Workaway Host List - Find Hosts and Organizations

Area: Gütersloh

We are running a dog school in the area of Guetersloh since several years, that means we give courses in educating dogs - or better in educating dog owners. On several times a week we offer our courses and people make single appointments, too. Also we visit people at home, if they have special problems with their dogs. Four times a week we offer so called play groups in the afternoon, where people come with their dogs to let them play. At the end of 2008 we bought a house with 10.000 qm land and a little lake on it. We are running the dog school there now and we also build up a dog hotel. Up to 10 dogs can stay with us. They stay in the group altogether during the day, only at night they stay in kennels. Therefore we only take dogs that are getting along with other dogs. Even though our business is running already, we are not finished in renovating our house and fixing the garden. There are still fences to be put up, rooms to paint ecetera. We also need help in caring for the dogs. Especially when we are busy with courses or playgroups, somebody needs to look after our hotel dogs. It would be perfect if you were able to handle a group of dogs. We are a Lesbian couple, 43 and 44 years old, Ilona & Linda. We have a 17 years old daughter staying with us. We have three dogs on our own, a white canadian shepherd, a Great Dane and a small Terrier Mix from Greece. Also we have 4 cats. At least one of them will try to sleep in your bed.

Area: Scottish Highlands

We live together with our 17 year old son Magnus and 5 year old cocker spaniel Kim in a beautiful wooded glen valley near a village called spingdale about 50 miles North of Inverness in the Northern Scottish highlands. We have a 6 acre former croft, a traditional small highland farmstead which we are gradually developing as a permaculture site. We are surrounded by 1700 acres of stunning natural woodland belonging to a conservation body called The Woodland Trust. We are currently building an eco-house as our new family home.

Area: Ribatejo

Helpers at our farm get to stay in a nice old rural house with bathroom. We offer you 3 meals a day, which you’ll prepare with the ingredients we’ll provide you. You’ll be sharing the kitchen and dining room with other people, which will enable you to have contacts with other staff members working here. Some of them are staying on the farm, while others come around during the day. We expect you to help us 5 hours a day on the farm with different chores, such as weeding, cleaning leaves, working in the vegetable garden, recovering and cleaning old items (i.e. leather equipment for horses), cleaning and organizing old tiles, cleaning old objects, helping out if a wedding or a summer camp is about to be held. We are quite flexible, so usually we give our helpers a list of what needs to be done and they organise themselves. The property is beautiful, but you should know it is also an isolated and calm place, even more in winter. The nearest town, Coruche, is 6 km away and getting to the bigger city, Santarém, is a 30 min bus ride (there are busses every hour to go to either place). If you don’t like being on your own most of the time, it might be nice to have the company of another helper if you can find one. Getting here from Lisbon is easy, you simply need to take the bus from Lisbon to Coruche at the Campo Grande bus and tube station (a 1h45 ride). Since your organization does not provide any kind of insurance, it is advisable you travel having your own. If you are a tourist in Portugal, hospitals will provide help, but you need to bring documents and paper work from your country. Antonio and myself live between Lisboa and the farm, as we need to have an office in the city. We go regularly to the farm to do some work and to check how things are going. Our children are between 16 and 25; you might see them if they aren’t away travelling like you.

Area: Languedoc

Our Chateau is a 7 bedroom home running activity holidays and offering B&B. It is run by Julia (with the help of Teg, my Border Collie dog) who enjoys welcoming volunteers to help with the many tasks such a big enterprise involves. The house is mostly renovated but there are still some jobs inside the house to be done. Help is mostly needed with light painting and repairing. The gardens are in the process of being restored from the jungle that we found when we bought it 5 years ago.

Area: Costa de la Luz

We are a German family with a 16 year old son, living 8km from the wonderful beaches of the Costa de la Luz near Conil de la Frontera. We have a small holiday resort. Dogs, chickens, organic garden . During the next months we need help in painting , gardening and help in an yoga retreat.