Información de perfil
Evaluación del anfitrión
100 %
Last replied
20 abr 2024
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100.0 %
Usually responds ≤ 14 dias
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68
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Medallas (3)
Detalles
Descripción
We're currently (potentially) looking for help with projects and/or house sitters (with their own mode of transportation) between March and September 2024. Minimum 2 weeks stay (see below)
Hi! We are Axel (Dutch) and Sandrine (from Belgium), and we moved to Spain to live a simple life - working for ourselves, growing our own food, spending more time doing meaningful or fun things.
Our property is 3,65 hectares (9 acres) with about 50 olive trees, 200 almond trees, and a few other fruit & nut trees. We have 2 alpacas, a dog, a cat, a bunch of chickens, and a veggie garden.Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje
Práctica de idiomasAyuda en proyectos ecológicosJardineríaConstrucción y bricolajeCuidado de animalesAyuda en una granjaAyuda domésticaMantenimiento generalIntercambio cultural y oportunidades de aprendizaje
We're happy to share our skills, knowledge and experience with you, and hope for the same in return.
Axel has worked in sound, light and climate control - both technical and sales automation.
He likes building (both traditional building with stones from the land, and carpentry) and is into the technical side of living off the grid (alternative power and such).
I (Sandrine) run my own online marketing agency from home (online). I love helping small business owners and digital nomads in their business ventures.
I love cooking and baking with local and seasonal produce and have a permaculture design certificate.
We love to share what we know with our guests, and hope to learn many things from you as well. Especially new recipes!
We speak Dutch / Flemish with each other, but are happy to speak English when others are around. We both speak some Spanish, usually only when we go out to town though. I speak French (Axel doesn't, which is why I write in English even to French-speaking people) - Axel speaks some German and likes to learn bits of other languages.
If you come to house-sit:
This is not a community-style arrangement where we spend every day together, eat together, go away together; if you come to live here for a while, you have your own life and we have ours. You can come and go as you like, we'd only expect you to stay here when we're away (we're usually pretty flexible on the dates).
That being said, there are also regular opportunities to do stuff together - from alpaca shearing and pruning trees in spring to almond and olive harvest later in the year... and hopefully barbeques and drinks with friends over the summer!
If you come to help out on a specific project:
If you come to help out just for a week or two (e.g. for almond/olive harvest or building something), we will likely work hard for a couple of days - then have a couple of days off. During "working" days, we make sure there are snacks/food and fruit during work + a full meal (either for lunch or at the end of the working day, depending on the season). On off days, we tend to keep to ourselves but do provide you with everything you need to make your own meals.Proyectos con niños
En este proyecto podría haber niños. Para obtener más información, consulta nuestras directrices y consejos aquí.
Ayuda
THIS IS FOR YOU IF
- You have a positive attitude and hands-on mentality, you're not afraid to get your hands (and feet) dirty, and you would like to experience off-grid life - and maybe start a project of your own one day
- You’re not afraid to speak your mind, ask questions and communicate in a positive and open way.
- You speak either English, Dutch or Spanish fluently. We find it difficult to communicate about work and safety if there isn’t at least a language in common.
- You are respectful of other people's property and clean up after yourself
************
Please be aware that we're 7 minutes by car from the nearest village - this is not a place to come if you want to be around people or need a vibrant nightlife. To get around, you need a car (non-negotiable) in case of emergencies.
Unfortunately, we can't accept volunteers with pets of their own (past experiences have been less than ideal - it's not your dog, it's the situation at our place)Idiomas hablados
Inglés: Fluido
Holandés: Fluido
Español: IntermedioAlojamiento
You'd have EITHER your own tiny house with its own access and solar system; our "maset", the restored stable we lived in before our house was built. It's 2 terraces downhill from our house so it's completely private.
The maset is perfect for 1-2 people - but we have had people bring their own bell tent or van for a longer stay as well.
OR you'd stay in our regular guest rooms (our house was built as a bed & breakfast), with en-suite bathroom. If you come alone, you may share this with another volunteer.Algo más...
We are between Lledo and Cretas, in Aragon - close to Catalunya, and about 2 hours by car from Barcelona airport.
There are plenty of things to do around here if you like nature: hiking in the national park (or in the hills around here), cycle the Via Verde, or visit the local villages and castles. There’s ibex, vultures and other wildlife. In the nearby village of Cretas, you can rent bikes or book a more adventurous way of exploring Els Sports: kayaking, horseback riding, climbing, “multi-adventure”.
This is not the place for you if you need a vibrant nightlife.
We believe good (two-sided) communication is key to you having a good stay here.
When applying, please mention
- What languages you speak
- If you're not travelling alone - names and ages of everyone in your party
- Your mode of transportation
- When you'll be (or won't be) available
(about 90% of people who contact us haven't read all of our profile, and don't bother answering these questions. Please take the time to do this, so you know what you're applying for - and we know you've read this :-))Un poco más de información
Acceso a Internet
Acceso a Internet limitado
Tenemos animales
Somos fumadores
Puede alojar familias
Puede acoger a nómadas digitales
I used to be a digital nomad myself, and now run my own online marketing business from home. We've got a solid internet connection + good wifi connection in the guest living room.
