Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
22 Apr 2025
Reply rate
88.6 %
Usually responds within 22 days
Feedback
19
ID verified
Email verified
Badges (4)
Details
Description
Hi there, I'm James. I'm 31 years old and from Scotland. I recently bought a house in the countryside near Valencia. It's a beautiful place surrounded by mountains, with lots of hiking routes and two pretty villages nearby. It's already comfortable inside the house, but it needs a bit of work outside. I have a very friendly if slightly demanding cat. My goal is to learn about growing food and doing basic construction; renovating the house and making it beautiful in the process.
Right now the main task is painting the outside of the house: scraping off the old paint, fixing some cracks and old plaster, sticking down some tiles & finally painting the walls and window frames. Some of the plastering and painting will involve going up a ladder.
I'm looking for people who feel confident doing tasks like that and also doing them alone some of the time, as I'm quite busy with my job at the moment. However, I work from home, so I will be around, and we can work together whenever I'm free and of course hang out at the end of the day and at the weekends.
I work online as an English teacher, although my real passion is music and writing, which I also do - without making any money. When I lived in London and Glasgow I hosted lots of people from other sites and loved the experience. I love meeting and spending time with new people, learning about other cultures and making connections that last!
Types of help and learning opportunities
DIY and building projects
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
I'm an English teacher and I can of course help you with your English. I'm also fluent in Spanish so if you're learning Spanish I can help you with that too! If you're a musician, then we can make some music together - I play the piano and guitar and sing and I have built a small home studio here. Other people are always the best inspiration!
Help
Most of the tasks I need to do are outside:
- Repairing cracks in the plaster of an outside wall
- Repainting the house
- Preparing the ground, planting and then maintaining plants
- Building more places to shelter from the sun (which is hot in the summer!)
- Other small DIY tasks.
I'm also planning to start brewing beer - something I've always wanted to do. Tasks aren't done on a serious rota like in other more organised workaways - it's just my house and garden and I'm looking for someone who's good company and happy to help out with things!
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: FluentThis host offers a language exchange
I can help you with English, and Spanish as well if you're a beginner.
Accommodation
The house is a bungalow with a big kitchen, a comfortable living room, two bathrooms, a garden and roof terrace. I have a spare room in which there is a comfortable single bed and storage. In terms of food, we can share the cooking (if you enjoy cooking) and I will provide the ingredients. I'm a meat-eater myself, but I love vegetarian and vegan food and I'm happy to adjust my diet according to your needs.
What else ...
The house is surrounded by mountains with lots of places to hike and in the local village there is a nice river you can swim in. The place is amazing for cycling. Like everywhere else in Spain it is full of history - on the other side of the hills there's an abandoned airfield from the civil war, and down the road in Gestalgar there is a castle and the remains of a Roman aqueduct. Valencia is only a 50-minute drive away or there's a train from Llíria which I can drive you to. There's also a bus to the city which passes once a day. I have internet access which you're free to use, although it's a 4G connection and although it's very reliable it's a little slow by modern standards - 20mb/s - and I need to use it to teach my online classes, so I ask that you don't watch any videos in HD or download large files.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
I have a 4G internet connection which I use for teaching online classes - so you can't watch HD video or download large files. Otherwise, you're free to use it!
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
Feedback (9)
During a 6-day stay, my task was to paint the bars on 11 windows. It was a task right up my alley. I've enjoyed it a lot, it was a therapeutic experience. I've… read more
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Feedback
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Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(4.8)
During a 6-day stay, my task was to paint the bars on 11 windows. It was a task right up my alley. I've enjoyed it a lot, it was a therapeutic experience. I've… read more
I stayed with James for about 3 weeks in his wonderful house. It was my first workaway experience.
I sent a request with very little advance and luckily was it possible for me to come .
From the first contact he was very nice, kind and help me to find the way and the bus to get to the closest town to his place.
The house is… read more
