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Description
Hello and thanks for finding us!
Responsible, experienced and mature?
Read our reviews and the profile in full before replying if you think you’ll be the next one of our series of exceptional workaways. We have availability from mid October this year if you like painting, deep cleaning and gardening and some tech and social media support.
We’re looking for a single girl or a couple/couple of friends to join our family. You need to be responsible and capable of looking after a large house and garden alongside us. Drivers aged over 30 are preferred and your own car is a bonus.
We love sharing our slice of heaven with like-minded people who join our family. Seeing the transformative effect our place has on others rewards and validates us, and makes the ongoing project more pleasurable. This place is made to be shared, and as a 10 bedroomed chateau with extensive grounds and vineyards, there is always something to be done and enjoyed!
We came to SW France on holiday in 2008 and fell in love with the area and our chateau. We stayed, and created a new life based on family and friend connections, contact with nature, healthier living and expanding our horizons. Our kids are now 17, 21 and 25 years old (the older 2 now abroad) and we have a gorgeous dog, Shimmy aged 5, an outdoor living cat and some chickens.
We have welcomed dozens of workawayers since starting 5 years ago (many return) and relish wonderful exchanges and experiences and feel that our family is expanding.
Types of help and learning opportunities
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 are well integrated into the local community and are fluent in French but this is an English speaking household.
We both come from families with an 'open door' policy. We love sharing our dream life and home with others and learning from them too. Sharing my own childhood with children of many nationalities made me a linguist and we all have a love of travel. Our former aupairs of up to 20 years ago still visit and remain very much part of the family. In terms of language, I have experience in TEFL and we have an extensive library of English books as well as local guides. We can direct you towards French resources. You are also welcome to join me in mindfulness and yoga practice.
Help
Our place would best suit an enthusiastic, animal loving, non smoking girl/couple who seek to get the most out of each day. Driving license (over 25s preferably) and cooking skills (especially healthy vegetarian food) are a bonus. A love of spring cleaning and weeding helps too.
In terms of projects, there's a long list to choose from depending on your initiative and skill set. There's always wood to be chopped for fires so some heavy lifting required in addition to general gardening. Plus general house help/light DIY, floor varnishing, window cleaning etc. If the weather is bad, there's always work to be done on the computer so tech and social media skills are also valued. And we are removing render in our barn renovation project. Some workaways have house and pet sat if we're away and enjoy being king/queen of the castle!
We are passionate and hardworking and expect our workaways to be the same, 5 hours per day for 5 days a week (not including helping at family meals) but we are flexible and will encourage you to make the most of good weather and explore, and there is ample opportunity to relax and travel too.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Fluent
Italian: Intermediate
Accommodation
We have 4 ensuite double or triple bedrooms furnished and decorated to a high standard. We expect volunteers to leave the rooms and house as they found them. We have a largely pescatarian diet and normally grab a sandwich at lunchtime and have the main meal together each evening - enthusiastic cooks and vegetarians are particularly welcome. This is a strictly non smoking and only occasional drinking home.
What else ...
If you love nature, either for adventure or relaxation, then there is a wealth of things to do. A car is preferable for exploring the stunning surrounding area but previous guests have made the most of cheap buses for Spain (San Sebastian) and the Basque coast. If you're happy to stay put (and many find it hard to leave the sanctuary of the chateau), we are happy to pick you up from train/bus stops in Pau. We are 15 minutes drive from the historic city of Pau, an hour from the mountains and Spain and 90 minutes from the Atlantic surf. We have electric bikes and are on wonderful cycle and hiking routes. I spend a lot of time on the school run so am happy to give you a lift when it's on my way. We encourage guests to share in our family life if they wish, whether at playing cards or board games after mealtimes or on dog walks or excursions.
We request that volunteers provide personal references if they are not already reviewed on Workaway and be available for a chat via Whatsapp. Please quote 'Dreams' to show you have read and understood before applying. We look forward to hearing from you and, I hope, help in realising more dreams during your travels.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have 4G boxes to boost wifi when there are many of us using it
Space for parking camper vans
Lots of space for parking
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
Feedback (26)
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Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
Having been privileged enough as to attend to a yoga/coaching retreat and a healing session...(plus the spicy food detox)...it's been quite a journey withing my journey.
Absolutley fallen in love with the cat and the dog...2… read more
Claudia offers a very personal, authentic experience for every work away who stays. She loves finding tasks that you will equally enjoy excel at while you are here.
This place has become a true safe haven for me. I know that… read more
The Château is beautiful and is really warm in winter for… read more
We had only a few days together before Fiona house sat while we one ton… read more
We really enjoyed the wide range of tasks we helped with during our stay and never felt overworked. We… read more
From the beginning on they were kind to us and we had a good time with them. Our jobs were very different each day. They varied from gardening tasks to various cleaning jobs. We also took care of the dogs and the cat ( they all loved cuddeling :))
Claudia was very… read more
They helped us with an array of house and garden tasks, always with a positive and willing attitude. We completely trusted them to look after the house and dogs… read more
Claudia, Jag, Nadja, Sam and Hannah, thank you for opening your home to me and making my time spent with you feel like home and rest. I joined the family before Christmas 2020 and spent about 2 and a half months until March 2021, being included in all the family… read more
Thanks a lot for everything!!!
They are the type of people that one can only hope to have the pleasure of meeting in life.… read more
From playing games, cooking meals, chilling with the pets, and helping out around the property, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. For our first workaway experience, we couldn't think of a better family to host us. They even made Angus a cake… read more
They were… read more