Espacio para aparcar autocaravanas
Access to our property can be a little more challenging in winter or when it's just rained, but we've got a couple of great parking spots with amazing views on the property.
¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?
Más de dos
Horas esperadas
25 hours maximum
Comentarios (26)
They were eager to learn, picked up new things quickly, and worked independently when needed.
They pruned almond trees, cleaned up the fields, prepared LOTS of firewood for the winter, repaired/rebuilt a stone staircase, cleaned up the very messy backyard (now all our gardening equipment is back in… read more
We were housesitting for Sandrine and Axel while they were away, and it was the best first Workaway experience anyone can wish for! They were helpful, kind and greeted us into their home with open arms.
We worked some in their garden and we got to harvest olives with friends. We also cared for their animals:… read more
She was great and we felt confident leaving our animals with her - and she got lots of stuff done while we were away, like trimming grass and demolishing an old shed etc.
Marie is proactive, positive, kind and generally a fun person to be around. Highly… read more
the timing could not have been better,
I had everything and more than I needed. :)
the place is reeeally quiet (except when the rooster is there, haha) but I knew that and I felt very good there.
thanks to both of you
Comentarios
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Precisión del perfil:
(5.0)
Intercambio cultural:
(5.0)
Comunicación:
(5.0)
They were eager to learn, picked up new things quickly, and worked independently when needed.
They pruned almond trees, cleaned up the fields, prepared LOTS of firewood for the winter, repaired/rebuilt a stone staircase, cleaned up the very messy backyard (now all our gardening equipment is back in… read more
We were housesitting for Sandrine and Axel while they were away, and it was the best first Workaway experience anyone can wish for! They were helpful, kind and greeted us into their home with open arms.
We worked some in their garden and we got to harvest olives with friends. We also cared for their animals:… read more
She was great and we felt confident leaving our animals with her - and she got lots of stuff done while we were away, like trimming grass and demolishing an old shed etc.
Marie is proactive, positive, kind and generally a fun person to be around. Highly… read more
the timing could not have been better,
I had everything and more than I needed. :)
the place is reeeally quiet (except when the rooster is there, haha) but I knew that and I felt very good there.
thanks to both of you
They harvested almonds, helped us clean out the basement (and get it ready for the future brewery!), dug ditches to prepare for big… read more
While they were here, they helped with building raised beds for the garden and did odd jobs in the kitchen and outside. They… read more
We felt confident leaving them while we travelled abroad to visit… read more
We spent 3 weeks at here, with a mix of housesitting and volunteering. On arrival we were greeted by the generous and friendly Sandrine and Axel (and Jabba, Jinx and Joe!), we spent many nights playing games and chatting in the evenings together – we… read more
For the first week we helped with a variety of tasks which included us joining Axel to help their neighbours load 4 tonnes of hay into 2 vans (which was hilarious and everyone… read more
Anyway, months have passed since and Axel still talks about you. You've been such a tremendous help building the stable - the alpacas have arrived a few weeks after you left. You were also the perfect volunteer, as far as we're concerned; never complaining, fun and… read more
What's to tell... First of all, they are great company. We had lengthy conversations about all things life... They're… read more
Basically, I think they didn't quite know what they were getting into. We were looking for people to help us build a terrace wall - the online information sheet I sent them also said they should bring extra shoes that could take the mud. Sadly, they didn't have suitable… read more
Sam is a real catch in every sense of the word. He's a great cook, hard worker, fun to be around and easy to talk to. We enjoyed his stories from Chicago and from his travels in Spain, his experiments in the kitchen and game nights - and Axel got a few guitar playing tricks from him.
Sam (and the other volunteers who came… read more
They immediately made the volunteers'… read more
We really enjoyed the work we did… read more
Cindy… read more
Jiri was hard working, enthusiastic and motivated, and Axel enjoyed working with him. Although Jiri had Skype interviews most mornings (which is when we actually do… read more
Radmary came to us in a moment when our life was chaos: the construction of our house was months behind, we had a wedding party to prepare for, and we had guests from abroad for a big part of the… read more
Daniel was always smiling, never complained, had a very positive and happy vibe and was very eager to learn and enthusiastic about everything we asked him to do. Which was… read more
Paradise in mataranya is a very apt description of what Axel and Sandrine are working hard to create. I spent a few weeks working with them before Christmas. Then came back upon my own request after some more exploration. Their house is stunning and the land is incredibly beautiful. I found them both to be extremely interesting intelligent and… read more
He's also a great cook; he made a delightful Irish stew from some wild boar meat we got.
Ciaran was always enthusiastic, clean, fun to be around, and always up… read more
Lisa helped us with pruning trees, building stone stairs between terraces, repairing terrace walls and smaller chores like picking olives, cleaning the chicken coop, helping out around the house,...
We… read more
We even asked them to stay a… read more
Marcella and Eric helped out building stairs for terraces, repairing a terrace wall and collecting stones for building those stairs and walls with. There… read more
Max is a very friendly, polite, easy-going and hard-working guy and we really enjoyed our time with him. We hope his time here helped him to acquire a bit… read more
Laurent was a very attentive and hard working student - Axel taught him some basic masonry, and he mainly worked at the entrance to our cellar.
As we were preparing the finca for winter, Veronique got tons of small chores - cleaning up the garden,… read more