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Hi, we are a busy, 5 person family, open to welcoming some occasional help with gardening, cleaning, maintenance, painting, maybe pet- or babysitting…
At the moment we are planning som bigger DIY-chores, so we are specifically looking for workawayers with clear experience in:
- landscaping who could help us finishing the last bit of work in our garden (removing 120 m2 of tired lawn and soil, replacing more fertile soil, sowing …)
- building or carpentry to help us building a carport/shed (6/5metres) next to the guesthouse in our garden. This person should have to be comfortable working alongside my father. He is 73 and retired from construction about 10 years ago. He has a lot of knowledge of how he wants to get this job done (has drawn the plans, technical details, materials, ...) but we don't want him to do it all by himself at his age...
The help regime can be discussed: 5 half days / week or 5 days of work and a week of free stay…
We enjoy cultural exchanges (we have hosted hundreds of visitors in home exchange, a Ukranian refugee family) We are generous by nature, and we expect the same of people staying with us. We offer a pretty private and idyllic guesthouse (ancient café+bathroom downstairs, guestroom upstairs, private terrace + shared garden), just 2 kilometres from the medieval town of Bruges.
We speak Dutch, French, English, German, some Spanish... For the bigger chores (DIY), we can host maximum 2 people. If you apply to help us with housekeeping and maintenance, we prefer single travellers as we don't have enough of that work for a couple...
As we have our own pets, we cannot accept other pets.Types of help and learning opportunities
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Interests
MountainMusicCharity workCultureSustainabilityPetsPlant careLanguagesGardeningDIY & craftsCooking & foodAnimalsNatureCultural exchange and learning opportunities
We enjoy experiencing diverse input, be it from people in different age group (we are in our early 40s) or from people from different backgrounds… It helps to keep an open mind :-)
We are very close to the town of Bruges, medieval treasure that is most worth exploring off tourist season. The proximity of the town also offers many possibilities to connect with travellers from all over the world. Brussels, Ghent, Lille are all within an hour; Amsterdam and London are three hours away…
We offer plenty of occasion to improve your French, Dutch or English (I am a native Dutch speaker and a French/English teacher).
My father and husband have a very small brewery; not commercialised but nevertheless interesting for beer enthousiasts…
My father is a retired builder, sculptor, letter carver, blacksmith and allround handyman (he practically built our home) who will happily share his (impressive) workshop and skill with you, if that’s your thing…Help
At the moment we are planning som bigger DIY-chores, so we are specifically looking for workawayers with clear experience in:
- landscaping who could help us finishing the last bit of work in our garden (removing 120 m2 of tired lawn and soil, replacing more fertile soil, sowing …)
- building or carpentry to help us building a carport/shed (6/5metres) next to the guesthouse in our garden. This person should have to be comfortable working alongside my father. He is 73 and retired from construction about 10 years ago. He has a lot of knowledge of how he wants to get this job done (has drawn the plans, technical details, materials, ...) but we don't want him to do it all by himself at his age...
The work regime for these 2 bigger chores can be discussed: 5 half days / week or 5 days of work and a week of free stay, whatever allows you to do what you want to do here...
We’re always open to guests helping in our busy family life: mostly cleaning and maintenance, but also cooking, gardening or dog-walking will be helpful. My parents are retired and live about 9 kilometres away. They are getting older and finding it more difficult to manage their beautiful but big house & garden. Some occasional help there (cleaning, cooking, maintenance, gardening) will be greatly appreciated. If you are a native English speaker, it would be nice to have our kids learn some English along the way :-) For this type of help, we think of maximum 4 hours a day, but it will very often be less! Our previous Workawayer gave us as feedback she felt a bit guilty for not being given more work... We did not mind, but we appreciate flexibility in this field (not being fussy about an extra hour if you often do shorter days)Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
German: Intermediate
Spanish: Intermediate
Swahili (Kiswahili): BeginnerThis 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
We offer a very idyllic and comfortable non-smoker guesthouse, located at the back of our shared garden. It’s pretty private. You have a private bathroom (shower, washbasin, toilet), 1950s style cafe, sitting area downstairs. There is a small fridge, a microwave, a sink, water boiler, coffee maker, plates and cutlery…
You can quite comfortably prepare your two cold meals a day. We expect you to provide those yourself, supermarket, bakeries, butcher’s are nearby... We offer a hot meal from our family kitchen in the evening. It's nice to sit down and chat once a day, but if you prefer, you can take it and eat it in the privacy of your guesthouse...
Upstairs there is a bedroom with desk and sitting area. Linen sheet, real duvet, towels, … are all provided.
You can use the washing machine in the main house on agreed times. You can use one of our bikes to get to places nearby (cheaper and quicker than public transport / a car)
The guesthouse has good wifi, there s a beamer with access to Netflix downstairs.
Outside, there is a terrace for your private use, and a garden that you share with us (our kids, pets)A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two