Profile information
Host rating
100 %
Last replied
7 Aug 2025
Reply rate
81.3 %
Usually responds within 7 days
Feedback
33
ID verified
Email verified
Badges (4)
Details
Description
I have lived in this wonderfully peaceful and magical place with my family for 36 years, and I really enjoy sharing it with others.
My grown up son and his lovely wife lives in the UK. They visit often with his friends. I am a retired psychotherapist and have an interest in yoga, meditation, drama, painting, reiki and ecological issues. I enjoy cooking , especially vegan and vegetarian dishes. We also eat High welfare meat. I am a big fan of Wim Hoff practices. We have a very productive organic vegetable garden so produce is fresh and plentiful. I have lots of wonderful friends locally and they enjoy meeting our volunteers. Belonging to a community is very important to me and I involve myself with the local artistic and drama community. There are also wonderful hiking opportunities can still be availed of nearby.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Art Projects
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Interests
History
Gardening
Drawing & painting
Vegetarian or vegan
Charity work
Culture
Events & social
Farming
Politics / Social justice
Self development
Sustainability
Writing
Plant care
Photography
Performing arts
Animals
Architecture
Cooking & food
Yoga / Wellness
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Workayers can enjoy involvement with our family , friends and community, sharing a healthy and fun lifestyle. This could include sharing cooking, learning about growing food organically. ,There are wonderful spaces both indoors and outdoors for yoga and meditation. the space offers amazing peace and tranquillity. There may be a possibly involvement in local drama and art projects, and historic walking tours. There are great local walks as well as some outings to local attractions. We are located 2 miles from the historic and literary village of Doneraile. It has so much to offer, a 400 acre wildlife park and historic house, a 9 hole golf course , playing fields, wonderful cafes and pubs . Check out Doneraile Estate and facebook page of visit doneraile website. While this will be my fifth year to host workaways I have been a wwoofing host for many years and really enjoyed getting to know many wonderful volunteers over the years. Many of them have become involved in various community activities including taking roles in a short film and becoming historic characters in our local guided walks....no pressure of course!
I belong to a theatre group in Cork and I am a volunteer gardener once a week in the iconic Blarney castle gardens. Our volunteers have very much enjoyed joining me on trips to Blarney and to Cork. We are quite near the Ballyhoura Mountain park, it has wonderful hiking and mountain biking trails.
Help
I like workawyers to make a minimum commitment of 4 weeks. This can be extended if circumstances allow.
Help in the garden and some house help.
We grow vegetables organically for our own consumption. These need to be sown, transplanted, weeded, watered and harvested. We also require help with restoring and maintaining some woodland, chopping and stacking logs, planting a hedgerow and some tree planting. I plan to plant a wildflower meadow this year and repair old stone walls.
We also need help with painting and small general repairs. I would also be interested to hear from someone who is artistic with an interest in wood sculpture. I would love to carve some tree stumps but don't have the skill.
It is a requirement that volunteers are considerate and respectful of in their interactions and behaviour with others and in relation to the living environment.
It is really important that workawayers respect current government covid 19 guidelines with regard to cross contamination and observe stringent hygiene practices. At the moment I only accept workawayers who are already fully vaccinated and boosted as I am in a vulnerable age category with regard to covid.
It is also important that workawayers are able to cook for themselves as generally speaking i only cook some meals for people .
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Accommodation
Accommodation is the house or may be in a cottage, it may be necessary to share a room. Couples and friends travelling together share a room. The house is almost 200 years old and very charming, however its facilities are not all that efficient so be prepared, bring warm clothes!
There is a shared bathroom.
What else ...
We are situated 3 kilometers from the local village of Doneraile in north Cork which boasts many literary and historic links. It has a magnificent parkland desemne laid out in the Capability Brown style.. It has a vibrant artistic cultural life.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
Our internet connection is reasonably good most of the time. However in stormy weather I leave it unplugged as we are subject power cuts .
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
My animals / pets
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
Feedback (23)
It was our first experience as Workawayers and we are very happy and proud with the results. As described in her profile, Catherine is a very active woman and invited us to join her gathering on… read more
From the very beginning, Catherine welcomed me warmly, and I immediately felt at home. She’s always helpful, kind, and respectful, and ready to explain anything with clarity and patience.
There are so… read more
Photos
Chat with Workawayers who've visited this host
Feedback
These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.
Accuracy of profile:
(4.9)
Cultural exchange:
(5.0)
Communication:
(5.0)
It was our first experience as Workawayers and we are very happy and proud with the results. As described in her profile, Catherine is a very active woman and invited us to join her gathering on… read more
From the very beginning, Catherine welcomed me warmly, and I immediately felt at home. She’s always helpful, kind, and respectful, and ready to explain anything with clarity and patience.
There are so… read more
She is a very interesting person with a special air. She has a lot of environmental awareness, is calm and patient and makes sure that there is a good atmosphere in her home.
The work was varied, although we mostly did gardening.
In addition,… read more
During her time here she was involved mainly with the restoration of an old cottage, mainly painting and prepping . In this task she showed diligence, attention to detail and took… read more
I mainly worked on the renovation of her cottage, doing mostly painting because I asked to as I really enjoy that, but there's plenty of other stuff to do here! I also did some gardening every once in a while and some other light tasks. The work was… read more
Zenda has deep knowlege and extensive experience of renovating and refurbishing buildings. Because of this experience I asked her to project manage various painting projects, a bedroom in the house, a cottage, and design work. She is very organised and… read more
Sherri has formidable organizational skills and did a very splendid job of helping me declutter and organize my… read more
You will be welcomed… read more
We did some gardening for Catherine. It was a bit difficult sometimes but we were really happy to did this for her.
She showed to us some interesting artistic activities and it… read more
The time I was there there was 1 other workawayer, with whom I got along very well.
The work was varied, and we did some gardening, painting (inside and outside) ,weeding , cleaning, strimming and other odd jobs.
Catherine walked us around showing us… read more
I was at Catherine's for just over 5 months and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had. From the moment I got there everything seemed to click and I felt instantly at home. I was fortunate to have arrived at the same time as two other wonderful workawayers (Camila and Antonio) and the three of us just hit it… read more
They fixed my printer and my internet amplifier....such a relief!
I was able to avail of John's engineering skills in checking out a leaking roof… read more
I am so happy with it.
It was a lot of hard work involving pruning and reshaping shrubs and trees, removing weeds, extending flower… read more
It was an opportunity to get immerse in Irish culture as she used to make Irish dishes every lunch and have great conversation. We also have met some of her good friends during gatherings outdoor.
The place is… read more
Her house is a beautiful 19th-century house, full of history. Her garden is beautiful and the two of us were working on… read more
I found Virginnia to be very knowledge and highly skilled over a number of areas. She has a great feeling for the… read more
co nscientious hard working and very respectful. Thank you Pippa
