Jack

United Kingdom
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Travel information
I am currently
Travelling
Description
I'm Jack: a musical theatre composer, filmmaker, poet, and songwriter from the North of England. I am a fairly independant person who loves reading, writing, and going on long walks. I also really enjoy meeting new people, experiencing new food, music, stories. I am happy doing all kinds of work. I hope that, in a small, important way, I am able to help you.
Interests
Writing
Videography
Performing arts
Photography
Outdoor activities
Movies & TV
Music
Nature
Languages
History
Events & social
Drawing & painting
Dancing
Culture
Charity work
Books
Architecture
Art & design
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Italian: Intermediate
More details about my language interests
I can offer conversation in German or English. I am interested in improving my Italian and French.
Find a language buddy
Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
Eco Projects
Helping around the house
Gardening
Some knowledge of:
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Hospitality/Tourism
Languages
Teaching
Able to teach about:
Art Projects
More details about your skills
- writing and producing songs
- writing fiction, theatre, poetry
- photography
- I have given a lot of primary school tuition - mainly English and Maths
- lots of experience with children in general
- I have masses of useless trivia (pub quiz material, sans sports)
- cooking (indelicately, but amply)
- dancing (poorly but passionately)
Age
30
What else ...
I like chess, tea, old movies, old books, trees, mountains, sunrises, and sunsets.
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
- Special dietary requirements

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27 Oct 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Help us in a lovely, little ...)

Anna and I stayed with Patrick and Marcelle for a week in summer.

Extremely quiet cottage life. This is a place which really earns the title 'the middle of nowhere'. I consider this a good thing, but I can imagine hyperactive city kids getting jittery as they look out the car window and see nothing but fields in all directions forever. Standing… read more in the landscape is like standing between two parallel mirrors showing an infinite successive image of the same field, over and over again. France has so much land, one thinks, looking at it. I think they should give Gascony back to King Charles (real opinion!).

There is, however (a truly bizarre fact) a little alternative culture scene in this middle of nowhere. There are lots of retirees, yes, but also lots of dreadlock/tattoo people who have exited their normal lives to come and build something out in the void. I had two nice outings to the zones with cool young people, one at a bar, one at a mill. Hard as it is to believe there are indeed cool young people out there, doing things.

Anyway, enough about that.

Patrick is a professional chef, as becomes very evident very quickly by the excellent food. As well as speaking perfect English, he also randomly speaks perfect German. His French is probably also perfect, but since I don't understand French, I will make the unsubstantiated claim that Patrick speaks mediocre French. He has a thoughtful gaze and a baritone. He has specific, and interesting opinions on most things. He smokes cigarettes and gazes into the rising smoke like one of those communist philosophers.

Marcelle is kind and has something slightly sneaky in her eyes. It is harder to describe her in pithy prose than Patrick, which isn't to say she lacks pith. I also worked a bit less with her than with P. She was a pleasure to be around. She also speaks infinite languages - like all Dutch people - and was forthcoming with lots of small comedy details relating to the mayor. (Every French village has a mayor; if there are two people living somewhere, one of them has to elect the other one the mayor).

I don't remember too much of what the work was - vague memories of building a fence to prevent the talkative neighbour from starting conversations - but it has left me with no scars or serious mental problems.
The tone of this review is testament to them having a sense of humour, which was nice.

Our time there exemplified what the kids call 'Cottage-Core'. It was rustic, like a John Constable painting. If you are looking for a rustic zone, to stare at cows for forty minutes, and eat delicious food, and meet a surprising number of people with dreadlocks and tattoos, I heartily recommend this Workaway.

With best wishes for the immediate return of Gascony,

Jörg Macjörgenson

(Excellent )

27 Oct 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Join our community and help ...)

Anna and I stayed in the abbey for one month in the dark depths of winter.

The Abbey is in the middle of nowhere, by the deepest lake in Europe. We didn't leave the grounds once during the entire month. The property is used by Chemin Neuf, a neo-monastic order with an ecumenical and charismatic twist. They wear beige, and some of them have… read more

(Excellent )

20 Oct 2025

Left by host (Help us create a community ...) for Workawayer ()

Jack is a very pleasant and friendly person with a lovely sense of English humor. It was great to have him around, and he was helpful, even if his girlfriend Anna contributed a bit more on the work side ;-) We’re happy to warmly recommend him (and as a team with Anna) to other hosts — he’s truly a great guy :-)

Jack ist ein sehr sympathischer… read more

(Very good )

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27 Oct 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Help us in a lovely, little ...)

