Andrea & Mark

Information de voyage

Actuellement, nous sommes

Description

We are a married couple from the UK. In 2005, we gave up our jobs and sold everything we owned - our house, car & possessions - to pursue our dream. We bought a Land Rover Discovery and a caravan and went to France. A few months later, we bought a sixteenth century water mill in the Auvergne. We spent the next couple of years renovating it, creating a chamber d'hote and restoring the mill and its wheel to their former glory. We have never worked so hard in our lives, but we loved every minute of it!! We did all the work ourselves. Mark is a very practical person (he's a mechanical engineer by trade) and can turn his hand to anything - building, plumbing, wiring - he even installed our 'fosse septique', digging the required 200 metres of soakaway by hand! I supported him by doing the painting and decorating and teaching myself how to tile. Between us, we tamed our two hectares of land and started to grow our own fruit and vegetables. We were living the good life!!

Then, disaster struck when, through no fault of our own, we became entangled in a French legal dispute. Knowing that it could take years to resolve (indeed, it is still ongoing!), we needed to rethink our future! We couldn't contemplate returning to the UK, so I decided to retrain as an EFL teacher. I had been a teacher previously, so I knew it was something I would be good at and, at the same time, enjoy. It was the best thing we ever did!!

We spent the next six years travelling. We lived in Turkey, Italy, Vietnam and Russia. We met some amazing people and had some great adventures. We ended up in Vietnam in 2013 with me doing the kind of job we left the UK because of. I was running the English department of a university, responsible for 40 teachers and 3000 students. It was pretty stressful.

We decided we needed to get back our love of life!! Then, unfortunately, reality intervened and we had to return to the UK to care for my Mum. We spent the next 18 months doing just that, but then we were able to get back on the road and take on new challenges. We travelled to West Africa, did our first overlanding trip through Ethiopia, completed a season as holiday couriers in the south of France, and spent last winter in India where we took part in our first Workaway project. We are now back working in France and looking for opportunities for next winter!

Between us, we have a range of skills which we think we can use to good effect in helping people and projects, so that's what we'd like to do! We hope to meet more fantastic people, have more wonderful adventures and give something back as we continue to live our dream!!

Compétences et connaissances que nous aimerions partager ou apprendre

Jardinage

Bricolage et projets de construction

Baby-sitting et jeux créatifs

Préparer les repas / cuisiner pour la famille

Entretien général

Aider dans une ferme

Éco-projets

Aider à la maison

Accueil / tourisme

Travail associatif

Langues

Aide informatique / Internet

Enseignement

Quelles sont vos compétences ?

Teaching, driving, cooking, handicrafts, plumbing, building, electrics, computer skills, communication skills, and, above all, enthusiasm!

Âge

59 & 63

Autres infos...

We would ask that hosts are not put off by our advancing years! We are healthy and have years of experience to offer a variety of projects.

Informations complémentaires

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  Fumeur

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  Permis de conduire

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  Allergies
  No

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  Régime alimentaire spécial
  No