Profile information
Host rating
80 %
Last replied
24 Feb 2025
Feedback
10
Email verified
Host offers payment
Badges (2)
Details
Description
Hello!
We are a gifted family of 4 and changed 4 years ago our lifes leaving Paris and taking over a huge and beautiful place in the French "campagne", le Château d'Argy.
Our vision of the château is to build a place where people melt, interact, discover each other, and co-participate to make this vision possible. The final goal is to bring our small stone to enhace the creation of a new paradigm and we think that the beautifulness of this place, Non Violent Communication trainings, unschooled kids, nature, work achieved together and relationships can help this new world.
Before moving to Berry in July 2019, we lived in Paris, Thomas managed an IT company, and Alexia, after working in audit and corporate finance, then as an actress, started as a trainer in NonViolent Communication (NVC or CNV in French) and therapist.
Today we divide our time between family instruction, which at this stage consists of living with our daughters of 4 and 7 years old by playing, cooking, taking care of the animals and the estate, and our professional activities: Alexia animates NVC internships, many of them at the château, and Thomas manages the estate.
The estate is made up of a 36-hectare park - with orchards, vegetable garden, pond -, the castle and its outbuildings, including the gite.
Many animals live here: fallow deer, deer, peacocks, chickens, sheeps, horses, and cats, not to mention squirrels, nutria, and all the birds and the fishes ...
Spring-summer is high season for us, we welcome groups almost every week.
For the coming months ,we are looking for help:
- to spend time with our daugthers (almost 4 and 7 years), and pass on to them what you like to do. Someone who is open to the unschooling process, to Non-Violent Communication: we are looking more for a spirit of support, rather than "childcare" strictly speaking ;-)
- to help maintain the garden and the vegetable patch that has just been created
The orchid is full of old trees that need to be trimmed and taken care of, and the vegetable garden, created last year by woofers, need also some upkeep.
- in September and October : to collect and process apples (there are about 100 apple trees).
We would be glad to welcome you if you want to stay at least one month, and speak either French or fluent English.
In exchange, we offer a magnificent living environment and a friendly atmosphere, accommodation in the castle with meals to share together at noon, enriching human encounters.
We offer a work schedule of 5 hours a day, 5 days a week.
We can pick you up from the Buzancais station (36). If you have a car, even better so that you can enjoy the area easily! ;-)
In our experience, we've had a wonderful time with workawayers that are :
- reliable : do what you say you will do
- autonomous : observe how things are done around you and take initiatives
- energetic : active and outdoor person, who prefers achievment than watching a screen :)
- conscientious : take care of objects, tools, tidy and clean the place after you worked in it
- smiling and enthousiatic
- smart and gifted
- hardworking
- curious and eager to discover new things.
(I guess those words describe us as well)
If that rings a bell for you, we're looking forward to welcoming you in le Château!
Alexia and Thomas, along with Ludivine and Constance
---
Nous sommes une famille de quatre zèbres, Thomas, Alexia, Ludivine et Constance.
Avant de déménager dans le Berry en juillet 2019, nous vivions à Paris, Thomas gérait une entreprise d'informatique, et Alexia, après avoir travaillé dans l'audit et la finance d'entreprise, puis comme comédienne, était formatrice en Communication NonViolente (CNV) et thérapeute.
Aujourd'hui nous partageons notre temps entre l'instruction en famille, qui consiste à ce stade à vivre avec nos filles de 4 et 7 ans ans en jouant, cuisinant, s'occupant des animaux et du domaine, et nos activités professionnelles : Alexia anime des stages de CNV, dont un bon nombre au château, et Thomas gère le domaine.
Le domaine est constitué d'un parc de 36 hectares - avec vergers, potager, étang -, du château et de ses dépendances, dont le gîte.
Beaucoup d'animaux vivent ici : des daims, des cerfs, des paons, des poules, des chevaux, des moutons et des chats, sans compter les écureuils, les ragondins, et tous les oiseaux...
Le printemps-été est la haute saison pour nous, nous accueillons des groupes quasiment chaque semaine.
Pour 2023, nous recherchons de l'aide :
- pour passer du temps avec nos filles (4 et 7 ans) et leur transmettre ce que vous aimez faire. Quelqu’un qui soit ouvert à la démarche du unschooling, à la Communication Non Violente : nous cherchons davantage un esprit d’accompagnement, plutôt que de « garde d’enfants » à proprement parler ;-)
- pour aider à l'entretien du jardin, des vieux vergers et du potager
- pour aider au service des repas et à la préparation des chambres au gîte pendant les semaines de stage.
