cover that can be taken down. Could be in bamboo even. So we are asking the universe to bring us wonderful creative carpenters to bring this dream into reality!
We also ask that we share making the food and generally keeping the house tidy. If you have a car we might ask you to do a grocery run.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Fluent
Accommodation
You will have your own room in the annex of the house, with either a double or single bed depending on how many volunteers we have. You will also have use of our yoga room that is also in the annex. You will have a private bathroom, with toilet and shower that is shared by volunteers. The kitchen and lounge are shared with us. We kindly ask that the main house is a private area for just the family whilst baby is sleeping, so from 8.30pm til 8.30am. We are an early to bed, early ish to rise kind of family haha.
People with vans are welcome too, and you can use all the same facilities.
Cooking is a collaborative event, so we may decide to cook one meal each a day or just help eachother, eg one person does the salad one the pasta, one the desert. But if there is a big job going on we are happy to just cook up a big supper for all the hungry workers! We eat a varied and balanced diet. We eat mostly graines, low gluten flours, legumes, vegetables, dairy products, eggs, sometimes fish and very occasionally chicken. If you're vegan or veggie we are happy to make food that we can all eat, but we might have a cheeky animal protein extra. Although we eat animal products we are always conscious about where they are sourced from and the amount of it we eat, all of our food is organic and we always try to buy the most locally sourced.
We will provide three meals a day for the five days that are working days. Workawayers are welcome to buy their own food and prepare it in the kitchen. I will lay out breakfast things and you can help yourself in the mornings.
We don't have Wifi! But we do have a lot of books... I can give you a hotspot if you really need to organise something, travel for example, but if you need to use the internet a lot to work this might not be ideal for you. If you have internet on your phone and you want to use it thats totally fine if you do it in your room or in the yoga room in your spare time, but we would like it if this is kept to the minimum. Also if you take a phone call please go to your own area and make the call in private as it can be quite intense for everyone to suddenly bring in another energy into the space. Please dont give Selkie your phone or show her the screen, so no selfies with Selkie! we would like to shield her from this as much as possible until she is older, as its very overstimulating for her little developing brain.
What else ...
Bugarach mountain is famous for UFOS! although we've yet to see any... you will definitely vultures!! As the house is directly opposite a vulture reserve. The place is truly magical, with castle ruins and the fairy river just a short walk through the forest close from the house. With your time off there are plenty of places to visit nearby, the area is full of mystery and legends, including the village of Rennes le château and Rennes Les baines with its hot spring and salty river. We go almost every day to bathe in her healing waters.
Every Sunday is the vibrant market of Esperaza, where you can find organic produce, handicrafts, musical instruments, artisan clothes and jewelry, crystals and such like. There are usually people playing music and a real eclectic mix of people from all walks of life gather there.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
