Stay with us at our medieval stone home and explore Saint-Gervais-sur-Mare, South of France

Infos

• 

  Description

  We are John and Gaye (and Charlie, the very friendly dog). Gaye, originally from South Africa, has also lived in New Zealand and Australia with John (a proud Kiwi). We are both fluent in English and learning French. We moved to a small, vibrant, medieval village in a regional park, in the south of France last year where we bought a group of old buildings. The village, surrounded by beautiful forest-covered hills and walking trails, is a popular stopping point on the historic St James Arles Way pilgrimage route also known as the Chemin d'Arles, connecting Arles to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The village has a bar, a couple of restaurants, a shop, hairdresser, museum, and a bakery. There are larger towns 15-20 minutes drive / bus away and about 1 hour from the Mediterranean coast. One part of our place (an ancient tannery) could be 1,000 years old whilst the rest of the buildings are between 250 and 500 years old. Some of the building is very comfortable to live in and some not so much. As the current custodians of the buildings we want to respectfully restore them while we learn about their history and leave them in a better state than they are now. We have a large outdoor terrace next to the river and a garden that is currently a blank canvas. Come and share in this experience and be part of the team!

• 

  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Projets artistiques

  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

  Aide informatique/internet
• 

  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Animaux de compagnie

  

  Culture

  

  Dev. durable

  

  Événements/vie sociale

  

  Bénévolat

  

  Jardinage

  

  Dessin et peinture

  

  Menuiserie

  

  Bricolage / artisanat

  

  Cuisine et alimentation

  

  Randonnée
• 

  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  We enjoy talking to new people and understanding a different perspective. We have travelled extensively for work and leisure and have both lived in 3-4 different countries. Our village is very social and has many events year round, especially in summer. We are respectful of everyone's lifestyle choices and look to widen our global understanding. We love a wide variety of food and cooking and welcome others to share in the preparation. A person does not exist alone - we are social animals. The world is a melting pot and we all need to learn from each other to make it a better place. You may also learn some practical skills.

• 

  Projets impliquant des enfants

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

• 

  Aide

  We can provide you with a cultural and learning experience as we work on our project. We also have a number of local professionals we work with, including building, electrical, stonework and plumbing. We are repairing stonework, putting in new floors, walls, bathrooms, more sustainable heating and insulation. You may choose to learn some skills along the way. Our garden is a blank canvas, and so we are currently designing a new plan that we will execute over the next few years, again an opportunity to learn new skills. We would like to have a way to tell our story to our many friends around the world, about what we are up to in a cohesive way (we are considering a website/social media approach). Sometimes when we are really busy, meals and other household stuff slip. This might be a way of helping out.
  
  We might be able to teach you some new skills and about our life experiences (we have had a busy and long one so far), multinational experiences (we have lived and travelled extensively), and you will certainly teach us something about your view of the world and perhaps improve our language skills - either way, things do manage to get done and we will have some fun.
  
  We are very hands-on and always quite busy, but we always make time to have a chat over food, a cup of tea, an espresso or a wine at the end of the day, one day soon this might even be in French! But it will definitely be French in the beautiful South of France.

• 

  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Français: Débutant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  We are always looking to improve our French so welcome French speakers who have beginner English and want to also learn from us
• 

  Hébergement

  We currently have one guest double bedroom with a semi-ensuite and have in progress 2 x self contained studio apartments (kitchen and bathrooms).
  We eat a mixture of meat, eggs, dairy (we love French cheese) and some plant based protein. We are happy to eat vegetarian regularly -this is an opportunity for you to teach us. We would struggle with a vegan option. Catering for food intolerances will need input from you. We always share cooking with anyone staying with us.

• 

  Autres infos...

  There is a local bus that goes to the nearest town 3 times per day, with connections beyond to major routes. The local museum is also the visitor centre. There are many walking trails in the area as we are in a regional park.
  Please respect that our home is drug, vape and smoke free.
  This is an old stone building and so sometimes is dusty.

• 

  Informations complémentaires

  • 

    Accès Internet

  • 

    Accès Internet limité

  • 

    Nous avons des animaux

  • 

    Nous sommes fumeurs

  • 

    Familles bienvenues

• 

  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  We have a fibre connection that sometimes seems a bit flaky. We have an office that can be used also. The heating is not working currently in the office, but is on "the list".

• 

  Espace pour garer des vans

  We have space to park a camper van and can run power to your van, we are unsure if the wifi would reach.

• 

  Possibilité d'accueillir les animaux

  We have a medium sized dog who is ok with other socialised dogs. Any dogs must be cleaned up after, here and throughout the village. There are facilities throughout the village (bags and bins).

• 

  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

• 

  Mes animaux

  Charlie

Sécurité du site