📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Get involved in the preservation and the enhancement of the historical and cultural heritage of a French village by reconstructing a traditional washhouse.
The village of Le Brethon possesses a quite rare large triangular shape washhouse. It is well preserved, except for the back wall, partially collapsed. Cautious about their heritage, the municipal team decided to welcome an international workcamp to help with its rebuilding. It will be the first workcamp organised in the city and the inhabitants are looking forward to welcoming you and share with you their traditions and heritage.
💼 What the programme involves
Your main mission will be to rebuild the collapsed part of the washhouse wall. To do so, you will have to unbuild this wall in order to regain its healthy base. Then, you will learn how to build a new wall, in keeping with the existing one, by selecting and using the appropriated stones. You will also remove the vegetation in the washhouse pool so that it can be used again. Supervised by a technical instructor, you will learn traditional building techniques using local stones and lime mortars.
🏠 Accommodation on site
You will sleep in a two-person tent, in the gravelled schoolyard. We will provide you with comfortable ground sheets. The toilet block will be in the school, and the showers in the stadium, 600 meters away. For community life, a large room will be available in the town hall, right next to the school. It has a kitchen, fridges, and also tables and chairs that you’ll be able to put outside to enjoy your meals under the sun.
The group will be sharing the cleaning chores and preparing meals together. A budget will be allocated to the group leader and you will shop and prepare meals all together favouring local and healthy products.
📍 About the location
The village is located in the department of Allier, in the region of Auvergne, 20 minutes away from Montluçon and 1h away from Bourges. In the village, you will find a grocery store and a hotel-bar-restaurant. It is located next to the Forest of Tronçais, one of the most beautiful oak forests in Europe! The quality of its wood is indeed renowned worldwide. The territory has a remarkable natural and built heritage (the Forest of Tronçais, the Aumance Valley, medieval villages such as Hérisson and Ainay-le-Château, typical farms, etc). As workcamp leaders are also musicians, you will be offered during your stay the opportunity of attending some local festivities based on music and art expression. Would you be musician or not, you are welcome!
More information on https://www.pays-de-troncais.com and https://www.allier-auvergne-tourisme.com
⚠️ Requirements
Bring work clothes, walking boots and a backpack. Nights can be chilly, so bring warm clothes and a good sleeping bag. You can also bring recipes from your home country, musical instruments and games. You will get around village on foot and car.
Foreigners belonging to the European Union must bring with them a personal EHIC (European Health Insurance Card), and everybody must, in any case, bring their insurance certificate. If health issues happen on the project, volunteers will have to pay for it, and then be reimbursed once back in their home country.