Work Away – A Different Prespective.

We had been away for nearly six months. Yes, we had popped home for Christmas, but nearly six months of travelling around India and four countries in Southeast Asia had left us slightly pleased to see the daffodils out.
We had things to do. But a little over a week had passed, and we were getting twitchy.
Having to collect our dog from my mother was a priority and we had decided that we also needed to give our motorhome a ‘run’ as it had been in storage for six months. So we concluded that, as we were out and about, it would make sense for a little UK road trip.

Costs have really crept up. Additionally, Easter was late this year, and the financials for a trip to Scotland, mirroring our wonderful road trip in 2024, were stacking up to be quite an expense. It was obvious that, aside from the fuel, the cost of staying on a site in the UK was now beginning to make travelling around the UK cost-prohibitive. We needed to have a rethink. How were we going to get away but keep the costs reasonable?
I had been taking a look for some time at websites which promoted doing some hours of volunteering in return for free stays.

Originally I was looking at these to try and use my teaching English as a foreign language qualification – but I have not yet managed to use those skills whilst travelling, mainly because the work placement, quite rightly, requires you to stay for at least four weeks, and when we travel we like to move on quite regularly.
But I took another look at these sites with a view to staying in the UK and to see what was available to us if we didn’t leave the country, and wanted to travel with our motorhome.

What is work exchange?

Work exchange usually means you receive free accommodation in exchange for hours worked.
The placements can often include a meal or two, and a wide variety of work placements are
available. I automatically rejected any work placement which required me to pay for the
pleasure of working at a project, because this went against the ethos of what I was trying to achieve, but depending on the project I can see that making a donation in this manner towards
the charities running costs can be fair.
The type of work varies from host to host and you can also arrange to ensure you get one or two days off each week to allow you to explore the surrounding area.
You will note that you don’t usually get paid for work exchanges. Even those which advertise
‘paid positions’ you must treat with some scepticism as the implementation of an hourly rate
usually comes after a period of free volunteering, and only if you have the skills that the host wants to keep enjoying to the extent that they will pay you to stay and work full time.

Lots of the positions available tend to centre around groundwork and agriculture. You won’t
necessarily need experience but you will need a strong back. There are also positions
involving au pairing, housekeeping, painting and so on.,

The positions also vary significantly in duration. You may find that the host will only agree to a
trial of a week to ten days, which allows either party to walk away if the relationship just isn’t
working out.
You also need to be aware that many of the websites which offer these sorts of roles come with an annual fee. We actually joined Workaway. But there are many other sites you could look to join – I have created a list, but I can’t comment on what all the sites are like, as we only
joined the one.
Worldpackers – I have had this App downloaded to my phone for almost as long as I can remember. It is my go-to search engine for opportunities when we are travelling. I spend a lot of time browsing it, but haven’t yet done a single job via this platform. It is, however, a good place to start. Signing up is a bit pricy, but it does come with great support and a great community.
Global work and Travel – If you are looking for opportunities without the membership fee then these guys are probably worth a look. They don’t have the global reach of Worldpackers but they do offer great support with your administration. However, they do charge for each project, and are more of a Gap year provider. So for me, they were a no-no.

WWOOF – is all about the Organic Farm. Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms – has a network in each country. So if you are all about the countryside then these guys could be the
platform you are looking for. But beware, each country has its own WWOOF network, so you
pay a fee for each country you want to work in, which makes trip planning expensive if you like to tick off numerous countries in each trip away.
Helpx – is a community page, really. It’s been around a long time and is a great alternative platform. It has a wide reach, and they make it easy to find work buddies for those solo travellers. You can browse the site for free, but you need to pay for a membership to actually contact the projects.
This is just four, but a quick Google will bring up other ideas such as Trusted Housesitters, from which we have known a number of people keep their accommodation costs low whilst they are enjoying the penthouse suite and exceptional views.
We took our first project from Facebook in the end. (Helpwanted/experience sought/ off grid/ small holdings)
There are many Help Wanted sites, and we were drawn to a project in the Cotswolds. We had promised to stay for a week in case we didn’t like it, but found ourselves and our motorhome parked up with water and electricity for just 20 hours ‘help’ a week.

We were ground clearing (ivy mostly). It was easy for us both to work three to four hours a morning, which meant that our hours quickly stacked up. By the end of the first week, we had accrued enough hours to have the following week off if we had wanted!!

It was nice, however, to start the day with some coffee and toast and then wander off to play in the woods for a few hours before returning to our motorhome for a hot shower and to spend the afternoon exploring the area or enjoying the downtime. Having hours in the bank also meant that we didn’t have to venture out and work when it was raining.
We spent Easter Sunday at the hosts property, and were invited in for a sumptuous Easter dinner and delicious cake.
You have to be quite careful where you decide to work in the UK because, with the demise of the High Street, you may find that you are in a beautiful village with nothing but a local pub for company.
You may also find that by speaking to a number of different projects before you decide where you go that you are suddenly pulled in different directions.
As I sit here writing this, I am aware that there is a project in Devon which wants my skills as a fundraiser.
If you are happy where you are, should you stay, or should you finish the project you have been given and then move on and meet new people?
My decision remains how long to stay here before we move on – and my thoughts on that change daily.