In Search of New Homesteading Experiences (UK)

Hi

My Names Paul, ive been thinking of trying the world of self sufficiency and homesteading for years but dont really know anyone in the community to talk to about anything the people on here seem so open and nice always willing to give advice. Id love to have my own land build my own home (cob or earthbag sound really interesting to me) with my own power, water etc but its a big jump to go straight into it without at least trying out the lifestyle properly for myself. Im looking for someone in the uk who may have a plot they need to work on where i could learn the ropes in a more physical way. whether that is to help them construct their own building on site or the general day to day upkeep of an established homestead.

Id love to experience it before taking the plunge as id be solo on my journey and people tend to overestimate their abilities without a better understanding of what it truly entails (dunning-kruger?). if anyone has a space open where i could talk to them a little more and maybe i could visit them for a while learn the tricks of the trade? I've tried to send similar messages to people on youtube who are doing this but they dont seem to reply. I'm not afraid of hard graft and have some experience in building and general DIY, growing food (help my friend turn an old overgrown allotment into its own micro farm) but i always feel there are those with so much more knowledge than myself who i could really benefit from. Im not looking to exchange money with anyone just my time and labour for experience and maybe food and somewhere to kip.

If you have any opportunity and are willing to discuss it further please let me know and we can talk further to see if this can be worked out between us

Thanks so much people

Consider also adding this to the experiences forum and the education forum in order to cast your net wider so more UK folks see this.

Hi Paul, Welcome to Permies from the far North West of the UK!
I'm sorry that you don't seem to be getting much help online from people on youtube etc. It may be they are too busy 'living the dream' to respond. I've heard anecdotally that volunteers can be more trouble than they're worth which will put off some from accepting your help.

I'm assuming you've looked at woofing, and it doesn't suit. Have you considered volunteering at a bigger site such as CAT or Findhorn? I'm just thinking those would have more resources to support volunteers and more variety in providing the experiences you are looking for.
Wishing you luck!

I’ve stayed with people from helpx.net and had really good experiences.

You’ll need to use the filters a lot to get permie style stays but it looks like there may be a few in the UK.

At our previous property we took Wwoofers but, as Nancy says, some were more trouble than they were worth. (e.g. one was put to weeding and dug up all my strawberry plants.) On the other hand, some were excellent and really understood what we were trying to do and worked very hard. You sound like the ideal person for us in that life! Were I in your position, I would certainly look at the Wwoof hosts to see whether any were of interest to you.

Sorry for the delay in my response guys been on my hols. Also i dont seem to able to find a reply function for the individual messages received on this post so ill respond collectively in this post.

To Riona. Thats a great suggestion ill post it over there too. cast the net so to speak. Cheers

To Nancy. Yeh i think theyre preoccupied with living the life and endless editing for their youtube channel. Incpuld really see why some would not be too enthused about some random volunteer with questionable experience coming onto your land and potentially jeopardising their livelihood by ruining a crop or something. I reckon id be a little hesitant too if it were my land if im honest. Yeh i have looked at woofing, i wouldnt say its off the cards but id also want to see what other options there are even on here on an individual basis with the people in the know. Had a brief look at CAT, does look interesting im going to take a little time after this to into it further. Thanks for the info

To James. Ive had a look over at helpx but not for some time. it does look quite good and could offer something that suits as you say ill have to filter it down to something more applicable.

To Ara. Id be a bit gutted if someone done that to my strawberries. Thats the kinda thing thats a bit disheartening for the land owners, a bit of a mixed bag of results from the volunteers. I suppose it depends on what they want out of it as some are just looking for a pitstop on their tour of the country and some are looking to gain knowledge of that lifestyle specifically.

Thanks for all your suggestions and responses. Have a lovely day