Work Away; St Donat, France.

Spending 5 weeks of your life in the middle of the French countryside is one of those experiences you don’t get to have often, if ever. We were lucky enough to spend some time in the Auvergne region in central France, in a tiny little village of 250 people called St Donat. We stayed with a couple, Eric and Caroline, helping them with their small Auberge (hotel). We lived, worked, ate and played there for 5 glorious weeks. Tasks included cleaning the rooms (there were only 4), helping in the kitchen, walking the dogs and doing any small odd-bod jobs we were given. We were able to spend some time exploring the region, mostly by hiking but also through small explorations within walking distance of the hotel. Our favourite, especially on the hot days, was to walk to the waterfall with the dogs, Karel and Truus and jump into the freezing water. The water was so deep it was black and we didn’t know exactly how deep is actually was!

The whole area was beautiful, the sort of beauty you don’t see until you stay somewhere and breathe it in after a while. It seeps into your skin and you feel as though you will never be able to forget it. Rolling green hills and rocky outcrops, cows in every paddock with their bells chiming like a constant song, areas of pine forest which, in my opinion, would be the exact place fairies lived (if they could). Having a glorious thunder storm one evening after a long period of heat then followed the next day by thick thick fog was incredible. I took the dogs up the top of Monument hill and looked out into the white. I can now say that I have been in a cloud, and it was amazing. We also woke up extra early one morning to catch the sun rise over the extinct volcano’s. The sky was a wishy washy blue, turning from light pink to startling orange then bathing the world in a stunning yellow light. The clouds shone and the trees cast shadows twice as long the themselves over the earth as the sun made it’s way up into the sky.

We spent a hot day laying by a lake with music, beers and books and another day climbing right to the top of a mountain, just to look out over the world. We visited small country towns, hard to find on the map, and we ventured into medieval castles perched on top a hill. We picked sloe’s and made gin, and we picked blackberries and made jam. We picked blackberries until our fingers were red and our hands were scratched. We made memories, we made plans and we made friends.

We shared our last 3 weeks with a lovely Canadian couple, Chelsea and Robin, who helped make our stay a lot of fun. Gold panning, hiking and grass hoppers and Land Cruisers will never be the same again!

St Donat 

Karel (Charlie) 

Truus

On the way to the waterfall

Just some of the cows

The Hotel we were working and staying at

St Donat village

The view from the top of the volcano at Puy de Sansy

Murol Castle

We will always look back on this time with fondness and wishing we could go back to ‘that time’ in our youth and I’m ever thankful that we have had this amazing opportunity. We had fun, and in our lives together, that is all that matters.