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: El Valle de Anton, Cocle Province, Panama

We are is a non-profitable organization dedicated to the conservation of native species of orchids in a charming little town of Panama, El Valle de Antón. It was established on 15 May 2001 with the view to protecting endangered endemic species of orchids and thus contributing to the conservation of the amazing biodiversity of the region and the Republic of Panama. Please contact us for further information.

Area: West of Ireland.

Our Artfarm is a art dream in progress. It is hoped that in the future it will be a centre for art/film/music/workshops/classes and residencies for anybody with a dream of using their creativity in some way. Some day classes have already been run here including woodcarving and mosaic classes which were a great success. The dream is a work in progress with the ongoing restoration of house, outhouses and haybarn as studio space and organic veg plot slowly expanding. This creative space is in a rural setting in east Galway, 35 miles from Galway city, 15 miles from Roscommon town. It has a minimal footprint ethos with a great respect and love for the space and all its ecosystem. It is hoped that this centre can be a place where the local community both young and old are made welcome and where visiting workshop participants and artists can feel at home. It is hoped this place can be eco rather than ego driven. Anyone with an interest in art and environment is welcome here.

Area: Rakiraki/Nalawa

I am an Australian who has lived in New Zealand for the last 32 years. My wife is a Fijian and we share parenting duties with my wife's extended family (the Fijian way), so we usually have one or two kids in our house. We also own a small farm which we are in the process of developing (see below for more details). We are both smokers and I enjoy a beer socially and a bowl of kava (traditional Fijian herbal beverage). We are not vegetarian, we eat traditional Fijian and Indian cuisine, but vegetarians are welcome.

Area: Bay of Plenty

My husband & I have 3 adult children no longer living at home. We have hosted exchange students for the last 5 years and currently have a boy from Japan. We have a house by the beach and 30 acres of land further up the coast going inland. This piece of land needs weed control and some fencing. It is our lifestyle block and we run some sheep and cattle on it. Our son & his fiance are getting married in March on this land and we could do with a hand to tidy it up.There is a lovely little batch on the land which has no electricity but a wood stove. It also has a flush toilet, shower with hot water, sleeping and cooking facilities. We stay there from time to time but it can be difficult to reach when it has been raining. We live in a an old 4bedroom villa which we are still renovating. My husband buys possum fur but is also a builder/handyman. I am a nurse working at the local health centre. I do shift work and sometimes work night duty which means I sleep in the daytime. The internet can be accessed by wireless broadband. We have 3 dogs and 2 cats. The dogs live outside but the cats like to snuggle up with the humans. We are non smokers and would only want non smokers please.