La Giraudiere as advanced over the years. From a small volunteering project started back in 2008 we have since then had over 600 volunteers volunteer plus over 50 interns interned at La Giraudiere. This blog was an early starter for La Giraudiere and we now have our own blog situated at Volunteers In France Blog

We have also just updated the volunteers website and you can now find it at Volunteering Project In France this section of the website is over 40 pages now and includes links to blogs and videos and testimonials so please check it out.

Our internships have also been improved and a new section in the website as just been updated and you can see the new section at Internship In France

The volunteers project now has its own website subdomain situated at Volunteer in France take a while to visit the new website


and also take some time to tweet our site at  Tweet Volunteers in France on Twitter

 and if you are on Facebook then please take time to   Follow Volunteers in France on Facebook

  

New blog for the working group at La Giraudiere

Visit the new blog for the working group presently on the volunteers working holiday in south west France the name of the blog is
A Volunteers Working Holiday in South West France

Volunteers Working Holiday in France and Technorati

Time out or Gap year be sure to read about La Giraudiere and visit the website at Working Holiday in France

25 June 2010

We woke up to another lovely day at La Giraudiere, it is very hot and sunny already.

I will walk down to the village soon to get some more bread and also some yellow recycling bags from the Town Hall, as that is where we get them from.

As I walk down I pass the beautiful countyside including the lily pond, and I always stand and look at it for a few moments as I pass.

I just heard Bob say that he will be painting shutters today.

The girls; Kathyrne and Rachel will be finishing off clearing the wood they have worked so hard on.

Vicki and Kimberly have just set off to the village school to ask for permission to sit in at one of the teaching sessions.

We have our French Lesson this afternoon, so will finish work early.

We had lunch outside again and at 3pm our French Lesson.

Paul made a barbeque for dinner which we had about 8pm.

This is my last post and it is time to pack

Visit the working holiday in France for further info and links to further blogs

Wednesday 23 June 2010

It's a really beautiful morning today. Paul asked us to start early (8am) as we will finish at 2pm because the US play Algeria and England play Slovenia and both will be shown on tv at 4pm.

Vicki, Kimberly and myself walked down to Brossac and bought some bread for lunch this morning, it was very hot.

Then, we came back and made the drinks for tea break and we all sat outside the old house.

We then went to the gites and cleaned the fridges out.

Everyone is busy; Paul, Kate and Rhian are still working on the ceiling in Apartment 4.

Rachel and Kathyrne are still tidying the trees in the wood and Bob and Lewis, preparing the shutters for painting.







Just took refreshments up the alley to the wood; now Bob and Lewis have joined Kathryne and Rachel. They have done a great job and the trees and woods look so much better already.

We will stop work today at 2pm so we can watch England play Slovenia, and our American friends will watch the US v Algeria.

We just had a nice lunch and now will wait for the football match.



We watched the football in Gite 2 with two tv's going at the same time; one for the US V Algeria game and one for England v Slovenia. We really enjoyed watching both games and we were so pleased with the results as both our sides won 1 - 0.

Kathyrne and Rachel made a really nice dinner (friend chicken) and after that, Paul took us down to St Bernard's to celebrate, it was another end to a lovely day at LG.

Tuesday 22 June 2010

It was another lovely morning at La Giraudiere. Kate and Paul were working on filling the ceiling in Apartment 4 again, it's nearly finished now.

Paul asked Rhian and myself to do the shopping, so we went off to Lidl and then EuroMarche and got everything. We put all that away and then I started to make the lunch.

Two ladies arrived yesterday from Utah, USA; Vicki and Kimberly but both were in bed as they were very tired, their journey was 33 hours.

Bob and Lewis were preparing the shutters before painting this morning, they were working outside the old house. I saw Lewis and he was okay, it was his first day working with us.




Kathyrne and Rachel were working in the wood, tidying up the trees and cutting the weeds down to make that part of the land look really nice. They seemed really happy doing this.

Vicki and Kimberly got up at lunchtime and we all sat outside and had lunch and met each other.

In the afternoon, as the weather was so nice Paul said everyone could work outside doing gardening, so that is what we did. We finished a little earlier at 4pm as the football was on.



I made the dinner and again, we sat outside as the weather was so lovely.


After dinner, Vicki, Kimberly, Paul, Rhian and Kathyrn played 'Kalucki' a card game in Gite 3.

Bob, Kate and Lewis watched football in Gite 2. It was a lovely evening and I enjoyed sitting outside watching the sunset.

Monday 21 June 2010

Today was a lovely sunny and a very hot day, we decided to get up early and Kate, Lewis, Rhian and myself (Rhian driving)went off to La Rochelle. It was quite a long drive, almost two hours but when we arrived, we found La Rochelle to be such an interesting and lively place. It's been a very busy port since the 11th century, and first of all we had a look around St Louis's cathedral which was really magnificent.








Then we went for a walk to the harbour, the cafes along the way were busy and the buildings were really attractive as they were quite old, we saw Tour de la Chaine and Tour St Nicholas at either entrance to the harbour, these were big 15th century towers which used to guard the harbour from attack.




It was a quieter near to the yachting center which is the biggest on France's Atlantic coast. We had lunch in a creperie called 'La Pause Oceane' then we walked back to the busier harbour side. There was a lot of people around and it was very lively. We had a drink at a cafe right on the sea front and then went to the beach for a short time. Also some bands were playing outside the cafes and there were some street entertainers, which was also good to watch. There was also a small fairground and people were dancing outside in country and western style at one side and then ballroom dancing on the other.





