Region: Indian Himalayas

We run a small, luxurious retreat for tourists in the Indian Himalayas. The Retreat is 80 Kms north of Shimla, the earstwhile summer capital of British India. Thanedhar is famous for apples, which were introduced by an American gentleman Mr. Samuel Evans Stokes way back in 1916. His family, like the rest of us, is still into apple cultivation. Thanedhar a charming little mountain village, with a small bazaar, which is 1 Km from the retreat . Thanedhar can be easily accessed from Shimla and Chandigarh by regular daily buses. The Retreat is situated in an apple orchard. We also grow cherries and other temperate fruits, but apple is our main crop. The property consists of six bedrooms, two suites, and two independent log cabins . Volunteers will essentially be on hand to interact with guests, who being mostly Indian families, love the opportunity to meet travellers from other countries. Activities include accompanying guests on orchard and forest walks, sitting around the nightly bonfire and sharing meal times. We are looking for volunteers who love the mountains and the outdoors. The volunteers will be entrusted with the duty of a co- host. We are specifically looking for helpers who feel comfortable engaging with guests, sitting for meals with them and showing them the beauty of the area while escorting them on walks. The volunteers will be provided independent accommodation in the family guest room and served meals in the dining room,along with other guests. IMPORTANT INFORMATION - # Please be advised that we are now booked for volunteers April, May, June, July 2012. # Two further openings exist in 2012: ( Aug 1st until Sept 15th) ;( Sept 16th until Oct 31st) . We would consider one volunteer for the entire Aug-Oct three month period. For Apr-Oct 2013: apply October 1st 2012 (and not before)..

Region: New York State

We are a family of 6 with 4 kids ranging from 10 to 16. We love to learn new things, love to cook new food, and love to hear stories. Do you have a skill that doesn't need very specific or expensive tools? teach us ! Are you really good at any sport ? give us lessons, let us drills or techniques to keep learning at our own pace when you leave. We are thinking to receive guest in February ( winter break ) and from April to September.

Region: 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)

Region: 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

Region: Jalisco, Mexico

We are currently full with no space for more volunteers until further notice. Thanks to all, we will advice once we have an opening again. Young family seeks help in a midclass green hotel on the beautiful central Pacific coast of Mexico. We are a young well travelled and open minded Mexican couple with a new 6 month old baby boy just back from a 2 year round the world trip, looking for help in our family business, mostly in the reception attending our international but down to earth clientele, helping out in our restaurant during breakfast and some babysitting. We are looking for somebody with positive attitude, outgoing and reliable, ideally with very good English (most of our clients are Canadian, but also Mexican, American & European) and at least some basic Spanish and who might be wanting to expand on his/her Spanish and cultural skills while here talking to our very friendly staff (5) and Mexican guests. Our little hotel is located in the centre of our very charming costal town Barra de Navidad (4hrs southwest of Guadalajara), two blocks from the beach and with great outdoor possibilities (fishing, snorkeling, surfing, yoga, hiking, etc...) and some nightlife.