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Host rating
100 %
Last replied
18 Apr 2026
Reply rate
88.9 %
Usually responds within 28 days
Feedback
30
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Details
Description
A beautiful clay-strawbale house stands on the edge of a forest; surrounded by a vibrant garden, full of colourful scented flowers. A vegetable garden, fruit trees, clothes hanging on the washing line, an unfinished woven basket and a little child, running in the garden... this is the vision......
In the year 2017, I embarked upon my dream of crafting a home; a beautiful haven in the Archipelago of Southern Finland. The project began as my solo undertaking; a crazy project for one woman! But I trusted, that all would go exactly as it is supposed to - as it really always does. I have been hosting volunteer guests since 2018 and it has turned out to be a wonderfully enriching experience!
In 2023 I was blessed to be joined by Florian and the solo project became a duo project! Florian brought his determination and total support to seeing this home become a reality. He also brought a new touch of multiculturalism to the community and my life too, as he is French.
In the spring of 2025 we welcomed our baby boy into the world and since then building went down a few gears, but it's still been moving on. While waiting for our baby we also set up our own shop in the town-center of Naantali where I work on fixing and sewing clothes and Florian works on repairing small electronics. So our life currently is a bit here and there. Some days working in town and others on the house and garden.
Currently our house stands with the shell mostly complete. The roof is ready, the walls are up, the windows are in place. The goals for 2026 are to redo the scaffolding around the house, build the fireplace and continue with plastering the walls.
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The main season for guest is from June till September, when we have the possibility to host people in tents on the land. The months before are usually too cold for camping, so we can only host one person or a couple at most; sharing our home.
We offer workawayers a hands-on experience in natural building (strawbale, clay, wood, brick) and gardening. We are also happy to share our experiences on building a house, living in Finland and on community life. It enriches our life that we get to share our way of living with other people and to learn of their life-experiences and cultures too. Languages, foods and the differences (or similarities) in cultures are always favourite meal-time topics.
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During your stay it is possible to enjoy the peace of the forest, the heat of the sauna, sitting by a campfire, playing games and music together. I love singing and Florian plays the guitar too! There is also a small lake 3 km from the place for swimming in the summer. We live as part of a village, about 70 inhabitants, so meeting other village members and joining in community activities may be possible too.
For workawayers interested in staying with us, we often propose a video call to meet and talk through details of what one can expect here, and to also hear what it is a guest wishes of their stay here.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Interests
Vegetarian or vegan
Sustainability
Pets
Self development
Farming
Art & design
Music
Plant care
Drawing & painting
Carpentry
DIY & crafts
Gardening
Cooking & food
Books
Animals
Yoga / Wellness
Nature
Camping
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
A visitor may experience the beauty of the Finnish archipelago, the relative silence and calmness.
The fresh air and beautiful sounds of the forest.
Visitors will get to experience the Finnich sauna as well as locally and personally grown food.
We are happy to share life experiences and all we have learned about natural building.
I am happy to speak and teach Finnish words and phrases to anyone interested. Also a nice place for anyone wanting to speak some French. :)
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
There are lots of things to help out in!
-Building or helping to build wooden structures
-Building with clay, doing clay mixtures
-Carrying building materials (clay, bricks, wood...)
-Helping in the garden (watering, weeding, shoveling compost ect.)
-Cleaning the building site and house
-Playing with our baby (taking him out for naps, tickling, feeding him food, carrying him around etc...)
-Cooking, washing dishes
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Finnish: Fluent
French: FluentThis 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.
Accommodation
In winter months we can offer a room in our home, with a bunk-bed. We have a two bedroom, living-room, kitchen & toilet - apartment, which is part of an old school building. It is about 1 km from the house we are building.
In summer there is also the option of sleeping in a tent in the forest by the building site. It is a lovely, peaceful area, in a forest full of berries, mushrooms, deer and birds.
Workawayers will be dinning with us, we cook together or for each other, depending on who is inspired to cook something. We eat vegetarian and fish, but no red meat.
There is a small village shop very nearby where one can buy snacks and local produce; it has a rather good selection. Larger food shopping is done about once or twice a week in town by car.
The old school building has a sauna and a shower in the basement which can be used (preferably when the sauna is heated in order to dry the space).
What else ...
We live in a community village, half and hour from Naantali and 1 hour from Turku.
Visitors may wish to spend their free time at various village events.
If it is summer swimming, cycling and sitting outside by the fire are nice past times.
