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Help our registered charity with retreats and community events

5.0
(15 reviews)15

The experience

We are a registered charity, housed in a beautiful English medieval manor with an ancient courtyard and a magnificent timbered Great Hall, dating from the 13th century. It is situated in extensive grounds where deer roam freely and where squirrels run up and down trees.
Over the past 40 years the charity has run a range of group activities including retreats and other spiritual events, lectures, concerts, yoga classes, creative workshops, etc.

What you offer

25 hours of help per week

Kitchen Hand: Help prepare, finish and serve meals.

Cleaning: Help clean the kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms and common areas.

Housekeeping: Help with changing the bed linens and general housekeeping.

Reception: Help with check-ins, check-outs and guest assistance.

What you get

2 days off per week

Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.

Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.

Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.

Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.

Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.

Bikes at your disposal: You can use our bikes any time you want.

Basic Internet Access: Basic speed internet for you to work remotely

Requirements

Intermediate English

Between 25 and 60 years old

Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers

Travel insurance

What's not included

Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa

Program Details

We are currently recruiting volunteers to join and to help us run activities (see the calendar to see if we are currently recruiting).
We hold retreats, workshops, and run a weekly community cafe intended to create an exchange between the Abbey charity and the local community.
As a volunteer, you will play a crucial role in creating a welcoming and comfortable environment for our guests and visitors and you will greatly benefit from the interactions with our retreat visitors who come from all ways of life. Previous volunteers have always commented that they were able to develop and improve their English speaking skills and they find the cultural exchange they get here extremely enriching.

You will have your own unique room in this ancient building. We also have one twin room suitable for friends (or couples) traveling together. The rooms are not en-suite but there are showers and toilets nearby. The food provided is vegetarian.

Our house is a quiet and peaceful place, well suited for rest, reflection and respectful communication. It isn't a place for late night parties, illegal drugs and a city lifestyle -- but if you like being surrounded by nature and meeting new people from different cultures as well as living and working together in a friendly and beautiful environment, then this is the place to be. You will have a lot of freedom and time for yourself as long as the work is done and the house rules are respected.

Activities & Shift

Most of the help is very straight forward and does not require special skills: we mainly need help to keep the place clean and tidy and to welcome guests and visitors. We are particularly interested in volunteers with housekeeping and hospitality experience, customer service skills, or volunteers able to help for different tasks as ground maintenance, gardening, cooking, cleaning, DIY and so on. If you have a prior interest in mindfulness and/or meditation, we would be very interested if you would like to share your practice.

Your days off may not be the same from one week to another and you don't necessarily have consecutive days off. You will always work on Saturdays as we are running our weekly cafe and you may also sometimes work on Sundays depending on the rota and when guests are in, but you will have time off each week. The manager is very cautious about providing the best balance possible between your work and your free time. Each Monday, you will have your weekly schedule.

After induction and training we like to get our volunteers straight into action. After training you would typically be expected to:
Assist with cleaning, ironing and preparing the Abbey for our guests
Give a hand in the kitchen and serve food to our guests and clients
Welcome guests and visitors.



Rules

We expect volunteers to help 25 hours per week. You must be able to help flexibly, both independently and as part of a group, and without us having to chase you. Please note that we are expecting from our volunteers to help with whatever is needed rather than what they want to do.

The minimum residential volunteering period is 1 month and the maximum is 3 months (only for UK nationals).

Volunteers from outside the UK must have a valid visa, out of which they can volunteer for up to 30 days for a registered charity. They must have a good understanding of spoken English.

We will need references if you don't have any reviews and an identity check (passport and visa) before you arrive. If you are from the UK and want to stay more than one month, we will also need to do a DBS check.