Help us get our vegetable beds ready for the winter in Carrickmacross, Ireland
Last activity
: 23 Feb 2025
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Min stay requested: at least a week
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Host ref number: 175915242629
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Feedback (4)
Left by Workawayer (Lila) for host
I had wonderful month staying with Gareth, Karen, Lily, and Amergin. They are incredibly kind, generous, and knowledgeable people who made me feel at home as soon as I arrived. Their kids Amergin and Lily are full of life and imagination I am very grateful to have had the chance to get to know them!
Their home is full of life and joy and they
… read more often have people visiting which meant I had the opportunity to meet several wonderful people. I learned a lot during my time here and was lucky to have the chance to participate in the courses they hosted during my stay including a week long course about soil health and a yoga retreat. Gareth and Karen are passionate about what they do and I am very inspired by the work they are doing.
I mostly helped out by looking after their kids Amergin and Lily and assisting with household chores. I also helped to prepare for the courses by cleaning and preparing the space and assisted during the courses as needed.
I am incredibly grateful to the whole family for such a wonderful and memorable experience! I absolutely recommended staying here and hope to come back soon!
Sending love
Lila
Left by Workawayer (Cynthia) for host
I stayed with this lovely family for 7 weeks, from January to March 2023. Gareth, Karen, Lily, and Amergen (and Ronan) made me feel like part of the family from the first day. Lily (almost 6 yo on April 19th :-)) is a delight. We spent some great time together, reading stories, coloring on the windows, creating our own story books, going on walks,
… read more long talks during supper about some magical adventures we have both had, singing, being silly and overall so much fun. Amergen (14 month at the time)...omgoodness what a beautiful child, with such a delightful personality. It didn't take much to make him laugh or to entertain him. We had our routine together, either walks in the buggy for nap time, or playing with his kitchen, singing songs, playing with the ball, but his favorite was when we played red light/green light with his sister....he would chuckle as soon as I picked him up. As soon as wither Gareth or Karen asked if I could watch him, I would always say "I'd love to spend time with my beautiful Amergen."
I really enjoyed spending time chatting with Karen (it was like spending time with a sister) and with Gareth and learning more about their vision of their Resource/Training Center (Brilliant BTW), as well as getting to know Karen's dad (Ronan) and learning more about the construction/materials used for the center (Ronan is the primary builder).
There were always guest over, be it to take classes at the center or friends, or extended family/coworkers like Connan (please let him know I say "hi") or other workawayers. There was plenty to keep me pretty busy. Spending time with the kids, helping with house chores (there's plenty of those :-)), helping with cooking lunch and dinner, and helping to feed the farm animals when the family was out.
Overall I had an incredible cultural experience however, I didn't have a vehicle which made me feel stuck .... BUT both Gareth and Karen were super conscious of this and they would make sure to check in with me to see if I needed to go to Carrickmacross for the day.
I mention this because I highly recommend that you rent a vehicle to get around and explore. There is so much to see and the farthest south you can drive is about 3 hours (Cork - which is beautiful)....so you can pretty much see all of Ireland with a car. The farm is EXTREMELY remote.... it's even hard to get a taxi to come out. There's no Uber, no Lyft, no bike rentals, no car rentals.
So, I highly recommend staying with the family BUT WITH A CAR :-)
Cheers,
Cynthia
p.s. I almost forgot to mention that I also got to help train their super cute puppy "Bingo", the last week I was there.You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.
Left by Workawayer (Julia) for host
I am so grateful for my time spent with this beautiful family. Karen and Gareth were my first hosts and I could not have had a better experience. They are both such kind, hard working, passionate people, with a lot of wisdom and knowledge to share. I truly enjoyed all of our discussions, and I learned a lot regarding regenerative
… read more agriculture/permaculture, international politics and development, Irish history, meditation, yoga, etc. I felt so welcomed during my stay with them and really grew to feel like part of their family. I also thoroughly enjoyed the work outdoors and all my time spent in Carrickmacross. They allowed me to use their electric bicycle and I have so many blissful memories riding around the area and enjoying the cows, rolling hills, and beautiful sunsets. Their animals are also a lot of fun and I found the work on their property very rewarding. I am really inspired by their project: Síolta Chroi. If you are interested in building community and concerned with ecology, this family has a lot to offer. We shared our meals together and the food was very delicious. I miss the garden's courgettes! I have many fond memories (getting Coffee at Matildas, trips to the lake, watching films together) that I hold dear to my heart. My favorite part (a true unexpected blessing) was the bond I formed with their beautiful daughter Lily. Her spirit and personality adds so much joy and wonder to an already warm and easy-going home. Gareth and Karen are very giving and generous hosts, and I miss my time with them! I look forward to returning and seeing their project in-action. Wishing you all the best! Much love <3You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.
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Left by Workawayer (Lila) for host
I had wonderful month staying with Gareth, Karen, Lily, and Amergin. They are incredibly kind, generous, and knowledgeable people who made me feel at home as soon as I arrived. Their kids Amergin and Lily are full of life and imagination I am very grateful to have had the chance to get to know them!
Their home is full of life and joy and they
… read more often have people visiting which meant I had the opportunity to meet several wonderful people. I learned a lot during my time here and was lucky to have the chance to participate in the courses they hosted during my stay including a week long course about soil health and a yoga retreat. Gareth and Karen are passionate about what they do and I am very inspired by the work they are doing.