On the way home, we stopped at Chatelaillon, a short distance from La Rochelle and we had a drink in a bar on the sea front and watched the sun set. Arrived back to La Giraudiere at 10pm and very tired..

Bob, Kathyrn and Rachel went to Potiers forthe day. It took around 2 hours to get there and when they arrived, they had lunch in a cafe. Then they walked around the town and saw several churches, one was 12th century and one was 4th century. Then they saw the Palace de Justice, where Joan of Arc was tried. They did more shopping and drove back to La Giraudiere, arriving about 6pm.

Two new ladies arrived tonight; Vicky and Kimberley from Utah, USA.

Sunday 20 June 2010

Today, it's a nice morning here, though a little bit chilly.

I got up at 9.30 but everyone else was in bed. I just saw Rhian and she told me that her and Kate enjoyed the Barbezieux Music Festival, they went to a few bars, nightclub and heard some great bands.




Bob, Kathyrne and Rachel went off to Aubeterre to have a look around this lovely town. They had a really great time and enjoyed lunch at a creperie and looked around the church. They also went shopping and came back to La Giraudiere at around 6pm, they came out to St Bernard's for pizza.

In the afternoon, Paul went off to Chalais Station to pick Lewis up, a young Politics Student from Scotland.

Paul introduced Lewis to everyone and then we all went to St Bernard's for pizza. Kate and Rhian were tired after the music festival so gave it a miss.

Saturday 19 June

It's a nice morning here, and today we are all off work.

This evening at 6.30pm, there is a long walk around Brossac 'Randonnee Semi-Nocturne', it's all organized by Brossac village and it ends with a menu of : crudites, grillade, frites, fromage and desert so sounds good. I think we are all going to that. Afterwards we plan to go to Barbezieux to the Music Festival.

About mid-day Kate, myself and Rhian went to Chalais to have a look at the Chateau des Talleyprant Perigord, the only Chateau in France to have a drawbridge. It was really impressive and we had a good look around the grounds. Unfortunately it was not possible to see inside the Chateau as it has not been open to the public for a while. There was a nice restaurant there, which was open. Then we had a look at a lovely old church 'St Martial de Chalais', it was really interesting.




After that we went for lunch to the 'Petite en K' in Chalais and sat outside to eat.

Kate dropped me off at the hairdresser in Brossac and Rhian and Kate went back to La Giraudiere. Rhian then went off to look at another Chateau and old church she had seen just outside Barbezeiux.

Bob, Kathryne and Rachel went to Royan for the day and said they had a lovely time. They had escargot for lunch, which they said was delicious. They had a long walk on the beach and visited the local sights. They came back about 5pm, ready to go on the walk.




Unfortunately just as we set off on the Brossac 'Randonnee Semi Nocturne' 5 mile walk it started to pour down with rain. The event was not cancelled and we carried on. However, it was raining so heavily, the organisers picked most of us up as we walked in the rain and took us back to the Church Hall. Bob, carried on along with four others and completed the walk in all that rain. It was so amazing as Bob is 77 years old!! Raymond the local reporter in Brossac took a photograph of the group with Bob in the middle and will try to have the picture printed in the local press.


Anyway, we had a great evening, with lots of laughs as usual. The food was similar to the Hunt Festival last week and of course, we had brought our own plates, cutlery and then take them home to wash.



The atmosphere was very good and the food nice so it was a good evening, in spite of the rain. We didnt stay for the burning of St Joan, which was a bonfire being held just outside the Village Hall.




I got back to La Giraudiere at around 12 and Paul took Kathyrne, Rachel, Kate and Rhian on to Barbezeux Music Festival, Kathyrne and Rachel left with Paul around 1am, but Kate and Rhian stayed until 5.30am Sunday morning!

Friday 18 June 2010

We all felt a little bit 'delicate' this morning due to our evening out in Chalais last night. However, the weather was lovely and sunny.

However, we are all working as usual. Kathyrn, Bob and Rachel in the old house and Paul, Rhian and Kate on the ceiling in Apartment 4.

Paul asked me to be 'Mum' so I made lunch, did the laundry etc. I also walked down to Brossac and saw the Mayor and Raymond.

We finished work early at lunchtime and planned to play petanque with the locals at 3.30pm, but we were too tired and had a nap instead.

At around 7.30pm, Paul took Bob, Kathyrn, Rachel, Kate and myself to 'Le Bonne Humeur' in Chalais to watch the football and have a curry dinner. Rhian was tired so gave it a miss.



We had great fun but were dissapointed with the draw.

Thursday 17 June 2010

It is raining again today, but it's quite light. We are hoping it will stop and that we get a bit of sunshine.

Today it is Kate's birthday and we all wished her a happy day.

Mid-morning the weather did brighten up and now it is very sunny and hot, so we are all happy.




I have been cleaning the gites this morning and hanging out the washing. Kate and Rhian are cementing the gaps in the ceiling in Apartment 4 again. Paul is helping them.


Bob is painting shutters and Kathryn and Rachel have also been working in the old house, sawing panels for the ceiling.


We just had lunch and at 3.30pm will have our French Lesson.

Paul just took Rachel and Kathryn to the recycling dump with all our recyclables and rubbish.

We just got a message from Brian to say that he arrived back home in Chicago okay, so that was nice.



Kathyrne and Rachel found a bat behind one of the shutters today!! he was gone the next time they looked so hopefully, he is okay.

We had dinner and as it was Kate's birthday, we had a tarte and it was really good.



Paul suggested we celebrate Kate's birthday in Chalais, and watch the football, France v Brazil, so we started off in 'L'espace Cafe', until half time, then to 'Le Flure' and then to 'Bonne Humeur', we all had a bit too much to drink but it was good fun.