📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
At the gates of the provençale Baronnies, the site of Arzeliers lies perched on a small mountain where one can marvel at a beautiful view of the Durance valley. This former village that today is in ruins is the birthlace of the Laragne commune. There, we can still find the remnants of a chapel as well as the ruins of several homes. For some years now, the commune of Laragne has mobilized to bring the ruins of the Arzeliers castle, a witness to the rich past of these communities, back to life by upgrading and maintaining it. Since 2013, international workcamps of young volunteers have been organized for this purpose.
💼 What the programme involves
Do you want to learn ancient masonry techniques ? How to use ancient and ecological materials ? This year, we will continue to work on protecting former homes in close proximity to the castle. With the aim of preserving this hertitage and its remains, we will use the same materials used at the time, namely, plaster. We will collect the gypsum on site, and cook it (thanks to an oven built on location), in order to reuse it in the masonry. All of this will be accomplished with the help of a technical supervisor who will be there to share their knowledge ! Warning, this will tone up your arms ! You’ll work for 30h a week. We will use a scaffold at times for work at heights. Evenings and weekends are free for activities the you will choose to organise together.
🏠 Accommodation on site
You’ll be living under tents on the « Montéglin » campgrounds in Laragne, a small town steeped in history and typically provençal. On the campgrounds, you will have access to ammenities like sanitary facilites, a barbecue, a pool, a bocce ball court, a bar, a restaurant, and WIFI. We will install a large kitchen tent in order to prepare our meals. You’ll take turns cooking, that way we’ll be able to taste a number of different specialties ! Here, we pay attention to what we eat, and to reduce our impact on the planet, we try to eat a maximum of local products and we limit eating meat to twice a week. Community life will be organised together : organization of menus, grocery shopping, activites, etc.
📍 About the location
Location : The small town of Laragne is a welcoming town with all kinds of shops (10km from Sisteron and 40km from Gap).
Leisure activities : You will be in an exceptional location to discover the joys of hiking among the mountains, its rivers, its lakes, the farmers markets, and festive events organized in the surround villages (depending on programming). As a group, you’ll decide the activites and outings that you’ll want to set up (subject to distance).