Share a cultural exchange and helping with projects in our home and garden near Gandia, Spain

Details

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  Description

  We are a mature couple, living 15 minutes by car, 20 minutes on bicycle from the Mediterranean in an old house with large grounds that we are cultivating with vegetables and fruit and olive trees, we are still renovating the buildings. We offer food and accommodation – your bedroom and bathroom, kitchenette and sitting area are now finished! We are both qualified English teachers, so your English will rapidly improve with us. Mike is retired, an engineer and a UK teacher of Design and Technology, Computing and Business studies, so he is very good at imparting his practical knowledge. Helen is an experienced volunteer with large International NGO's so she does expect volunteers to Spain to be as enthusiastic and willing as herself. Helen is also qualified as an Accountant in England, Wales and France and is surprised to know that some of you need to learn some skills that I have in this area. I am willing to train you in Finance if you desire to start a small business or become self-employed. We are amateur musicians, but usually, we only gig once a week, and you being our roadies on that day counts as a day's work. If you are musical, we can have some fun here.
  
  We like to call ourselves “up-cyclers” as we renovate what we find/buy cheaply, from furniture to olive mills. Again, if you think telling me that cleaning an old sofa to recover is "not worth" it please don't come. The help involves a few skills, and we do like candid folk - by that I mean people who are honest about their true abilities - who say what they can do and what they cannot do but would like to learn, so from plumbing to painting or soldering to scrapping. Not all our ideas have worked out and we like people who learn from mistakes. We work closely with a homeless men's shelter so you might like to be involved in fundraising activities, we work in a charity shop for cancer care and a am dram group that is also linked to a care care charity.
  
  We are fake vegetarians who eat fish about once or twice a week, but if you need meat I will pay for it and you can cook it yourself. We are good cooks and would be happy to share our culinary skills to anyone interested in vegetarian cooking. We do not drink alcohol, but don’t mind if you do, and everyone smokes outside of the house, including one of us. We can communicate well in Spanish, French, German and of course English. The house is a ten-minute flat walk to the village, which has bars, banks, etc. and a bus to Gandia. If we like your driving and you have a valid license, we will offer you a car for part of the time you are with us. Bikes are available but need a bit of TLC to be road safe I think?
  
  NOTE: We have been off the site as a host because Helen was too busy with ageing parents and becoming a grandmother herself, and so we felt we couldn't offer workawayers an experience that would be of value to everyone.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Politics / Social justice

  

  Vegetarian or vegan

  

  Sustainability

  

  Culture

  

  Charity work

  

  Music

  

  History

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Books

  

  Art & design

  

  Languages

  

  Gardening

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Performing arts

  

  Drawing & painting

  

  Carpentry

  

  Camping

  

  Yoga / Wellness

  

  Dancing
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We go out every other week now to explore a region nearby - try and find out the history, what economic activity took place there and any art installations which we always gravitate towards. You will be welcome to join us. Sharing our desire to not throw away anything that might be reusable - eg we have plants on old toilets, helps us all to think laterally. We only want people who before they throw they ask themselves, can this be reused by us or anyone else, because to us, dumping without thought is unacceptable. We need people to think that one extra thought, what can this be used for, before they chuck something out. We like language and film and always talk about what we have just seen or heard. We have lived and worked in several countries and did so to get a real feel for the country - we will do our best to share our experiences with anyone. Also, we love learning, and so hope for a mutual cultural exchange.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  We would like a couple (any orientation) and expect 4-5 hours 5 days a week in return for board (we eat 3 or 4 times a day when we are doing physical work) and lodging - your own bedroom and bathroom and kitchenette and sitting area. Some of the specific tasks that need doing as of mid-2025 -
  
  Gardening clearance and maintenance.
  
  Shed garage clearance and cleaning.
  
  Concreting, cementing, tiling and no experience necessary, we can train.
  Help with making an ironwork balustrade and mounting it.
  
  Floor tile summer kitchen with recovered old tiles to form hopefully a beautiful unique Mozaic and sort out the pizza oven, ironwork painting - the cooler months is a great time for this, renovate wood furniture and wooden shutters and main external doors renovation .. NOTE general housekeeping duties double when the number of people living here doubles so help with this is also needed every day. NOTE We reuse as much as possible, and people who waste anything, even bread don't fit in with us. This means that often the work will take longer than if we simply bought new. Is there something that catches your eye on our TTD list? Let us know.
  
  We also have some old, not vintage, music equipment that needs fixing, then selling or upcycling into??? Electronic or music knowledge would be great for this. Mike can do this, but his wrists get tired quickly. We have old furniture that needs upholstering, which Helen can do, but needs hands to keep the tension, etc and if you stay long enough, you could learn this very useful skill.
  
  We will never ask you to do anything that at least one of us is able to do ourselves. Also, if you won't clean up our tools that are used for the job you are asked to do for any reason at all then we cannot take you. Cleaning instructions will be given using the least chemical process we know of.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  German: Intermediate
  Spanish: Intermediate
  French: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
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  Accommodation

  Exclusive use of bedroom and bathroom in a linked one-bed flat - see new photos. There is a lounge which is also our band rehearsal room, so it's shared, but only once a week.

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  What else ...

  The house is a ten-minute flat walk to the village, which has bars, banks, etc. and a bus to Gandia. The river is 4 minutes away and beautiful. Currently May 2025, the bird activity is fabulous; we have at least three nests in the eaves of the house.
  Our nearest town is Gandia, the 10th largest city in the Valencian Comunidad, was the Ducal home of the Borgia, a vibrant medieval city; markets, theatre, cinema, concerts, great restaurants and bars, a shopping centre, train station. Gandia beach is one of the best blue flag beaches in Spain and is nearly completely repaired after the last storms. Going inland, you find the 'Via Verde', a 13km walk to Lorcha, and one of the feeder routes for the Camino De Santiago de Compostela runs beside our house. (The hotel in our village can stamp your Pilgrims Passport.) The walk is flat because it is a disused railway line and passes through Moorish terraces and orange groves, an old hydroelectric plant and five spectacular tunnels hugging the Rio Serpis gorge. There are also difficult climbs around the Cirque de La Safor... a huge crater said to be an 'energy portal' by some. Helen goes to various towns for Charity work and visiting friends, so there is often a lift to Javea, Denia, Moraira, Gandia etc. Or just relax by the river - 4 mins on foot.UPDATE: As YOUNGER PEOPLE CAN DO MORE - cycle ride to Gandia beach in 25 minutes, the nearest beach is 20 mins by bike. A days excursion along the river bed, through old railway tunnels, then over the top track/road near the volcano crater is apparently AWESOME. If you cycle 26 miles, then camp by the reservoir, this is also special we are told. The garden is really big - 3,500 plus square meters, and you can always find a quiet place to just be within the property, just take a chair or blanket and find a spot. The hammock is repaired at the moment, it just needs to find the trees between which it will get used the most. Blablacar is very popular in this area and, as long as you have a debit card, very easy to use around the Gandia area and then the rest of Spain, then Europe.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  We have good internet and have hosted a digital animator and research fellow. The internet is free.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  A small van is welcome, off-street parking in the garden.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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