(Excellent)

27 Oct 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Join our community and help ...)

(Excellent)

20 Oct 2025

Left by host (Help us create a community ...) for Workawayer ()

(Very good)

10 May 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Help out in our little farm ...)

I had a lovely time in Haloze with Majda and John. I learned a lot about Slovenian traditions, about herbs, and about organic farming. The landscape is gorgeous and the opportunities for walking and scavenging are great. I was made to feel very welcome and included in daily life. I also enjoyed going along to Tai Chi and dance class with Majda,… read more

(Excellent)

22 Mar 2025

Left by host (Join our vegan family in the ...) for Workawayer ()

Wir hatten das große Glück, Anna und Jack drei Wochen lang bei uns zu haben – und was für eine wunderbare Zeit das war! Sie haben uns nicht nur kulinarisch verwöhnt, sondern auch mit ihrer Herzlichkeit, Offenheit und inspirierenden Art unser Leben bereichert.

Jede Mahlzeit war ein kleines Abenteuer – voller Kreativität, neuen Geschmäckern und… read more

(Excellent)

14 Mar 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Join our vegan family in the ...)

Anna and I had a really, really lovely time with Sabrina, Mirko, Sol, Amo, and Umo in the haunted schoolhouse. We will definitely be coming back soon. The surrounding valleys and mountains, are some of the most beautiful landscapes I've ever seen. A paradise for walking and exploring. As well as local walks, we had lovely day trips to Davos and St… read more

(Excellent)

28 Nov 2019

Left by host for Workawayer ()

The tag 'one in a million' doesn't do Jack justice - he must be one in two million, at the very least. Jack is exceptional for all the right reasons: he's funny, bright and articulate but he's also amazingly inventive and resourceful. Jack thinks his way around things in such a creative and buzzy way that whatever he touches transforms. He has… read more

(Excellent)

18 Nov 2019

Left by Workawayer () for host (Welcoming imaginative, fun, ...)

Spent two wonderful, surreal months here with the gang. Already quite nostalgic just a few weeks later. There are lots of different jobs and activities to do, from designing signs, to building a window display, to crafting things with children in the shop, to making coffee, to painting walls; every day is different and engaging. The work can feel… read more

(Excellent)

20 Oct 2019

Left by host (Help out with teenager ...) for Workawayer ()

Dear Jack, it took me quite two month to write your feedback, luckly I had told you before you left.
Thank you so much for your positive and warm feedback.
About Jack: we miss him a lot. He is a very gentle, reserved, well mannered, respectful, and calm guy. And at the same time so creative, playful, accultured and curious. In our opinion he is… read more

(Excellent)

30 Aug 2019

Left by Workawayer () for host (Help out with teenager ...)

I will probably just be echoing the other feedback here, but bless this family. I had a genuinely heart-warming, happy, peaceful month, and feel deeply grateful for the experience. Recommended for anyone who loves children, loves food, wine, sunshine, enjoys mountains, rivers, sea-sides, towns, and wants a delicious slice of Italian life.

Simona… read more is a confident, conversational, and optimistic woman with a great deal of care, interest, and generosity. She was always making sure I was happy and had a great sense of humour. Mariano is a gentle, tech-savvy, and gastronomically skilled man, who made some extraordinarily good meals and improvised beautiful, wistful Bossa-Nova guitar over my piano playing. We often stayed up playing past midnight.

Robbie – the main event – is a tender-hearted, curious, and very funny child. My time with him was a true pleasure and joy. He was shy for about 5 seconds, but we very quickly become great pals. Under 10s culture seems to have remained pretty static since 2004 – Lego, Pokémon, Star Wars, Harry Potter – so there was no shortage of ice-breakers. But, even past the language barrier, we got to know each other very well very quickly. I loved playing characters, building dens, drawing, singing, dancing. He was always just great fun to be around. As ‘work’, it couldn’t have been more like ‘play’.

