***UPDATE*** Please note that we do not have availability in July or August 2026 as we are already hosting Workawayers at these times. We are new to Workaway and have not yet decided whether we will be hosting from September onwards. Thank you for your interest.
When a visitor asked if we’d ever thought of opening the garden to the public, the question sowed the seed of a dream. Following retirement in 2017, construction of hard landscaping and creating exciting new planting schemes commenced. Today, there are over 250 metres of paths, numerous sitting areas, water features and a glasshouse. There's a potting shed and nursery area, home propagation activities. A large project currently in progress is a handcrafted, Victorian-style, three-quarter span, timber glasshouse.
The garden here has become a place of select trees and shrubs, grasses and herbaceous perennials, and some exotic and interesting botanical specimens. Many of the early plant introductions to the garden have matured, and while the range of plants continues to expand, there are always new plants on the wish list. A detailed plant database is currently at over a thousand entries.
We open our private garden to visitors on selected dates over the summer. This year (2026) we will be open on Friday and Saturday from June to August. While we do charge a small entrance fee to cover some of our costs, visitor numbers are impossible to predict, so we just keep working away in the garden and wait for the bell to ring. We are not a business.
There is always much more we would like to do to improve the garden. Hosting is a new venture for us, so we are on a learning curve. Please contact us if you might be interested in giving some of your time and effort in exchange for accommodation and a warm welcome.
Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre
Jardinage d'entretien
Projets DIY créatifs
Aide à la maison
Petits travaux d'entretien
Centres d’intérêt
Bricolage / artisanat
Menuiserie
Architecture
Musique
Photographie
Jardinage
Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre
Spend time with us, lets get to know about each other ...
Opening our garden to visitors and guests has been a rewarding experience. It's made us realise that a garden is so much more than just a collection of plants and structures. The best part is meeting people, and sharing our love of plants.
Aide
What might you be doing here ....gardening, plant care, propagation, weeding, maintenance, garden projects ... it's an endless list! I'll work with you and show you how to do things.
I have spent many years gardening and studied horticulture as a mature student. I have gardening skills to share and am also interested in photography and playing guitar. What do you like to do?
Langues parlées
Anglais: Courant
Hébergement
You will sleep in a bedroom in our house and you can eat with us. The room has a double bed. We've high speed internet, lots of books, a big kitchen and living area.
Autres infos...
We are in an excellent location with good access to public transport. A 5 min walk to a bus stop to Dublin, 20 mins walk to train station. And we're only 15km or so from Dublin airport (a bus to ours is regular and runs through the night). And we're 800m from the sea, with lovely coastal walks. There is much to see and to do in the eastern regions of Ireland.
Informations complémentaires
Accès Internet
Accès Internet limité
Nous avons des animaux
Nous sommes fumeurs
Familles bienvenues
Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?
Deux
Mes animaux
Jeff
(11 ans)
A gentle mixed breed terrier and your new best friend (if you give him a treat!)
Discutez avec des workawayers qui ont séjourné chez cet hôte
Feedback (3)
8 sept. 2026
Laissé par le workawayer (Fiona & Sonja) pour l'hôte
We spent 10 wonderful days at Antoinette and Dave’s lovely home, where we had the chance to explore the beautiful surrounding landscapes, Irish towns and beaches. We got a wonderful bedroom and our own bathroom! Moreover, the house is very well connected to the public transport system, and we are especially grateful to Dave and Antoinette, who… read more were always so kind as to offer us rides whenever they could. We helped out in the garden and got to learn a bit about plants in the mornings, leaving our afternoons free to explore Balbriggan, Dublin or enjoy the pubs and bars in Skerries.
We couldn’t have wished for better hosts. Antoinette and Dave were always happy to give us recommendations, advice and they went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Dave for example took us on a lovely coastal walk and we joined him for a guided park walk about the climate change and its effect on biodiversity as well as gardening. We also did a park run and Antoinette also drove us on our second day to the neighbouring town of Skerries, showed us around, and we even stayed for a drink together.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and we are incredibly grateful to Antoinette and Dave for making us feel so at home. We especially enjoyed all the tasty meals we shared, the good conversations we held and generally all the lovely time we spent together. We would be very happy to come back someday!
