I lived 1 month for free in a castle in France and decided never to return

About six months ago, I thought about what I was doing wrong with my life. I had a boring job that occupied my day from 9 am to 5 pm, it didn’t give me pleasure and didn’t add anything to me. But then I remembered that in many Western countries there is a phenomenon called a gap year, a period that high school graduates use before going to college to rest, travel and generally understand what they want to do with their lives. I realized that a break like this was exactly what I needed. As I had no savings to finance myself, I decided to try the volunteer path.

I decided to tell the readers of the incredible.club my impressions and why I completed my project earlier than planned.

You can find a volunteer project on various websites, such as Worldpackers or Workaway. It’s strange that even if people want to work for free, sometimes they have to pay for this opportunity. To register on the first site, you have to pay approximately 50 dollars a year, but I didn’t. More experienced volunteers say that using this feature they can find out the name of the host (or host organization) and then find open access contacts and write directly to them.

After considering several projects, I stopped at the most attractive one. A twelfth-century château (that is, a castle) in the south of France needed attendants. To pass a few hours of work in the garden, restaurant or kitchen, the host provided a private room with shower, 3 meals a day and the opportunity to learn French cooking. This interested me so much that I decided to send them an email.

I don’t know French, but in my youth I spent a year learning English in courses. So I had no problems communicating with my host who spoke good English. In the email I attached my CV and a letter of motivation explaining why I wanted to work with them. Then I got the answer: yes, they needed employees at the end of February and they were ready to receive me. I started to prepare.

Before participating in the project, I lived in a European city and travel played an important role in my life. So by that time I already knew how to plan a trip on a budget. My flight from Poland to Paris it cost about 50 dollars🇧🇷 From Paris I traveled by bus to the southern city of Biarritz. It was 11 hours, but this ticket cost only 0.99 euros. Having spent the impressive journey, I was surprised to learn that it took approximately an hour to drive to the destination. As a result, I found myself in such a desperate wasteland that I was overwhelmed.

Moumour is a small town, with just under 850 inhabitants. At its center is the castle, which was restored from ruins by the current owner and turned into a hotel. That’s where I had to work. He also had to weed the garden when the castle had guests and the chef cooked dinner for them.

I arrived at the place in the low season, so there was little work. On the other hand, when we had guests, it was necessary to work very hard. But not as a chef’s assistant, but as a dishwasher, cleaning up the large amount of dirty dishes that form when cooking. They also asked me to help guests and work as a waitress in addition to serving tables. I don’t know all the subtleties of table etiquette, so it wasn’t easy.

Indeed, there were kitchen chores sometimes. Cutting fruit was a real test for me. My hand refused to comply, so the slices were too thick and the chef immediately rejected them. I had to invest a lot of time, effort and oranges to understand the principle. However, now I am no better at cutting fruits, and I don’t know how useful this is in life.

I was interested in studying the intricacies of hotel and restaurant work from the inside, but spent little time in the kitchen🇧🇷 Instead, I was asked to do a job that, in my opinion, was pretty pointless: mowing the gravel parking lot.

View from the castle area.

Initially, we agreed that it would arrive at the end of February and finish at the end of April. As a result, I was just one month instead of two. When I arrived, the owner, a Dutchman named Larry, told me he was selling the castle, so I couldn’t stay long. I soon realized it was the best. It turns out that hiring volunteers was a common practice for landlords. They didn’t keep full-time staff, but recruited volunteers one by one. As a result, there were practically no people other than me, the owner and the broker selling the castle.

I didn’t live in the castle, but in a guest house.

I got bored very quickly. Being introverted by nature, I endured loneliness patiently. However, having friendly communication with other people has always been very important to me. Unfortunately, among the villagers I couldn’t find anyone to sympathize with, so I really wanted to quickly escape the luxury of those cold interiors to freedom.

The owner of the castle offered me to travel and gave me free time to do so. But it’s not so easy when you’re far from the big cities. On Larry’s advice, I went to the Spanish city of San Sebastián, which is an hour and a half away. Nonetheless, I had to do two stopovers🇧🇷

Pau, city in the French Pyrenees.

First, I was taken to the nearest town, Oloron-Saint-Marie. From there I took a train to the city of Pau. And only there I managed to travel by bus to San Sebastián. It was my first trip to Spain and I really enjoyed it there.

San Sebastian Beach.

I returned after 2 days, happily surprised and wanting to see even more countries and cities. Then Larry, having seen my enthusiasm for traveling and his complete lack of work at the castle, suggested that I leave in mid-March. Without thinking twice, I agreed. I didn’t regret leaving the already hated weedy lawn to tend, and French haute cuisine didn’t make much of an impression on me.

On my trip, I expected to learn how to cook well and get to know a lot of French recipes. In fact, the chef only allowed me to see the sauces being prepared, and traditional French dishes always gave me an upset stomach. I had been to Paris before and was surprised that they only had croissants and baguettes with butter and jam. It’s just bread, fat and sugar🇧🇷 It is not very clear how, on such a diet, the French manage to keep their shape. The dishes were even more difficult: the abundance of vegetable fatin which most of the recipes are prepared, left no opportunity for healthy living.

In my opinion, volunteering is an opportunity to do something good for people. who need🇧🇷 It doesn’t fit with the image of a millionaire castle owner who doesn’t want to pay for servants. So, without hesitation, I decided that I wanted to continue my trip around Spain.

If it let me down? In no way. I felt lonely in the French desert without the possibility of communicating with anyone other than a Dutch millionaire. But I appreciate the opportunity to delve into another culture🇧🇷 I did not develop any special culinary skills, but I realized that cooking for me is a matter of humor. If I feel like it, I’ll make an effort to make a gratin and, if I don’t feel like it, I’ll order food at a restaurant.

The story of the owner of the castle, who owned it for about 20 years, was a very good lesson for me: “in the end, I decided to sell my business to finally realize my dream”. Larry wanted to draw since he was 16, but his parents didn’t support him, which forced him to become an economist. As a result, at the age of 65 he entered the art school in Florence. I realized that I shouldn’t wait so long to be happy.

Regarding participating in volunteer projects, I decided that I would like to have this experience again. But in the future, I will be more careful about choosing a project where I am not only free labor, but also provide a benefit.

I searched for a host myself, at my own risk. However, there are non-profit organizations that help volunteers find projects for free. I recommend that you subscribe to their social networks and inform them of your desire to become a volunteer. Some conduct a preliminary interview to understand what your motivation is and help you navigate the variety of projects.

There are several programs for volunteers. Some cover all expenses, even round-trip tickets, while others offer a small remuneration for the work. Once you have studied the information on the websites of volunteer programs or aid organizations, you will be able to choose the project that best suits you and get an experience that will be unforgettable.

What do you think of volunteering? Have you ever been a volunteer? Tell us your experience in the comments!