Germany
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Dear Workawayer/s
Greetings from family Mitchell: Peter, Silka, three boys Leonard 19, Edgar 16 and Erik 9, one dog, two cats, 20 chickens, 3 rabbits and a family of kestrels that return to nest each year.
After years of living in East London ensconced in the rat-race, we decided the time was right for a complete change of lifestyle and some 'fresh air'! So here we are living in a remote farming village by the wild woods of Upper Franconia in northern Bavaria. A decision also prompted by the arrival of a new member of the family in Nov 2011. Erik was born in London but won’t remember much as he was only there for 40 days!
Our mission is to turn what was a dilapidated farm into a creative hub which contributes to the discovery of this beautiful region through creative and healthy output. It's a fairly big task, which is why we're looking for help and enthusiasm.
The place includes 3 acres of garden and woods with five buildings in various states of condition. We're looking for help with both the land and buildings, ongoing artworks and help round the house such as cooking, cleaning or playing with the boys. Jobs on the land include building ‘natural fences‘ through the woods and preparing firewood for the winter, restoring the vegetable garden, clearing the small beck, or unwanted trees from the woods and much more...taking the boys to the pool! If you're interested then we're the 'green heart' on the satellite image of the village: Weissenbach, Wirsberg, 95339.
The area has a big scale about it, large wild forests, rolling hills and ruggedly beautiful landscape. Weissenbach is a small active village (approx 35 houses) situated at the end of the road, so there's no through traffic. The area beyond is forest and fields, other than the Buddhist Monastery, which is about a 30-minute walk through the woods. The nearest shops/restaurant/bar are in Wirsberg, 3km down the hill and there's a train station in Neuenmarkt-Wirsberg which is 8 km from our house.
We're an open minded, well travelled family who love to work hard, eat well and have fun and we would like to offer volunteers the same in a beautiful place with good air and wonderful bird song.
We have bicycles to lend for fantastic on and off-road cycling, including a lovely cycle path to the historic town of Kulmbach, famous for beer making and the Plassenberg Castle with the largest lead soldier collection in the world! We're surrounded by wonderful woodland walks and there's a great outdoor swimming pool and water slide nestled in the tree lined valley about a 15 minute bike ride from our place.
This is a great place for anyone who wants to hear themselves think! The air is wonderful, the area is charming and I'd like to think we are a positive and fun bunch to work with.
ps. we love music, food and laughter!
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Anyone interested in design and art can benefit from our experience of over 25 years working in this field. They can be part of the journey of developing a project aimed to benefit the local community and attract tourism to an area once well populated by visitors. We speak both German and English in the home and have travelled, lived and worked in a number of other continents.
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Works to beautiful old timber barn
Help with ongoing art projects
Cutting dead trees out of woods
Preparing firewood for winter
Caring for the vegetable and fruit garden, chickens and rabbits.
Building living fences through woods
Preparing barn & studio for next events
Cooking & helping in the house
Playing/doing homework with Erik our 9 year old!
General landscaping work
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Two double bedrooms in small house.
One double bedroom above Studio.
Two ‘Hay hotels‘ in main barn which sleep 3-4 people each.
Wide range of other tents and camping equipment
Use of own kitchen, bathroom and toilet
The local area is full of beautiful, unspoilt walks through sweeping valleys and huge pine forests. There is also a very small Thai buddhist monastery nestled within the woods, approximately 25 mins walk from our home, which offers daily group meditation sessions.
Kulmbach is our nearest town, a one hour cycle away with a picturesque historic castle, beer museum and cobbled back streets. Bayreuth, famous for the Wagner Festival is a 15 minute train ride and worth a visit for shopping, the Wagner museum, Ermitage park etc. Bamberg, Kronach and Coburg are some of the other notable historic towns in the region and all within a 1.5 hour range of our home.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
We gladly host digital nomads and generally our internet connection is good. We run our design business from here and rely on the internet. Mobile phone connection is not good, which is another reason we rely on the internet!
We have a three space car car which would be ideal for camper vans. There's other options here too as we have a very large garden (approx 3 acres)
Pets should be no problem. We have quite a few already!
More than two
5 max (25 hours per week), 2 days off
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