Help clear the grounds and set up the garden ready to welcome some animals to our new home in beautiful Charente, France

Detalles

• 

  Descripción

  Hey guys,
  
  We are a family of 4, 3 from australia, 1 from Uk and after living in the UK for approx 18 years we have decided to buy a house and land in France and start life again.
  Both of our Daughters now live overseas.
  We are at the very early stages of turning our house and very over grown grounds into a self sufficient small-holding following permaculture principles. After living and working in the south of England for 18 years working in the Hospitality and Business/Personal Coaching and being Foster parents, we decided that our health, stress levels and our planet needed us to change things up a bit.
  
  Going back to College to do a diploma in Horticulture, specialising in edibles was the turning point for me. I found that being back outdoors most of the day was what had been missing for a while. After growing up in Australia where life is pretty much always outdoors to living in the UK I had forgotten that part of me! The idea of moving to France started to evolve a plan for building a self sufficient life on a smallholding in a rural area.
  We spent a few years looking and finally found what we had been looking for in a little Hamlet in the Charantes Region.
  We sold our house in the Uk, bought a Wreck (what others Call it) our dream Hovel doer upper - What we call her).
  We spent a few months here and then decided to go travelling for a bit.
  
  After travelling through 5 states of Australia (I was born there but to be honest hadn't seen much of it!), Vietnam, Bali, Italy, Greece back to Oz to visit our youngest daughter ----- Just in time for Covid to Hit!
  
  After 2 years behind closed Borders of Oz, we finally made it home to France, Visa's intact and ready to start our new lives here!
  
  As well as renovating our home, building a permaculture outdoors, hosting a local farmers sheep, we will be running 2 small businesses from home.
  The main projects for 2023 are to get the Vegetable garden up to producing all year, unveil the orchard which is underneath 15 years of bramble growtj, build a shelter so we can introduce a few sheep to tje garden, some fencing, a composting toulet and shaded area for our Caravan extra sleeping quaters for extra workaways. So theres plenty to do and learn.
  
  We look forward to hosting you on your travels and hope that you enjoy your time with us in our little piece of rustic paradise.
  We would prefer to host a couple or 2 people travelling together during Feb - May and October to Dec as you will shate a bedroom in the house in these months.
  
  Please be aware that a lot of this work is physical so a good level of strength and fitness is needed.
  We run an organised timetable so that we get a good days work done, however there is also lots of rest and relax times.
  
  2 days a week off and evenings are your own 5 hours a day working and learning with us and sometimes without us. Therefore a good level of independance is required.
  Many thanks for your understanding.
  
  
  We love to spend time with young minded people of all ages who have a passion for life, who see the positive in most situations and are happy to laugh at themselves and the world.
  
  We are a non smoking , plant based household.
  
  Yoga, meditation, swimming, reading / quiet times are a regular part to our days along with the physical challenge of setting up our new life and enjoying ourselves as much as possible. So if you think you'll fit in with us we would be very happy to hear from you.

• 

  Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Práctica de idiomas

  Ayuda en proyectos ecológicos

  Jardinería

  Proyectos de construcción y bricolaje

  Cuidado de animales

  Ayuda en una granja

  Cocinar para toda la familia

  Ayuda doméstica

  Mantenimiento general
• 

  Intercambio cultural y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  As a Personal Mindset and Accountability Coach, I am passionate about helping others to get the best out of themselves, to have the life that they wish for. Helping others achieve their goals is something I love to do.
  I run regular workshops and sessions with locals and visitors throughout the year and our volunteers are very welcome to join those session if they want to at no charge.
  We live in a small Hamlet in South West France, in an area of natural beauty, where through the year there are many outdoor activities to enjoy.
  We are surrounded by beautiful country side and are close to the Lacs Du Charentes, which are fantastic for swimming and boating during the summer months.
  
  We are happy to teach you English and are happy to receive lessons in French.

• 

  Ayuda

  We have just under 3 acres of land surrounding the house including a small woodland area and another small woodland area close by (5 mins walk away).
  We hope to incorporate a large vegetable garden, Fruit and Nut Orchards, Chickens, Geese Ducks, Sheep, and other rescue animals.
  
