Historic country house in the Cotswolds

Gothic revival historic house in 12 acres of land in the Cotswolds

Key info:

• 4-5 hrs per day, 2 days off per week
• Self catering/shared meals by arrangement
• Decorating/ General Property Maintenance/ Gardening/ Wood Splitting/ Carpentry
• Bewdley, Worcestershire UK

Accomodation:

We have two spare rooms with double beds each with en suite for volunteers to stay in. There is also a private annexe, with a private entrance where you will have your own private bathroom and kitchenette with a microwave but no hob. You are welcome to share the main kitchen and use the Morning Room as a private lounge if you want to relax and read or watch something on a TV. It has a log burner that can be used in the winter. In the warmer months you can relax on the patio in a steamer chair or play table tennis on an outdoor moveable table. There is also a billiard room with full size table and a darts board and there are many games and books that you can borrow.

The house is situated one mile up a private drive with wonderful views to the Malvern Hills and Cotswold escarpment. It’s very quiet and peaceful with plenty of wildlife and walks in the grounds and woodland. We can pick guests up up from the local train station if needed.

What we need help with:

We have a number of different projects to offer, depending on your experience and skillset. Indoor projects include re-decorating a few rooms, painting some shutters and sanding and varnishing of kitchen cupboards. For those wanting to learn or who already have the experience there are a few pieces of mahogany furniture waiting to be re-polished. Outside, depending on the time of year, there are a variety of projects including property maintenance, such as painting windows, gutter clearing, cleaning algae from rendered and painted walls, gardening, woodland clearing, log cutting and wood splitting with an hydraulic splitter. If you have carpentry skills we can offer a few projects making doors and draft proofing an existing old victorian door. In the spring we will be filling potholes in the drive. For those who have mechanical skills we always have the odd maintenance job to be done on the Kubota tractor and hydraulics.

Ideal skills/experience:

Painting & Decorating, Woodworking, lime pointing (small areas).

Your schedule:

Flexible hours, around 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week Free time to explore the local area

Local area

The house is situated within the green belt and a protected area. It was featured in the BBC children’s series, The Box of Delights. A documentary of the making of the series was also filmed at the house and released to mark the 40th anniversary. We are one mile off the main road so if you don’t have transport you would need to be prepared to walk to public transport or to local pubs and shops. Bewdley, situated on the river severn, is our local Georgian village just over 2 miles away and has beautiful riverside walks, museum, several cafes, restaurants, pubs and a good selection of local shops and small supermarkets. The village can be reached in less than 10 mins by car and the severn valley railway also has a station at Bewdley where you can explore the line or simply watch the trains come and go from the bridge or platform.

Extra perks

Books, games, chess, ladies bike, exercise bike and Nordic ski exercise machine.

There are some woodland walks directly from our property boundary and plenty of other longer walks nearby if you are an enthusiastic rambler. There is a golf course right next to the property and we can lone a set of clubs and trolley.

Interested?

Send us a message and tell us:

• A little about yourself
• Why you'd love to join us and help us out with our various projects
• Any experience you have with gardening or DIY projects

Looking forward to meeting like-minded people who are interested in staying in such a historic building in the Cotswolds.