I should also mention Alice, Mariano’s daughter who often tended to be around, and would help me with lunch. She was extremely courteous, pleasant, and helpful.

My 5 hours went from about 9am to 2pm every weekday, leaving me afternoons and weekends free. Breakfast tended to be pretty simple. I tended to make lunch. The ingredients cupboard was always full. Dinner we tended to have together, and was always delicious. The house is big, stocked with everything you need, and stays cool during the height of summer – including the attic which is the bedroom. Lucca is a very beautiful city – as beautiful as Florence, only less crowded – and only a short, scenic bike-ride away.

I was working on my dissertation at the time, so didn’t get as much exploration or language-learning done as I might have hoped. Suffice to say Toscana is a staggeringly beautiful part of the world, and a great place to improve your Italian. We often went on weekend trips to friends, which I enjoyed a great deal, and opened my eyes to a great deal of beauty. I am sure, when I come back, there will be a great deal more of this gorgeous country to see.

This place will give you warm, joyous memories.

Thank you thank you thank you!

I hope to see you again soon.

(Excellent)

8 Sep 2019

Left by Workawayer () for host (Come and help with ...)

Had a very short stay with Sandra, 5 days at the start of September. She is a strong, kind, and inspirational woman who, with great effort and determination, has built an extremely beautiful home on a gorgeous Surrey island. Backing right out onto the river, a rushing stream and a huge sycamore, I reccomend this place for anyone who enjoys the… read more

(Excellent)

10 Jun 2019

Left by host for Workawayer ()

Jack is delightful. He is creative, quirky, super gifted in music, very interesting. He observes the world with attention to details and subtleties. He is wonderful at speaking, writing, singing- and some dancing too. He is used to community living and was very at ease here. He lent a hand to many things he hadn't done before and cooked some… read more

(Very good)

7 Jun 2019

Left by Workawayer () for host (Short stays considered- ...)

Had a lovely brief week-long stay with Alix and Alkesh, mostly to help with some plasterboarding, then with a little bit of gardening. They're a really generous, open-hearted, open-minded couple who made me feel welcome and free as soon as I walked in the door. They're happy to share their own interests and ideas - (ask for Alix's photo albums;… read more

(Excellent)

18 Nov 2018

Left by host (Live and help in a monastery ...) for Workawayer ()

Jack is a very tranquil person, he loves reading, listening to music and spending time silently on his own; he helped us with the garden and maintenance tasks, cooperating with other volunteers. He duly shared our vesper time with the community, even participating in singing activities. We wish you all the best, Jack. Thank you for everything!

(Excellent)

15 Sep 2018

Left by Workawayer () for host (Live and help in a monastery ...)

Listen to what everyone else is saying. This place is pretty close to perfect. You are unlikely to find more of a warm welcome, more of a sweet and peaceful atmosphere, a gentleness and generosity of spirit, more of an enchanting way of life. Eating so much gorgeous fresh fruit and veg from the garden, living in such palatial, pure, flowery… read more

(Excellent)

15 Sep 2018

Left by Workawayer () for host (Experience the real Tuscany - ...)

The 999 year-old Tuscan village of Gello - which, by a series of faintly bizarre and mysterious circumstances, has become what is effectively a mini Holland in the hills - is definitely one of the most beautiful places you are likely to find workawaying in Tuscany. Miles of wooded hills and paths stretching in every direction, running streams and… read more

(Excellent)

15 Sep 2018

Left by Workawayer () for host (Volunteer with a musician in ...)

Apologies, M&M, for the 3875634534953456139103458765 years which have passed since I left.

I feel this is the kind of place I will look back on when I am an old man - morose, cynical, desperately unhappy and alone - and say 'Ah! Things were so sweet in the days of my youth!' I felt an acute sense of nostalgia almost as soon as I left, which has… read more become all the more biting back in squealing, clanking London. (It's strange how 2 places so different can be on the planet at the same time.) I was there all too briefly.

