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

Details

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  Description

  We invite you to our 110-year-old traditional Finnish red wooden countryhouse surrounded by the nature and a large garden with apple and cherry trees and else! Yes, we need your help!
  
  The place consists of the main building, the Garden, and courtyard buildings such as the Sauna (of course!), firewood storage, garage, granary, and the workshop. Yes, there also is another sauna that is a super traditional thing, the smoke sauna! A bit further away there are the Barn and the Woods.
  
  We have our own small lake called Lemaani (named after Lac Léman in Switzerland...) for swimming. In addition, by bike you may easily reach seashore and 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 1-5 workawayers at a time. One is fine, too, yet if possible, the ideal would be to have a team of 2-3 workawayers at a time to make work more fun!
  
  Your tasks will depend on your capabilities. Some work will be more lightweight such as gardening and painting, while some may require more strength . Tasks in 2025 will include gardening, painting, and minor construction work. And making firewood, of course, the big hit!
  
  Here is a brief description of the work in different parts of the place:
  
  The Garden. Cutting grass and weeding, weeding, weeding. Lots of weeding! Also, collecting branches when it's time to prune the apple and pear trees, In August-September, picking the berries (black, white and red current, gooseberry, buckthorn, rasberry...) and fruit (apple, pear, plum). Packing and putting them in the freezer, or, making compote and jelly out of them.
  
  The Woods: Collecting firewood from the forest. This may involve cutting, sawing and chopping logs. Weeding grass around the baby trees (planted by workawayers, of course, in the previous years:)).
  
  The Barn: With several amazing workawayers, we've emptied and cleaned up this old barnhouse and painted it using traditional red clay paint. In 2025, we'll make a small extension to it, a simple shelter, thus involving some minor construction work.
  
  In general: Usual household work such as cleaning up the house, washing windows, heating up the sauna, cooking, washing dishes. Also, the BIG hit among workawayers, chopping firewood!
  
  Oh, I almost forgot, we also have a couple of old cars. So, if you are a car mechanic or otherwise talented with cars, I urge you to come here and join the team!
  
  For accomodation, 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 fruit and berries as you can. The kitchen and bbq are available for you to cook food. In turns, you will be cooking food for all of us. Basic groceries are always available in the kitchen, and if needed something else, I'll buy from the grocery store. If you have a special diet, please let us know beforehand.
  
  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 (eco 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 bio 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 (please google 'matkahuolto' or 'onnibus'). We’ll then come and pick you up from there.
  
  I’m a middle-aged Finnish man who has worked in different cultures 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 like to work with my hands the most! Yes, I do have lot of 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 here most of the time in May, August and September. My wife will also 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 these languages. Together with my wife we enjoy and love this place very very much. The place is a 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

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  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

  Picking berries (black-, white-, redcurrent, gooseberry, buckthorn, rasberry), fruit (apple, pear, plum, cherry). Bottling apple juice.
  
  Cutting grass and weeding. Lots of weeding:D
  
  Usual household work such as cleaning up the house, washing windows, heating up the sauna, cooking, washing dishes.
  
  Cutting and chopping firewood for the sauna and fireplaces.
  
  Collecting firewood from the woods.
  
  Painting the old buildings with traditional red clay paint.
  
  Minor construction work, mainly carpentry.
  
  Special need: a car mechanic! I'd love to have, as a team member, someone who could fix old cars. Our veteran cars need some simple repair. Please contact me if you know how to fix cars! You don't need to be a professional.

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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. Basic groceries are available in the kitchen, and we'll buy more when needed! If you want something special just for yourself, you’ll easily find it in multiple grocery stores in Uusikaupunki.
  
  Please note that this is a traditional wooden countryhouse 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, and other happenings. Please google Uusikaupunki.
  
  In the nature just next door, you can do fishing and swimming, 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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