Zip wires and bucket loads of satisfaction

On a cold winters evening, in the South of France, I went along to a Christmas party in a local, English run pub. There, after quite a few red wines, I got chatting to Father Christmas, otherwise known in a different life as Neil Manser, director of Go Provence Supported Holidays. That was the start of my summer life with Go Provence!! Leaving my partner at home, I worked for seven weeks with in the summer of 2014 and then one week with wheelchair users in Gigondas, near Avignon.  This summer I worked through the whole summer of three months.

Working for Go Provence is, without a doubt, the best job in the world and quite possibly one of the hardest jobs I have ever had. It brings laughter, fun, great friends and a fair few tears to all that we encounter including ourselves!! It has its ups and downs, as all jobs tend to have, but as a team we get through it by supporting each other.

I find life away from home, my partner and our dog incredibly hard but I go home every few weeks for a few days. Mark is very supportive and this enables me to be able to a job that makes me very happy and gives me bucket loads of job satisfaction which is important in life. It helps being with friends while away and also our days are so full that sometimes it’s all we can do to draw breath!!

I’ve challenged myself, not least by swimming in the sea, I’m not the most confident or greatest of swimmers at all and I never go out of my depth, butseeing everyone jumping off the boat into the sea with no fear at all made me a bit braver!! I’m still not confident or great at swimming but hopefully this can only improve!! I think one of my main highlights has to be when we did the Go Ape course in a town called Castellane in the gorges du Verdon which had the final zip wires right across the majestic gorges. Not for the faint hearted!! Amazing and not something I would ever have done before.

All of the Go Provence holidaymakers are amazing, each week is very different to the previous one.  One week I am helping someone find their model windmill, the next I am teaching someone how to ask how much something is in French.

Life with Go Provence is never dull!!! I love it!