United Kingdom
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Please note: we can only accept Workaway guests who want to stay with us for at least 4 months (ideally at least 6 months). Please write in your subject line the dates you'd like to visit us - this helps me to reply to you quickly as we get a lot of messages :-)
If you like small children, are the sort of person who has to keep your environment clean and tidy and have the patience to deal with a completely crazy dog then get in touch!
We are a busy, somewhat eccentric London family... Two years ago we bought our first home, a lovely Victorian house that needed an awful lot of love and work. We're still in that process (added a couple of extra bedrooms along the way too). We (and our dog) bought a house together with my brother (and his cat), because that's the only way you can afford to buy a house in London nowadays ;-) Then we decided the house didn't have quite enough people and so a couple of years ago we added a baby!
Since the baby (now a toddler) turned out to be a boy, I am now completely outnumbered and desperately need somebody to help me stay on top of housework and help with childcare so that I can go back to work instead of running around after all the messy men in the house :-)
If you speak Norwegian that's a bonus so our son can grow up hearing more of his daddy's language (and maybe you can help me a little with my very unconfident Norwegian conversation...) But there aren't very many Norwegian-speakers in the world so that's just an added plus :-)
Babysitting / child care
Cooking / shopping
Help in the house
Animal care
Of course we will look after you, introduce you to London culture etc. On the evenings when my husband cooks you can expect to be fed extremely well (when I'm on my own my supper, if I remember it, tends to consist of beer and Pringles...) Just a note about food: my husband is diabetic, so we usually have a diet that's as low in carbohydrates as possible as that keeps his blood sugar more stable. This inevitably means we eat quite a lot of meat, fish and other animal-derived products so we might not be the best hosts for a vegetarian (or, like one lovely Italian guest we had, someone can't survive a single day without eating pasta :-D ).
It's really a combination of looking after our toddler when I'm working (or getting admin done) and housework; hanging up and putting away laundry; tidying up the kitchen, helping with cleaning and so on.
We currently have quite a good routine with our Workaway guest taking the toddler to playgroups and other activities in the morning. He has a nap when he gets back, then I spend the afternoon with him and then often I'm working from about 4pm so need somebody to look after him then until my husband gets home. You would have two days off a week.
I'm self-employed and my working hours change a lot, so it's difficult sometimes to predict what our schedule will be in a few months' time. But I will do my best to let you know what to expect!
English, Norwegian
You would have your own room, sharing the top floor of our house with my brother. We live in a lovely Victorian house with a garden, which was in a pretty bad state when we bought it, and which we're doing up. Because there's been so much work to do on the house, some of the facilities are still a little basic (we currently have just a bathtub, no showers, but we're working on changing that!) But all our workaway guests have said they love the house so I guess we're doing something right :-)
We live in zone 3 of London, so it's a bit quieter than the centre but still really easy to get in to central London when you want to. I've lived in London all my life so can help to show you around. If you're happy riding a bicycle you'll find it much easier to get about.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
One
max 25 hours a week