I mostly helped out by looking after their kids Amergin and Lily and assisting with household chores. I also helped to prepare for the courses by cleaning and preparing the space and assisted during the courses as needed.
I am incredibly grateful to the whole family for such a wonderful and memorable experience! I absolutely recommended staying here and hope to come back soon!
Sending love
Lila
Left by Workawayer (Cynthia) for host
I stayed with this lovely family for 7 weeks, from January to March 2023. Gareth, Karen, Lily, and Amergen (and Ronan) made me feel like part of the family from the first day. Lily (almost 6 yo on April 19th :-)) is a delight. We spent some great time together, reading stories, coloring on the windows, creating our own story books, going on walks,
… read more long talks during supper about some magical adventures we have both had, singing, being silly and overall so much fun. Amergen (14 month at the time)...omgoodness what a beautiful child, with such a delightful personality. It didn't take much to make him laugh or to entertain him. We had our routine together, either walks in the buggy for nap time, or playing with his kitchen, singing songs, playing with the ball, but his favorite was when we played red light/green light with his sister....he would chuckle as soon as I picked him up. As soon as wither Gareth or Karen asked if I could watch him, I would always say "I'd love to spend time with my beautiful Amergen."
I really enjoyed spending time chatting with Karen (it was like spending time with a sister) and with Gareth and learning more about their vision of their Resource/Training Center (Brilliant BTW), as well as getting to know Karen's dad (Ronan) and learning more about the construction/materials used for the center (Ronan is the primary builder).
There were always guest over, be it to take classes at the center or friends, or extended family/coworkers like Connan (please let him know I say "hi") or other workawayers. There was plenty to keep me pretty busy. Spending time with the kids, helping with house chores (there's plenty of those :-)), helping with cooking lunch and dinner, and helping to feed the farm animals when the family was out.
Overall I had an incredible cultural experience however, I didn't have a vehicle which made me feel stuck .... BUT both Gareth and Karen were super conscious of this and they would make sure to check in with me to see if I needed to go to Carrickmacross for the day.
I mention this because I highly recommend that you rent a vehicle to get around and explore. There is so much to see and the farthest south you can drive is about 3 hours (Cork - which is beautiful)....so you can pretty much see all of Ireland with a car. The farm is EXTREMELY remote.... it's even hard to get a taxi to come out. There's no Uber, no Lyft, no bike rentals, no car rentals.
So, I highly recommend staying with the family BUT WITH A CAR :-)
Cheers,
Cynthia
p.s. I almost forgot to mention that I also got to help train their super cute puppy "Bingo", the last week I was there.You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.
Left by Workawayer (Julia) for host
I am so grateful for my time spent with this beautiful family. Karen and Gareth were my first hosts and I could not have had a better experience. They are both such kind, hard working, passionate people, with a lot of wisdom and knowledge to share. I truly enjoyed all of our discussions, and I learned a lot regarding regenerative
… read more agriculture/permaculture, international politics and development, Irish history, meditation, yoga, etc. I felt so welcomed during my stay with them and really grew to feel like part of their family. I also thoroughly enjoyed the work outdoors and all my time spent in Carrickmacross. They allowed me to use their electric bicycle and I have so many blissful memories riding around the area and enjoying the cows, rolling hills, and beautiful sunsets. Their animals are also a lot of fun and I found the work on their property very rewarding. I am really inspired by their project: Síolta Chroi. If you are interested in building community and concerned with ecology, this family has a lot to offer. We shared our meals together and the food was very delicious. I miss the garden's courgettes! I have many fond memories (getting Coffee at Matildas, trips to the lake, watching films together) that I hold dear to my heart. My favorite part (a true unexpected blessing) was the bond I formed with their beautiful daughter Lily. Her spirit and personality adds so much joy and wonder to an already warm and easy-going home. Gareth and Karen are very giving and generous hosts, and I miss my time with them! I look forward to returning and seeing their project in-action. Wishing you all the best! Much love <3You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.
Left by Workawayer (Chlotty) for host
I was so lucky to stay with Karen, Gareth and Lily for about two weeks in February and had a wonderful time with these lovely people. They are easy-going, open-minded and very, very caring. They made me feel super welcome, I could always join them whenever they went somewhere, for example they took me to Lough Muckno and I joined Karen for her
… read more yoga lessons, which was great. If you get a chance to stay with them, make sure to experience Lily’s impersonation of Kitty, the cat :-)
My work was mainly to help with renovation tasks like painting and some outside work and was always well appreciated. The structure of the days was very flexible and we got to spend some time together not only during the meals, but also watching a movie or taking a walk.
There is no public transport to the farm, but I made good experiences hitchhiking to Carrickmacross and back (and I could join as well when they were going there). It is really a peaceful, quiet area and even though there is still a lot of work to be done on the farm, I find it easy to imagine their amazing ideas for this place.
100% recommendation and please treat them well! ;)You can only contact Workawayers who have an active membership.
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Help us get our vegetable beds ready for the winter in Carrickmacross, Ireland
Important information about visiting: Ireland
If you are not an Irish Resident, EU Citizen or UK Citizen and planning to visit Ireland to work, volunteer or study, YOU WILL NEED THE CORRECT VISA. To find out more information you need to contact the embassy in your home country BEFORE travelling.
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