Les Trois Mousquetaires opt for Voluntourism in France

Meet the current team at La Giraudiere: introducing Matt, Katie & Christian, from Essex, England; Knoxville, Tennessee and Cambridge, England respectively.  Arriving in quick succession within days of each other, they swiftly formed a formidable trio and have been picking up various new skills each and every day of their time here. Novices though they may be, Matt and Christian have been busy plastering, learning the trade as they go from Paul. Katie has taken on the role of LG’s resident secretary;  managing the office, answering emails, printing off applications and organizing the schedule of arrivals. With last week’s beautifully sun-filled days, the team spent the majority of their time out in the garden, weeding, trimming hedges and mowing the lawn – all to make the most of the beautiful French weather. When the day’s work was done they headed down to the local lake for a well-earned swim to cool off. Many an evening will be spent with a relaxing walk  into town for a glass of wine… (or three!) or dessert with the locals. La Giraudiere provides such a unique way of getting to know the local French culture, as well as people from all over the world, it’s little wonder that so many people – whether on a Gap Year, taking time out after uni or simply looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life to the quiet French countryside, are now looking to induldge in the latest trend of ‘Voluntourism’ in France!

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South West France

To help volunteers and interns that are either applying, contemplating or interested in the project  at La Giraudiere offers a new page which as been published titeled South west France. The idea is to supply links to information that applicants need when making their travel plans.

Travel and Holiday Information

The page gives links to the Airports in the region together with links to Hotels and Car hire again in the southwest of France. There is also a page describing the how to complete the last part of your journey titled Rail Connections Into Charente France you will also find links to a Eurostar page and the TGV service offered by French SNCF.

For those looking for ferry links between the UK and France again there is information supplied together with the links to the information and ferry services.

Other useful information such as the weather in the region, a currency converter to make sure you get the best exchange rate, general travel information for this region and articles about the south west of France many of which have been written by the volunteers or interns at La Giraudiere.

Our village of Brossac is also featured and there is road and autoroute travel information and advice for those driving.

There is still much more to do so if you think you can help produce the perfect page about the south west of France then why not come along and help. You can volunteer in south west France from as little as 18 euros per day and that is full bed and board or why not give your CV or Resumé that extra boost and come and Intern Abroad in France at La Giraudiere

Time Out Volunteering

Time out Volunteering in France by Caroline Grace O’Brien is a new article just published on the website at “lagiraudiere.com ” you can read the article by visiting the link at TIME OUT VOLUNTEERING.

Caroline a Volunteer from the UK spent 6 weeks at La Giraudiere volunteering. Arriving in April and leaving in May 2013, Carrie writes about her stay and reflects on what she has achieved for both herself and the project at La Giraudiere in south-west France.

She goes on to say that time out volunteering is an ideal way to learn about you, to take time to hear yourself think and see where your life is heading. The article mentions the benfits to health not just soul Caroline goes on to say that she benefited in ways she had never exspected to do so. If you are thinking of volunteering then this will make a good read for you.

Article writing, Blog posting, Gardening are just a few of the chores that you could help with at La Giraudiere If you are thinking of volunteering this year, or whenever,  then La Giraudiere accepts volunteers the whole year round simply visit the volunteers website at Volunteering Abroad for more information.

Time out Volunteering

La Giraudiere Twitter Page up dated

After hours of  work trying to select and place images in the correct postion selecting and placing the background image, we now have an up dated Twitter Page for La Giraudiere. Here are our stats as at the 30th April.

Working in France restoring La Giraudiere

Follow the story of La Giraudiere and how one of the most popular volunteers project came to be. At least once a week there will be a post related to the restoring of La Giraudiere and the work that was involved.

My name is Paul and11 Years ago I decided to come to France and try to bring some life into what was a distressed, abandoned, derelict ruin called La Giraudiere.

In 1997 myself together with two Brother and a Friend of the family purchased this old masters farm house with the idea of creating some kind of holiday hamlet. At that time not sure exactly where we were heading and for certain not sure how to get there.

From 1997 to 2002 we would travel back and forth from the UK and on each trip we would try to make a part of La Giraudiere liveable. The first week or two of any trip was spent clearing the jungle which would be there waiting for us. It seemed to start to arrive the moment we started to leave. It was a bit like a calling from nature asking that one of us should stay and look after this old lady called La Giraudiere.

So in 2002 our lady “La Giraudiere” convinced me to move to France and afford her the care and attention she deserved. By this time we had running water and an electric supply but that was the limit of the luxury items.

There was no working drainage system in place, mushrooms would grow on the ground floor, No telephone, each light I switched on would make the electrical wiring glow, The beautiful wisteria had pulled of the guttering, entered into the roof space forcing the roof tiles to be dislodged and forced many of the shutters off their hinges.

The first time I was there and a heavy rainfall arrived I saw why our Lady was so distressed that evening she cried from every crook and cranny as the rain entered into the hearth of this old stone built property.

Drainage soakaway instalation

The roof was covered with the old style roman tiles, which over the years had slipped down allowing water to enter via the roof.

The wisteria had also played a major part in damaging the roof as its tentacles spread around the building.

But another major problem came to light the morning after the major rainfall. In the morning there was water entering into the old house via the land which at the back of the property was too high and came up to the window ledges on the ground floor. This brought water into the property via the stone walls. Later that evening water started to enter the property via the floor yes like a spring there was a small fountain of water coming up from the floor yes our lady was situated upon a source.

[important]This story will continue throughout the season so you can bookmark this blog, subscribe to our feed and follow us on twitter and facebook – Links are top left.[/important]

Thinking of living and working in France – Read article from an expat who now lives and is working in France. Like to learn more about working in France then why not carry out an internship at La Giraudiere visit INTERNSHIP IN FRANCE for more info.

Maybe you would like to help out at La Giraudiere then take a look at the VOLUNTEERS WORKING HOLIDAY IN FRANCE to find out how you can mix working in France with a volunteers holiday.