At the moment we have 8 volunteers working on La Giraudière’s project. Each person has their own projects ranging from blogging and photography to gardening and maintenance. It is a valuable experience for us all to practise successful coexistance. The difference in characters here has been interesting and great fun. When coming to La Giraudière you will meet people you would never otherwise meet. Everyone plays their part in keeping the place running in order to successfully cohabitate, which has been a valuable skill I have developed.

Ted is a volunteer from Australia who has been tackling the garden for the majority of his time spent here, thanks to Ted it now looks neat and orderly and much less resembles a jungle. Over his weekends Ted has used the opportunity to see as much of the country as possible. He has just returned from a 3 day stay at Lourdes, while last weekend he visited the beautiful city of La Rochelle. Ted has been using this opportunity to learn the language and has been participating actively in the French lessons each Friday morning.

Ted, our Austrailian volunteer

We also have volunteers like Asha, a 19 year old University student who is also hoping to improve her French as it is her University major. She enjoys playing her part capturing photos for the website and writing posts to promote the project. This is Asha’s first time abroad alone and she is glad she decided to choose La Giraudière to travel and gain valuable experiences.

Asha, our Irish volunteer is a University student of French

The contrasting characters at La Giraudière make for a great stay. We also have Carol and Steve a couple from England who volunteered here previously and chose to come again this year. Carol has been handling our finances while Steve has been participating in manual labour such as painting.

Carol and Steve sit down to a cup of tea with our Lithuanian volunteer, Elena.

All in all we have been successful so far this season with a great group of volunteers who are enjoying their time working, learning about France and meeting new people! If you are interested in joining us as a volunteer or an intern in 2018 you can apply  here.