Outdoor in magical Connemara, Ireland

Details

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  Description

  Who We Are:
  
  We are located in the West of Ireland, in a serene rural setting of unparalleled natural beauty. Positioned at the foot of two renowned hillwalking areas and situated between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask, this region has been a favored destination for fishing for over 200 years. Steeped in the rich history and culture of Ireland, the area is dotted with castles, ruins, woodlands, lakes, and the ever-present sheep and cows!
  
  🌿 Come Join Us in the West of Ireland 🌿
  
  We are a well-reviewed WorkAway host with a strong reputation for welcoming volunteers into our home and community. We do our best to create an experience that is both rewarding and enjoyable. Our place is surrounded by the natural beauty of Connemara — lakes, hills, and small villages where you’ll find traditional music, friendly locals, and plenty of Irish culture.
  
  Right now, we have lots of gardening projects you could help with:
  
  Preparing the Gardens for Spring
  If you enjoy working outdoors and seeing the results of your effort, this project is for you. Tasks include:
  - clearing the vegetable gardens of winter debris to ready them for planting
  - clearing the glass house of winter gardening to prepare for spring planting
  - weeding, pruning, and clearing up the decorative gardens
  - planting many seed starts and window boxes
  - final pruning of trees and bushes before spring growth
  - first lawn cutting and edging of the year
  - clearing away weeds and exuberant summer growth on boarders, now that winter has tamed it a bit!
  - prepping new areas to become decorative gardens (weed suppression no-dig style, moving compost and soil)
  - other tasks to ready to property for spring
  - painting and garden furniture refurbishment when weather is too beastly to be outdoors
  Please note: this is entirely outdoor work. Ireland is famously green because it rains often! We’ll never ask you to work in heavy rain, but you’ll need proper waterproof shoes and rain gear for misty days.
  
  
  What You Can Expect
  - A warm welcome into our home and daily life
  - Shared meals, good conversation, and cultural exchange
  - Time off to explore the beautiful surroundings — lakeside walks, hikes in Connemara, or evenings in the local village
  - A chance to learn about gardening, Irish culture, and community projects in a relaxed, supportive environment
  
  We value hardworking, focused, and enthusiastic people who want to contribute and learn. In return, you’ll be part of a friendly household, enjoy great food, and have the chance to discover a special part of Ireland.
  
  If gardening a growing food speaks to you, we’d love to hear from you!
  
  Our location simply cannot be beat for absolute beauty of the huge lakes, the inviting hills, the open green fields, and the many historic ruins. You have easy access to swimming, cycling, hiking, socializing in pubs, and with some preplanning, venturing out via public transportation to the wider sites and attractions of Ireland.
  
  We look forward to meeting you and sharing the peaceful beauty that is Western Ireland.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Charity Work

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You will have the opportunity to meet local artists, writers, musicians, crafts people, heritage practitioners – and our wonderful local community here in the west of Ireland.
  I am happy to bring our volunteers along when we go to some of the extraordinarily beautiful locations, heritage sites, ruins, museums, etc. We occasionally go out to hear local live music in our pubs.

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  Help

  Help Required :
  Preparing the Gardens for Spring (really a good fit for two people traveling together)
  If you enjoy working outdoors and seeing the results of your effort, this project is for you. Tasks include:
  - clearing the vegetable gardens of winter debris to ready them for planting
  - clearing the glass house of winter gardening to prepare for spring planting
  - weeding, pruning, and clearing up the decorative gardens
  - planting many seed starts and window boxes
  - final pruning of trees and bushes before spring growth
  - first lawn cutting and edging of the year
  - clearing away weeds and exuberant summer growth on boarders, now that winter has tamed it a bit!
  - prepping new areas to become decorative gardens (weed suppression no-dig style, moving compost and soil)
  - other tasks to ready to property for spring
  - painting and garden furniture refurbishment when weather is too beastly to be outdoors
  Please note: this is entirely outdoor work. Ireland is famously green because it rains often! We’ll never ask you to work in heavy rain, but you’ll need proper waterproof shoes and rain gear for misty days.
  
  
  We ask 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week from our Workaway helpers. Our day starts at 9:30 am, leaving you lots of afternoon and evening to enjoy our beautiful surroundings.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  Accommodations:
  We have a clean, bright, and welcoming home with spacious clean, neatly furnished rooms for Helpers. There is fiber optic wifi, clothes washer and dryer as well as clothesline, bicycles, walking-distance lakes (good swimming!), and you are welcome to go along to the local pubs to enjoy wonderful music.
  You will be expected to keep your rooms, kitchen, and bathroom clean and neat, and clean them prior to leaving, so they are tidy for the next Volunteer.
  We are a non-smoking household, no smoking or vaping is permitted on our property.
  Our accommodations are for one person or a couple, or two friends traveling together, as there is one large room available and plenty of storage for your things. We cannot host any pets or children.
  
  We live as sustainably as possible, making all our own soaps, shampoos, laundry soaps, hand creams, etc. (I used to own a handmade soaps and cosmetics company). We forage and preserve the bountiful fruits around us in season, and grow as much of our other fruits and veg as possible. We keep a small flock of hens for their eggs. If you are interested in learning to make as much of your own foods as possible, this is the place for you! We make our own bread, yogurt, cheeses, pasta, jams, jellies, cordials, the list is long. You will eat delicious, healthy, freshly made food from an international cuisine. We are omnivores but have spent years as vegetarians, so are open to varied life choices around foods.
  We are a very creative family, artists, musicians, crafting – activities we would be happy to share with you! There is a lot of music in our house (do you play? join in!) We try to have at least a half day for painting and art every week.

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  What else ...

  There is a small village with store, award winning bakery/coffee shop, bus stop, and three pubs 1.7 km from the house. We are 50 minutes from Galway City, 25 minutes from a moderately large village, 45 minutes from Castlebar, 45 minutes from Claremorris (nearest train station) 50 minutes from Westport, 3 hours from Dublin.
  Ireland is a country of moderate weather, generally on the cool side. You will need layers even in summer, and an absolute requirement is rain gear. You must have footwear for rainy weather (wellies are good). With the proper outerwear, Ireland is enjoyable most days, with some intermittent stormy weather or rainy patches. Expect some short rain showers most days, that then clear to bright crisp days. We often have days where it mists lightly all day. That’s where all the rainbows come from!
  It stays light in Ireland until 10 pm or later during the middle of summer, gets dark at around 4 in winter, so we tend to work to use the light when it’s there. We will encourage you to use the long days to explore the beauty of our area, soak up some culture, and learn about Ireland.
  You are welcome to stay with us over the weekends, but if you prefer to travel, we can help you get to public transportation, with sufficient notice and as long as it does not conflict with our other obligations.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  Stable internet connection. We spent over 20 years in high-tech, so understand the digital work life. Fibre Optic broadband has just become available in our area, and will be installed shortly.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

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