📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
You will be the first generation of volunteers to come to Rieupeyroux. The dwellers of the Segala are however attached to volunteering projects and culture. After you, several workcamps will take place in Rieupeyroux. The Aveyron people will be happy to share with you the tales and legends of the land throughout the centuries.
Come back in a few years to see the result and the positive impact of your work on the local community!
💼 What the programme involves
Get involve in Napoleonic heritage project in the Medieval town of Rieupeyroux, in the middle of Aveyron region. A great experience for nature and History lovers!
Your project will be located at the center of the Segala hills in Aveyron, in the Southwest of France. The Segala is a very rural area, that lives on free-range cattle farming, producing some of the country\'s best food!
You will restore dry-stone walls following an ancient road built 200 years ago during Napoleon\'s empire. The road is now a hiking path climbing from the medieval Saint-Martial church to the top of the hill where another medieval chapel stands. You will learn dry-stone masonry techniques and archeology basics, to rebuild and protect both the stonewalls and the old trail.
You will also follow workshops on archive studies, to learn about the History of the medieval town and how the landscape has evolved through the ages.
🏠 Accommodation on site
You will sleep at the local campsite in two-person tents (please bring your sleeping mat).
The group activities and meals will take place in a multipurpose room.
The group will share the cleaning tasks and prepare meals together.
The budget will be allocated to the group leader and you will participate in the preparation of meals with seasonal products from the market and local producers.
📍 About the location
You will be located at the center of the Segala hills in Aveyron, in the Southwest of France, with remarkable natural and man-made heritage. The Segala is a very rural area, that lives on free-range cattle farming, producing some of the country’s best food! Most of the neighbor towns exist since the middle ages, and Aveyron is the perfect place to visit medieval sites, cities and castles.
You will be able to learn how to fish in Rieupeyroux lake.
Not far from Rieupeyroux, in the city of Villefranche-De-Rouergue, where life goes on pretty much as it was centuries ago, there is one of the country’s more colorful markets.
Geology lovers: in a range of 30 km around Rieupeyroux there are several natural regions such as the Segala, the Causses du Quercy, the Aubrac Mountains, the Lévezou plateau, and the mystic land of Gevaudan, where wolves and other beasts used to roam free.
You will be able to visit several castles, such as Severac, mentioned in the 2011 Season of the Witch movie starring Nicolas Cage.
ℹ️ Additional information
Bring working clothes, gloves, and enclosed shoes. As nights might be cold and we may also sleep in the mountains, bring a warm sleeping bag for cold weather. To enjoy hiking, bring your trekking shoes. For the brave ones who want to take a dip in the river, bring your swimsuit. Feel free to bring activities from home such as photos, games, musical instruments, etc.
Foreigners from the European Union must bring their personal EHIC (European Health Insurance Card), and all participants must bring their insurance certificate. If health issues arise during the program, volunteers will need to cover all costs; they will be reimbursed upon their return to their home country.
