Bevindo a Sevadouro

Hi, thanks for looking! We are; Kate (mother and grandmother), a very experienced gardener and qualified botanist; James (son-in-law), a professional arborist; Lucy (daughter), a qualified homeopath and also a gardener; Harvey, (4 years) a talented downhill cyclist (!) and Ruben, (2 years.) We also have two dogs and will be replacing our depleted chicken poulation soon....We've been here for three years, and have already dug and planted many vegetable and fruit beds, planted dozens of fruit trees, cleared land, pruned olives etc, but we need WWOOFers to help with these and other projects.

Future plans include replacing the roundhouse; restoring the stone barn; building a new compost loo; re-roofing the main house; planting a recently cleared and ploughed field and making cycle-powered battery chargers and washing machine.

Definite tasks here would be re-claiming overgrown terraces by clearing, strimming etc; watering; seed sowing; weeding; digging; growing and care of food-producing plants (training given); rebuilding terrace walls (in stone) and firewood processing/woodland management (supervision given).

Optional jobs include jam/preserve making; dog walking; child care; cooking and using saw-mill planker.

We can provide a basic living vehicle with a double bed, 2 ring cooker and small sink - a cool, comfortable underroom and we have plenty of tents, airbeds, tarps and mozzie nets for the summer months. There is a conventional indoor bathroom and a basic outdoor compost loo - help is needed to complete the indoor compost toilet and make an efficient greywater collector, too.

We would like our WWOOFers to work with us for 30 hours a week - the hours and days are flexible, as we live within walking distance of a river with beautiful swimming gorge, so if it's too hot to work, we all go there!

Early mornings and late afternoons in the summer are good for the gardening, we work in the house or shady woodland at other times. The Summer here is hot, it's cold and frosty in the Winter and sometimes very wet, and the Springtime is idyllic.

We are close to Serpins, Lousa, Gois and Poiares for 'town' trips with plenty of lovely river beaches nearby.

We are happy to provide 3 meals a day plus toast, fruit etc. for snacks. We are an omnivorous household, but can cater for vegetarians and vegans. Smokers welcome.

Do send us an email and we hope we can be one of your hosts for your working/learning/travelling experience!

Update 19mar 2012: We've had to step up the pace recently as my mum (kate) has had to go to the uk. Very busy with seedlings, weeding, digging, planting out, also some projects to get underway, primarily replacing the verandah we removed in autumn (James has been busy milling all our timber into planks and beams), as well as emergency repair work on the barn! Help!