The image depicts a two-story house with a reddish-brown exterior, featuring a window on the second floor and a small window on the first floor, surrounded by trees and grass.
The image depicts two men standing in a wooden structure, surrounded by hay bales and tools, with one wearing a yellow hard hat and the other in a green shirt and black overalls.
A house under construction, with scaffolding and a crane, has a tiled roof and a balcony, surrounded by trees and overgrown grass.
The image depicts a group of six people gathered around a wooden table, toasting with glasses of wine and beer, exuding a joyful and celebratory atmosphere.
The image depicts a serene backyard scene with a camper, wooden furniture, and a fire pit, surrounded by trees and sunflowers on a sunny day.
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Exchange cultures and create a straw bale family home in rural Baal, Belgium

Availability

  2025 

 Min stay requested: at least 3 weeks

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    We want to cover the outside walls of our home with a wooden skeleton and straw bales. There is a lot work to do, building, cooking. Experience is not really necessary, but we appreciate it if you have some experience in working outside ,a good pair of hands and a willing mind. You will work together with other workawayers so being a team player is needed.

    We are a Belgian family of 7, our sons are 26, 24, 18 ,18years and 14 years. The two oldest boys are living on there own already. We are living on the countryside. We bought our house after returning from almost 4 years of living in South-Africa , where we volunteered for a Belgian NGO. Our family is growing so we need to expand .We chose the most ecological and budget-friendly option.
    We want to exchange our culture and experiences with new people from all around the world. We had a wonderful time with workawayers in the last past years.
    Have a look at our Facebook and Instagram page -ask me for the link.
    You find a lot of photos on our project.

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    DIY and building projects
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
  • Interests

    Interests

    Camping
    Nature
    Yoga / Wellness
    Vegetarian or vegan
    Technology
    Sustainability
    Self development
    Politics / Social justice
    Movies & TV
    LGBTQ
    Culture
    Charity work
    Languages
    History
    Drawing & painting
    Cooking & food
    Carpentry
    Art & design
    Books
    Plant care
    Gardening
    DIY & crafts
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    After a good day of work, have some wine or a beer, and discuss life and the world. We traveled a lot ourselves, the best moments were the moments we stayed with families and close to local people. It broadened our view on the world.
    This is an opportunity for travelers that are interested in building with straw and clay first hand! Manual building techniques. We take turns cooking, so we can experience dishes from all around the world :) You are welcome in our family, and we can exchange a lot.

  • Help

    Help

    We are renovating the house from 1964 with strawbale - wood skeleton.
    2024: we have one house with the new building with wood and straw. We make a wooden skeleton, in between we put straw bales. We cover the walls with traskalk.
    2025: continuing finishing the outside walls, putting the windows ,starting with the rooms upstairs

  • Languages spoken

    English: Fluent
    French: Fluent
    Dutch: Fluent
    Spanish: Beginner

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    We provide 2 small caravans and 3 tents in the backyard, with electricity. We have also a camping car with 2 rooms each for 2 persons We provide meals at our place, toilet and shower is in the house. There is also a fireplace. We have extended the wifi up to the backyard .
    We provide for each person a good mattress and pillow ,extra blanket. So we make sure that you feel comfortable when the weather is not very good. We have place in the house for 1 person or a couple, especially in the month April and May

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    We are in a rural area, but there are good transportation connections close, bus connections at less than 2 kms, train station at 4 km, you can use a bike (it's flat here). Just 35 mins by train to Leuven, Antwerp, Mechelen, Aarschot, Heist op den berg. 1h - 1h30 to Brussels ,Liege, Hasselt .Ghent/Bruges in 2 hours. There is a lot to discover in those cities!
    So if you want to take a day off, no problem, We will mostly be busy in the mornings and have free time in the afternoon, have dinner in the evening. During the weekends we are not working

  • A little more information

    A little more information

    • Internet access

    • Limited internet access

      Limited internet access

    • We have pets

    • We are smokers

    • Can host families

  • Can host digital nomads

    Can host digital nomads

    We extend the WiFi to the back of the garden so no problem to have internet during your stay

  • Space for parking camper vans

    Space for parking camper vans

    We have enough place to park a motorhome, only the entrance is limited,so vehicles up to about 6-8 metres long (there is a short turn to enter the place). Until the end of may we can host one person or a couple in a room inside the house

  • Can possibly accept pets

    Can possibly accept pets

    We don't have a fence around our house , but pets are welcome

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    More than two

Host ref number: 751297158521

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Photos

The image depicts two men standing in a wooden structure, surrounded by hay bales and tools, with one wearing a yellow hard hat and the other in a green shirt and black overalls.
A house under construction, with scaffolding and a crane, has a tiled roof and a balcony, surrounded by trees and overgrown grass.
The image depicts a group of six people gathered around a wooden table, toasting with glasses of wine and beer, exuding a joyful and celebratory atmosphere.
The image depicts a two-story house with a reddish-brown exterior, featuring a window on the second floor and a small window on the first floor, surrounded by trees and grass.
The image depicts a serene backyard scene with a camper, wooden furniture, and a fire pit, surrounded by trees and sunflowers on a sunny day.

Feedback

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Cultural exchange:
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