Share skills, enjoy nature and help with our home and garden near Jumilhac-le-Grand, France

Details

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  Description

  We are a family of 6 on a beautiful countryside farmhouse with 26 acres of grasslands, forest and lakes. We have many projects going on. We are not a business farm - we just love the space. We are looking to share time with our family for cultural experiences, with people who can also help us progress our many projects from minor renovations to garden maintenance.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  Light maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Farming

  

  Gardening

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Animals

  

  Camping

  

  Adventure sports
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We are a fun and fun-loving family in France. We are all English. Duncan speaks good French, Esther speaks some French and Italian. Our farmland offers space and beautiful tranquility and the local area has many things to do, from chateaux to velo-railing and canoeing. We are in a small hamlet of 4 houses, spaced out but very friendly.

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  Projects involving children

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

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  Help

  About us and our home
  
  We are an English family with a much-loved home in the beautiful countryside of southwest France. The property sits in around 26 acres of peaceful countryside, with woodland, fields and a large private lake, as well as a swimming pool.
  
  We have owned the property for many years and there is always something going on here! We enjoy spending time outdoors, looking after the land and gradually improving different parts of our home.
  
  We would like to welcome people who want to experience life in rural France, share meals and conversation with us, learn some practical skills and hopefully teach us a few things too.
  
  This is our family home rather than a business, and our reason for hosting is to meet interesting people from different countries and backgrounds while sharing the experience of looking after a rural French property.
  
  What you could get involved with
  
  There are lots of different things we can do together depending on the season, the weather and what interests you.
  
  Around the garden and grounds, this might include gardening, clearing leaves and branches, tidying paths and areas around the lake, cutting back vegetation, planting and generally helping us keep the grounds looking good.
  
  We also enjoy doing practical DIY projects ourselves, so anyone interested in learning or sharing DIY skills is very welcome. This could include things such as painting and decorating, preparing timber, simple woodworking, putting things together, maintenance and other light DIY jobs around our own home.
  
  One of our current projects is finishing a large wooden jetty beside our private lake. I am doing this project myself, and someone interested in woodworking and practical DIY would be very welcome to work alongside me and learn how it is being put together — or perhaps teach me a better way of doing something!
  
  We are also gradually refreshing parts of the house, so there can be opportunities to join us with things such as painting, decorating and other straightforward DIY.
  
  We are not looking for Workawayers to undertake construction work or to replace professional tradespeople or local workers. Any building, electrical, plumbing or other specialist work that requires a professional is carried out by local tradespeople. The things we do with Workawayers are the lighter projects that we would normally do ourselves, and we will generally be doing them together.
  
  You certainly don’t need to be an expert. Enthusiasm and being happy to get involved matter much more. Equally, if you already have practical, gardening or woodworking skills, we’d love to learn from you.
  
  Cultural exchange and learning
  
  For us, the interesting part of Workaway is meeting people we would probably never otherwise meet.
  
  We are English, but France has been a major part of our lives for many years. We can share our experience of owning and looking after a rural property in France, exploring the local area and tackling the endless little practical challenges that come with an old country home.
  
  If you are interested in practical skills, there are plenty of opportunities to learn by doing things alongside us. We are certainly not professional builders ourselves, so this is as much about figuring things out together and exchanging ideas as it is about us teaching you!
  
  We also enjoy hearing about where our visitors come from, their travels, food, culture and experiences. If you have a particular skill, interest or language you’d like to share with us, even better.
  
  We speak English and some French, so there are opportunities to practise either language.
  
  Accommodation and food
  
  You’ll have comfortable accommodation in our home and will be treated as part of the household while you’re staying with us.
  
  We will provide food and we hope to share meals together regularly. We enjoy the social side of hosting, so we’re not looking for an arrangement where somebody works for a few hours and then disappears to their room every evening!
  
  At the same time, this is a large property with plenty of space, so you’ll also have privacy and time to yourself.
  
  Free time and the area
  
  If you enjoy the outdoors, this is a wonderful place to spend some time.
  
  There are around 26 acres to explore, including woodland, fields and our private lake. In warmer weather there is also the swimming pool, and there are lovely walks and countryside all around us.
  
  We are in a very rural part of southwest France, so this experience will particularly suit someone who enjoys nature, peace and country life rather than somebody looking for nightlife and a busy town on their doorstep.
  
  There is plenty of time outside the exchange to relax, explore the area or simply enjoy the property.
  
  Who would suit us
  
  We’d particularly enjoy hosting friendly, practical people who are curious, reasonably independent and happy to get involved in family life.
  
  You don’t need particular qualifications or experience. An interest in gardening, woodworking, DIY or simply learning practical skills would be great.
  
  Most importantly, we’d like people who see Workaway as an exchange: spending some time together, sharing skills and experiences, helping each other and hopefully enjoying ourselves along the way.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Large double bedroom in the house or 4-bed caravan if you prefer more privacy.

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  What else ...

  There are many things to do locally. We are between the town of St Yrieix La Perche, which has all the necessary amenities, and the smaller but stunning Jumilhac le grand with it’s spectacular chateau.
  St Yrieix has a train station so you can connect with the rest of France.
  There is plenty to do in the local area, including beautiful old chateaux, ancient caves, a local swimming pool and plenty more.
  In your time off, you are welcome to hang out with us as the family or to go off to explore the area, as you wish.
  Both Esther and Duncan work from home so we are around a lot.
  In addition to the 5 hours a day working on the different projects, we all get involved with cooking and cleaning up the meals and you would be expected to take your turn at cooking and cleaning when the time comes. We have a cleaner friend who comes once a week but we all also do occasional light housework.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  We have a number of areas that could be viable to work from a laptop including the dining room table, to breakfast bar we have an enclosed office for one person (which may be Duncan or yourself), the bar surface or the Terrace tables or anywhere outside

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have a parking area hardstanding, a very large driveway and also a huge grass area. We can also provide electric hook up if necessary.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We sometimes have our dogs with us at Christmas and summer. Usually at other times our dogs are not with us. Either way, you’re welcome to bring your own dog.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  Java

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