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24 Sep 2024
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Description
Hello 😁, we are Ugo and MaryAnn, who moved to Portugal after 10 years living in Hong Kong.
We are the guardians of 74 acres of magical land in Serpa, Alentejo, where, following our dream of creating an eco-chic land and people regeneration retreat center, a natural refuge where nature, animals and people can work together in harmony.
We have 2 horses, 3 donkeys, 27 chickens, 2 dogs, 3 cats, so if you are animal lover, you will be happy here :-)
We are now looking for 1 volunteer to help us with our personal veggie garden and our animals.
We ask for a period of minimum 3 weeks.
Thanks a lot
Ugo and MaryAnnTypes of help and learning opportunities
GardeningAnimal CareFarmstay helpUN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Ugo is Italian and MaryAnn is half Italian, half American, but grown up in Spain. We have lived for the last 10 years in Hong Kong, so we have quite an international background.
Ugo has attended a PDC (permaculture design course) and a natural building course so he can build the different structures needed for the farm part of the retreat center. He is very excited to share his knowledge and experience.
We are happy people and we like happy, interested in our project and proactive people who care and are happy to respect the house agreements :-).
We are very keen to arrive to almost a 0 trash impact with our project.
We love animals, and somehow they love us and the many volunteers back.Help
You will be supporting us in tending to our garden, and our animals.
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
Portuguese: IntermediateAccommodation
We offer a comfortable shared room with 1 single bed and shared bathroom.
We have a chef that provides fantastic meals. We provide bedding and towels.
Food wise we provide 3 vegetarian meals a day (we cannot cater to vegan diets as our chickens want us to eat their eggs, our bees love giving us honey, and our organic sheep farmers love that we love their cheese, so we use all of these ingredients in our cooking :-)
Please provide for any specialty foods you want and your snacks.What else ...
During your free time you can enjoy long walks around the property or to the close by little city, Serpa (10 km away by taxi or hitch a ride with us when we go into town), where there are restaurants, bars and all the commodities that a small town can provide. Nearby there is also a river (2 km away) and a water fall and natural park (5 km).
If you are interested in traveling while you are here, we are not the place for you as it is difficult to get around by public transport.
Regarding transportation, we will pick you up in the bus station in Serpa (direct buses from Lisbon). You can also go via Beja (bus or train from Lisbon) and from there catch a bus to SERPA, which is 10km far from the property.A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
Hours expected
25 hours per week
Feedback (33)
They are super respectful of any kind of rules, hard working (doing even more hours than requested with the sole scope of finishing what… read more
First of all what a stunning plot of land nestled within a national park. With endless trails around and caverns to discover.
The Quinta itself is very well organised and works efficiently. If you want to learn how to grow your own organic vegetables, care for chickens,… read more
The quinta is a hidden gem.
It is a beautiful combination of modern world meeting sustainable lifestyle and a possible template to a new direction and a new way of living.
It is a picturesque location that looks as if it was painted by the most talented artists of our time, and it is very easy… read more
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(5.0)
Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(5.0)
They are super respectful of any kind of rules, hard working (doing even more hours than requested with the sole scope of finishing what… read more
First of all what a stunning plot of land nestled within a national park. With endless trails around and caverns to discover.
The Quinta itself is very well organised and works efficiently. If you want to learn how to grow your own organic vegetables, care for chickens,… read more
The quinta is a hidden gem.
It is a beautiful combination of modern world meeting sustainable lifestyle and a possible template to a new direction and a new way of living.
It is a picturesque location that looks as if it was painted by the most talented artists of our time, and it is very easy… read more
The accommodation are super convenient, the kitchen equipped with everything you need to go wild and tryout recipes or share you home cuisine. The pantry is equipped and you can always get some fresh vegetables from the garden which is awesome.
Maryann and Ugo are super nice and say thank you… read more
I found everithing i was looking for : a simply sustainable life where you can enjoy all the little things that nature gives to us and learn how take time for you. Work with my Hands to " Bring a stone to the building " (french expression ahahah) is a veritable… read more
Adeline is a gift to have around from all points of view - personal, work attitude, cooking, fun (playing board games, darts ;-), respect of space, creativity, going above and beyond what was needed, always ready to give a hand. All of us really miss her. If you are lucky enough for her to… read more
During my time at the Quinta, that main daily tasks were: cleaning up and feeding the horses and donkeys twice a day, watering the seedlings in the green house, weeding, collecting eggs. There were occasional tasks such as fixing the… read more
I was there for 3,5 weeks and it was the push that i needed in the right direction.
Mary and Ugo are very driven… read more
I can't express in words how much I appreciate their passion for this project and how much I learnt during these 3 weeks. It was a great experience which I would do again and again and I can… read more
We stayed with Mary Ann & Ugo for about a month in September 2021. We have a wonderful connection with them and built a special community with them and the other work-away volunteers. This was our first work-away experience and so we came in with zero expectations.
