Over the past week we've had our A-team of volunteers staying. They come each year to help us in the vineyard, but it's much more than you might imagine. Each day one pair is responsible for getting up early to prepare breakfast for up to 16 people. Then there's a huge drive to get all the tools, machines, food, drinks, crockery, water, dogs, petrol, and people into the cars and on the quad ready for a day's work in the vineyard.

They've been strimming, ploughing, pruning olives, making glass bottle walls, burning, collecting rubbish, hacking back pathways and cutting hedges. They've worked like Trojans and we've had huge fun.

Then, each evening  two more people have prepared supper for around 18 people. We've eaten extremely well, and guzzled a fair amount of Languedoc wine too. It's been an excellent week and you can see photos at our vineyard website: 5000vines.com .

Our plucky volunteers pay to get here, hire cars, then work for a week. We give them rooms at Le Couvent to sleep in, food and wine and a tee-shirt. They tell us they really enjoy it and they keep coming back for more. We all have a very good time and laugh a great deal. They have certainly put their feet on the stairway to heaven.

Two of our vollies, Chris and Sue, are staying on at Le Couvent to look after everything while we go off to Australia to see Ali's family. We leave on Tuesday and will probably sleep for the entire 30 hour journey. We'll blog again at the end of the month. Have a very happy March. xxx

 

 

We're at the end of the week with our lovely volunteers. This morning we've been burning huge piles of olive tree prunings and building bridges over the water courses. The quad's stopped working, the bonnet's fallen off the tractor mower, the chainsaw's screeched to a twisted halt, the dogs ran away and came back again and we've used up every last bit of energy. But Chateau Malaudos is looking spectacular. If you'd like to read the guest blogs of our volunteers please have a look at the Chateau Malaudos (Backache Castle) website .

 

Our vollies have hoed, dug, burnt, hauled, sawn, built and cleared, cooked, washed up, supported, laughed and been wonderfully cheerful for a full week. They have done a real service to the ecology of a tiny part of the Languedoc in clearing trailer loads of dumped plastic, glass and iron from the garrigue. They've built structures that will last 50 years using only found materials and their gloved hands. They've rescued abandoned olives and planted 32 trees. They've helped hundreds of vines benefit from nutrients and water.

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you a thousand times over to Sarah, Andrew, Karen, Michelle C, Chris, Sue, Linda, Peter, Sharon, Paula, Poppy, Nicola, Michelle E-G and Alex. You've been absolute troopers. And thanks to Ali for producing prodigious amounts of bread, cheese, ham, soup, tea, coffee and biscuits from one small caravan in a vineyard.  I love you one and all. Next year?