  We have fencing that needs to be built, animal shelters that need building, a toilet and shower block to be built (Eco and Composting if possible).
  
  We would like to build a fire-pit and gazebo.
  Plant vegetables using permaculture techniques, we will be installing water saving ideas including recycling grey water, water collection butts and possibly build a natural swimming pool / pond.
  
  We also hope to have bees in the woodland area in the not too far future.
  
  However to start we have a lot of garden general clearing and tidying to do so it's all hands on deck to remove 10 years of over growth from the gardens and grounds.
  
  The 2 Wooded /small forrested areas need a complete ground level clearing after not being cared for over 15 years.
  
  Barns to clear out..... Grounds to be cleared and divided into House areas and storing / animal areas
  
  We have a lot of furniture to up-cycle and recycle so that it is once again beautiful and functional, so if you are creative here's your chance to show it.
  
  Lots to do, you can choose what you are happy to do from our weekly list of current projects.
  
  We are also getting plans together to open a Vegan cooking workshop area and will be looking for help in setting up the rooms / Produce garden to supply the workshop students as well as our home
  
  We are very happy to teach the skills we have and to learn from you the volunteer if you have skills we don't!

• 

  Idiomas

  Idiomas hablados
  Inglés: Fluido
  Francés: Principiante

  Este anfitrión ofrece intercambio de idiomas
  We are wanting to learn more French in an everyday context, happy to share English language skills at the same time.
• 

  Alojamiento

  We have a lovely room within the main house that up to 2 volunteers (1 King bed) can share all year round and we also have a Trailer Camper with Awning attached which sleeps another 2 people comfortably, this can be used in the warmer months. May / June /July / August/September / October.

• 

  Algo más...

  Walking, Hiking and Cycling are very popular in our area and we have bikes available for our volunteers to use during their stay.
  We have many pretty villages, local Chateaux, and interesting sites within a short drive of our Fermette.
  
  We live in an area of France that is proud of it's links to the French Resistance efforts of WW2 and Richard the Lionheart (1157 - 1199). We will organise at least one visit each week to a local place of interest that our volunteers would like to visit.
  There is a local Train station within 5 mins drive that will take you to either Limoges or Angouleme, where you can connect to any other locations within France with ease.
  We are 2 hours from the coast and we are happy to do at least one trip to the beach every fortnight during the warmer months.
  There is a small Plan dau in the closest village (Open air natural swimming pool) which is open every year from July to September.
  Local Villages with bars and cafes.
  
  We have hosted volunteers from other sites and often have back packers come to stay, using us as a paying hostel so we are adapt with hosting visitors from all walks of life, all ages and various nationalities.
  
  We are well traveled, Cherie is from Australia, Ian is British, between us we have traveled to Pakistan, Nigeria, Bali, Singapore, Belgium, Vietnam, Holland, Italy, Greece, Russia, India, Tunisia and Indonesia, before settling in France this year.
  
  Our Eldest Daughter is living in London still and our youngest now lives in Melbourne Australia.
  
  We are very happy to collect you from Roumazieres-Loubert Train Station . If you have your own vehicle there is room to park.
  
  We are Vegan and prefer vegetarians or Vegans or those happy to live like this for the duration of their stay with us.
  
  We are happy if you wish to eat dairy products, eggs etc, however we prefer not to cook or purchase these items.
  We have very happy hens that produce eggs, we do not eat these ourselves but workaways, friends and nwighbours love them!

• 

  Un poco más de información

  • 

    Acceso a Internet

  • 

    Acceso a Internet limitado

  • 

    Tenemos animales

  • 

    Somos fumadores

  • 

    Puede alojar familias

• 

  Puede acoger a nómadas digitales

  We both run a business from home, have very good Wifi and can set up a desk for you to work from.

• 

  Espacio para aparcar autocaravanas

  plenty of space to park up here, if you prefer to sleep in your own space thats A Ok with us

• 

  ¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?

  Dos

• 

  Horas esperadas

  5 hours a day 5 days a week

Comentarios (3)