On the outskirts of the small village of Saint-Jean-Le-Blanc, La Ferme d'Escures is an educational farm on a fascinating property. The owner and farmer, Véro, made me feel so welcome despite our conversation being limited to my French alone.
There are three main buildings: the main house, which includes a youth hostel, a house available to rent and Véro's home; the stable/boutique; and a large functions hall. There's a camp ground, hedgemaze and access to the forest which leads to a small lake, river and discovery trail. Then, of course, there are the animals: 3 pigs, 8 rabbits, 4 goats, lots of sheep, 6 ponies, a horse, a mule and two donkeys, and the birds (chickens, turkeys and ducks - as said, not my favourites).
Here's the map...
The view from my bedroom window...
An average day at La Ferme d'Escures consisted of feeding the animals and giving each fresh water and afterwards mucking out the stable. Surprisingly, it was a relaxing start to each day - lots of work, but the animals were always appreciative! Afterwards the activities varied, sometimes working with visiting groups, sometimes in the garden or maintaining the property.
School groups visited the farm often and Véro shared her vast knowledge of animals and plants with the kids. We arranged games in the hedgemaze and gave tours of the farm. I even gave tours in French!!
One boy: "Haha! Why do you talk like that?"The rest of the kids loved helping me and correcting my French, we played games and they told me lots of stories (which I didn't always understand).
Me: "Because I am from Australia and I'm learning French."
The boy: "Oh. Ok." (Boy walks away.)
In the small group of seven houses which make up d'Escures of Saint-Jean-Le-Blanc, there are five organic farms! The boutique on Véro's farm is open one afternoon per week and she sells the basics the neighbours may need. The baker, François, delivers the bread to the boutique which the neighbours have pre-ordered.
One of the seven houses, the Château to be precise, is home to two German volunteers every year doing their civil-service year. Heni and Caro are this year's volunteers and were great company to have so close by. One night a week they give a German course for the neighbours who are interested - I helped out and improved my French while the others improved their German.
Heni and Caro work at several farms in the area. One morning, I went with Caro to help feed the newborn lambs. Sooo cute!!
Véro and I went on a trip to Granville. I just LOVE being at the coast, even if it's windy and freezing.
It was pretty chilly inside the house...
But getting outside was well worth it, if the sun was out.
Véro has been looking for a partner/partners to help run the farm for the last few years, it's just too much to run by herself. We were a great team and had to 'get our McGyver on' a few times: to fix broken watermains until the plumber could arrive (bike tyre and a cable-tie) and keep an eye on the unreliable heating unit. Quite honestly, if my French was fluent and I found myself back there in a few years' time, I could imagine staying there and joining the endless projects the farm has to offer.
For the moment, that's not the case, so I shared some of my ideas and after two weeks of helping out, I said "see you later".
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