Gard Provencal (south of France) – volunteer opportunity for craftsmen! Help renovate a charming 17th c. château together with a Swedish family and their team of artisans. In your free time explore the beautiful Gard Provencal in southern France. Join us!
Volunteer work in renovation project in France – requirements & tasks
We are a Swedish family with three teenage children and a Brittany Spaniel who have taken on the challenge of bringing a petit château from the 17th century back to its former glory while updating it to modern standards.
It was built in 1632 by Jacques d’Odol de Saint Christol, a cavalry officer whose talents as a painter of royal portraits were so well-liked by Louis XII that he was knighted and given this land to build his château. It’s beautifully located on top of a hill, surrounded by vineyards, in the Gard part of Occitanie, close to Uzès, Chateauneuf du Pape, Avignon and Nimes.
We will be very happy to receive help with anything that contributes towards our mission of reviving Château de Saint Christol into a blissful oasis of authentic charm that pays tribute to its rich history. The kind of work that we’re looking for ranges from gardening to masonry, carpentry, and general maintenance and DIY.
Our garden is 1,2 hectares and there’s always a need to help with various gardening projects like planting vegetables, pruning bushes, mowing the lawn etc.
We are also rebuilding various stone walls around the property as well as renovating a number of rooms, where there’s a need for plasterwork and painting. It’s naturally much appreciated if you have skills in these areas already, but no worries if you don’t have experience in renovation work, we’ll teach you. We already have a team on site of skilled craftsmen who can teach the traditional building practices used in this region.
You will work for about 30 hours per week with weekends off.
Volunteer work in renovation project in France – what we offer
We have several sections of the house where our guests can stay independently. On the first floor, there are two bedrooms with one bathroom, that can sleep up to two to four people in private. These rooms are located close to the kitchen and from one of the bedrooms, there’s a direct entrance to the garden.
On the second floor there are two bedrooms that can sleep between two to five people in private, for these rooms, access to the bathroom is through one of the salons so a bit less convenient.
There is also another bedroom available on the second floor, in another part of the house, that can sleep 1-2 people in private, access to the bathroom would be through another salon and the library. We are open to couples and families.
We have a superfast fibre internet connection, it’s not perfect in all rooms because of the heavy stone walls, but we can offer rooms to work from where the connection is perfect. If you’re interested in bringing your pet, we love animals and have a Brittany Spaniel, and because the match isn’t always perfect, we should connect on which pet you’d like to bring beforehand.
It will be a great experience towards learning French by working with a team that mostly speaks French and little or no English. We, the host family, speak Swedish, English and French fluently and can communicate alright in Danish, Norwegian, German and Portuguese.
We offer a full board.
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