Help on our amazing farm few minutes from the sea in East Cyprus, Dheryneia

Unfortunately we couldn't meet them personally. We should worked there from the 20.5 to 15.6 but unfortunately the accommodation of the workawayers got destroyed by the weather a few days before our arrival. But they organised us an alternative last minute job, which was perfect! We wanted to say thank you again. We hope the accomodation is now… read more fixed and you can accommodate volunteers again. We wish you all the best! Christine and Martin :)

This experience started very well. Giorgios proposed me to bring my stuffs by car as I was staying in an other project. His son-in-law picked me up by car and welcomed me. The volunteer house was a kind of old garage. It was very cold (it was winter), floor in concrete, no good light, wall with a big hole. I couldn't sleep well with the noise of… read more the road which was 10m from my bed. Giorgios told us he was aware of that but he couldn't afford an other place. My bed was in the middle of the living room. Giorgios tried to balance this lack of confort by providing us a cooked meal every lunch. They took care of our personal diet (Vegan). However I regret that we didn't have the opportunity to share a meal with him and his family. The work was sometimes interesting but I often had to do the same thing : picking tomatoes alone for hours. Sometimes we worked more than 5 hours. We didn't share many things with the hosts beside the work.---text redacted--- Because all of that I had a cold and a skin infection that forced me to leave. I guess in summer it can be a good experience but for me it was neutral.

Giorgios and Pavlos, together with their entire family are some of the nicest people I've met in my 11 years of traveling (so far), out of which 9 years have been entirely dedicated to volunteering.
They are very calm and patient people, ready to help with any thing and to explain everything, especially if it is connected with their activities at… read more the farm. They have a lot of experience and are very knowledgeable. I enjoyed very much working with them during the entire month that I've spent with them, helping with harvesting vegetables, preparing the beds for the new plants and building polytunnels over them after they have been planted.
They have introduced me to their large family and to their friends, going so far as inviting me at their Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations. They also catered delicious food for my vegetarian diet, with very fresh ingredients coming straight from their garden.
I recommend them from the bottom of my heart to any other volunteer who loves gardening and staying in intimate connection with Mother Earth in the company of lovely people.

So warm family, they let me a room in ayia napa just 500 meters from famous nissi beach and gave noney for bus. Anita made me lots of food everyday and I learned a lot about agriculture with giorgio and pavlo. They also picked me up to the airport and I had so much free time to visit tje island.
I recomend Kakopetria village and waterfalls in the… read more mountains.

Come and work with George and Pavlos if you want to earn your happiness. You will work as hard as you want and live like a king for a few hours a day too, sitting on the beach in the Mediterranean eating the tastiest food you can imagine. The other reviews are all pretty accurate!

See you soon Giorgos, Pavlos and Xenia!
Love from Neil!

Giorgos, his brother Pavlos and his friends became my family on the beautiful sunny island of Cyprus for 3 weeks. I came in the hottest weeks of August, work was hot and dirty. Take snacks, sunscreen and a hat.
Work included; picking beans (the only thing really growing at this time of year) the rest of the work included pulling out pipes from… read more old crops overgrown with weeds, taking out wires, clothes, laying down new pipes. We got picked up around 7am, have a morning coffee then get to work. We finished by 12, (sometimes earlier on the really hot days) with another coffee break inbetween.
Giorgos is generous with coffee breaks and rest because of the heat- also good way to meet the other local farmers. Giorgos and Cypriot people are the most kind hearted people and have such a generous nature. Not everyone speaks good english (or at all) which I found an interesting experience coming from Australia. Giorgos or his daughter Xenia are always willing to help, take you to the beach and make sure you have everything you need at the house. We enjoyed many afternoons and nights at the beach having bbq and drinks after work. These waters are the clearest, bluest I've ever snorkled in.
Accomodation was very basic (No wifi or aircon) but I was only there to sleep. Made friends with the locals in the local restaurants that had wifi. I learnt alot in my 3 weeks, not just the farm work but the way of life of Cypriot people, enjoying the simplicity of life, bits of their language and to "eat slow and drink lots" lol.
Location is in a quiet village, nice with no other tourists. 5/10min walk to the bus stop, that comes about every hour and a half, 30min bus ride to center of Aiya Napa or 45min to main Nissi beach.
I was sad to leave, but I know I will always have friends in Cyprus to return to one day.

