We need help for a magical little nature reserve and heritage home near Dublin, Ireland

Details

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  Description

  This property is a much loved, much visited large country house within easy reach of Dublin. All sorts have come here over the years, young and old, from Ireland and all over the world: artists, musicians, nature fanatics, festival goers , woodland volunteers, eccentrics, lovers and poets of all kinds - and many hold it close to their hearts for its magical atmosphere, warm welcome and celebration of nature. It is property and never ending project: a ramshackle, cantankerous but still beautiful old building, at the heart of sixty increasingly wild acres. But most of all its our home and is very much lived in, in a nicely messy, easy going and fun loving way. Over the last decade we have slowly brought the house and grounds back to life but could never have done it without a lot of help from our friends.
  
  The house sits deep in an old estate adorned with stunning veteran trees and forests which we now have turned completely over to nature and are still in the process of re-wilding. Sixty wild acres of river, meadows, native woodlands (many of which we planted) , a walled orchard and wild vegetable garden and ancient mysterious ruins all contribute to the bio-diversity.
  
  While the summers are kind of open for business with all kinds of people coming through, the autumn and winter is definitely the quiet time, when visitors dwindle and we devote ourselves to looking after our own home and gardens, and tending the land. These times of year, theres just one or two of the oldest family members, usually Zoe and Rol, holding it together - and we welcome the company. Nature is at the heart of everything we do here, and we are even part funded by Irish National Parks and Wildlife these days. Every year it just gets wilder and wilder! Join us on the journey.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Obviously there will be a good chance to speak English - as we will be working and hanging with you sometimes in a working day. We have quite a store of knowledge about nature and forestry which we're delighted to share , especially in the world of re-wilding. Zoe is obsessed with the meadows - so her specialities are native irish wild plants, herbalism, foraging and re-wilding. She is also a florist, specialising in wild plants and happy to hand on some skills. Roland is busy with a load of other things and will be in and out, his thing is all about the forestry, as he manages the slowly emerging woodlands and keeps back invasive species -and knows his way around machinery - tractors, mowers and so on. In our past lives we ran safaris in East Africa for many years - so have quite a lot to say about wild Africa too!
  
  We've been told its also quite an amazing experience to discover what life is like in a big old Irish house - and you'll have access to our library and amazing collections of books, games.

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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

  Help needed here is nearly always physical, hands on, practical and earthy. You must be happy to get your hands dirty, prepared to go out in the rain and to feel tired at the end of the day. You need to love nature, peace, and other people - though there'll be some solitude too. It's basically farm help, here, which we do organically and regeneratively but also in our own unique, unregulated way. We have a to-do list that never ends. The weather (it rains a lot in Ireland in case you haven't heard!) guides our days. This year, there is no business - we are just devoting ourselves to taking care of the natural world around us in our fields and forestry and looking after our gardens, vegetable patch, our fields, hens..and doing some maintenance and repairs to our own home - which has been somewhat neglected over the years.
  
  Though a lot of the help is manual, we also use machines to help us sometimes - a quad bike, trailer, tractor, and landrover - anyone with mechanical skills and familiarity with farm machinery will be viewed with great interest, thats for certain.
  
  Oh, also we keep warm inside with wood burning stoves so firewood processing - collecting twigs, splitting logs , filling log baskets and lighting fires is all part of the fun!
  
  As a family we mostly spend our evenings privately , go to bed early and wake up early. We would expect you all to prepare your food together and entertain yourselves after helping hours - we're hoping there will be three of you - with your own kitchen and tv. We will supply basic vegetarian food to cover three good meals a day. Treats/special dietary requirements are up to you!
  
  Oh, and did we say we have a sauna available for your use !!!!?

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Swahili (Kiswahili): Fluent
  French: Intermediate
  German: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  There is a nice little apartment in the heart of the manor which you'll share with two other volunteers with your own kitchen and bathroom. It even has a little log burning stove. There is one twin/double bedroom and one single.

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  What else ...

  Irish people generally are very friendly and love to chat - so there are conversations to be had on every corner of any village - and with Dublin so close theres lots to see there - museums, galleries, arts events, and plenty of craic! Our county, Meath, is full of old castles and ruins for little local expeditions.
  
  Though we are not actually located in a village - we are only a few kilometres from four villages, so we're a short drive from plenty of buses and trains to Dublin and Galway and happy to provide lifts. Any keen cyclists will love to know we have a Greenway very close to the house that goes east /west along canals from Dublin and almost as far as the West coast and wild atlantic way. There may even be the option to spend some time in our extremely remote, off grid holiday cottage in Donegal!

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  4-5

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