Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
5 Jan 2025
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 2 days
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Details
Description
We are working with nature to create a diverse and resilient regenerative-permaculture homestead on 30 acres of farmland with animals, a fruit orchard, a garden, a native plant nursery and woodlots. Our property is located in a rural valley surrounded by bush, farmland, and bounded by a stream with swimming holes. It is beautiful and quiet with relaxing views of the hills.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Help with Computers/ Internet
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
We have travelled extensively and know what it is like to live and work overseas. I enjoyed the interaction with the people in the countries I travelled to and would like to offer that same opportunity to others. I work with, and alongside, workawayers and often engage in interactions and conversation to hopefully increase their understanding (and my own) of our different cultures. I am particularly interested in permaculture, regenerative agriculture, natural systems, the environment, history, and geopolitics, and other workawayers have found these discussions interesting. I have also had a 25 year career in business improvement and leadership development. My wish is for workawayers to have an interesting and stimulating visit and enjoy our time together. This has certainly been the case with the people we have hosted so far.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
There are always general farm jobs like fencing, and shifting stock to do, as well as pruning, pest tree and weed clearing, fence line maintenance etc. The DIY projects around the house continue slowly, but are close to finished.
We are now looking towards how we create an online offering (via social media) for our project. we are currently revamping our website and would like to create / incorporate social media (short explainer videos etc.) into our project. We are new to this and a little apprehensive, but have been told repeatedly we should be creating a channel to let people know what we are doing, so help and advice from experienced content producers would be helpful.
We do have an expectation that Workawayers do 4-5 hours of actual helpful work a day as is the intention of Workaway. We are very fair, reasonable, and flexible about this and our hope is that everyone has a happy and rewarding experience - and this has almost always been the case. Just be aware that if you are really just looking for free accommodation and to do the absolute minimum, this is not the place for you.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Accommodation
You will have your own separate bedroom, bathroom, and internet access. Food can be prepared together or workawayers could provide their own if they have special dietary needs or just if they prefer to. We eat meat but are totally OK if you choose not to - that's up to you. We have hosted vegan people and respect each person's choice to eat what they wish and request the same of our visitors. Ideally we would spend mealtimes together in conversation but workawayers will have plenty of time to themselves and their a lots on private places on the property to escape to if you would like your own space for a while
What else ...
Our farm is situated 15 minutes drive to each of the the small local towns. We are up a quiet road with no public transport, so having your own transport is preferable. There are cycling trails, bush walks, and local craft stores close by. Our area is close to Thames - the gateway to the Coromandel Peninsula, which is famous for its beaches, bushwalks, and eco-tourism. The Hobbiton (Lord of the Rings) village is 30 minutes away and the start of the Pinnacles bush walk (5 hours return) up to a spectacular viewing point is 45 minutes drive away.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
We have a Starlink connection that can be accessed close to the house only
Space for parking camper vans
We can accommodate at camper up to about 7m long on a hard stand area
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Feedback (7)
Photos
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(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
Actually, I can elaborate a little bit. Mike's massive property is full of gems, through lemon and lime orchard, exotic fruit garden, vegetable garden, cows and sheep paddock, lovely Poppy (dog), swimming spot in river to Mike himself. I spent most of the days (7) cutting privet
(which is invasive species of… read more
In our working time, we cleared many fence lines with Mike, and Poppy was always helping... :). We also built a gate between the orchards, which was very fun!
We had many interesting and emotional conversations about almost every topic you could imagine.… read more
There are a lot of different tasks to do on the farm so it never got boring and we were able to find a good mix of strenuous work and easier tasks to relax.
I particularly enjoyed… read more
