Renovation of a house and garden and/or babysitting in Santillana del mar, Spain

  • Favourited 532 times
  • Last activity: 27 Mar 2024

Availability

  2024 

 Min stay requested: 1 month or more

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Details

  • Description

    Description

    We need help with the renovations of our new house, plastering, painting, building a stage behind the house, lots of gardening, and we also need help babysitting and sometimes with art projects, website updating etc. We have two spare double rooms for workawayers so ideally we will have two workawayers staying most of the time, could also suit a couple or friends travelling together. Please email me with the dates you wish to come, and how long you wish to stay, we prefer long stays of two or more months, please don’t ask me for less than 1 month unless you have highly desirable skills (eg are a very good musician, or have other useful profesional skills we may need)

    We're a family of 4, Annie (a harpist/busker from England) and Javi (a photographer/video maker from Spain) a 13 year old son Timo (from Ireland) and our latest member, a 6 month old baby girl Anouk.
    We’ve just bought a house close by that needs renovating, let us know what you are able to do, plastering, painting, flooring, gardening etc.
    We'd expect you to help about 5 hours a day and have two days off each week and we'll provide you with food and accommodation.

    Would ideally suit a couple of two friends.

    A bit about us....
    I enjoy music (I play the harp) and travelling. I make a living playing harp mostly from playing in the streets over the summer and a few hours teaching English over the winter. Javi is a professional photographer and videographer, he's also teaching photography, so it would be the ideal house for creative types. We also put on some garden concerts over the summer months playing movie themes on the harp with a silent projection containing clips from the movies.
    We are very relaxed, easy-going and flexible, we won't over work you. We have had quite a lot of au pairs and workawayers so far and they have all been lovely and very happy here, I was also an Au Pair a few years ago so hopefully we can be the perfect host family!

  • Types of help and learning opportunities

    Types of help and learning opportunities

    Art Projects
    Language practice
    Gardening
    DIY and building projects
    Babysitting and creative play
    Creating/ Cooking family meals
    Help around the house
    General Maintenance
    Help with Computers/ Internet
  • Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

    Here you can improve you English or Spanish, we can teach you a little music or photography if you're interested. We invite you to join us when we go to the beach or to town and we'll be able to show you a little of the surrounding area which is very beautiful. We're very close to the beach and the mountains.
    We're very used to having people stay, often we have friends here and couch surfers passing by, we like to spend our summer evenings sitting outside, eating and chatting.

  • Projects involving children

    Projects involving children

    This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

  • Help

    Help

    -we have just bought a house and are renovating it, we especially need people who can plaster, paint and get the garden started.
    -we need more time so your help would also involve cleaning, cooking and babysitting Anouk as Javi and I both work a lot at home, I need to practice and Javi needs to edit videos.

    Also it's really important to us that we can get on with each other and enjoying living together, working together, sharing some free time together etc. We're open and warm people, we enjoy people staying. For us the most important is that you have a positive attitude and you're keen to help us out and see what needs to be done without needing to be told every little thing. We all are guilty of spending a bit too much time on our phones and in front of screens but we don’t want to host people at home who do nothing other than look at screens all day long.

  • Languages

    Languages spoken
    English: Fluent
    Spanish: Fluent
    French: Fluent

    This host offers a language exchange
    French or Italian speakers are especially welcome!

  • Accommodation

    Accommodation

    We live in a house in valles, it's 5 km from Santillana del mar, a beautiful touristy village in the north of Spain close to Santander. You'll have your own room which has a double bed and a shared bathroom. Our house includes numerous harps, a piano, a few cellos of different sizes (including a full-size), a guitar, a terrace and garden. We're also 20 minutes walking distance from Puente san miguel where you have the train and a few shops and bars and a bike you can borrow.

  • What else ...

    What else ...

    Santillana is beautiful, a lovely medieval village. We have famous prehistoric caves (altamira) in the village, the camino de santiago passes through here, we're very close to the sea. We're also 20 minutes by bus from Comillas, another beautiful town. We're about 30 minutes from Santander too. There is plenty to see in the surrounding areas, beaches, mountains. Public transport is quite limited though, hitchhiking is a good option:)

  • A little more information

    A little more information

    • Internet access

    • Limited internet access

      Limited internet access

    • We have pets

    • We are smokers

    • Can host families

  • Can host digital nomads

    Can host digital nomads

    Desk in room and good internet connection (optical fibre)

  • Space for parking camper vans

    Space for parking camper vans

    This host can provide space for campervans.

  • How many Workawayers can stay?

    How many Workawayers can stay?

    More than two

  • ...

    Hours expected

    25 a week

Host ref number: 7553696914da

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