📝 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 birthplace 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 the ruins of the Arzeliers castle, a relic of the rich past of these communities, back to life by upgrading and maintaining it. For this purpose, international workcamps of young volunteers have been organized since 2013.
💼 What the programme involves
Do you want to learn ancient masonry techniques and to register your action in accordance with the objective 12 of sustainable development (UN) in favor of sustainable consumption and production? 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 heritage 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, you will get there by vehicle. We will use a scaffold at times for work at heights. Evenings and weekends are free for activities that you will choose and organize together.
🏠 Accommodation on site
We’ll be living under tents on the « Montéglin » camping in Laragne, a small town steeped in history and typically provençal. On the campgrounds, we have access to amenities like sanitary facilities, 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. We’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 organized together: organization of menus (vegetarian, vegan and other specific diets possible), grocery shopping, activities, etc. The lunch will be cold as it will be taken to the construction site. Bring a mattress, a good sleeping bag (the nights can be cool) and a pillow (to be adapted to your needs).
📍 About the location
The small town of Laragne is a welcoming town with all kinds of shops (10km from Sisteron and 40km from Gap). We 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 surrounding villages (depending on programming). As a group, we’ll decide the activities and outings that we want to set up (subject to distance).
ℹ️ Additional information
This project is a volunteering team supported by the European Solidarity Corps. You will receive pocket money (6€ per day) and a travel reimbursement with an upper limit based on the ESC distance calculator.