Profile information
Host rating
80 %
Last replied
17 Mar 2025
Reply rate
75.0 %
Usually responds within 2 days
Feedback
20
Email verified
Badges (3)
Details
Description
We are Carole & Julien and we started a new project: restore and preserve a piece of land in the Pyrénées.
1 hectare with a meadow and woods near by the biggest national park of the Pyrénées.
We are renovating our old barn (our future home) from scratch
In addition, we have multiple besides project: mainly to create a beautiful environment, convenient facilities and sustainable water and electric systems.
Our will is to use as much as we can, natural materials to respect environment and heritage.
We have also a vegetable garden and chickens (when the fox and the marten are not around).
About us: before this project, we travelled for almost 2 years through the Americas, in a van.
Noisia, our dog, is always with us, in all our adventures. She is the definition of LOVE.
We are old-timer lovers; VW and motorbikes are part of our life (and beers).
As travel lovers and ex-volunteers, we thrived to be able to offer you the best place to stay / share / learn. We know the importance to feel safe and be able to relax during a trip. We are trying our best to offer our volunteers a place they want to stay forever, or even better, they want to copy someday.
To have some foreigners at home kind of offers us the opportunity to travel again from our garden!
You will have the best view on the Pic de Pibeste with the singing birds, a sweet atmosphere and maybe the smell of the French cheese (we are cheesy food addicts).
If you don't mind to get your hands dirty, we hope to meet you soon... and don't forget "in between your goals, remember that there's a precious thing called life that has to be enjoyed".
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Interests
Beach
Art & design
Winter sports
Adventure sports
Hiking
Outdoor activities
Nature
Mountain
Camping
DIY & crafts
Music
Books
Architecture
Animals
Carpentry
Cooking & food
Gardening
Languages
Plant care
Photography
Events & social
Farming
Movies & TV
Van life
Sustainability
Culture
Pets
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
+ We would be happy to share our experience with the old technics we want to use around this big project and the self-sufficiency.
+ Also if you are curious to know about our experience on building a van (we did 3) and how it is to travel and live this way, we would be happy to talk about it around the campfire.
+ Carole is a French teacher for foreigners and she can provide you French lessons around the BBQ.
+ Julien is passionate by mechanics and he would be happy to share some grease and tips.
+ We are also food lovers and we would love to cook and eat together to experience each others food cultures.
As travel lovers and ex-volunteers, we thrived to be able to offer you the best place to stay / share / learn. We know the importance to feel safe and be able to relax during a trip. We are trying our best to offer our volunteers a place they want to stay forever, or even better, they want to copy someday.
To have some foreigners at home kind of offers us the opportunity to travel again from our garden!
Help
Ideally, we are looking for 2 INDEPENDENT people.
The tasks will be related to our project on self-sufficiency and creating a beautiful environment on the property. As you might have read in our lovely reviews, you will basically help us on things we do on our daily routine. It could be anything like:
+ Help with Eco Projects
+ Gardening
+ DIY and tasks
+ Animal Care
+ Help around the house
+ General Maintenance
The project is progressing everyday so new requests can come out.
We are looking for dedicated, conscientious, curious and attentive people who take pride in doing things well.
Keeping clean facilities is common sense. It is a mandatory everyday task.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Spanish: IntermediateThis host offers a language exchange
Carole is a French teacher for foreigners and she can provide you French lessons around the BBQ.
Accommodation
We make our first choice on people travelling with their van, of course our meadow is big enough.
If you feel like sleeping under the stars, we provide 2 tents and 2 mattresses on a flat spot shaded by trees.
+ Because we don't have so much facilities, we need iINDEPENDENT people (we don't have an outdoor kitchen YET - no fridge).
+ There is a HOT shower and composting toilet made by volunteers for volunteers.
N.B: We strive to be environmentally friendly in any way we can, including by avoiding the waste of water and energy (meaning taking SHORT showers and washing dishes without wasting water will be mandatory).
+ About electricity, we have solar panels (enough power to charge anything as phone, laptop, batteries, toothbrush, epilator...).
NB: we don't have a proper hookup to plug your van.
+ We use filtered rainwater for the dishes, showers, etc; but also have potable water.
+ We will provide basic food as pasta, rice, vegetables from the garden & eggs (when it's the season), oil, flour, homemade jam, basic condiments, tea, coffee.
+ Breakfast OR lunch will be offer and shared together (depending on the organisation of the day - weather etc.)
+ The 2 days-off do not necessarily fall at weekend, it will depend on the weather, your schedule and our schedule.
+ About internet access : We both work from "home" on internet. We have a strong signal (full 4G) thanks to a personal hotspot on our phones. You will only have a connection when we will be around with our phones. Not 24/7 (unless you have your own access).
What else ...
+ We are in the heart of Pyrénées. Hiking departure are next to the property. No car needed if you want to discover the surroundings with plenty of tracks.
+ Cyclists and bikers will find our area particularly appealing, as it is frequented by the Tour de France, featuring ideal routes.
+ There are plenty of stuff to discover for both cultural nerds and mountain lovers.
+ Markets with amazing food are all around (car needed).
+ Toulouse is also only 1h30 away (direct train from Lourdes), we lived there for more than 10 years and have many recommendations.
