Willing Workers on Organic Farms

Meet interesting people from around the world and Britain and lots of nice British farm animals.

Learn about growing vegetables, or veg as the Brits say.

Spend days outdoors in the British countryside doing something stress free that makes you feel eons from work or school.

Quick Tips:

Arrange to volunteer in advance. Don't drop in on the farms in the program.

Come with an open mind and a willingness to work hard.

Best Way To Get Around:

Farm hosts will pick you up at the nearest bus or train station. The British bus and train system is much better than Americas and can get you near the most remote farm.

Willing Workers on Organic Farms matchs volunteers with over 100 organic farms throughout England.

Volunteers work six to eight hours a day in exchange for room and board. Work varies from planting and harvesting vegetables to working with farm animals. How hard you will work also varies. Some farms are very serious operations, others are more lax.

You can arrange to volunteer on a farm in two ways. One option is to have WWOOF arrange the stay for you. They will place you on up to three different farms. The second option is to use WWOOF's do-it-yourself book which has the address and numbers of all participating farms. I used the book to call and make plans with the two farms we worked at.

To get placed on a farm or get the book you must first become a member of WWOOF. Membership is 10 pounds (about $23) a year for a single person or couple. Send British currency (you can get this at a bank or American Express office) to:

Willing Workers on Organic Farms PO Box 2675 Lewes, E. Sussex BN7 1RB England. You'll need to send WWOOF an international response coupon which can be bought at the post office.

My partner and I volunteered on a farm in England near Bath and another on the remote Scotish island of Tiree.

The English farm was called Radford Mill Farm ans was nestled in valley in the rolling, green country outside Bath (southewest England). Radford Mill is large for an organic farm. Over 80 arces it has large fields and lots of sheep, pigs and cows.

We spent 2 weeks at the farm, mostly working in the fields, planting, weeding, harvesting and tying up beans. One day, I helped make yogurt (real neat)and another I helped milk the cows.

We also volunteered for 10 days at a small farm on the island of Tiree. Glebe House is a small farm, or croft right on the water.

At Glebe House we worked a lot less hard, only about 5 hours a day with frequent tea breaks in the garden. Most of the work we did involved restoring the stone walls in the 2 acre vegetable garden.

I highly recommend both farms. If you want to learn a lot about organic agriculture, go to Radford Mill. If you want a more relaxing experience in a stunning environment, head to Glebe House.

Willing Worker on Organic Farms attract very interesting people. Many of the farms are communes or collectives run by eccentrics and bohemians.

There were eight other volunteers at Radford Mill (the first farm I visited), some from Britain, others from elsewhere in Europe. All the volunteers were facinating people and good company, though the farm manager Sue and all the friends who dropped in on the farm were even more interesting. Sue is a tough aging hippy who bosses around bulls. The visitors, people connected to the farm from when it was started by hippies in the 1970s, came for the weekend to work a bit in the fields and sleep in the tippees set up around the farm.

Glebe House is a less funky place but not by much. It is run by Elizebeth, an eccentric women in her seventies. There were no other volunteers at Glebe House but we got to work with Kate, a young women who lives on Tiree.

To arrange a stay at a WWOOF farm or get WWOOF's do-it-yourself book contact WWOOF at
Willing Workers on Organic Farms PO Box 2675 Lewes, E. Sussex BN7 1RB England. You'll need to send WWOOF an international response coupon which can be bought at the post office.

Always arrange to volunteer a head of time. WWOOF is very much a laid-back, hippy program but farms still don't like people dropping in on them. Write or phone farms (using WWOOF's do-it-yourself book) ahead of time to check if the farm has room and work for more volunteers.

When you contact the farm, be sure to ask about the type of work and how you will be housed.

Some farms pay small weekly salaries so also ask your hosts about this before you start working.

I've never heard any bad stories but the farms do not offer volunteers health insurance. Get a good travelers insurance before you go or check to see if your current insurance will cover accidents in the United Kingdom. It might.

The room we had at the English farm - Radford Mill - was the best. Clean, big bed, new furniture and a window out on the fields.

The room we had at Glebe House, the farm in Scotland, was in the antic and not as nice but was pretty comfortable and a good place to spot seals in the bay near the house.

I hear accomodations realy vary on farms in the exchange. Ask for details on where you will sleep when you arrange your stay with the farmer.