Nous souhaiterions des séjours d’un mois minimum.
En échange, nous offrons un magnifique cadre de vie et une ambiance conviviale, un logement au château avec des repas à partager ensemble le midi, des rencontres humaines enrichissantes.
Nous proposons un rythme de travail de 5 heures par jour, 5 jours par semaine.
Nous pouvons aller vous chercher à la gare de Buzançais (36). Si vous avez une voiture, c’est encore mieux pour que vous puissiez profiter de la région facilement ! ;-)
Nous avons vécu de très bons moments avec les workawayers qui étaient :
- fiables : faire ce qu'on dit, dire ce qu'on fait
- autonomes : observer son environnement et prendre des initiatives
- énergiques : préférer réaliser, accomplir des choses plutôt qu'être sur son écran
- soigneux : prendre soin des objets, des jouets, des outils, les ranger et nettoyer son lieu de travail
- souriant et enthousiaste
- intelligent.e.s
- travailleur.se.s
- curieux.se.s d'apprendre et découvrir de nouvelles choses.
Bien sûr ces mots nous décrivent assez bien aussi;-)
Si ça vous parle, nous serons ravis de vous accueillir au château!
Alexia et Thomas
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
The main goal of our project is to build human interactions and create bonds (it's the NVC philosophy too :))
I (Thomas) have spent a few years in the US and loved the opportunity I had there to meet people from all over the world. We want our new place to gather many people teaching and learning from each other.
Our château is a major point of interest of the region and this already allows us to meet many interesting people. You'll be welcome to join us and take part in all our family and "professional" activities, another way to create connections.
Au Pair Help
Further details can be found here
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Here are few examples of what we'd like to help on and where your input would be very helpful:
- spend time with our kids
- dig in river beds
- paint bathrooms
- paint bedrooms
- change gutter
- cut wood
- set up a wood-stove
- plant trees
- create a vegetable garden and then a forest garden
We'd rather you stay for one month minimum to make sure you have time to discover the house, the garden, and of course get to know us and our daughters!
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
German: Intermediate
Accommodation
Double bedrooms, either in the castle or in the gite, with private bathroom.
What else ...
There is a beautiful artificial lake 6 kilometers away, with a sand beach, where you will enjoy the freshness of water all summer long.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
We have a lot of space (36 hectares) so you can easily park your campervan;-)
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Feedback (6)
He worked autonomously in many tasks: tiling, drilling big holes in stone walls, levelled a floor, big destruction with a jackhammer. He has experience in construction: self-levelling cement, tiled bathrooms and many other skills: as he used to drive a taxi for a bunch of years he was keen to point out that what was broken with… read more
.Thomas y y su familia son muy amables en todo momento!ly en general muy buena lo he pasado muy bien en compania de los demas… read more
Photos
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(4.8)
Communication:
(4.4)
He worked autonomously in many tasks: tiling, drilling big holes in stone walls, levelled a floor, big destruction with a jackhammer. He has experience in construction: self-levelling cement, tiled bathrooms and many other skills: as he used to drive a taxi for a bunch of years he was keen to point out that what was broken with… read more
.Thomas y y su familia son muy amables en todo momento!ly en general muy buena lo he pasado muy bien en compania de los demas… read more
It's thought to summarize two months in a few words, but we really appreciated their presence, they are always here and helpful, they can give support and advice (thanks to… read more
Thomas and Alexia are amazing and have the most wonderful daughters ever, sweet and smart.
With them you will have… read more
I'm writing a bit mate a review, but we keep an excellent souvenir of the time we spent with Martino: he got along super well with everyone, and our daughters had really enjoyed staying with Martino.
Martino is super open minded, was very available and halpful for us!
We had a lot a great time and I hope we'll stay in touch :)
Valery Larbaud once wrote: «J’ai des souvenirs de villes comme on a des souvenirs d’amour».
There has not been a single day since I came back from Argy where I did not think about the château and my French family.
Thomas and Alexia are… read more
Super good worker. We tiled bathroom and entrance halfway installed a kitchen, set a fireplace inside an open fire, changed the disposition of a beamer, painted white some wooden walls, all along he cut his own wood and started every morning his fire to keep himself warm.
He came with his friend Adam if… read more
Thomas et Alexia sont très accueillants et ouverts au dialogue, vous vous sentirez… read more
