Come and help us with house and garden in a small hamlet in the Midi Pyrenees, France

Infos

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  Description

  I am English and my husband is French . We moved here from England 16 years ago. We have about three hectares of land. As we are in a valley most of it is woodland with an area of meadow and a large vegetable and flower garden. Every year we open once or twice for Open Gardens, to raise money for charity. We can't change the world, but we can make sure that our land is managed to encourage biodiversity. Opening the garden allows us to meet like minded people and encourage others to garden organically. We cut the meadow once or twice a year to encourage wildflowers. In the winter we cut our own wood, coppice and try to manage it for wildflowers. We have a Jack Russell called Priska, 2 cats, two chickens, lots of ducks, and incredible insects and butterflies ..

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Pratique d’une langue

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général

  Aide informatique/internet
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  Meal times are important, a time to talk and learn from each other.we are a mix of english culture and french.

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  Projets impliquant des enfants

  Ce projet peut impliquer des enfants. Pour en savoir plus, consultez nos directives et conseils ici.

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  Aide

  We cut the meadow gradually so we have different heights of grass , but all the grass has to be collected. This is done manually as we have quite steep slopes.Some of the slopes are terraced, but these are becoming very overgrown so they need to be cleared with a brushcutter. Work and maintenance on the paths so we have access with the motorised wheelbarrow. Lots of other jobs in the garden, picking fruit and vegetables, then preserving and baking. I bake nearly all the bread and lots of cakes. We are not vegetarain, but we do not eat a lot of meat. We grow most of our vegetables.
  
  August is generally hot. The house needs attention, a good clean and windows and doors need wood protection. More fruit and vegetables from the garden. The banks of the stream need attention and more of the meadow needs to be cut
  
  September, seed collection, fruit and veg to be dealt with. Fire wood needs to be brought in for winter. We are hoping to go away for a week to see family, so we might ask you to house sit, water and look after the animals
  
  October, is the main month for dealing with the garden,. moving, dividing and potting up plants.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Français: Courant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il souhaitait faire partager sa propre langue ou en apprendre une nouvelle.
  Contactez-le pour en savoir plus.
  
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  Hébergement

  A separate chalet in the garden with a double bed. Compost toilet in the garden and shower and wash basin in the top of the barn

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  Autres infos...

  We live in a small hamlet, beside a stream. The nearest village (La Bastide L\'Eveque) is 3 km and the nearest town (Villefranche de Rouergue) 11Km. There are bicycles. There are lots of paths for walking, including a GR. You can swim in the Aveyron river, just 2km. 10 minutes walk from the house we have the Martinet, where they used the water to work the copper. It is now a museum, with demonstrations.We have a piano and my husband plays the guitar. His first love is gypsy jazz, but he plays all sorts.
  We welcome most people but we don''t think we could cope with Donald Trump's supporters.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Cet hôte a de la place pour les vans.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Nombre d'heures attendues

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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