If one wishes to visit the town or city, busses go every weekday and hitchhiking to town is something I encourage, because it works wonderfully here, especially in summer.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
I have had a few volunteers stay in a campervan at the building site. So it is possible.
Can possibly accept pets
This host has said they are willing to accept those travelling with a pet.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
Ukko
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
Feedback (16)
I wish you all the best in your future travels, studies and all!
And welcome back some other time!
Arlette and Renato really know how to work as a team. They are independent, easy to like, easy to communicate with, hard working, motivated, relaxed, happy to be around.... I think I could still go on.
Thank you for showing up here!… read more
Thank you so much for opening your home for us and letting us participate in this wonderful project! We could only spend a week on the island, but we would have spend way more time! We really appreciate that you took us on for Juhannus :)
Sini is such an inspiration and we hope that her dreams come true! We helped mainly by building… read more
Sini is such a beautiful, kind, dedicated, inspirational and solar human being. Being in her company, as well as Sergio's, felt like a real gift. We would play music, make pasta by the candlelight, read Le Petit Prince, go on picnics and to the sauna.… read more
Photos
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(4.8)
Communication:
(4.9)
I wish you all the best in your future travels, studies and all!
And welcome back some other time!
Arlette and Renato really know how to work as a team. They are independent, easy to like, easy to communicate with, hard working, motivated, relaxed, happy to be around.... I think I could still go on.
Thank you for showing up here!… read more
Thank you so much for opening your home for us and letting us participate in this wonderful project! We could only spend a week on the island, but we would have spend way more time! We really appreciate that you took us on for Juhannus :)
Sini is such an inspiration and we hope that her dreams come true! We helped mainly by building… read more
Sini is such a beautiful, kind, dedicated, inspirational and solar human being. Being in her company, as well as Sergio's, felt like a real gift. We would play music, make pasta by the candlelight, read Le Petit Prince, go on picnics and to the sauna.… read more
Thank you so much for opening your home to me for eight inspiring and unbelievably cozy days!
Luckily we talked about our experiences with each other already in detail in person, so I won't elaborate on that here, but rather will dedicate the rest of this feedback to tell others about your place and my experience:
I was… read more
I also enjoyed life in this village with other volunteers from around the world.
I stayed just one week, it was too short...
I hope to see and stay her house someday!
Kiitos Sini, see… read more
I ended going to Finland very tired and wasn't as concentrated on my stay that I've could have been. I hope that I wasn't a burden sometimes.
Livonsaari is a very beautiful island and I was amazed… read more
Sam and Beth worked beautifully as a team. I was… read more
Thomas brought alot of… read more
I have spent 2 months at Sini's place in Livonsaari and I wish I could have stayed a little bit more !
Sini is a lovely person that has a rather different philosophy of living than me but it is trully amazing ! :)
Sini's place is at a very peaceful and quiet location, close to nature that every "nature lover"… read more
I feel we both gave each other a good experience. I got… read more
I was so happy to have him here that I felt a bit sad when he left.
He is easy to work with, ready to tackle any task, enthousiastic about big and small things. Like baking that lovely bread. Hmm. :)
Thank you Andy for bringing your presence to my home and project!
We will meet… read more
Arno brought calmness and a curious attitude with him. He was happy to work and easy to work and talk with. Though sometimes communication in English was a bit tricky. :)
I hope you do come back to visit again!
Thank you Adrian for your contribution! Thank you for the time you spent here, for your encouragement and sharing of thoughts. Thank you for your humourous personality,… read more
Her project is as unique as she is as a person. I had a lot of fun while working there.
The nice nature and the humble lifestyle made the whole experience even better.
It was very relaxing and I learned a lot there.
I can suggest this project to everyone who considers… read more
Thank you Elisabeth for your help. Thank you for carrying drinking water to the house every day. :) Thank you for the moments we got to share talking, being in the sauna and enjoying meals.
I hope… read more
I found him a considerate, gentlemanly type of person. Very easy to get along with.
I thank him for his presence, company, listening, helpfulness, openness and dedicatedness to all the tasks I gave, especially cutting glass bottles (which was the main task when he was here, making bottle bricks for… read more
All the people where very friendly, the work wasn't hard but various and I even had my own room. At my arrival she picked me up in Naantali so it was very easy to go there.
Because of the snow we spend the most time working inside except for the preperation of firewood.
When you're looking for a calm… read more