All the best, Fiona and Sonja
(Excellent
)
5 sept. 2026
Laissé par l'hôte pour le workawayer (Fiona & Sonja)
Fiona & Sonja spent 10 days with us in August '26. They were such pleasant house guests, with a marvellous work ethic.
Sonja is an early starter, and she would have me out in the garden giving her directions ... before I even had my morning coffee fix! Fiona liked to sleep on a bit, but even still, she'd be up and at it by 9am. They really got… read more stuck into a myriad of gardening and maintenance tasks, such as weeding, pruning/deadheading and painting. They went through our messy nursery area with a toothcomb, pulling weeds from pots and giving the whole area a really good makeover. An overgrown bamboo got a fantastic thinning out and a lifted crown, the pruned out canes neatly tied in a bundle and all the trimmings disposed of. They were also very clean and tidy house guests. They helped out in the kitchen and cooked us some fabulous desserts. The only thing they couldn't do was to stay longer with us!
We have no hesitation in recommending Sonja and Fiona to other Workaway hosts, and wish them both the very best for their bright futures.
Dave and Antoniette were truly lovely people! They made us feel at home immediately, were flexible and agreeable for work hours, and provided us with everything we needed.
The tasks we took on for garden work were pretty easy and well defined, Dave taught us everything we needed to know, and he was always available to clear up any doubts.
We… read more lived in the same home as them, shared meals and lived as a family, and even did a movie night together!
We explored Balbriggan and Dublin on our free hours, and Dave and Antoniette even gave us a few lifts whenever they had to leave town. We were able to see many sides of the bay we wouldn't have otherwise.
They took real good care of us, and we'll miss them. If we find ourselves in Ireland again, we'll make sure to drop by!
Antoino and Alessandra spent 12 days with us in early August '26. As well as being very pleasant guests they were very helpful and obliging with many tasks around the garden. Also in the house they were neat and tidy.
We got quite a bit of work done in the garden. They helped me with the hedges, of which we have lots, it's a big annual job and we… read more got through much of it. They also cleared some areas of weeds, kept our many potted plants watered, and did some light pruning and cutbacks. Alessandra is very artistic and was delighted to restore the paintwork on one of our garden benches. If I asked either of them to do anything for me they always said "yes, sure, no problem".
Antonio, in particular, is a lover of food and a good chef. On a few of the days they just took over the kitchen and treated us to some really fabulous and genuine Italian dishes such as Risotto, Chicken and Ragu. Over the years we've made versions of these dishes and it was a great education for us to learn how to make them in true Italian style. We'll never put thick cream in 'Irish' Carbonara ever ever again :-) !! We had some interesting conversations around the table too, it was great to hear their views on a wide range of topics.
They preferred to work in the mornings to have the afternoons free to explore the local area, and get the train up to see some of the sights in Dublin. This approach worked well for us too.
What more can I say, other than to say we would gladly welcome them back again and wish them the very best for whatever path they follow.
Dave and Antoinette were so sweet and welcoming during my stay! I couldn't have asked for a better workaway experience! They encouraged me to make myself at home, and gave me tons of great recommendations for things to do in the area. Dave picked me up from the train station when I arrived, and even took me on a tour of the surrounding historical… read more sites one of the days. He also picked me up from Newgrange when I took a visit there, and took us by the Hill of Tara on the way back. Antoinette was so sweet in cooking meals everyday (since she had work off) and bought plenty of food for me to help myself to whenever. She was super helpful with coordinating the bus and train schedules as well, gave me a ride to the train station when I left. I had my own cozy bedroom with an empty closet for storage, plus my own bathroom. They even set me up with a box of toiletries in case I needed anything, which was so thoughtful!