There were moments of beauty and peace so ridiculous and clichéd that I found myself shaking my head and tutting. Lying on a moonlit deck, watching Venus sink over the valley, as a piano melody drifts up, like the smell of sweet cooking, mixing with the songs of owls and frogs; rocking in the hammock at sunset as Michael twinkles out a gentle Calypso piece and a conversation about cosmology wobbles at the table; watching the valley go from purple to orange to yellow to green behind the bright porch flowers in the early morning, while the rabbits sniff at your hair.

It's hard not to echo most of the other reviews on here. The place is brilliant almost immediately. Seeing it on the hill and sitting down for my first pranzo (even though I was on 3 hours sleep and feeling jittery) was instantly so warm and free and open and alive. I felt myself breathing easier. I felt myself unable to worry. I had 9 days of such ease and hope and laughter. All these 'hidden gem', 'buried treasure' metaphors everyone else is using are true. There just aren't many experiences like this in life.

The conversation was magnificent. I don't know whether M&M just have a brilliant system of putting people together, but I arrived in such a well cultivated atmosphere. There is such a sense of community, even though most people are only staying there for 2 weeks or so. It becomes home. Everyone is welcome and everyone has a place. It's a magnificent place for introverts, for people with more going on in their heads than they can get across in ordinary life, and a magnificent place for artists, especially musicians. It's a great place for realising just how much creation goes on in the world. I found myself, at one point, sitting at a table where someone was painting a dragon onto wood, someone else was writing a musical, someone else was editing a film, someone else was mixing a song, and I was writing a poem.

Not recommended for people who need someone else to give them something to do.

I didn't miss meat or dairy once.

Michael, Martina, thank you so much. I hope the autumn is beautiful.

(Excellent)

1 Aug 2018

Left by Workawayer () for host (Sitting on top of a beautiful ...)

Sorry for writing this so late Feli. I hope you’re doing well and I hope this

Torre del Colle was a perfect introduction to Workaway. I thank everyone, not just the people currently working there, but the ones who helped with its restoration, for adding something really beautiful to the planet.

The village is utterly gorgeous and enchanting… read more (possibly enchanted), utterly unique, utterly timeless and almost mystical in its quiet, secure otherworldliness. It is very small, with just a few streets, all of them beautifully rustic and picturesque, decked with flowers, all of them trickling, like small streams, between leaning walls, arches, and old stones. It is like an oasis of some beautiful, departed way of life, before traffic jams, supermarkets, and computer screens. This is the perfect destination for anyone who wants a breath of fresh air, anyone who wants a sanctum of beauty and peace, away from the loud, brute whining of a modern city. If you are uncomfortable with a slow pace of life - the closest town, Bevagna is also quite small - then this isn’t the place for you. Felipe is a plucky, sprightly guy, and there are plenty of interesting people; I wouldn’t say there was a lack of energy or enthusiasm, just that, if you want a place with lots of different exciting events lots of different possibilities, constantly coming and going like an inner city Hostel, this isn’t it. That isn’t to say nothing ever happens. While I was there, we went to restaurants quite regularly, attended the local medieval fair, visited Assisi, had barbecues with locals, did some stargazing. Considering how short my stay was, it was actually quite a lot. The village is medieval, and maintains a lot of the medieval flavour. It has a medieval wall and a medieval tower (with an unbelievable view). It crouches on a hill with a stunning prospect of the surrounding fields and hills. Just looking out the window and seeing Assisi never gets old. Still, 2 months later, having visited so many other hosts, towns, cities, waterfalls, it is one of the most beautiful places I have seen in Italy.

There is also a really cute dog called Heidi.

Apart from the village itself, the facilities were great. Great food, great piano, great living spaces, comfy beds, a hammock, a garden, a swimming pool, a beer keg.

The work is organised very informally, which may not suit people who are constantly checking their watches, but never goes on for longer than 5 hours a day, and Felipe is a really chilled out guy when it comes to working more on one day, less on another, for example. There’s a very relaxed, unregimented vibe to everything. Doors are open, there’s nothing you’re not allowed to touch, what you see is yours, in a mi casa su casa sense.

And of course the people. I really want to thank Felipe, Daniele, Laura, Candella (if you’re still there?) and Jorge (though we didn’t understand a word one other said), for giving me a truly special, strange, and ultimately life-affirming experience. I wish you all the best and hope maybe to see you in the future.

Grazie di tutto,
Jack.

(Excellent)

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