📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Come and try out castle living in the heart of Auvergne! But make no mistake: here, we live, laugh, share, but above all, we contribute! Be part of our project and help us rehabilitate the wall that surrounds the area. Discover our local history and be a part of our future by enhancing a typical “bourbonnaise” site of agricultural activity and helping our international reception center to evolve! You'll also have the opportunity to discover permaculture through our educational vegetable garden, and turn yourself into an expert on alternative cultures and biodiversity!
Our educational vegetable garden is also a real experimental ground for concrete permaculture techniques. In order to make it accessible and practical, many improvements have already been made: cleaning and re-sealing of the water reserve, creation of an insect hotel and realization of “a dryer” for example.
With this project, you will be actively working for the Sustainable Development Goal n°15 from the United Nations: Life on land.
💼 What the programme involves
This project will continue work accomplished in previous years. You will rehabilite the surrounding walls of the estate: set the scaffolding, prepare the site by selecting stones and preparing formwork, complete stone masonry, roof using small Bourbonnaise tiles, and make a traditional finishing plaster. You'll also assist in the development of the castle's vegetable garden: make permaculture mounds, weave in hazelnut and acacia, do various and varied mulching.
🏠 Accommodation on site
You will sleep in tents with access to outdoor showers as well as dry toilets. Food is provided, and meals will be prepared by the volunteers themselves in turns. Meals will be had under a big tent outside, or, in case of bad weather, inside in the dining room of the castle. We provide a fully equipped kitchen and activity rooms.
📍 About the location
Location: A former bourgeois home, the Castle Les Prureaux is in the middle of an agricultural area. Since 1993, our association has worked to maintain and enhance the historic buildings on the site. This "permanent" project, led by volunteers and hosting young people all year round, remains a rich educational opportunity that supports exchange, doing, and collaboration.
Leisure activities: Afternoons and weekends are collectively planned with the whole group. If you like spending time in the city, Moulins and Vichy are located about 40 kms away. If you’re more of the countryside type, don't hesitate to discover the region on foot or by bike, explore the banks of the canals, swim, or take advantage of local festivities and cultural events.
ℹ️ Additional information
Those projects are financed by the Franco-German Youth Office (OFAJ in French) and are reserved for German organizations and for partners that already signed the agreement with SJ.