Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
9 Mar 2025
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 2 days
Feedback
11
ID verified
Email verified
Badges (4)
Details
Description
Update 10/9; well after the disappointing fact of 3 people I approached not even have the decency of responding I decided to end my Workaway year and maybe my whole Workaway adventure.
I think people don't realize that as a host you open your house and privacy for a stranger.
I think not even responding ruines the whole great original concept of Workaway.
Sad isn't it?
Maybe see you again next spring,
Ciao
Hello, my name is Rob, 58 years old from the Netherlands and living for over 7 years now in a small village on the border of the Giant Mountains and the Czech Paradise (last house on a hill).
About 10 years ago I bought this house with my girlfriend with the plan to start a small non commercial guest house.
Unfortunately, my girlfriend passed away in the summer of 2016.
Because the Netherlands had little to offer me, I moved to our home in the Czech Republic (and I really fell in love with this location).
A lot of projects have been done since.
Still, I could use some help with various activities: gardening, , cooking,, tidying up around the house, light carpentry tasks, helping with the firewood and so on.
I speak English, German and a little bit of Czech.
An original Czech speaker who speaks some English and can teach me some Czech along the way is also welcome.
During your stay you have your own apartment with bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and of course your privacy.
It would involve 4 hours of help per day from Monday to Friday (flexible to fill in if you want a day off or 7x3, etc.).
I provide (good) free food and accommodation.
The tasks are adapted to the weather; nice to do tasks outside when it's dry and inside when it rains.
Directly from the house you can take short or long beautiful walks in all directions.
The bus stop to a town nearby (Semily) is a 7 minute walk (uphill and downhill) but normally I can also give you a ride.
From Prague Cerny Most there is a direct busline to Semily (ca 90 min) were I can pick you up.
A mountain bike (2x) is available.
At 3 km distance there are pebble beaches along the river and 7 km away there is a large free outdoor swimming pool.
It is a large house (700m2) with a large garden (7,800m2) in the middle of nature.
It's become quite a story but if you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me.
I look forward to meeting you!
Rob
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
During the projects I am open to your input and experience.
Hopefully we can learn from each other that way.
Doing tasks in a relaxed atmosphere where nothing has to be done, but where everything that is done shows immediate results is my main objective.
It's a small old village.
The houses are at a good distance from each other and most residents have lived here all their lives.
On the one hand they are very traditional (mostly self-supported) and at the same time they are very open and helpful.
I am the only foreigner in the village and although I hardly speak the language I have good contact with my neighbours.
The last hundreds of meters to my house are difficult to find and the navigation usually fails.
When friends come to visit and the neighbors see a Dutch license plate, they are already automatically indicating the direction ;)
In the area (especially in the 2 nearby towns) there are many restaurants, terraces, supermarkets and everything you need.
There are also many museums (glass industry, history Giant Mountains, etc).
Various cultural activities, festivals and fairs are also organized.
The information about this is hanging at the town hall and with the help of google translate (especially the translation via the camera is super!!) easy to understand.
The museums and cultural activities are small-scale, but that certainly has its charms.
The Bozkov Caves (multilingual guided tour using headphones) and the Riegrova Stezka (a nice walk with a direct busline to my village at the end) are in walking distance.
If you look this up on google and see the pictures you will fall in love with this region!
The city of Praque with all his history is an hour drive from my place (a break to visit Prague for a few days and then come back to my place is no problem).
In Semily and Zelezny Brod (2 small towns nearby) there are bus and train stations.
A mountain bike is available for you.
There are still many things I haven't seen yet so if you like we can visit some sights and attractions together.
If you want more tourist information just google on Riegrova Stezka, Snezka, Hrad Vranov, Kozakov Mountain, Bozkov, Caves, Semily, Zelezny Brod, Turnov, Liberec, Jilemnice and so on because it's simply too much to list here.
Help
In and around the house there are always a lot of things to do: gardening, cleaning, cooking, painting, website, tidying up, light carpentry tasks, helping with the firewood and so on.
Of course we do the less fun tasks together.
While talking, these tasks are done in no time ;)
Weather permitting, we will do projects outside as much as possible.
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
Czech: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
I want to learn to speak Czech. I have a very basic knowledge of the Czech language and like to learn more on the job. My Czech Workawayer Lucie bought me a book: Czech for beginners step by step (čeština pro začátečníky krok za krokem) and I would love to go through it with a native Czech speaker. At the same time you can practice your English, German or Dutch with me.
