Serbia
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We are a young couple from England/Serbia and the Netherlands (with a little dog) and work in theatre. We have a hostel/retreat on the edge of the Fruska Gora National Park in north Serbia. We still need to do a lot of building, renovating, cleaning, clearing and gardening. We have several sheds, a permaculture garden, a cherry orchard, some chickens, a mangulica pig, outdoor showers and so on. Our place is situated in a tiny village in a valley, a 1 minute walk from the forested hills of the Fruska Gora and a 15 minute walk from a beautiful lake (lake Besenovo). We are also situated only one hour from Belgrade, 40 minutes from Novi Sad and 15 minutes from the motorway. We are in the middle of the village and the National Park.
Gardening
DIY and building projects
General Maintenance
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Farmstay help
Help with Eco Projects
Help around the house
Hospitality/Tourism
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
The first time you visit Serbia (as a Westerner) you might expect Eastern European poverty, signs of a recent civil war and NATO bombings. This is true and it is false. People have mobile phones, there's wifi everywhere, most people drive mostly modern cars, but yes, some vehicles wouldn't be allowed on the road in Germany. Roads can be bad, roads can be really bad, but new roads are also being built. Although Serbia lies in the heart of Southern Europe - in between Italy and Greece and South of Hungary - it is not even a candidate member of the EU. Being outside of the EU means you can still smoke cigarettes in cafes and restaurants, it means that 16 year olds can sip their first glass of beer on the terrace, it means that every farmer can still sell their own goods at the market without having to have the right permits and paperwork, it means that there's a little less regulation, a little bit more of an accepted anarchy, in short: a lot of things in Serbian life make a little more sense.
Up until May we need help with odd building jobs and decorating, and gardening. From May onwards we are expecting to have guests, so there will be more people around. Gardening tasks depend on the season. In April we will be making the garden beds, late May/early June we will do cherry picking, for example. We follow the principles of permaculture.
English: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
Serbian: Fluent
German: Beginner
Spanish: Beginner
We have a private, detached room for one person, one couple, or two friends (who don't mind sharing a bed). Up until May you'll be sleeping in the guesthouse, but once the weather gets better, we'd prefer you to sleep in a/our tent, so we can rent out the accommodation to our guests.
Apart from taking a dip and a cool-off in the lake down the road, you can take walks or cycle routes in the forest, discover the caves and monasteries of the area, go on a wine-tasting tour around the local vineyards, take a bus to the local town (and cheap taxis!), and from there you can get buses and trains to Belgrade and Novi Sad which have all the usual attractions of cultural cities. The local town has Roman ruins, a river with a beach and fishing.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Please check our website balkan-retreat !
This host can provide space for campervans.
Two
Maximum 5 hours a day, 5 days a week
