Living and working here
Busy, satisfying days of real work, and evenings that are entirely your own. Here's what it's actually like to come and stay a while.
Mornings start with the animals and a proper breakfast, then we head out to whatever the season is asking for, growing, building, woodland, or putting food by. We stop and eat together in the middle of the day. Afternoons carry on with the work, and the evenings are yours. It's busy, but it isn't a boot camp; we work hard and we rest properly, and the pace follows the weather and the light.
When the work is done, the valley is yours. Most evenings our wild family of beavers comes to feed by the fire pit as the light goes, just feet away, with no hide and no ticket. Please be kind to them; they're wild creatures and only come because they trust us to be calm and quiet. It is, honestly, one of the loveliest parts of being here.
We're at the head of the remote Artists Valley, a quiet dead-end with no light pollution and no traffic at all, under some of the darkest, most star-filled skies in the country. There's wild swimming in the wetland pools, footpaths across all seventy-five acres, and the mountains and the coast a short drive away on your days off.
You won't be on your own. You'll be living and working as part of a small, friendly household, sharing meals, jobs and the odd misadventure. Folk who've volunteered here often stay in touch for years afterwards. It's the team that makes the place, and it's why we're so careful about who we welcome.
If a season in the valley sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.
Apply to volunteer