Experience back-to-basics living in nature in our traditional eco-farm in Trois-Fonds, France

Details

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  Description

  Hi there! We are Evelyne and Killian, two adventurous parents in their early thirties living the dream on our small traditional farm. In 2021 we bought an old mill house and moved from busy Belgium to the peace and quiet of the countryside in La Creuse.
  
  Our goal was to live more simply with respect for nature, produce our own food and live as self-sufficient as possible. We started to plant trees, transform the grassland into a garden and keep animals. And soon also came our children, Evora (2022) and Anouar (2024), so our little farm is filled with life…
  
  So why do we call ourselves a ‘traditional eco-farm’?
  Traditional, because we like to take a step back, do things ‘the old way’, not use big machines but just rely on the power of our own hands and the wisdom of previous generations.
  Ecological, because we want to respect nature and live in harmony with all non-human creatures.
  A finally we like to call ourselves a little family farm, because we produce our own vegetables and have our own chickens, cat, rabbits and sheep. We are not a bussiness, but only produce for our own consumption (and to share with friends and neighbours).

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Gardening

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You can learn anything you want to know about running a farm, like growing your own food, keeping animals, living self-sufficiently…
  
  We eat and cook mostly with food from our garden, so everything is super local, seasonal and organic :)
  Once in a while (like once a week), we eat meat. The other days are vegetarian.
  We would share at least one meal per day together, mostly lunches. For breakfast and dinner, we will provide food and you can cook something for yourselves or we can take turns for cooking, it all depends on the vibe. As we are a family with two little kids, it's important for everyone to have some privacy off course.
  
  We make our own bread, yoghurt, kefir and a lot of conserves (jam, chutney, canned fruit etc) so you can also learn that if that interests you.
  
  If you’re into languages, you can learn Dutch, French, German, Spanish and even a little Bulgarian.
  We are also very much into good conversations, so if you like to talk about life and all the big questions of life, great!

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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

  *** Please, ONLY come to us if you do want to HELP ***
  Because we need help with lots of things! It all depends on the season and your own personal preference. Every day you can do something else is you like:
  - Gardening: There is always something to do in the garden (sowing, planting, weeding…)
  - Building/Renovating: we are renovating the house, there are bigger and smaller building projects inside and outside
  - Art: if you are creative you can decorate or paint or come up with your own ideas to make our place look nicer
  - Playing with our children: we can always use help with the kids!
  - Everyday tasks: cooking, chopping wood, helping in the house…
  Helping hours are usually flexible, but we do expect 5 days a week of help. That leaves plenty of time for you to explore the wonderful area we live in!
  We ourselves usually work 6 days (a farm never sleeps!), and take Sundays off for resting, chilling and reloading the batteries.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  German: Intermediate
  Bulgarian: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  As you can see, we are very interested in learning and sharing other languages!
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  Accommodation

  We have a caravan in the garden (one double bed, one simple) with a compost toilet next to it. You can shower (hot) inside our house or take a cold dip in the river =). If it’s too cold in the caravan, you can have a room in our house.

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  What else ...

  There are lots of nice things to see in the area. First of all, you can do a lot of beautiful walks around our house around the fields, lakes and forests. There is nature all around. If you like, you can also borrow our bicycles and do a tour by bike of the area.
  
  Also, you can visit the ‘Pierres Jaumâtres’ (20 min away), a beautiful nature site, and the little village of Toulx-Sainte-Croix with the watchtower (10 min away).
  There is the nature reserve of ‘Etang des Landes’ with a big lake to walk around and lots of species of birds (20 min away).
  The medieval cities of Montluçon (30 min away) and Aubusson (35 min away) are worth a visit.
  We have lots of interesting friends around us we can go and meet to hang out.
  
  TRANSPORT: if you have your own car, it will be easy to get to us. If not, you can BlaBlaCar to Gouzon (where we can pick you up) or take the train to Montluçon and then hitchhike to Gouzon.

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  There is a big space for parking right next to the house.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  If your pets are nice and will not attack our cat and farm animals, we are willing to welcome them.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Around 5 hours a day, 5 days a week