Rural life in a passivhaus, sustainability, permaculture and more in Nelas, Portugal

Infos

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  Description

  My parents are Portuguese Imigrantes and we moved back to my origins 8 years ago. I moved here with my husband and 2 small children, we bought an old stone property with land and are creating the first ever Passivhaus in our area (there aren't many in Portugal). We are half Portuguese and half English with most of my family who lives and is from this area.
  
  The land has suffered after the September 2024 fires and also 2017 so we are working to create new ecosystems and bring nature back to life, using permaculture/food forest principals. It's a beautiful area, lots of history.
  
  My husband and I work remotely and our children go to school here. We have many fuit trees, vines.
  
  We love walking/ swimming in the Serra de Estrela mountains which are not far away, and there's lots of garden projects on the go too. Myself and my family are fully Bilingual in Portuguese and English, we love exploring and developing the area and are also involved in the community. Both Seb and Matt play the trumpet in the local band. Our kids are aged 9(Aura) & 11(Seb) and have a good understanding on were food comes from and how to grow it!
  
  We used to explore caves as a hobby and have our own training space as part of our house where Liz does Areal Silks and Single rope technique.
  
  We believe in making life sustainable, working with the land and animals. Looking at ways to improve the community and generally a better place for everyone!

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Pratique d’une langue

  Aide avec des éco-projets

  Compagnie pour pers. âgée

  Enseignement

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  Aide dans une ferme

  Baby-sitting et jeux créatifs

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général

  Garde de maison et d'animaux
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  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Arts du spectacle

  

  Histoire

  

  Livres

  

  Végétarien ou végan

  

  Technologie

  

  Dev. durable

  

  Dev. personnel

  

  Animaux de compagnie

  

  Films et télé

  

  Ferme

  

  Événements/vie sociale

  

  Culture

  

  Soin des plantes

  

  Musique

  

  Langues

  

  Jardinage

  

  Dessin et peinture

  

  Bricolage / artisanat

  

  Cuisine et alimentation

  

  Art et design

  

  Animaux

  

  Yoga / bien-être

  

  Activités en plein air

  

  Nature

  

  Montagne

  

  Randonnée

  

  Cyclisme

  

  Camping

  

  Plage

  

  Sports d'aventure
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  We are Bilingual in English and Portuguese so you can practice language skills, get to know rural life in Portugal. We like to go walking in the area/and mountains at the weekend. We go to local events, experience festivals and get to know the local culture. Learn about wine making from us, and basic agriculture on a small scale. Try aerial silks in my training space.

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  Aide

  Availability :We currently have a Workawayer staying with us until 29th January, and we can welcome a new Workawayer from 1st February 2026.
  
  About the Help We’re Looking For (February 2026)
  
  Life here is based around caring for our animals, garden, and ongoing farm projects. Tasks vary day to day and are a mix of daily responsibilities, garden work, and shared projects and working individually with tasks.
  
  Daily Tasks
  
  Walking and caring for our dogs – this is a very important part of the role. We’re looking for someone who genuinely enjoys dogs and is willing to get to know them properly. Previous experience with dogs (especially large dogs, St. Bernard size) or puppies is strongly preferred.
  
  Caring for chickens – checking food and water, cleaning them out.
  
  General cleaning and cooking
  
  Squeezing fresh orange juice
  
  Garden & Outdoor Tasks
  
  Cutting grass (including in the vineyard)
  
  Weeding and planting trees
  
  Cutting up branches into suitable piles for woodchipping
  
  Harvesting seasonal vegetables
  
  Cutting back brambles
  
  Projects We Do Together
  
  Wood chipping
  
  Cutting and stacking firewood
  
  Planting
  
  Building projects (e.g. making a chicken house or shed)
  
  We always discuss current projects in advance and like to understand each Workawayer’s skills and confidence level. If you have particular skills (e.g. building, gardening, DIY, animal care), please let us know — we’re happy to adapt tasks and include things you enjoy or want to learn.
  
  Health & Responsibility
  
  We understand that illness can happen and is often unplanned. However, if you are unwell for more than 3 days, we expect an open discussion about medical care and whether it’s appropriate to continue the stay. This is important as we have children and vulnerable adults (including my parents) living with us.
  
  Length of Stay
  
  Our standard stay is 2 weeks.
  If you’d like to stay longer, we start with a 1–2 week trial period, followed by a catch-up conversation to make sure everyone is happy. Longer stays typically range from 6 weeks to 2 months.
  
  Building relationships is important to us — we value communication, shared experiences, and creating a positive environment for everyone.

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Anglais: Courant
  Portugais: Courant
  Allemand: Débutant
  Espagnol: Débutant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  We are interested in learning German, we often visit Germany for holidays.
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  Hébergement

  Whilst we are restoring our house you are staying next door in a rural country house. It has 2 bathrooms , one out on the balcony and one indoors, there are many options for accommodation from camping/living indoors/campervan space for those with their own accommodation. The rural country house is small, and also being renovated. We have a washing machine, hotwater, dishwasher and heaters.

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  Autres infos...

  1 hour from the highest mountain point in Portugal, 1 and half hour from the beach, 1 hour from Coimbra. We have mountain bikes which you can borrow and there are some local mountain biking and walking trails. Nelas is the nearest town 2km away with supermarkets and pharmacies. Lots of vineyards to visit, historical buildings, at different times of the year have key events; wine festivals, cheese festivals in the mountains, carnivals, medieval festivals, saint days with traditional parades.
  We are not too far from river beaches, most places one needs to drive to, but one can also get buses and lifts which can be arranged with planning.
  At the moment we are very busy with the house and family life we usually take Sundays off to go and do something different, like walking, a day trip or visit family.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  We work from home ourselves so we have a good internet connection for this, various of our workaways have used internet to give online classes.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  We have space for a campervan in our patio area that has access to electrical point.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Mes animaux

  

  Skye and Chase (6 mois)

  2 family cats very loving and entertaining

  

  Lobo and Hope (11 mois)

  Lobo is a Portuguese 5 year old mountain dog, and Hope is a 1 year old Doberman. They are best of friends!

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