United Kingdom
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Hi Workawayers!
We have a beautiful ten bedroom House (Scottish Manse) set in mature gardens and woodland (with ponds and a burn) of approximately 8 acres with views to open countryside in the peaceful hamlet of Cairnie by Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Our aim is offer healthy lifestyle retreats for people who care about themselves and the wider world.
We are a married couple, Jane is very passionate about health and wellbeing especially alternative health care, nutrition and detoxification. She is also a qualified Naturopath, Pilates and Dance teacher she has run regular classes for over ten years. Jane is motivated to help people move away from a toxic lifestyle and creates all our own non toxic products in the house wherever possible. She loves animals, the sea and is also Director & Founder of an award winning company.
Ben is a qualified yoga Instructor and dance fitness teacher. He has over 25 years experience of running workshops and wellbeing programmes both at an individual and community level. He is the co-founder of a non-profit organisation. Ben is a passionate outdoor enthusiast who enjoys foraging, mountain biking and outdoor living, he also enjoys juggling, circus skills, permaculture, reading and music.
We have two children aged 16 & 24 who are rarely around and also have four whippet dogs. At the moment we are in a transition period between two houses so sometimes we are all here together and sometimes only one of us here.
The surrounding area is beautiful looking out over a large pine forest, we are 20 minutes from beautiful beaches and close to the Cairngorm National Park with 3 of the 4 biggest mountains in Scotland. We are on all major bus routes and have 2 close airports - Inverness and Aberdeen and 2 train stations in Huntly and Keith.
Our mission is to support people to acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills to lead a life which is good for themselves, the people around them and the wider planet. We would really benefit from resourceful, skilled and genuine people coming to stay with us and supporting us to fulfil this aspiration
We have 3 main roles we are looking to fill:
1. Housekeeping
including changing bedding / cleaning rooms and bathrooms / basic food preparation.
General cleaning and tidying and some basic painting and decorating.
2. Gardening
Interest in gardening and animals with experience preferred but not essential.
Weeding / planting / mowing / trimming trees / hedges etc / use of strimmer and possible chainsaw depending on experience.
Help with clearing the ponds and developing paths, herb garden and permaculture forest garden.
Looking after chickens and other animals.
3. General DIY (Do it Yourself)
Building and construction experience preferred but not essential.
Basic carpentry, repairing windows and other aspects of the house including putting up shelves etc. Sanding and installing a kitchen, electrical skills a bonus!
Outdoor DIY including building a woodshed and other general work.
We will require workaways to house sit on occasions - if this is something that you would NOT want to do please let us know as we can sometimes work around this.
Each position will include accommodation, all meals with a basic breakfast and lunch and evening meal, 5 days work for 5 hours a day with 2 days off per week (usually weekends).
Please do get in touch if you have any questions thanks Jane and Ben
Gardening
Building
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Other
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Helping with Tourists
We hope people visiting the House will make new friends and learn about the local culture. They will have a chance to improve their English as well as enjoy staying in a beautiful part of the world and getting time to visit the Scottish Highlands and North East Coast. There is good public transport and you can get around easily using a combination of local buses and trains which are within easy walking distance. We have bikes available to borrow.
You will have the chance to take part in any health & wellbeing activities taking place at the house as well as learn about sustainable living, permaculture, organic gardening and living toxic free. We are also happy to share our other interests as mentioned above including mountain biking, dance, circus skills, music, foraging and art.
We have 3 main roles we are looking to fill but would be happy with someone doing bits of each of them.
1. Housekeeping
including changing bedding / cleaning rooms and bathrooms / basic food preparation.
General cleaning and tidying and some basic painting and decorating.
2. Gardening
Interest in permaculture, gardening and animals with experience preferred but not essential.
Weeding / planting / mowing / trimming trees / hedges etc / use of strimmer and possible chainsaw depending on experience.
Help with clearing the ponds and developing paths, herb garden and permaculture forest garden.
Looking after chickens and other animals.
3. General DIY (Do it Yourself)
Building and construction experience preferred but not essential.
Basic carpentry, repairing windows and other aspects of the house including putting up shelves etc. Sanding and installing a kitchen, electrical skills a bonus!
Outdoor DIY including building a wood shed and other general work.
We will require workaways to house sit on occasions - if this is something that you would NOT want to do please let us know as we can sometimes work around this.
English, basic french, very basic german.
Accommodation will be in the annex of the main house. The bedrooms will have beds, sheets, electricity, heating and access to full bathroom, with shower etc. You will also have access to shared living room space and also to a communal kitchen. Breakfast and Lunch is on a do it yourself basis from the Annex Kitchen (once it is up and running / main kitchen until then) and it is expected that we would eat a larger meal together in the evening. All meals will be mainly vegetarian - however we occasionally have some meat in the house and obviously the dogs are fed meat.
Beaches, mountains, forests are the main attractions. There is a beautiful castle in Huntly 5mins drive away . We are close to the famous Spey river along which there are many whisky distilleries which you can visit.
Local attractions can be found visiting Tripadvisor
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
