Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
30 Jul 2023
Feedback
22
Email verified
Badges (2)
Details
Description
We are an English and French couple living in 2 hectares (5 acres) of natural countryside in the Mayenne area. Our property is a protected site for birds and butterflies and we take care of any living creature.
We are 58, but still 15 years old in our mind.
Open for having a fun life, we enjoy being surrounded with younger people.
We are mainly vegan/vegetarian and we love discovering new tastes or recipes, so we would be happy if you make us some of your specialities.
For a few years now, we have been hosting numerous workaways to help us to renovate our house, and it has been a real pleasure to have them living with us, enjoying meals, games, and fun together, and a bit of work, obviously.
Now it is time to take care of the outside.
That's why we need your help to reshape the garden to turn it into something beautiful, including a natural swimming pool, a walipini, and planting fruit trees, among other things.
We are looking forward to meeting you and adding some more friends in our lives.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We try to live a simple life close to nature and we try to make things we require rather than just buying them. We are both inventive and respectful of nature and all living things. Our days usually include at least a snippet of fun and originality.
Good fun is the way to happiness, and we cherish it.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Primarily workaways will be invited into the family to share in family life and work.
We are looking for an exchange of knowledge, culture, or language and hopefully all of these.
About work :
First of all, you will never work on your own, we will be working alongside you sharing the hard work and the easy work.
It would be appreciated if you can handle a bit of machinary, like driving a mini tractor, using a chainsaw, or a garden shredder, etc...
We are looking for people who are relatively fit, because the work will be physical most of the time.
There will be trees to cut, wood to stack and hedges to tidy, little stone walls to build, a garage to make, a walipini to dig and build, fruit trees and bushes to plant, and so many other things..... we will be busy, but there's no rush. The quality of work is more important that the quantity... that is our philosophy !
We seem to always have more than one type of work to do at any one time, so it is usually fairly easy to find a suitable job for everyone.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
Mike is english, Veronique is french and we are both fluent in these languages We also speak a little bit of spanish (beginners)
Accommodation
We have two fully renovated double bedrooms and a shared bathroom with a separate toilet, upstairs for the workaways in our farmhouse.
What else ...
Food is obviously free and varied. We eat a lot of vegetarian and vegan food but workaways are also free to show us their favourite dish.
There are plenty of local walks.
Musicians are always welcome. We have a couple of guitars.
We have 3 friendly cats, and few chickens
By experience, I know that short stay doesn't allow to get to know someone well. We both need a few days to adapt to each other and to start to open up..... which is the point of workaway for us, anyway.
So we would prefer that you stay at least 10 to 15 days.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
if you prefer to come in your own van, it is possible, we have plenty of space to park.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
Generally our expectations are flexible. We usually hope to work 4 to 5 hours a day; 5 days a week but other arrangements can be made.
Feedback (10)
We enjoyed our conversations with him and his humorous stories.
.... Bonjour, ça va ?.....
He cooked for us and joined in with everything we were doing.
He is a very easy going workawayer and I'd recommend him to any host.
For the rest, he had a very disappointing attitude and we regret that he wasn't interested in us or our culture. Unfortunately we found this experience was not really an exchange.
Photos
Feedback
We enjoyed our conversations with him and his humorous stories.
.... Bonjour, ça va ?.....
He cooked for us and joined in with everything we were doing.
He is a very easy going workawayer and I'd recommend him to any host.
For the rest, he had a very disappointing attitude and we regret that he wasn't interested in us or our culture. Unfortunately we found this experience was not really an exchange.
We enjoyed his company and his humour. He was very motivated to learn French and to meet our friends and family, it made our time together very pleasureable.
We wish… read more
There is no job than Dave wouldn't tackle with pleasure and efficiency.
Arwen was an absolute majician in the garden, enthusiastic and amazing. Both of them are very thoughtful, resourceful, generous, intelligent people and they make your life easier when you allow… read more
He is interesting and we always found topics to talk about.
His knowledge of bees is extensive and with him we opened our hive for the first time since the bees arrived two and a half years ago.
Extremely satisfying.
He enjoyed talking about and tasting local food, and spoke french… read more
During their stay with us we learned a lot of things.
I didn't realise quite how many words are made up of not one but two Greek words.
I am eternally grateful to Alexandros for all that knowledge and your ability to explain things clearly and with humour is a great… read more
He was always smiling, with a very positive outlook and he was interested in discussing cultural differences and… read more
His kindness equaled his sense of humour, always there to help or to joke.
We are missing him and he became a friend we won't forget.
The Italian pizza he made was amazing, as was the pasta recipe, Thanks very much for that !… read more
