House and Farm for medium term minding

n1st

Hi,

With 65 acres and a thatched house on site, we've been thinking about getting someone in in 3, 6 or 12 month periods to manage the farm and house, preferrably families.
We're picturing foreign or city dwelling families who are interested in taking time out to do something different.
The farm and house would include the maintenance of both.

Does anyone know of a resource where we could get advice or advertise?

Thanks

dennyk

Kind of depends on what you mean by "manage the farm and house"; are you just looking for someone to live there so it won't be vacant and maybe do basic upkeep and such, or are you talking about someone actually managing and operating a working farm and/or taking care of your household (doing chores and housekeeping, running errands, minding the children/pets, etc.)? The former could probably be arranged through some sort of house-sitting service like MindMyHouse or TrustedHousesitters.

Legally speaking, the latter would most likely be considered a form of employment and you'd need to officially hire someone and make sure you follow all Irish labour laws (employment contracts, minimum wage, paid holidays, working hour restrictions, etc.) in order to be compliant legally. Some chancers use services like Workaway or HelpX to find people to "help out" with their farms, homes, or other small businesses in exchange for room and board, but most of them are breaking the law by doing so; the maximum wage credits you can set against the minimum wage for employer-provided room and board are fairly small (€0.87 per hour worked for food and €3.32 per day for accommodations), so even if someone was only working a few hours a day, you'd still have to pay them a wage as well in order to comply with the law.

n1st

No one lives in the house.
The farm is small, might be only sheep and donkeys which require an eye everyday, that would be the chores.
I'd be hoping to find families who are eager to add to the current farm e.g. plant vegetables for themselves, raise hens, geese and pigs for themselves.

Nothing for me except see families getting a chance to live outdoors and add to the existing farm and house for themselves and future guests to carry on

dennyk

That might be tipping into "employment" territory, if you're expecting them to actually run your farm for you and take care of your livestock and such. Not that you couldn't probably find someone to take you up on the offer in exchange for a place to live, I'd guess, but you would be in a grey area of the law at least, if not entirely on the wrong side, and there is a risk you could end up in trouble for it if one of your caretakers wises up and decides to pursue it.

n1st

Does anyone know of a website that might cater for this?

Woofers/House minding/farm minding/try farming/live in the country

n1st

n1st wrote: »

No one lives in the house.
The farm is small, might be only sheep and donkeys which require an eye everyday, that would be the chores.
I'd be hoping to find families who are eager to add to the current farm e.g. plant vegetables for themselves, raise hens, geese and pigs for themselves.

Nothing for me except see families getting a chance to live outdoors and add to the existing farm and house for themselves and future guests to carry on

65 acres isn’t that small plenty of fully operational farms that are that size or smaller even.