Help on a small holding in the Mediterranean Pyrenees, France

  • France
  • Enregistré comme favori 632 fois
  • Activité récente: 11 sept. 2023

Disponibilité

  2023 

 Séjour min. souhaité : Au moins un mois

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Infos

  • Description

    Description

    AUTUMN 2023 Update

    We are looking for handy help from 4th September into October : cleaning, pool care, garden weeding, light repairs, general maintenance, painting, fencing repairs, bush strimming, log splitting, stacking ... So some of the work is strenuous if you are not used to it. When it comes to tree felling, I do that myself as I've 20 years experience, but I would need help tidying up ... moving branches and logs ready to be split and stacked for drying.

    Singles or couples are welcome.

    To see more about the help and accommodation, see the 'Help' and 'Accommodation' sections lower down.
    -----

    We live in the mountains at the foot of Mount Canigou, 1hr from the Mediterranean on the French-Spanish border, in a truly beautiful wild setting. We are approximately 2 hrs north of Barcelona, and 1 hr south-west of Perpignan. We have a large old farmhouse with several outbuildings, a swimming pool and 11+ acres of land, forest and river.

    And we've no neighbours to see or hear of!

    We have a small campsite, with two 16m2 bell tents on wooden platforms in a forest near the stream: there is also a summer kitchen with hammocks and tents, an outside shower and dry toilet and large camp fire. This accommodates a maximum of 6 people in the summer months. Just friends, family and workawayers.

    We have solar hot water for three of our buildings and the main house. We use water from the stream, gravity-fed, and are installing a new storage tank with purification and filters. We heat almost entirely with our own wood.

    We used to grow our own vegetables, and plan to install a new polytunnel and raised bed in 2024. We also plan to install our own hydro-electric generator with water from one of the old aqueducts that once fed the land when it was an apple farm.

    We have chickens and sheep, a Border Collie called Blue, cats and a pond with fish … and there is plenty of local wildlife in our forests: wild boar, roe deer, foxes, griffon vultures ...

    We have lived in this southern-most region of France, overlooking the Spanish border, since 2005. My wife Ashley was a trained classical singer, but she passed in the spring after 12 years fighting cancer from the age of only 34.

    I (Simon) am a lapsed anthropologist, who owned and ran an IT company in Edinburgh. I worked on WWOOF farmsteads in the mid 90s (WWOOF - World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). We also ran guided mountain walking holidays for small groups in May and October. Sophia, our daughter, still lives at home and helps out with many tasks.

    We love having down to earth, friendly, intelligent and multilingual guests!

    2023 update: due to family circumstances we've not been able to do the vegetable garden thusfar this year. And this is not a priority for 2023. But we aim to reinstate the vegetable garden in 2024.

  • Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

    Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

    Pratique d’une langue
    Aide avec des éco-projets
    Enseignement
    Jardinage
    Bricolage et construction
    S’occuper des animaux
    Cuisine/repas pour la famille
    Aide à la maison
    Entretien général
  • Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre

    Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre

    Objectifs de l’ONU
    Pas de pauvreté
    Faim «zéro»
    Bonne santé et bien-être
    Éducation de qualité
    Égalité entre les sexes
    Eau propre et assainissement
    Énergie propre et d'un coût abordable
    Travail décent et croissance économique
    Industrie, innovation et infrastructure
    Inégalités réduites
    Villes et communautés durables
    Consommation et production responsables
    Mesures relatives à la lutte contre les changements climatiques
    Vie aquatique
    Vie terrestre
    Paix, justice et institutions efficaces
    Partenariats pour la réalisation des objectifs
  • Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

    Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

    You can improve your language skills. We are native English speakers, but Simon speaks English, German, French and Spanish. Sophia speaks English and French. Sophia is also learning Spanish and German.

    You'll experience a way of life that is quite different from how most modern urbanites live, and hopefully really enjoy it.

    So if you are a multi-lingual musician you are very welcome - especially fiddlers, guitarists and singers!

  • Aide

    Aide

    After almost 15 years there is a certain routine::

    During April, May and June - your help will include planting the vegetable garden, weeding, minor maintenance, painting, small building projects, strimming fields, fencing repairs, tending the animals.

    During July and August the work has no maintenance or building element. Help with gardening, cleaning, and cooking. As well as language support for our daughter is required (helping maintain her French and improve her German and Spanish, of those are some of your languages).

    During September and October - your help will include, making minor repairs, painting, small building projects, strimming, tending the animals, foresty clearing, field tidying and fencing repairs.

    As this is an exchange, any skills that you can pass onto us will be much appreciated! We are acquiring new ones all the time! Language - music?!

  • Langues

    Langues parlées
    Allemand: Courant
    Anglais: Courant
    Français: Courant
    Espagnol: Intermédiaire

    Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
    I speak English, German, French and Spanish in order of fluency. Looking for native speakers to help our daughter improve her French and learn German and Spanish.

  • Hébergement

    Hébergement

    You would have a room in the main house with us in the letting season. Or you could use the Bell Tents in the private camping area.

    Out of season, when there are not many guests, you could have one of the guest apartments/gites.

  • Autres infos...

    Autres infos...

    Having your own transport would be useful for your days off, but it is possible without, as we could drop you off when necessary. Public transport also begins 6km from our farm, where buses will take you to Perpignan for 1 Euro. The next village is 3km: a 15 minute bike ride.

    The coast is not far away (1hr) and there are many small towns to visit in the area (in Spain and France). There are also plenty of mountain walks.

    To truly take advantage of being in the mountains and so near to the Mediterranean, and of being so close to Spain (Figueras 1hr, Girona 1.5hrs, Barcelona 2hrs), having your own transport would be a bonus.

    Bikes of course are also a possibility!

  • Informations complémentaires

    Informations complémentaires

    • Accès Internet

    • Accès Internet limité

      Accès Internet limité

    • Nous avons des animaux

    • Nous sommes fumeurs

    • Familles bienvenues

  • Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

    Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

    I've two internet connections now for reliability. One data modem router and one standard landline router. I work on Salesforce projects myself, so connection is imperative. I've a dedicated office and a be hot desk area in the main. Speeds aren't super fast but adequate for video meetings and working

  • Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

    Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

    Deux

  • ...

    Nombre d'heures attendues

    Standard Workaway 20 hrs per week for board and lodging. PLEASE NOTE from June to September : you may need to work a full day on Saturdays. Days off are flexible from Tuesday to Friday.

N° de référence hôte : 189539743879

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