Area: Connacht

Has old-fashioned courtesy been consigned to the rubbish-dump? Any hope at all that workawayers could spare 30 seconds to reply to messages?! I need someone for May/June! I am an artist/writer/photographer living in a smallish bungalow situated 1 km. from a 13th century walled town with very narrow streets! Bhind my house is a 1-acre field with a stable where my Shetland pony, Flicka and my donkey, Kassie live – though they do visit me unexpectedly now and then! I have three cats, Lulu (aged 12) who spends a lot of her time in the stable, Kiwi (4) and Siog (Gaeilge for ‘fairy’), the baby, both of whom spend most of their time in the house with access to a walled courtyard for fresh air. My day is usually taken up with painting or designing in Photoshop, recording or mixing audio projects in my studio, writing my weekly columns for a local newspaper and a national magazine, taking and processing photographs and playing my beloved Takamine EN-40. I have lots of other instruments in my studio.

Area: Alberta

Turn your dreams into plans and your can'ts into cans! Come and ride with us. I am what they call a Can Chaser, a professional barrel racer. At our ranch we train horses and riders for women's western rodeo timed events. We also produce Barrel Racing & Steer Wrestling Events. We are a rodeo family, part of the rodeo community. We offer honest rodeo family hospitality and have well trained horses, beautiful trails and an arena to ride in. We are located an hour south of Edmonton and the world famous West Edmonton Mall, two hours north of Calgary and three hours from the Rocky Mountains. We are 15 minutes from Canada's largest Pro Rodeo, The Ponoka Stampede. Our town of Ponoka has some nice restaurants and cowboy style lounges and bars. A great western store for shopping!!! A few other nice boutiques and gift shops. There's also a indoor swimming pool, a few day spas, hair salons, skate park, mini golf and two golf courses and a movie theatre. And friendly small town people.

Area: Lower Saxony

We are a young, retired couple, renovating a house in beautiful Bad Bevensen. Our intention is to create a community living place for people, who want to share their life with like-minded others, support a healthy and environmental friendly life. We work hard to get the basic set up done this summer.

Area: Midi Pyrenees

I am currently restoring an old french farmhouse using the same materials it was built with and making the materials by hand whenever possible. The house is on five acres, mostly pasture, some oak woods. There is a tumulus, an ancient burial mound, on the land from which there are fantastic views of the Pyrenees mountains and Spain. There are two organic vegetable gardens and a young orchard. I also do bronze casting. It is a very quiet and peaceful spot and the yurt, see accommodation below, is a great place to relax. From here it is possible to spend the day swimming in the Mediterranean or surfing in the Atlantic or hiking or skiing in the Pyrenees. In the area there are pre-historic caves, roman ruins and various medieval fortresses to visit.

Area: Eastern Townships, Quebec

We are starting a cultural centre and auberge that will function out of a lovely old chapel and a seven bedroom farm house in the beautiful Eastern Townships of Quebec. The studio has no religious affiliation. Volunteers will work with us on both the house and church as well as the surrounding property, which is located in a peaceful village in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. The official opening date of Staycation Studios is the first of July, 2012.