My time on Giorgos' farm was amazing! I learned a lot about farming and gained new friends and good experience. It took a couple days to get used to the hard work but that's farm life. Cyprus is a very beautiful place and my experience was made better by the hosts. Giorgos was very friendly and great to talk with. I loved my time here so much I… read more plan on coming back in the near future.

What an experience. As my mother and father both grew up on farms, I had always wanted to experience the lifestyle, my time in Giorgos’ farm turned out to be everything I expected and more. Giorgos and his family and some of the kindest and most genuine people I’ve ever met. The work, of course, is hard, especially if you’re not used to long hours… read more in the sun (but hey, it is a farm). Just make sure you’re always communicating if you feel overwhelmed or need something. Other then that, if you’re looking for basic accommodation, great food, access to all the fresh veg you could want, and a chance to get first hand experience of life on a farm, I can’t think of a more perfect place.

I visited Cyprus in October 2017, The island is beautiful, the beaches are stunning, the weather was amazing, I will return!
Giorgos and his family are so lovely, friendly and kind, The work is hard but fair, It gets very hot working outside on the farm so make sure you bring hats, suncream etc (especially if you are british like me!)
We were well… read more looked after while working here, Giorgos's daughter Xenia is very helpful and knows the local area very well, she is always happy to offer advice and her English is perfect!
Most people on Cyprus speak at least some English and I found people very friendly, Its a very safe and easy place to travel to.
Would recommend this workaway as long as you are physically fit and not afraid to get your hands dirty!

Nick and I volunteered at Giorgios' farm for 2.5weeks in October which is a perfect time to experience Cyprus in the shoulder season - not too hot but still sunny and warm enough for the beach. Giorgios and his family are new to Workaway so their system for scheduling and caring for volunteers is a work in progress. Giorgios' daughter spent many… read more years in the UK and speaks perfect English and is very warm so much of our interaction was via her and her boyfriend, who then communicated with her Dad. This system worked well and we never had any issues with communication despite Giorgios minimal English. Having said that, Giorgos is a lovely, warm-hearted man who really is grateful for help on the farm. As we were accommodated in a separate house to the family (which was lovely and a real luxury compared with most volunteer hostings) it did take a few days to stock the house with food while we waited for the guys to go to the supermarket so we could cook for ourselves each day. During our stay there were two other volunteers, so a weekly schedule with 2 shifts per day was created - each shift is 5hrs. We worked 5 days per week as per the host listing and the work was very standard farm-hand type work. Lots of weeding, pruning, planting and harvesting of vegetables. This is a commercial farm so the work is pretty monotonous as most shifts you do the same thing for the whole 5 hrs. It is physical work so if you're not in good shape then this is not the volunteer post for you. The location is not as close to the beach as listed in the host's profile. The closest beach is within 15mins drive and while it is lovely, it is not within a well serviced touristic area and there was no way for us to catch a bus there. This part of Cyprus is mostly known for its proximity to Ayia Napa and Famagusta. There is a local bus that takes you to Ayia Napa but on the weekends the schedule is not very regular so we never used it. On one of our weekends off we decided to hire a car and go into the Troodos Mountains and the wine country for the weekend and Xenia and her mum were very helpful in arranging a hire car and dropping us into town to collect it. The Troodos Mountain villages are lovely, ancient and packed with character - we wholeheartedly recommend spending a weekend or more driving around and visiting the villages and wineries that fill the area. Cyprus is actually quite small so distances are not to much trouble if you have a car - without your own transport though you will feel cut off and remote in Dhyrenia. Its kind of suburban rather than quaint, so for us we were happy with just 2.5 weeks here. Giorgios, Anita and Xenia are lovely people and Im sure with time and experience hosting more volunteers they will find ways to improve the volunteer experience and get us much out of the cultural exchange as possible.

Giorgos is a kind and generous host and Cyprus is a beautiful island full of honest people. The food was delicious and the accommodation was basic, but homely. Work on the farm is difficult and hot, So bring lots of water, snacks and sun cream. However after a few days you get used to it and it gets better ^^. We were planting, digging, weeding… read more and general farm work on the fields.
Derynia has a well connected bus system that goes into Ayia Napa. Also, there is a pub called "Scott's New Inn" which is cheap and does good food.
There are free WiFi spots through Derynia around the Church and the "Europe Supermarket".
Giorgos and his family did a great job In making us feel welcome and we really appreciate it. Thank you and good luck!