Iceland
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My name is Silja and my husband’s name is Þórður. We live in Barðarströnd in the south of the Westfjords - a beautiful and still quite wild part of Iceland. We have a small guesthouse that we run all year round and about 100 sheep that we take care of. We also produce lamb meat for sell (the most popular is the smoked one) and keep 30 chickens for eggs for us and the guests. In the summertime we also get a pig, which is fed with leftovers from a nearby hotel. Over the winter I have social gathering every week where we do easy crafts work. I'm also the housekeeper of our community center.
Gardening
General Maintenance
Farmstay help
Help around the house
Animal Care
First of all, you will be a part of an Icelandic family - we will share with you our way of living and you will see what an everyday life in a countryside Icelandic farm looks like.
I can tell you about the Icelandic history and culture. I can show you around the area and tell you the history of where we live. I could teach you about Icelandic knitting from Icelandic wool. I also could teach you about woodcarving. I could teach you about local herbs and their use in teas and spices. I could teach you about Icelandic cooking and baking.
We are also happy to take you for local and family events (Seaman Day celebration, museum open day, concerts, birthdays)
This host offers accommodation and payment.
You will help us with our day to day work, main activities are:
Helping with cleaning and preparing the guesthouse for the tourists
Helping with general maintenance and little projects around the house and garden (like shopping, cleaning, cooking, picking mushrooms and blueberries, planting and picking potatoes, general garden work)
Helping with the sheep - the busy time is spring, when they have lambs and are set free to roam in the wild by June, and autumn, when we fetch them from the mountains. Fetching the sheep takes time, but also gives you opportunity to walk in the areas not many people go to, so you’ll experience truly wild and beautiful Icelandic landscape. It is also time when we work with a lot of other farmers, you you’ll get a chance to meet the local community too.
Helping with the chickens - we need to feed them and change water every day, collect the eggs and close them in the chicken house for the night
Taking care of our 3 dogs
We also welcome any sort of initiative - there’s probably a lot of things we can improve, optimize or make more pleasant, I also have many concepts for future projects that I like to discuss, so feel free to suggest and implement your ideas
In general we want to offer you activities that will be interesting for you and will match your skills. We don’t have a strict schedule - the activities for the day depend on what is a priority at the moment (or on the weather! :)).
The things I need help with are things that I need assistance with, so most of the time we would be doing them together.
English: Fluent
Icelandic: Fluent
You will have your own room in our house, with shared bathroom and decent internet. We have a private hot-tub, which is a great spot to observe the northern lights too. We have three dogs at home. You can eat with us or use the kitchen to cook your own food if you want. The nearest supermarket is 34 km away, so trips there are not an everyday thing and we have to plan our meals well :)
It is a peaceful area, perfect if you like nature and would like to spend time far away from big city noise and hassles.
Near us there is a swimming pool and an nature hotpot with a beautiful view over the bay and the mountains. There are plenty of sights in the area, mostly regarding the landscape. We can take you around the area and tell you about its history.
Some attractions in our area are: Látrabjarg, 72 km away (westernmost point of Iceland, a beautiful cliff and a great spot to observe birds), Rauðasandur beach, 45 km away (a golden sand beach), Flatey island (accessible by a ferry).There is a bus that goes to Látrabjarg as well as Ísafjörður (the biggest town in Westfjords) during summer and we could help you plan your travels.
To get to our place from Reykjavik, you need to get to Stykkisholmur (you can check the route here: ) and get a ferry to Brjanslaekur, where we will pick you up.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
One
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week
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Accuracy of profile:
(4.3)
Cultural exchange:
(4.7)
Communication:
(4.3)
