Experience a traditional red wooden house by the lake in Uusikaupunki, Finland

Details

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  Description

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  You may come here in April-May or August-September – or both! Possibly also in October.
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  We invite you to our 100-year-old traditional wooden countryhouse surrounded by the nature and a large garden with apple and cherry trees and else! We need your help!
  
  The place consists of the main building (the countryhouse), courtyard buildings such as a sauna, firewood storage, a garage, a granary... and a future Workshop. There's also another sauna that is a traditional smoke sauna! A bit further away there is an old barn that needs some care, and further away is our little forest. The place has it's own small lake for swimming and nearby there are more nice beaches. The place is located 10 kms from Uusikaupunki, a lovely small summer town by the Baltic Sea in South-West Finland.
  
  In the past we've hosted one workawayer or a team of 2-4 workawayers at the time, and both work just fine. If possible, we'd like to have a a small team of 2-4 to make work more fun! Your tasks will depend on your capabilities. Some work is more lightweight such as gardening and painting, while some will require strength and heavy lifting. New tasks for 2024 will include minor construction work, so, if you are a carpenter or talented handyman, we are more than happy to welcome you here!
  
  You may come to the place in April-May or August-September – or both! Here is a brief description of the work in different parts of the place:
  
  The Workshop: Transforming one of the courtyard buildings into a wood workshop. We started the work with workawayers in 2023 and will continue in 2024. We'll do new flooring, shelves for timber storage and other things required. This may include heavy lifting and other pretty physical work. If you are carpenter or talented handyman, this is your job! We hope to start this in May or even in April already.
  
  The Barn: Emptying and cleaning (sweeping + pressure washing) the barn and arranging the old stuff we have there (part of which you bet we’ll take to the local recycling center). In 2023, we painted together with workawayers the outside of the barn using traditional red clay paint. In 2024, we'll continue emptying and cleaning the interior, which will involve some lifting and climbing as well as dust and water. We plan to do this work in April, May or June.
  
  The Garden: Picking berries (black-, white-, redcurrent, gooseberry, buckthorn, rasberry), fruit (apples, pears, plums, cherries), cutting grass, weeding, and mowing, as well as cutting, collecting and shredding branches, and bottling apple juice. Harvesting will naturally take place in Aug-Sep.
  
  The main building: usual household work such as cleaning up the house, washing windows, heating up the sauna, making firewood, cooking, washing dishes. This work can be done any time.
  
  The Woods: Collecting firewood from the forest.
  
  There is plenty of room for you to stay in the house. We have mattresses, sheets and towels for you and you may eat as much fruits and berries as you can. The kitchen and bbq are available for you to cook your food. If we can cook together, that's even more fun. Basic groceries are available in the kitchen, the rest you’ll easily find in multiple grocery stores in Uusikaupunki if needed. If you have a special diet, please let us know.
  
  Please note that this is a traditional wooden summerhouse without modern shower or flush toilet. In the courtyard there is a traditional sauna and an outhouse (external toilet). You will wash yourself the Finnish way, that means, in the sauna. In Finland, sauna is not just for relaxation, but also to heat up the water and wash yourself. The outhouse means an ecological toilet that is compostable and located separately, next to the house. Electricity we do have, of course, running water comes to the kitchen, and we have basic appliances. You may also use our bikes. The house is warm and very comfortable, and the washing and toileting work just fine, don't worry, it’s just that we want to keep it that way, traditional and ecological.
  
  The best way to get here is by bus. You may take a bus to Uusikaupunki or an onnibus to Laitila (google matkahuolto or onnibus). We’ll then come and pick you up from there.
  
  I’m a 54-year-old Finnish man who has worked with different kind of people around the world, from Korea to California, and Jerusalem to Geneva. I have PhD in economics and MSc in engineering, but I most like working with my hands. Yes, I do have management experience, too, so don’t worry, the work will be well organized and fun. We live in Helsinki, but I’m planning to be at here most of the time in May, August and September. My wife will be there on weekends. I speak English, French, and Finnish, as well as some words of Italian, Swedish and German. My wife speaks fluently all of these languages. Together with my wife we enjoy and love this place very very much. This place is our hidden paradise. You’ll see!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Farmstay help

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You will have a chance to experience the very core of Finnish culture, that is, staying in a red wooden countryhouse by the lake. If you like the nature, nearby is a nature reserve, the wildlife including moose, deer, bambi, sea eagle, flying squirrel etc.

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  Help

  Here is a brief description of the work in different parts of the place:
  
  The Workshop: Transforming one of the courtyard buildings into a wood workshop. We started the work with workawayers in 2023 and will continue in 2024. We'll do new flooring, shelves for timber storage and other things required. This may include heavy lifting and other pretty physical work. If you are carpenter or talented handyman, this is your job! We hope to start this in May or even in April already.
  
  The Barn: Emptying and cleaning (sweeping + pressure washing) the barn and arranging the old stuff we have there (part of which you bet we’ll take to the local recycling center). In 2023, we painted together with workawayers the outside of the barn using traditional red clay paint. In 2024, we'll continue emptying and cleaning the interior, which will involve some lifting and climbing as well as dust and water. We plan to do this work in April, May or June.
  
  The Garden: Picking berries (black-, white-, redcurrent, gooseberry, buckthorn, rasberry), picking fruit (apples, pears, plums), cutting grass, weeding, and mowing, as well as cutting, collecting and shredding branches, and bottling apple juice. Harvesting will naturally take place in Aug-Sep.
  
  The main building: usual household work such as cleaning up the house, washing windows, heating up the sauna, making firewood, cooking and washing dishes (no dishwasher!). This work can be done any time.
  
  The Woods: Collecting firewood from the forest.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  Finnish: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  German: Beginner
  Italian: Beginner
  Swedish: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  Always happy to learn new languages such as Italian and Swedish. I can certainly help you learn Finnish if you like to!
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  Accommodation

  There is plenty of room for you to stay in the house. We have mattresses, sheets and towels for you and you may eat as much fruits and berries as you can. The kitchen and bbq are available for you to cook your own food. Some basic groceries are available in the kitchen, the rest you’ll easily find in multiple grocery stores in Uusikaupunki.
  
  Please note that this is a traditional wooden summerhouse without shower or flush toilet. In the courtyard there is a traditional sauna and an outhouse. You will wash yourself the Finnish way, that means, in the sauna! In Finland, sauna is not just for relaxation, but also to wash yourself. The outhouse is an ecological toilet that is located separately, next to the house. Electricity we do have, of course, running water comes to the kitchen, and we have basic appliances. The house is warm and very comfortable, don't worry, it’s just old and we want to keep it that way, traditional.

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  What else ...

  The place is located 10 kms from Uusikaupunki (Nystad in Swedish), a lovely small summer town by the Baltic Sea in South-West Finland. There's plenty to see in Uusikaupunki, including restaurants, cafes, museums etc. Uusikaupunki also hosts the Crusell Music Festival, the Karjurock festival etc. Please google Uusikaupunki.
  
  In the nature just next door, you can do fishing, swimming, rowing, wildlife and bird watching, exploring the beautiful nature.

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  There is a lot of space for your car and/or campervan, both at the house and even by the lake. Lakeside places have no electricity, though.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  Pets are welcome, yet up to the porch only. We do not let pets come inside the house to respect those who have allergies.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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