Frequently Asked Questions

If you’re coming by train, the closest train station is Carentan, and from there you can either book a taxi or contact us to organise a transfer for a 20€ fee. Please note that we can only organise pick ups between 8:30 am and 10pm. If your train is earlier/later you can use taxi services.
By car, it takes around 3,5h and there’s lots of safe parking space on the property. We recommend the blablacar.com carpooling service which is very popular in France.

Although a car is the only way to get to the château and we encourage colivers to come with cars whenever possible, you don’t necessarily need a car for the entire time of your stay – unless you’re planning to explore the region daily.

You can team up renting a car for the weekends with other colivers or join for trips those who came with cars.
Sometimes, when not many people have their own cars we organise trips to cultural sites, beaches and many more with the cars of the château.
We go grocery shopping 2x per week, where you can either join us or order online for pick-up.
We also do pick ups and drop offs to the Carentan train station (20e pp/ betwen 8:30 am and 10pm).

There are several car rental options around:

• Private people renting their own car on Oui car and Getaround 
• Supermarket Super U car rental service –choosing the shop of Saint Mere Eglise
• Supermarket Leclerc car rental service – choosing shop in Carentan les Marais
• Supermarket Carrefour car rental service – choosing shop in Carentan les Marais
• Renting from the known international car rental companies that you can find at the airports is of course also an option.

Before renting feel free to ask in our Slack channel if someone might want to share the rental with you. 

Yes, there are some bicycles available for use, at no extra cost – help with maintenance is highly appreciated!

Yes, we do have electrical car chargers!

For charging the rate is 0,5 Euro per hour.

Absolutely! There’s plenty of parking space here. You have the option to either book one of our rooms or use only the facilities you need (kitchen, bathroom, workspace) and still sleep in your van. Please get in touch via email or contact form for this second option! 😉

Please note that we charge 150 Euro per week with a van, including all ultilies, accesss to all common areas and being part of the coliving

• On Mondays and Fridays we offer freshly cooked lunches – you can subscribe to them a day before when we announce the menu on our Slack channel, it’s usually 9 Euro per person. We always try to act sustainably, cook according to the seasons’ offering, get our food from local supplies, and offer vegetarian and vegan options for our self-cooked lunches and dinners.

• On Mondays we go supermarket shopping (you can join or place an online order to be picked but)

• Wednesdays we have family dinner, meaning that we all cook, eat and simply have a good time together. Same as for the lunches, you can subscribe to it on our Slack channel, it’s usually around 15 Euro per person.
• Thursday we go to the local farmer’s market for some fresh produce followed by another supermarket trip/pick up.

• On Sundays we have French crêpes buffet included in your weekly rate!

We also organize weekly events such as family dinners, apéro nights and afternoon teas, where colivers can chip in.

Other than that, each person is responsible for their own food. We encourage colivers to cook together & share meals.

For grocery shopping, there is a big supermarket 5min away by car and twice a week the château team collects the online orders of the colivers. If you prefer you can also join the trip to the supermarket and shop on spot.

We have a fully equipped kitchen with several cooking stations, two big ovens, several fridges and freezers – basically everything you need to cook some delicious food!

Please leave us a note upon reservation to let us know your specific allergy/diet. We will do our best to adapt to it.

We have a boutique bar filled with a selection of soft drinks as well as biological and biodynamic red/ white wines. Apart from that, tea and freshly brewed coffee are free throughout the day.

While everyone is responsible for their own food, if you happen to arrive late or on a say when the shops are closed, we always have leftover durable foods like rice, pasta and sometimes much more. We store it in our shared shelves for everyone to use. Also, we provide the main seasonings as well as (frying) oil and vinegar.

Yes, you can. We ask for 50 euros/week or 150 euros/month extra if you bring your pet to cover for the extra cleaning for our staff.

