Information du profil
Évaluation d'hôte
100 %
Last replied
5 mai 2025
Taux de réponse
93.8 %
Usually responds ≤ 3 jours
Feedback
25
Facebook verified
E-mail vérifié
Badges (4)
Infos
Description
Hi there! We invite you to have a wonderful and inspiring time at our farm. All kind of tasks will be available, like painting, mowing, working in the garden & greenhouse, taking care of the (farm) animals but also helping Yvon with all kind of building chores. Or helping Sabine making all kind of natural products. So if you are looking for a great place? Send a message and enjoy magical Slovakia.
A little about us ..
In early spring 2016, we (Yvonne and Sabine van der Laan) fell in love with an abandoned farm in the south of beautiful Slovakia.
A farm that in photos appeared very differently than in reality.... At the time we visited it was a bit of a shock, the farm had been neglected, those cute pine trees had become colossal giants and blocked any view. Yet we saw the potential this place had. We kicked off work and in 2019 we excitedly swung open the doors of our holiday farm Natural Slovakia. A place for our guests to unwind, adventuring, enjoying the peace and breathtaking nature. A powerful place to come home to, unknown but familiar.
From the Dutch Bulb Region to the wide-open Slovak countryside
In 1991, we, Sabine van der Laan-Vooren and Yvonne van der Laan from Lisse, first met in secondary school. As girls of 13, we soon became best friends. We are now a day older but the friendship was born there and has embedded itself in us. Even though Sabine flew out of the Bulb Region for a while to places in the Netherlands and abroad. And we lost sight of each other for several years but never from our hearts. In 2010, we found each other again and we said YES to sharing our lives together. We didn't know then that life would take us all the way to Slovakia....
Facts & Figures: Did you know?
ꕥ That at first the farm was born under a different name? The name was: Holiday farm the Blue Stone, because this is the translation of Modrý Kamen, the village we live in. During a random night, Sabine saw another glimpse of light in her dreams, that of: Natural Slovakia! And the rest is history. ツ
ꕥ Yvon worked as a taxi planner for about 20 years? And that Sabine went to college in her late twenties to re-educate towards pedagogical work & education?
ꕥ We have renovated/renovated/created and furnished almost everything with our own hands? But that we also receive regular reinforcement from volunteers from all over the world and from John van der Laan, Yvon's father, who regularly comes to help with odd jobs. We would not have managed all this without all this heartwarming help.
ꕥ Sabine is an herbal witch? And she likes working with the phases of the moon, the power of herbs, getting her hands into the earth, living with the seasons and celebrating the yearwheel festivals?
ꕥ Our accommodations all bear a Slovak name and in English they are: Beautiful World, Morning Dew, Old Love and Koekoek.
ꕥ Favours of Yvon: making special gift items ➳ hiking with the dogs & cats ➳ having breakfast with Greek yoghurt and strawberry jam ➳ passion for wood ➳ Harry Potter books & films ➳ dancing ➳ walking undiscovered paths ➳ likes to wear caps ➳ singing along loudly with music while doing chores
ꕥ Favours of Sabine: photography ➳ writing visual & inspiring texts ➳ making pure care products and foods ➳ dark chocolate with herbal tea ➳ decorating and styling spaces ➳ floral art with meadow flowers and materials found from nature ➳ sweetest film ever: Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain
Why did you decide to start a holiday farm in Slovakia instead of the popular France or Spain?
How did we end up here and why did we choose Slovakia? These are questions we regularly get from our guests upon arrival.
Just look around you, is often our response. Our farm is tucked away in an enchanted valley, surrounded by nature, bordering on forest and stream. You can walk here for hours, right from the farm, without meeting a single human being. There is also, literally and figuratively, room to live and work in the rhythm of the seasons and where time appears to stand still.
Slovakia is a country with a rich history and traditions, colourful folklore with clothes/music and dance and friendliness of the at first sight, somewhat grumpy people. From the start, we always wave to neighbours or basically everyone in our street. This turns out not to be very common, as we got a confused stoic look back at first, but with an even bigger smile, we never gave up waving. And now when we meet the post lady, she is the first to wave enthusiastically! So if you're on holiday with us, feel free to wave to everyone, they're used to it by now ツ
Does our story resonates with you? Please contact us if you want to know more about us and our farm!
Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre
Projets artistiques
Jardinage
Bricolage et construction
S’occuper des animaux
Aide dans une ferme
Cuisine/repas pour la famille
Aide à la maison
Entretien général
Centres d’intérêt
Yoga / bien-être
Animaux
Blogs
Photographie
Culture
Dev. durable
Dev. personnel
Animaux de compagnie
LGBT+
Ferme
Musique
Jardinage
Bricolage / artisanat
Menuiserie
Art et design
Nature
Objectifs de développement durable de l’ONU que cet hôte essaie d'atteindre
Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre
What can we offer?
1) Challenging & inspiring working holiday. We are still learning, so we can learn from each other.
2) Making magical memories, campfires, telling stories, having a glass of something and watching the many stars in the sky!
3) Daily breakfast, lunch and dinner.
4) Space to be yourself and enough free time to explore beautiful Slovakia.
Aide
We have a lot of different projects. From making appel sauce (of the apples we received from our neighbour) and Elderflower Syrup and more home made products, also we have a vegetable garden
and a greenhouse, so there we can use some help and also helping out with all kind of construction/maintenance work, and ofcourse the daily odd jobs like mowing, cleaning and painting. You have lovely animals around you. Two dogs (Beau and Sara), 2 cats (Joey and Phoebe) sheeps/goats and 10 chickens. We offer a diversity of activities, because it is not fun to do the same thing all the time.
We will see together which tasks suits you the best, we're very flexible. If you are enthusiastic and curious and like to learn different things about farmlife, the culture of Slovakia and like to see how it is to start a new life here, you are at the right place.
Langues
Langues parlées
Anglais: Courant
Hollandais: CourantCet hôte propose un échange linguistique
Cet hôte a indiqué qu’il souhaitait faire partager sa propre langue ou en apprendre une nouvelle.
Contactez-le pour en savoir plus.
Hébergement
You can stay in a holidayhouse or tent (if available) or in the summer barn or bring your own tent. When you driving a ven/camper, you can park in front of the farm. You can use our bathroom and kitchen. Every day you get breakfast, lunch and a evening meal. It will be nice if you can cook as well!
Travel expenses are for your own account. But we can pick you up and bring you back to the nearest busstation (Velky Krtis 6km) or the busstop in our village (but if you like to hike, it is a 30 minutes walk to our farm). If you are coming from Budapest, we can pick you up at the border Balassagyarmat (30 minutes drive)
Autres infos...
A must seen is the Castle of Modry Kamen. You can hike or we can bring you by car.
You can make great hiking trips, the blue hikingpath starts close by.
Visit Boedapest, 100 km from ur place. You can take the bus at the border of Hungary ( we can bring you )
From our village you can take the bus to serveral city's (Zvolen, Banksa Bystrica etc)
The potraviny (small supermarket) is a 30 minutes walk from our farm to the village.
Informations complémentaires
Accès Internet
Accès Internet limité
Nous avons des animaux
Nous sommes fumeurs
Familles bienvenues
Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads
Wi-Fi is availible in the holidayhouses.
Espace pour garer des vans
You can park in front of your farm and we can give you electricity.
Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?
Deux
Feedback (12)
The work varied a lot and we'd usually discuss it together in the evening or morning in order to organize priorities and schedule. From helping building the new Zen Garden, taking care of the animals, getting the garden ready for winter, cooking or cleaning the… read more
Photos
Feedback
Ce sont des évaluations supplémentaires en option lorsque les membres laissent un feedback. La note moyenne pour chaque option est affichée.
Exactitude du profil:
(5.0)
Échange culturel:
(4.9)
Communication:
(4.9)
The work varied a lot and we'd usually discuss it together in the evening or morning in order to organize priorities and schedule. From helping building the new Zen Garden, taking care of the animals, getting the garden ready for winter, cooking or cleaning the… read more
For us they were an inspiration and we will miss them as well as the bond created between us.
Pd: the dogs, Saar and beau are so cute.
For future workawers, you are… read more
Als ik weer in de buurt ben zal ik zeker nog een week of langer helpen! En om… read more
He helped us a lot with mowing and other outdoor work and the… read more
We had a very nice week, filled with a lot of work done, great food… read more
They have a nice equilibrium between the… read more
