Down on the farm: Wwoofing in the Ardèche, France

Volunteering on an organic farm in France - in exchange for bed and board - gives James Cartwright a chance to live the good life - if only for a while

Last summer, my partner Charlotte and I quit our jobs and went to work on a farm, leaving our flat of five years and giving our cat to an unwilling friend. We told everyone we didn't know if we'd ever come back, which would have sounded hollow had it not been for the other people already sleeping in our bedroom.

Even so a French friend was sceptical of our plans. She was raised on a farm and my relaxed attitude to gruelling physical labour irked her. "Have you ever woken up at 3am to walk through shit and vaccinate 200 geese?" she asked. I hadn't, and it dawned on me suddenly that I was about to become a middle-class clichi(C) - idealistically labouring with my too-soft hands, willing the experience to end so I could write it up for the Observer.