France
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24/05/2022
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We are Stephen, a painter and Mila who is a fashion designer and researcher in sustainable fasion. We currently have one dog called Bella.
We are a small private artist-in-residence accommodation, as wells as growing organic vegetables, fruit trees and keeping poultry. The house, studios and gardens are situated in the Morvan National Park in Burgundy. Our project is to provide artists or writers with a short-term residency so they can stay and make their own work during the summer months in new surroundings. The scale of the studios allows us to make our own work in private as well as enabling visiting artists to refresh their ideas and develop new work; in addition we provide mentoring and studio guidance on request.
We are both English and French speaking, English and Slovak is our first language. Mila can also speak basic German and Russian.
Language practice
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
The Morvan is ideal for hiking, swimming, mountain biking as well as good access to enable day trips to Paris or Lyon. We are 50 minutes away from the beautiful city of Dijon and the beautiful town of Beaune, both these locations are at the heart of Burgundy food, wine and culture. The Roman town of Autun is 25 minutes away, where there are lots of historic buildings, bars and resturants. There are a variety of museums in the area relating to Roman and Celtic culture.
The vineyards and their domaines are 50 minutes away, and provide an ideal setting and location for bike riding.
The Workawayer could benefit from improving their language skills, improving knowledge on vegetable and fruit growing, DIY skills as well as living within an artist and designer household.
Essentially, we need help with general gardening, managing raised vegetable beds, planting seedlings, composting, weeding, mulching, fruit picking, grass cutting, and looking after chickens; we also have two flower gardens, which need maintenance. Ideally we are looking for someone to help during March and April 2022, and possibly we might need some help up to July 2022. We are also looking for some help to build some drystone walls in the gardens. As we develop the gardens we are also renovating an old farmhouse. So we would also appreciate help with general DIY chores, in particular we are building artists studios and any help with general tasks would also be greatly appreciated.
The gardens are relatively modest in size, we have a total of 4000 sqm of land divided into five gardens. Three of the gardens are dedicated to vegetables, fruit growing orchard and a chicken garden. We are not completely self-sufficient but that is our long-term aim.
Help with cooking evening meals would also be an advantage. Please get in touch if you need any further information.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Slovak: Fluent
French: Intermediate
German: Beginner
This host offers a language exchange
English is my first language and I speak beginner/intermediate French; I would like to improve my French speaking.
Our house is an old stone and wood construction farmhouse, built around the 1740's. The house size is around 180 sqm. All the rooms in the house are in good condition and livable, however, we are currently decorating and upgrading each room. The Workaway would have their own private bedroom, with a double bed, radiator, and small writing desk. The workawayer will be invited to join us for meals, and they would have full access to the lounge area (and a modest library).
There are three toilets in the house and two shower rooms, there is also a bath tub.
We are artists so we also like to spend some of our day in our studios making art work: we have studios of various sizes; from 150 sqm painters studio, to a 40 sqm drawing studio and a modest sewing room of 11 sqm. Around 5pm we tend to relax and start to cook. We like to cook or eat something each day that has come from the garden. We also like to walk the dogs in the beautiful surrounding countryside. In the evenings we like to relax by watching a film or reading, listening to music, or depending on the time of year going for a walk.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
We currently have wifi through an antenae ariel; it generally has good reception in the Workaway's private bedroom. We are able to have Zoom and Webinar meetings online.
This host can provide space for campervans.
It is possible for the Workaway to bring a dog if neccessary, as long as the dog is sociable with other dogs and well behaved.
One
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 4 /5 days a week
