Area: Asturias

Janet and John live in Asturias. We are now at the end of our fifth year of so called retirement here and love it. This is definitely not the Costas! We live in Valdes in Asturias….. a county of rugged coasts with super ( but often stony) beaches. The interior (where we live at 270 meters high in the hills and 30 minutes from the nearest beach) is largely mixed forest of sweet chestnut, oak, ash and beech with plantations of northern pine and eucalyptus. The valley bottoms and tops are mainly green pasture for cattle grazing or silage with flatter fields with maize for cattle. It is beautiful – a lake district without the lakes and without the crowds. Weather – This is green Spain so we have clouds and rain. The temperature is higher than the south of England – a greater noticeable difference in the back part of the year. When we bought our house we wanted a house with some land to grow veggies on. We ended up with two houses (one “the barn” had no floor and was only home to spiders and cobwebs – we called it the barn because it was the oldest and still had the cattle feeding stalls), a traditional Horeo, 5 fincas (fields - one with a small maize mill – not functioning) and two Montes (bits of hillside with lots of trees on.) Thank goodness three of our neighbours keep most of the fields clean by grazing cattle, sheep and growing grass, so I am left with only the finca (6500 m2 )below the house to look after. We have six chickens and two dogs (and a cat that adopted us). During the year we grow most of our own vegetables. John does most of the work on the land while Janet writes and directs two musical shows a year for her group of performers back in England

Area: Australia

We live just outside Perth in Western Australia. A new baby in the family, plus a 2 year old, Mum works on the property, teaching horseriding to those with disabilities. We are outdoor and fairly active people, and enjoy sharing some of the outdoor activities we do, such as fishing, snorkelling, 4x4 driving.

Area: Cadiz Spain

Hi my name is Chris and my partner is Joanna. We live in the countryside about 3 miles from the beautiful town of Vejer de la Frontera.( We have some grown children who occasionally visit ) I have been a teacher ,truck driver and just qualified as a plumber and Joanna been a teacher,translator and led various courses and written a book. We are both into personal development,sustainable living,growing veg and enjoying life. We enjoy good food ;-] having fun and working in the garden as much as we can

Area: Maewin, Maewang district, Chiang Mai

I have my own bungalows on a small organic farm in rural Chiang Mai and am happy to share the experience of organic farming and sustainable living with anybody who is interested in volunteering to help! I'm still new to organic farming and would appreciate any help and experience that people can provide. Volunteers with experience in organic farming are preferred as then we can share our knowledge and learn together! I also assign a volunteers to help local people's farms follow the seasons. I also run a non-profit volunteer working programme providing opportunities for teaching English in local hill tribes schools and offering medical help to ethnic minority villagers. For more information on volunteering to help with these programmes please contact me. I’m a Chiang Mai local wishing to share my love of Northern Thailand with you. I was born in Mae Jeam district and spent almost eight years in the temple as a novice monk before going on to study for a BA in Tourism Industry Management. I specialized in ethnic minority knowledge and elephants at uni and have been a tour leader for the last six years and am still loving it. It would be nice to discuss any requirements or queries you may have over Skype or via email. Now i need web master help please contact me thanks(special request)

Area: Europe

*** Now looking for helpers in March *** Bonjour! We are Dalila (french), Pete (english), Emilie (3 years old) and Sidney (born in august 2011). Our place is an old château set in 29 acres of meadow, in the Pyrénées mountains, 1h30 south of Toulouse. We've finished renovating the interior of the château in 2009, and with sustainability in mind, installed solar panels for hot water, photovoltaic panels for electricity, rain water collection, composting. We're using our own wood for cooking and heating in the winter; and using fruits and vegs from our garden in the summer months. We're now onto our next projects of renovating the outbuildings, landscaping the garden and generally maintaining the grounds of the property. We are looking for enthusiastic, energetic people who enjoy physical work, being outdoors, who show initiative and are fairly independant, as we both work from a home office and looking after our little ones keeps us busy! Experience of using chainsaw and power tools is necessary! The help we need includes: - chainsaw, cut and split wood for heating next winter - tidy the grounds (weeding, strimming etc) - cut and clear out dead trees across the property - render and joint newly built stone walls - prepare our veg patch for planting - ongoing building work to renovate the outbuilding (windows, put up beams for flooring, etc.) - spring clean the house (windows, chandeliers, etc)