Gardening, painting and small home repairs in the beautiful countryside of Charentes, France

Details

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  Description

  We're three friends (1 couple + 1 friend) with 2 dogs (Igor & Boris) and we just relocated to France, in the beautiful countryside of Charentes to start a new life. We purchased a 4 hectare property - 2 of forest, 1 of land and 1 with the property) right in the middle of the Cognac Vineyard. The land is already giving us a lot ( 10 apple trees, a pear tree, a fig tree, chestnut trees, dozen of truffle trees, etc.) and the gardens have beautiful rose and lavender bushes but we're rookies at maintaining all of this. We have a pool (in good state), a tennis court (badly needing renovation) and all sorts of cool features and rooms that need maintenance or that are waiting for a new life (former stables, bread oven room, a well, etc.). The property is relatively remote with the first shop 9 km away.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  The 3 of us have very different backgrounds. One French (management consultant), one Dutch (experience designer) and one Malaysian (sales & medical). Our house is a cultural melting pot and we have friends and family visiting from a bit everywhere. One of us has retrained as a cook so he has experience to share, and we've had a veggie garden for 4 so we have a bit of experience with that (although it was in tropical climate so we sort of have everything to relearn here). Overall, we've been around quite a bit, traveled a lot, lived in 5 different countries, so we have a decent amount of life experience to share.

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  Help

  There is just.... A LOT to do. More than we had imagined, so it's hard to know where to start. If you're more on the gardening side, we'd like to better maintain and exploit the orchard (in particular the truffle trees), maintain and develop the flower bushes, and develop fruit and vegetable garden (the space is ready for 10 veggie patches). We're also thinking, if you're up for it, of getting chickens but the whole thing needs to be set up.
  
  Looking at the building, inside and outside, there is also a lot to do if you're more on the handy side. From small things such painting or small repairs to bigger things such as partitioning or isolating rooms, to fully developing new rooms like former stables... it's all up for grab.
  
  Unlikely you get bored, whatever you're good at or like to do.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Indonesian: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  Chinese (Mandarin): Fluent
  German: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  Between the three of us, we speak 6 languages fluently and we'd be happy to help you progress in any of them.
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  Accommodation

  You'll have your own room with a queen bed in the main house. You can have full access to the facilities of the property like the gym (a bit run down we also plan to renovate it), the sauna, the pool, the bikes or the tennis. You'd probably be better of with a car given that we're a bit remote. We have a good bicycle that you're welcome to use but it's hilly around here, and we have a decent scooter that you can also ride if needed.
  
  We do offer accommodation and you're welcome to join us for all three meals every day.

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  What else ...

  The region is mostly known for its production of Cognac so there is a lot to do and learn about the whole cycle from production to tasting and cooking. The city of Angoulême, 30 km away, is know for its international comic book festival (January) and vintage car race (September). You're 1h drive from the Atlantic Ocean and the train stations to Paris, Bordeaux, Nantes or La Rochelle are 30 min away.

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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

  The entire building is covered in wifi. The connection is on fiber. We have a seminar room that we used as office most of the time.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  The place has two private carparks that could fit a campervan.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We love animals. One of our dogs isn't super friendly to other dogs but the other one is. It'd take a bit of time to settle in with another dog but eventually it always works.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  4/5 heures par jour max, 5 j/sem.