The work schedule was a bit confusing to adjust to at first, as they didn't have set hours for me. But I realized after some time, that they were just trying to work around my schedule, and make sure I had plenty of time to sightsee around the area, tour universities... etc. I was also their first workawayer, so I'm sure it took some adjusting to figure out what works. The first few days I followed Dave around with what he was doing in the garden, and tried to assist. But soon he just started giving me tasks for the day (weeding, repotting plants, putting wood finish on some fence pieces... etc) which worked nicely! There is lots to be done around the garden so we were never short of things to do. I also ended up dog sitting one day for their daughter which was an especially fun job to have!
I'm so grateful for the time I got here in Balbriggan, and was honestly quite sad to be leaving after the week was up. Best wishes to Dave and Antoinette with the rest of their journey as workaway hosts!! Thank you for the lovely stay :)
It was a pleasure to welcome Sophie to our home for a week in July 2026, our very first Workaway host experience.
Because we are new to Workaway we were not very organised when it came to allocating tasks, it was a little bit random, to be honest. For our next experience we will be more structured. Having said that, she helped out with quite a… read more few jobs around the place, such as weeding and watering. We also spent some time working in our home plant nursery, tidying up pots, potting a few plants and doing a general cleanup. Another job she did was to paint a pile of timber laths for a new fence I am going to put up.
We found Sophie to be a very pleasant and clued-in young lady. If all the Gen-Z generation are as well sussed then the world is in a better place!
We have no hesitation recommending her as a Workawayer and wish her the very best in her travels.
Discutez avec des workawayers qui ont séjourné chez cet hôte
Feedback
Ce sont des évaluations supplémentaires en option lorsque les membres laissent un feedback. La note moyenne pour chaque option est affichée.
Exactitude du profil:
(5.0)
Échange culturel:
(5.0)
Communication:
(4.7)
8 sept. 2026
Laissé par le workawayer (Fiona & Sonja) pour l'hôte
We spent 10 wonderful days at Antoinette and Dave’s lovely home, where we had the chance to explore the beautiful surrounding landscapes, Irish towns and beaches. We got a wonderful bedroom and our own bathroom! Moreover, the house is very well connected to the public transport system, and we are especially grateful to Dave and Antoinette, who… read more were always so kind as to offer us rides whenever they could. We helped out in the garden and got to learn a bit about plants in the mornings, leaving our afternoons free to explore Balbriggan, Dublin or enjoy the pubs and bars in Skerries.
We couldn’t have wished for better hosts. Antoinette and Dave were always happy to give us recommendations, advice and they went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Dave for example took us on a lovely coastal walk and we joined him for a guided park walk about the climate change and its effect on biodiversity as well as gardening. We also did a park run and Antoinette also drove us on our second day to the neighbouring town of Skerries, showed us around, and we even stayed for a drink together.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience, and we are incredibly grateful to Antoinette and Dave for making us feel so at home. We especially enjoyed all the tasty meals we shared, the good conversations we held and generally all the lovely time we spent together. We would be very happy to come back someday!
All the best, Fiona and Sonja
(Excellent)
5 sept. 2026
Laissé par l'hôte pour le workawayer (Fiona & Sonja)
Fiona & Sonja spent 10 days with us in August '26. They were such pleasant house guests, with a marvellous work ethic.
Sonja is an early starter, and she would have me out in the garden giving her directions ... before I even had my morning coffee fix! Fiona liked to sleep on a bit, but even still, she'd be up and at it by 9am. They really got… read more stuck into a myriad of gardening and maintenance tasks, such as weeding, pruning/deadheading and painting. They went through our messy nursery area with a toothcomb, pulling weeds from pots and giving the whole area a really good makeover. An overgrown bamboo got a fantastic thinning out and a lifted crown, the pruned out canes neatly tied in a bundle and all the trimmings disposed of. They were also very clean and tidy house guests. They helped out in the kitchen and cooked us some fabulous desserts. The only thing they couldn't do was to stay longer with us!
We have no hesitation in recommending Sonja and Fiona to other Workaway hosts, and wish them both the very best for their bright futures.
Dave and Antoniette were truly lovely people! They made us feel at home immediately, were flexible and agreeable for work hours, and provided us with everything we needed.
The tasks we took on for garden work were pretty easy and well defined, Dave taught us everything we needed to know, and he was always available to clear up any doubts.
