Live and help in a medieval château in rural Ardèche, France

  • Enregistré comme favori 340 fois
  • Activité récente: 18 mars 2024

Disponibilité

  2024 

 Séjour min. souhaité : Au moins une semaine

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Infos

  • Description

    Description

    We are a young(ish!) Anglo-French couple with two young children, renovating a château in Ardèche, France with the vision of creating a retreat centre. The chateau is a medieval beast of a building set in 130acres of mostly forest in one of France’s least visited areas (even by French people!)

    Set in a picturesque valley at the start of the Mountains of Ardèche, there are fantastic views all the way to the Alps. Aside from the copious amount of wildlife that visits us from the forest, whether nightingales singing us to sleep or wild boar rummaging in the garden, we have a lot of different birds... chickens, peacocks, turkeys, pigeons... These are prominent members of the family! We also have a large and very friendly dog, and two cats.

    We have a lot of professionals working on the main renovations but we try to do as much as we can ourselves, and we would love to have some volunteers to help with the daily running of this immense building and gardens and land, as well as renovation projects. This would help us to actually move forward with the realisation of our dream. We are an easygoing couple who lead a simple life and enjoy sharing this with others.

    very sorry but we cannot accept children or dogs at the moment.

  • Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

    Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

    Jardinage
    Bricolage et construction
    S’occuper des animaux
    Baby-sitting et jeux créatifs
    Cuisine/repas pour la famille
    Aide à la maison
    Entretien général
    Aide informatique/internet
  • Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

    Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

    You will get to live in a medieval French castle with hundreds of crazy stories attached to it. You’ll be able to speak French or English with us if you wish to practice either language. The whole area is remote and culturally traditional, with incredibly friendly people so if you want to truly immerse yourself in local French culture it’s perfect. We also play music and have several instruments including a piano if you enjoy playing. We have many different interests and areas of expertise, from botany to archaeology, wine to music, and we are happy to share this with you.

  • Aide

    Aide

    We are always fair with the time that our volunteers spend working, but we need people who are flexible and adaptable in terms of when they do their work. It is unlikely to be possible, for example, to cram all of the work into just a few days so that the rest can be taken completely off.

    It’s probably best suited to somebody who likes to have a light day of work with time to read and go for a walk throughout the day, rather than somebody who wants to finish everything as quickly as possible and go out sightseeing!

    Please note: Due to a truly awful experience we had A while back, we will only be able to accept volunteers who have reviews from previous workaways, or who can provide a reference from an employer. We're really sorry about this as we previously hosted many wonderful first-time workawayers, but with small children in the house we've realised that we have to be really careful.

    *********

    We are looking for volunteers who are flexible and willing to help out with a wide variety of tasks - basically to add another pair of hands to the things we do ourselves. On any given day this could mean feeding the chickens, clearing paths in the forest, watering the garden, helping with basic DIY tasks in the house or outdoors, or helping to move furniture.

    There are a lot of organisational tasks to be done - like sorting boxes of fabrics or packing up boxes.

    If you have particular skills like stone masonry, carpentry, plastering or construction then we will be very happy to put you onto projects involving your skill rather than general maintenance. You will not be asked to use any dangerous machinery or do anything skilled that you’re not trained to do!

    If you are particularly keen on cooking then please let us know because this is an area we struggle with when we have lots of volunteers and having somebody who is ready and willing to cook varied, nutritious meals for us all would be greatly appreciated.

    We have a lot of work coming up and we are looking for people who can help out in many different areas.

    We are particularly interested also with people who have filming and editing experience as we run a YouTube channel.

    We believe in being crystal clear about what we expect of volunteers and what they can expect in return. Please don't take this as a sign of rigidity - far from it - we just want to make sure you have the full picture before you arrive, so there are no misunderstandings!

  • Langues parlées

    Anglais: Courant
    Français: Courant

  • Hébergement

    Hébergement

    It might be a castle but it's not luxurious living! There is one shared bathroom between the entire household! However you will have your own bedroom, which is quiet and private. We are looking for people who are clean and tidy and will respect our home.

    Volunteers will be expected to help out with cooking and clearing up after meals as part of living in a family, rather than as part of their working hours (we obviously buy the food). Unless we make a specific agreement for somebody to come just to do all of this for a specific time period!

    We can't manage any major dietary requirements at the moment as we already have a lot to manage with our kids. However there will be space to store any extra food you want to have on hand, in the fridge or pantry. You can of course use the kitchen whenever you like, although meals will be mostly be all together. Tea and coffee are always available. We are not vegetarian but do not eat meat every meal or even every day. We love cooking styles from all around the world.

    Internet in the château is quite poor so we ask that downloading is limited and that you don't stream audio or videos for long periods of time when others might be on the internet. However 4g signal is good so if you have plenty of data this works well.

  • Autres infos...

    Autres infos...

    The countryside of northern Ardèche is remote but very much alive. The local village is a 15min walk away through fields and woods and has several food shops and a bar. It also has two markets a week, which are very lively! There are hundreds of kilometres of footpaths in the local area and the people who love it here most are those who are happy walking or biking all day (you can borrow a mountain bike).

    Public transport is tricky so if you want to visit local villages and towns you may need your own transport (we'll take you with us if possible when we go places, but we don't often feel the need to leave our happy bubble). However there are occasional buses from the village that go to the bigger towns, and from one of these towns there is a train that goes to Lyon in one direction and Marseille in the other.

    There are lots of trails for hiking and for mountain biking and also road biking is very popular around here. You are very welcome to borrow a bike and there are even electric bikes for rental in the village which are excellent fun and allow you to explore a much wider area.

    Most of our friends who stay here say that they feel incredibly peaceful and sleep better than anywhere else. Just a word of warning though... if you're somebody who feels happier with a lot of stimulation - i.e. places to visit, things to do, cultural experiences etc then it could feel a little limited. In general people are happiest here who are content to immerse themselves in the local environment rather than people looking for a lot of places to visit or things to do.

    If you're looking for somewhere to be peaceful in your time off - maybe do some painting or reading or just lying in the grass watching the birds - then you will be in paradise.

    As for us - we enjoy watching films and tv shows on our projector of an evening, or playing board games. We eat together, mostly full meals, and enjoy sitting and talking. We would like you to feel part of the family but we're also very happy if you prefer to be by yourself more. We too need our downtime! We also have a piano which you're welcome to use, and I'd love to play some duets if you're musically-inclined.

  • Informations complémentaires

    Informations complémentaires

    • Accès Internet

    • Accès Internet limité

      Accès Internet limité

    • Nous avons des animaux

    • Nous sommes fumeurs

    • Familles bienvenues

  • Espace pour garer des vans

    Espace pour garer des vans

    There is plenty of space for people with campervans to park up in peace and quiet. We don't have facilities for emptying chemical toilets or plugging in electrical outlets but we can charge things within the house as necessary, and it's possible there's a disposal area for toilets in the village - we need to check!

  • Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

    Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

    Deux

  • ...

    Nombre d'heures attendues

    Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week

N° de référence hôte : 549893691546

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