+ Bayonne / Biarritz are also easy to access by train (less than 2h and direct trip) for ocean lovers.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We both work from home on internet. We have a strong signal (4G) thanks to a personal hotspot (with our phones). Please ask first to see if we can manage something (depending how many hours a day / what kind of connection you need with significant upload - download or not etc.)
Space for parking camper vans
We make our first choice on people travelling with their van, of course our meadow is big enough. Because we don't have so much facilities, we need INDEPENDENT people. We don't have a proper hookup yet. Let us know about your vehicle: We can't allow big camper van, RV or trailer. The road is very narrow and quiet steep - you would be STUCK!
Can possibly accept pets
If your pet is friendly with other dogs and it doesn't eat chickens ... it should work! Also, you need to take in consideration that the property has NO FENCE (if your pet likes to explore on his own... maybe this is not the place to be for your furry friend).
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Feedback (9)
We helped them build a small building for a shower, toilet and outside kitchen. We really enjoyed working together with them!
The only thing that is dangerous of going there is that you… read more
Always smiling, eager to do anything, fun and helpful! It was just so great to have them around for a week.
They were always happy to help us on different missions like weeding, diging, sanding, painting… they were also part of the project for building the new shower / toilet / kitchen for guests and volunteers. Wout… read more
A nice, discret and young couple that we were happy to welcome to our place.
It was a pleasant time to share this project together but also some beers and cheese around the bbq.
Thank you again for everything. See you in Ireland!
We spent almost a week building some timber frames and gardening. Julien and Carole were very helpful and great to hang out with.
would love to come back again!
Callum and Poppy
A nice, discret and independent couple that we were happy to welcome to our place.
It was a short stay and we would have love to share more beers and cheese.
We hope you will come back to enjoy a good - maybe hot - shower in the middle of the woods.
Photos
Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
We helped them build a small building for a shower, toilet and outside kitchen. We really enjoyed working together with them!
The only thing that is dangerous of going there is that you… read more
Always smiling, eager to do anything, fun and helpful! It was just so great to have them around for a week.
They were always happy to help us on different missions like weeding, diging, sanding, painting… they were also part of the project for building the new shower / toilet / kitchen for guests and volunteers. Wout… read more
A nice, discret and young couple that we were happy to welcome to our place.
It was a pleasant time to share this project together but also some beers and cheese around the bbq.
Thank you again for everything. See you in Ireland!
We spent almost a week building some timber frames and gardening. Julien and Carole were very helpful and great to hang out with.
would love to come back again!
Callum and Poppy
A nice, discret and independent couple that we were happy to welcome to our place.
It was a short stay and we would have love to share more beers and cheese.
We hope you will come back to enjoy a good - maybe hot - shower in the middle of the woods.
They are highly respectful, hardworking, and very thoughtful in their work, independent and dedicated... All these words come to mind when we think about Chris & Chip.
They helped us to improve our water system and it was a physically demanding job but also required a lot of thought. We also did some wood… read more
A nice, discret and independent couple that we were happy to welcome to our place.
It was a short stay and we would have love to share more beers and cheese.
We hope you will come back to enjoy a good - maybe hot - shower in the middle of the woods.
He helped us to start building a new shower and a new compost toilet for our guests & volunteers. He has cleaned, flatten the base for the little building, built some stairs and a stone wall.
Paul is easy-going, calm and curious. It was a pleasant time to share this project together.
We hope you will come back to… read more
She helped us to start building a new shower and a new compost toilet for our guests & volunteers. She has cleaned, flatten the base for the little building, built some stairs and a stone wall.
Lola is discret, respectful, generous and attentive. It was a pleasant time to share this project… read more
We started to built a solar shower and a compost toilet in the woods. Therefore we’ve flatten the base for the little building, built some stairs and a stone wall. It was a pleasure to work together and get an… read more
From the first moment we arrived (we got careful navigation by guide Julien) we were greeted very generously and we felt right at home! Little dog Tutu which you see in the pictures is the sweetest to greet you when you wake up on this beautiful piece of land surrounded by… read more
We were so lucky to cross your way.
We build natural stairs together. They also helped us 'to clean' the forest and to move a bunch of wood. Smiles, motivation and hardworking are the words coming to our mind when we think about Ella & Jack.
We also shared a lot of beers and very good moments around the bbq.… read more
Carole and Julien were very fair with the work, always discussing collectively what jobs we would do and generally working together with us. The work is physical but… read more
Always nice / gentle / helpful / fun! It was just so great to have them around for a week.
They stayed in their van which was super convenient for us. They were always happy to help us on different missions like flattening ground / woodwork / building stairs...
Sharing times were delightful as well.… read more
We stayed there for one week and we worked on fun, diverse projects as flattening a picknick seating area, some woodwork, works with the watering system and kicking off the project of building some natural stairs. The work was always organised, well… read more
The tasks were enjoyable and Carole and Julien were always there to help us. We helped construct a shower, move wood, and experiment with a new water system. It was motivating… read more
Respectul, independant, hard-working, always in a good mood, full of life... the list could never end.
They helped us to build the outdoor shower, to clean the forest and to do some experiment with a new water system.
Everything went so smooth. We were sad to let them go !
Thank you again for everything. See… read more