We… read more lived in the same home as them, shared meals and lived as a family, and even did a movie night together!
We explored Balbriggan and Dublin on our free hours, and Dave and Antoniette even gave us a few lifts whenever they had to leave town. We were able to see many sides of the bay we wouldn't have otherwise.
They took real good care of us, and we'll miss them. If we find ourselves in Ireland again, we'll make sure to drop by!
Antoino and Alessandra spent 12 days with us in early August '26. As well as being very pleasant guests they were very helpful and obliging with many tasks around the garden. Also in the house they were neat and tidy.
We got quite a bit of work done in the garden. They helped me with the hedges, of which we have lots, it's a big annual job and we… read more got through much of it. They also cleared some areas of weeds, kept our many potted plants watered, and did some light pruning and cutbacks. Alessandra is very artistic and was delighted to restore the paintwork on one of our garden benches. If I asked either of them to do anything for me they always said "yes, sure, no problem".
Antonio, in particular, is a lover of food and a good chef. On a few of the days they just took over the kitchen and treated us to some really fabulous and genuine Italian dishes such as Risotto, Chicken and Ragu. Over the years we've made versions of these dishes and it was a great education for us to learn how to make them in true Italian style. We'll never put thick cream in 'Irish' Carbonara ever ever again :-) !! We had some interesting conversations around the table too, it was great to hear their views on a wide range of topics.
They preferred to work in the mornings to have the afternoons free to explore the local area, and get the train up to see some of the sights in Dublin. This approach worked well for us too.
What more can I say, other than to say we would gladly welcome them back again and wish them the very best for whatever path they follow.
Dave and Antoinette were so sweet and welcoming during my stay! I couldn't have asked for a better workaway experience! They encouraged me to make myself at home, and gave me tons of great recommendations for things to do in the area. Dave picked me up from the train station when I arrived, and even took me on a tour of the surrounding historical… read more sites one of the days. He also picked me up from Newgrange when I took a visit there, and took us by the Hill of Tara on the way back. Antoinette was so sweet in cooking meals everyday (since she had work off) and bought plenty of food for me to help myself to whenever. She was super helpful with coordinating the bus and train schedules as well, gave me a ride to the train station when I left. I had my own cozy bedroom with an empty closet for storage, plus my own bathroom. They even set me up with a box of toiletries in case I needed anything, which was so thoughtful!
The work schedule was a bit confusing to adjust to at first, as they didn't have set hours for me. But I realized after some time, that they were just trying to work around my schedule, and make sure I had plenty of time to sightsee around the area, tour universities... etc. I was also their first workawayer, so I'm sure it took some adjusting to figure out what works. The first few days I followed Dave around with what he was doing in the garden, and tried to assist. But soon he just started giving me tasks for the day (weeding, repotting plants, putting wood finish on some fence pieces... etc) which worked nicely! There is lots to be done around the garden so we were never short of things to do. I also ended up dog sitting one day for their daughter which was an especially fun job to have!
I'm so grateful for the time I got here in Balbriggan, and was honestly quite sad to be leaving after the week was up. Best wishes to Dave and Antoinette with the rest of their journey as workaway hosts!! Thank you for the lovely stay :)
It was a pleasure to welcome Sophie to our home for a week in July 2026, our very first Workaway host experience.
Because we are new to Workaway we were not very organised when it came to allocating tasks, it was a little bit random, to be honest. For our next experience we will be more structured. Having said that, she helped out with quite a… read more few jobs around the place, such as weeding and watering. We also spent some time working in our home plant nursery, tidying up pots, potting a few plants and doing a general cleanup. Another job she did was to paint a pile of timber laths for a new fence I am going to put up.
We found Sophie to be a very pleasant and clued-in young lady. If all the Gen-Z generation are as well sussed then the world is in a better place!
We have no hesitation recommending her as a Workawayer and wish her the very best in her travels.
Dave & Antoinette
(Excellent)
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Jardinage d'entretien
Projets DIY créatifs
Aide à la maison
Petits travaux d'entretien
Bricolage / artisanat
Menuiserie
Architecture
Musique
Photographie
Jardinage
