📝 Detailed information
🏢 About the local organisation
Le Moulin de Rotrou is a water mill from the 16th century, located in the city of Vaas, on the Loire River.
Thanks to the local association “Friends of the Mill”, visitors can discover the various steps of making bread, a pedagogical process that started in 2011. Quickly after its inauguration in June 2013, the site became a key element in the touristic development of the city. Many renewable energies-related events are organized there, such as the “Fête des Céréales” and the organic market, therefore developing a new attractive side related to the heritage of the Loir valley area. The association is more than 25 years old and the mill project brought a new vitality to it, mainly thanks to the intergenerational exchanges, the involvement of the volunteer and the great dynamism of the current facilitator. The Friends of the Mill association has been linked to the Jinov network for more than a year. Jinov aims at promoting youth initiatives and intergenerational cooperation with the purpose of the implementation of a youth center in the Mill. Concordia has been organizing international workcamps in the Sarthe department for many years, and it is thanks to this involvement that the second international workcamp will take place in August. Therefore, international volunteers and local youth will get to communicate and work together, animating the local community and strengthening the attractiveness of the territory. The workcamp will allow the area to be more outward looking, through the valorization of the local heritage and the preservation of the Mill.
💼 What the programme involves
You will take part in the renovation of the walls inside the Mill: clear off undergrowth, masonry work, repair the bricks joints by using traditional techniques (e.g. lime mortar).
🏠 Accommodation on site
You will be staying in a collective accommodation in tents in a field. Toilets and bathroom in a building indoor, nearby. The meals will be taken in a room in the mill with the volunteers of the organization. The group will be sharing the cleaning chores and preparing meals together. The budget will be allocated to the group leader and you will participate in the preparation of dishes with good products from the market and local producers.
📍 About the location
40km south of Le Mans and 15km the west of Château du Loir.
You will be part of the local animations: discovering the local patrimony, hiking, “Nuit des Chimères” event in the old city of Le Mans, meeting with an AMAP (association that preserves local farming), and various other events. For more information about the mill: http://lemoulinderotrou.over-blog.com/
⚠️ Requirements
Please bring gardening gloves, good shoes and working clothes. As the nights can be quite cold, remember also to bring warm clothes. Don’t forget to bring a sleeping-mat, a warm sleeping bag (and a tent if you own one!). 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.
ℹ️ Additional information
Meeting point:
Vaas train station.
Closest airport:
Paris