We were pushed out of our comfort zone but Mary Ann… read more
After one week it felt she had been here forever in the way she integrated into the work life, the farm life, doing her share of work and adding extra time to do the farm life of feeding the animals, cleaning the stables and watering the plants not on… read more
She blended in really well also with the other workaway creating a beautiful atmoshere in our home.
She loves animals and animals loved her - it was wonderful to see her experience for the… read more
The place awesome, the animals so beautiful, and the work, hard and extremely rewarding. I learnt a lot, there is so much going on and… read more
it is a place full of energy, love and knowledge, as soon as I arrived I was welcomed to the family and i felt straight away that i belonged.
I was only there for 3 weeks but I brought a lifetime of experiences that made me grow a lot in such a short period of… read more
We wish him all the best and hope he comes back again to visit :-)
In the 4 weeks we had the pleasure of hosting him for, he participated with proactivity, great enthusiasm and hard work ethic to… read more
And they are inspiring, too. We had great great talks about just any topic around the dinner table. Be it consciousness, our economy, culture...just pick something and you will have a conversation. And there is also a lot of hands-on knowledge to learn: Waste-free living,… read more
Very careful and respectful of house rules and everybody.
I could see him being amazing working in a hostel or in customer service as he has that perfect mix of respect and engagement with people and shows up fully when needed, and… read more
They have fit in perfectly with our routine, beyond their tasks (which included building fences, creating veggie gardens and more), in feeding and taking care of… read more
Encontrar MaryAnn e Ugo no maravilhoso Alentejo é excepcional. A experiência é SUPER recomendável e acima de tudo, o projeto é lindo, sempre queremos… read more
Usually I had worked with Ugo in the vege garden and the new forest garden and learned many things about gardening stuff and permaculture method, like how to make hot… read more
She is super hard working out in the gardens and outside work, great in the kitchen, lovely recipes and always willing to give… read more
During her 5 weeks with us, she gave ALL of us in here so much - (humans and animals).
She is extremely committed to adding value to whoever and… read more
She is a super special person, very kind, knowledgeable about nature and birds, fun, super hard working and helpful, great cook, good with weeding, pruning, feeding the animals and with any task needed - and it was great to have a bird connoisseur to censor the birds we have in the property,… read more
But for me personally, the almost 6 weeks spend here were one of the best. Specially, coincidence or not, because here I managed to have great insights that lead me towards… read more
Not only were the hosts, Ugo and Mary Ann amazing people that I had interesting conversations with, which I learned a lot from, but we also had a lot of fun.
I really felt at home while staying here.
The land they have is extremely beautiful and the work I did while being here was very… read more
We were very lucky to have him join us and we super… read more
She is proactive - "can I help you" is one of the sentences we heard most from her - she is not afraid of extra work and she fit right in with all the tasks needed, with the family environment, with the other volunteers and with the animals.
If she writes to you to… read more
From MaryAnn,instead,I would like to learn her calm,her compassion and her curiosity.
I admired the energy, the positive vibrations of both and the ability to have the "big picture".
For a month I… read more
Respectful of house rules, wonderful, curious and creative cook, (still dreaming his kale pesto and baba ganoush with basil), super hard working also in the gardens, natural building, loved our animals and they loved him back.
We were very sorry to see him go… read more
He also has a great mind and very interesting to chat with.
I had an exciting time with them and the other volunteers, in this beautiful region....the work was heavy at times, but I really enjoyed the opportunity to exercise! And due to the nature of the project, there was, and will be a variety… read more
We are hoping he will come back and continue his wonderful contribution to the lake garden, and soon to the building of our natural house :-)
We… read more
We would love to have her again and wish her all the best.
We highly recommend her to anybody who wants a warm,… read more
She absolutely loved animals so part of this feedback is given by our dogs, cats, chickens, ducks and pigs :-)
She took care of them as if they were her own, tended to the garden with care. She was open to do any work no matter what it was and… read more
Arnaud is a very pleasent person, enjoyble during working hours and also during meal chats. He has shown a very responsible attitude towards work that needs to be done and finished. He has very good skills in using tools and in planning his job.
He will be missed… read more
We mainly helped with the vegetable garden. We planted the greenhouse seedlings in the garden, built structures for tomatoes and new garden squares. Ugo trusted us and left us autonomous on the different tasks. We… read more
Always happy and positive and ready to do any task she was asked for. She has been helping in the kitchen, in the house cleaning, veggie garden and even in hard works...always with a smile.
It has been nice exchange life stories and experiences and she has always been playful.
We truly miss having her around and we hope… read more
They first came for two weeks and it was great when they decided to stay a whole month so they could participante in the beginning and end of some real projects.
Luca was really respectful and helpful all of the time. He participated in all the garden and outdoor tasks with energy and… read more
Ugo and MaryAnn have an amazing vision and it was great to see their project and listen to their ideas.
They are both really open minded and energetic persons who love to share their interesting stories.
When it comes to the work, they were always fair with the hours and the… read more
I spend 2 weeks living with only Ugo, because unfortunately MaryAnn was traveling, and he make me felt like home. He never ask for more… read more
He is a good cook and also very clean.
We highly reccomend him to any other hosts.
Once more thank you Delfor… read more