Accommodation
Big house in the middle of nature.
In addition to my own apartment on the ground floor, there are 2 indoor apartments on the 1st floor.
You can stay there so you have your own privacy.
There is also a simple fitness room if you find the jobs not physical enough and you want to work out ;)
What else ...
Reading back all my text I think it's very much complete so I will use this space for a small recap:
- Help wanted for a wide variety of tasks in a relaxed atmosphere;
- I'm open to your input and suggestions;
- You are positive, hands-on mentality, solution-oriented and think along with me
- You will have your own place to stay with complete privacy;
- Starting point: 4 hours of help a day, 5 days a week, flexible if you want a day off;
- I provide free food and accommodation;
- House located in the middle of nature;
- Public traffic, restaurant, bars, supermarkets, ATM's nearby;
- The city of Praque an 1 hour drive;
- Many tourist and cultural activities in the area;
- With a mountain bike, hiking trails, the river with beaches, terraces and a swimming pool (nearby) plenty of opportunities to relax.
actually: a combination of doing projects and holiday in a beautiful environment with free food and accommodation.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
On the first floor you'll have your own internet connection and it proved to be working fine to work online, have online meetings and watch Netflix.
Space for parking camper vans
You can park downhill ca 200m from my home (safe place, no criminality around here!!) or when you the van is high on its wheels you can park directly at my place). The last 200m to my place is a bad road (path) though.
Can possibly accept pets
I have a young get that is not used to other animals around the house so some extra attention if you bring a dog is needed. Let's say that if you want to bring your pet with you it's not a final "yes" or "no" but it's open for discussion.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Feedback (4)
I told her that I just disconnected the central heating kottle thinking it was the end of the heating season and that it would not be very comfortable at her floor.
She told me that she had some hoodies with her and still would like to visit my… read more
Back in November, he was hoping I could get up to his place before the snow hit. As soon as I arrived, he took me out to go shopping for some proper winter work clothes and bought lunch -- we shared many stories, and even more beers, over this introduction. I felt as though it was just the first step to know… read more
The enthousiasm in his mail caught me and after a short call we decided to team-up.
The day before his arrival 2 roof tiles came sliding of the roof.
I'm not afraid of working at highs but if there is someone else around I'm happy to… read more
In our first contact she pointed out that she was not so strong and didn't have any specific skills but that just turned out to be a little downgrading from her side.
Rebecca started clearing the weeds on and around my patio and hauling a full wheelbarrow uphill was no problem for her.
She… read more
Photos
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(4.8)
I told her that I just disconnected the central heating kottle thinking it was the end of the heating season and that it would not be very comfortable at her floor.
She told me that she had some hoodies with her and still would like to visit my… read more
Back in November, he was hoping I could get up to his place before the snow hit. As soon as I arrived, he took me out to go shopping for some proper winter work clothes and bought lunch -- we shared many stories, and even more beers, over this introduction. I felt as though it was just the first step to know… read more
The enthousiasm in his mail caught me and after a short call we decided to team-up.
The day before his arrival 2 roof tiles came sliding of the roof.
I'm not afraid of working at highs but if there is someone else around I'm happy to… read more
In our first contact she pointed out that she was not so strong and didn't have any specific skills but that just turned out to be a little downgrading from her side.
Rebecca started clearing the weeds on and around my patio and hauling a full wheelbarrow uphill was no problem for her.
She… read more
We had some good conversations and laughs, had some nice walks, did some sightseeing and spent an afternoon relaxing by the river.
Her English is perfect and she is always on time with appointments.
Her tasks mainly consisted of stacking firewoods, preparing stems and branches for the shredding… read more
She's a very intelligent girl with a logical and pragmatic way of thinking and working.
Lucie is not afraid to do physical work; bringing branches and smaller trees downhill to my place and wood chopping (she loved working with my special manual Scandinavic splitter) and can do magic things with her Ipad (made… read more
Rob's place is surrounded by beautiful nature, visited by animal neighbours daily and… read more
just a 5-star ranking doesn't do these guys justice!
from the first contact we had the communication was great.
they kept me well informed about their planning, travelling schedule and changes.
Ben and Andrew were my first workawayers and it was great.
as brothers they are a good working team with… read more
my intention was to receive them after my 1st 2 workawayers (2 american brothers) left.
however, they were eager to come here while the brothers were still here.
I myself come from a very difficult time full of personal dramas.
partly because of this I was… read more