Please note that we can only host 2 pets at once and we have specific rooms for residents with pets that is why we ask anyone wanting to join us with a pet to get in touch with us before booking.
In addition we have a few rules to be followed to make sure you, the other guests and your pet enjoy the most of the place. Please read and agree to our Pet Policy before confirming your booking. We reserve the right to charge a 250 euros fee for any owner who would not respect the policy.
Do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Yes, there is Internet in all the rooms of the building (common areas and private bedrooms). You can work anywhere in the castle and the strongest and fastest network is in the coworking space (over 120Mbps).

Yes, every room is equipped with a desk or a table for work/studies and a chair.

We have a spacious dedicated workspace for those who need to work in silence. In addition all common areas, including the dining and living room, hallways and nooks, including all bedrooms are convenient to work and to take calls from. There are also private call rooms in the workspace area and in the main castle.

Yes. We have both washing machines (3 Euro per load) and a tumble dryer (2 Euro per load), laundry detergent is included in the price.
In addition, the laundry room is equipped with a iron.

Yes, in all bathrooms!

You’ll have access to two kitchens, all the ground floor (living room, entrance and dining room), workspace, laundry and the outdoors. The main castle is a very spacious building and you can work in all common areas, whilst being respectful to other colivers. Also, the property has a total of 80 hectares of park, so plenty of outdoor space for workouts, walks, and other activities.

The workspace is available 24/7, you may use it regardless of the timezone you work in.

Sometimes colivers leave shampoos, sunscreen, toothpaste, and so forth here. We store these products in labeled boxes in the entrance room for other colivers to use.

Normandy and the Manche department are rich in history and culture: You can go on hikes by the beach, visit museums and areas known for the World War II events and/or check out medieval architecture in towns nearby. You can find some suggestions of places to go and activities to do on our Instagram Page (@chateaucoliving), on our blog here or ask us when you come.

Not really, the main language we speak at the house is English and the hosts can also speak Spanish, Portuguese and French. People are keen to connect and practice other languages they’re learning. A few basic sentences are good in interaction with locals, but don’t worry, you can absolutely go without speaking any French.

The maximum capacity of the castle is about 20-22 guests in 10 bedrooms and 9 bathrooms. In addition, we can host up to 12 more guests in the apartments of our Manor house, which is on the same property and has 4 private bedrooms and 5 bathrooms.

Not at all – private time is just as much appreciated as community time. You’re free to attend the events whenever you can or want.

Depending on the interests of our colivers, we have workouts, skillshares (hobbies/passions), workshops, mastermind sessions if anyone is encountering a challenge, dance nights, music evenings, bonfires, stargazing and many more. Our weekly activities include yoga sessions, games nights and movie nights as well as deep discussions on topics of interest.

Yes, we encourage that very much. Anything you’d like to share from cooking to business scaling or anything you’re willing to organise that could be fun or useful – let us know and we will schedule it in our weekly house agenda.

Yes, we do welcome nomadic families as well.
For children under the age of 10 we always recommend our appartments which are located just across the castle in a 18th century manoir. That gives plenty of privacy and still gives you access to the community and, for the adults, to the worspace..
We do have a few rules to make sure that the children are safe and cared for all the while preserving the harmony of the whole community.
You can read our policy in details here.
Do not hesitate to get in touch if you have questions about that. 

You can find our cancellation policy at the bottom of this page.

You will notice that we’re trying to keep our rates similar to most Coliving Spaces in Europe, however our property is undeniably much more demanding compared to most other spaces. The building is 800 years old, the rooms are double to triple the size of regular double rooms, the private park is enormous and that implies very high costs for heating, cleaning, renovating, maintenance and team on spot.
Instead of increasing the rates accordingly, we have decided to have arrivals and departures only on weekends, which enables us to organise our weekly schedule better and also to avoid mid-week gaps in-between different bookings. This helps us to keep the rates as affordable as possible considering the size and cost of the property.

Yes, of course you can. If you don’t have your own car, we will help you organise pick up/drop off from the station in case we’re not available to do it during weekdays. Thank you for understanding that the night(s) of your booking not spent at the property will still be charged on a weekly basis, because of the reasons mentioned above.