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Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Right now I`m taking a year off from high school. For the past 2 and a half years, I`ve been working towards my grade 10 piano exam with the Royal Conservatory, and I finished in January, with a mark of 83%. Now I want to travel and volunteer, particularily in France because I love the country and I don`t want to lose my French after having gone through 12 years of French immersion. Until I leave for my trip, my days consist of going to work (I work in a restaurant), playing the piano for fun, planning my trip, walking the dog, going to yoga, and going out with friends.

Friday, May 12, 2006

First work day at Chateau Monfreville

This morning David cooked a massive breakfast of poached eggs, bacon, tomatoes, and potato cakes, accompanied with homemade toasted brown bread and raspberry banana smoothies. I ate so much that I felt sick, and I had to lay down for 15 minutes before I started work. Work today varied a lot (a good thing): I started by helping June pick greens for salad they supply to a local restaurant. Then David and myself and a neighbour wrestled with a sheep that had an eye infection, and gave it an antibiotic shot. After sweeping the ,ain floor, cleaning the guesthouse patio and picking flowers for the guesthouse, we had a tea break. After tea, I helped David scrub the steps of the natural pool. The 6 hours of work seemed more like 2-- and a late lunch followed. There are only 2 meals a day: breakfast at 8am and lunch at 3pm. Any food that you may want in the evening is up to you to prepare, but only if you're not still full from the massive 3 or 4 course lunch.
After lunch, I read outside for a little, and at 5:30 I went with David to visit a British friend of his, who owns a chateau (Chateau Bel Enault) with huge gardens. We sat down for drinks, and I had a tall glass of white wine. After it stopped raining, I went outside to take a look at the "garden" as David called it. I went out through the front door, and immediately after turning around the right side of the chateau, I was greeted by 2 white geese on the lawn, and 4 peacocks on the side balcony of the chateau. The "garden" is more like a nature reserve-- there are meadows with trees and stone statues, a lake with a rowboat, a creek tht snaked all over the property with at least 5 wooden/stone bridges going across at different intervals. There are also gravel paths surrounded by flowers, bushes, ivy, and hundreds of huge trees, stone grottos that were big enough to hold dozens of people inside, and stone steps leading to the tops of the grottos, where you can look out at the gardens. I can tell you right now that the images you're picturing now of the gardens are absolutely nothing like how it really is. I didn't bring my camera, but David said we may come back another day-- although I sincerely doubt the true magnificence of the gardens can be captured through the lens of a camera.
After my walk through the gardens, David and I drove to the restaurant, Chez Roger (shay rojay), to drop off the salad. It's right on the beach, and every day they have a fresh catch of blue lobster that they keep alive in a barrel just outside the restaurant until they're ready to cook them. The restuarant didn't open until 8, and Roger, the owner of the restaurant and former celebrity chef (or so David told me), offered us wine, and kept our glasses full for the half hour we were there. Waling out of the restaurant, I felt a little unsteady, and decided that it would probably have been best if I didn't let him top up my wine.

2 Comments:

Blogger Sahara Nankan said...

Hi there,

I was just googling WWOOFing in France and I came across your blog. If you did do it in 2006 that's quite some years back! But I was hoping I could get some first-hand advice..please? I'm so keen to do it in 2010. And the Chateau Monfreville seems jsut amazing! :) Is it possible to book to stay in 2 or 3 farms in France prior to starting WWOOFing? And I dont know how to speak French at all..but I NEED to learn. For international relations. :) Thanks!

3:31 p.m.  
Blogger Julie said...

Hi Sahara,

The Chateau Monfreville was AWESOME, the British couple there was super nice, and David was an AMAZING cook! Be prepared to work hard there though, but the food and the company was well worth it. Unless you can find a B&B, there aren't any farms under WWOOFing that will just let you stay there without doing any work, although there are some places where you hardly have to do anything, but you won't really find that out till you get there!

Other than that, make sure you email any possible places you want to stay, and tell them about yourself! If your first impression of their return email is anything but excellent and satisfying, don't stay there. At the one place I stayed that was horrible and the lady was super mean, her return emails to me were very curt and impersonal. She told me nothing about herself. But no matter where you stay, just remember: Be flexible, realize that everything is a learning experience, and no matter what trials and tribulations you may experience, it will all make a GREAT story!!

Hope that helps, good luck on your travels!

12:03 p.m.  

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