Join us building a paradise and share time and space with us in Tomar, Portugal!

Details

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  Description

  Hello! We are a family of three and we live at a lovely quinta close to Tomar. The quinta is work in progress, we live here with our little boy of two years old, three dogs, chickens, two terrace cats and lots of visitors in a tiny village with very nice and sweet Portuguese neighbours.
  
  More precisely, we are Laurens and Evelien, a Dutch couple who moved to Portugal four years ago. Our son is two years old and he is born Portuguese! We live in an old farm and former lagar, a local olive press, with a lot of land. By having people over through Workaway, but also many friends and family, we want to create a friendly, sustainable, community.
  We are working on many projects at the same time: the house needs some restoration work, we started up a veg garden and planted hundreds of trees so far, there is yearly work to be done to keep the property fire safe, ruins to be rebuild with natural, historical methods and many other tasks! But most of all we are spending a lot of time with our son as this stage of life is so precious and flies by so quickly.
  
  We both have a background in arts (fine art and electronic music) and since 15 years we run an organic, handmade soap company. Currently from home, although it is still based in the Netherlands: our wonderful soap team didn't want to move ;-) As we have many wonderful soap plants growing on our land, and sheds waiting to be rebuild, we may set up a soap studio here one day too but only the future can tell.
  
  We own a PDC in permaculture with Geoff Lawton and try to improve our land by digging swales, planting support species, chop and drop, and our veg garden is no dig with a rotating choock dome on it.
  We eat vegetarian and are happy accomodating vegans.
  
  As our son loves playing with other kids we love to accomodate other families!
  Also, as he starts to reach the age of going to pre-school, we are exploring the possibilities to start a pre-school here in the village, based on Forest School principles. Our dream is to not only revive our quinta to its former glory, but also bring our sweet little village back to life, where kids can run to each others houses to meet up and play.
  
  We love to share our place and so guests are welcome to join in on the abundance on the land, that means endless lemons and oranges at the moment, and the plum, peach and figs season is nearly here. It also means guests are often welcome to join bbq and pizza dinners on our roof terrace.
  
  Ongoing works at this moment we would love some help with:
  - felling dead trees in our forest
  - work in the veg garden
  - refencing the vegetable garden and chook dome
  - building a large picknick table under the orange trees
  - chopping and dropping the last bits of bushes and firewood before it gets too hot to use electric saws in the woods in summer
  - restauration of traditional iron window frames
  - cooking and making sour dough bread
  
  As our Workaway season is starting up again we want to create a lovely campsite - for and with our Workawayers! We have a beautiful spot on our land, right next to a pond and a waving wall of reeds, with a magnificent view over the valley. Here we want to build a deck with a 'living room' area and outdoor kitchen. There is already an outdoor shower and compost toilet unit and we can set up a couple of family tents. If this sounds interesting to you, do come and join us! :-D
  
  This summer we will be working on plastering the inside of a new part of the house with clay! If you are interested in natural building, be our guest!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Please let us know what you're most interested in: gardening, construction, land restoration, permaculture, cooking, soap making - you name it! Besides the possibility to learn from and with us on any of these subjects, we're also very much interested in your experiences, skills and fascinations.

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  Help

  In September we will start early with the olive harvest, this lasts about ten days with about ten people. From aprox. 15th of Sept until the 25th.
  
  At this stage any help is welcome, really. If you have skills in carpentry, gardening, ecology, general maintenance - all very welcome. Also if you have no masses of experience yet: please feel welcome too, as we're sure we'll find ways to productively cooperate!
  
  Depending on the season and the type of work, you can expect two ways of productivity here:
  For more labour intensive work such as building and landscaping, we start early, around 7 or 8, we provide a hot lunch and you have the afternoon for yourself.
  If you more so 'join the family´ with cooking, some maintenance around the house, gardening or playing with the kids it is more go with the flow type of work, with a few hours in the morning and a few in the afternoon. If you have your own preferences we are always open to that.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  German: Beginner
  Portuguese: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
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  Accommodation

  We will offer you a room in the house or in a tent, depending on availability. In case you want something more adventurous and plan to spend a longer time here, we can focus (some of) the work on setting up a Workaway base camp!

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  What else ...

  We are quite close to the city of Tomar and the Nabão river, generally quiet, rustic and beautiful countryside. Castelo do Bode,one of the largest lakes in Portugal with amazing clean water, lays just on the other side of Tomar. If you love a proper hike and a dip in cristal clear river water, this region has lots to offer. The turistic river beach of Agroal is only 5 minutes away (by car) if you crave a bit more action.
  
  If you come by car Tomar is a 10 minutes drive. Most Workawayers we have hosted though travel with public transport and we always try to meet your needs then, combining rides to town with dropping you of at the station or somewhere else you want to visit. The trainstation of Fátima is only 5 minutes away by car and you can also walk there in an hour through beautiful countryside! And there are two cafés in walking distance.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  Yes, we have glass fiber internet.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have a couple of sweet spots on the land where you can put up camp.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Pets should be fine! We have three dogs currently, so one more wouldn't hurt. Just let us know what kind of pet you'll bring and how it should blend in with the animal family here.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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