The main task of this project will be gardening works on the grounds of a youth club not far away from your living place (the youth club M 24). Your help will be needed for digging, planting, painting and simple carpenter’s works in the youth club Kurt Lade Klub. Other small gardening or maintaining works are possible.
The main work in Klein Dammerow will mostly consist of gardening and cleaning up the historical park around the house, which has long been unused. Year by year, this way it is possible to discover another part of the huge garden area. The participants will mow the lawn and cut bushes and trees. Collecting the leaves of the Horse Chestnut-trees, to protect them from an insect-disease, will be another important work. Open Houses attaches great importance to renewable energy. That s why we use an eco-friendly, wood fired heating-system in the Manor house. Under this aspect the volunteers will cut firewood, which was brought to the property last year, and move it to a roofed place for wintertime.On the weekend 18./19.06. the group will have an excursion to another property of Open Houses in Gantikow, where in the same time takes place another workcamp. Please have a look on the project description of OH-F01. This other workcamp organizes a festival and the volunteers of Klein Dammerow will help them and enjoy the festival together. The community of the village will be invited to the manor-house, presenting the idea of Open Houses Network and international youth exchange all over the world. For this day the volunteers will prepare informations and a small programm of presentations and music as well as activities and different dishes and drinks from your countries. Gantikow has also a small lake nearby, where the group can go swimming.Notes: What to bring: working gloves and strong shoes, appropriate clothes, sleeping bag.
Accomodation & food:
sleeping room with matresses, warm shower and toiletsThe meals will be prepared together as they are part of the community life, what means that everybody will be responsible for the meal at least once during its stay. So it would be very nice if you could bring typical recipies from home in order to introduce each other to the preparation of food from all over the world.
Location & leisure:
Klein Dammerow Manor is located between Berlin and the Baltic Sea and surrounded by four nature reserves with many fields, woods, ponds, and rivers. The Manor is a very interesting brick building from 1892/93 with a beautiful interior. The walls are covered with clay and painted with lime casein paint. The historical wooden floor planks are revealed and renovated. All the rooms are equipped with historical furnitures, what gives the house a magnificent attraction.In the huge garden, surrounding the Manor House, a stone-oven invites to experience conventional baking, and also the fireplace assures nice evenings in the nature. The sportsarea with a football-ground and volleyball-net is just beside. The participants can also enjoy their leisure time discovering the Mecklenburg Lake District. This place is ideal for having a great summer.Klein Dammerow is situated in a beautiful landscape. The huge garden on the backside ofthe Manor is ideal for playing ball games or just relaxing. You can use your free time forexploring the surroundings, going to one of the lakes nearby (around 8 i 10km from Klein Dammerow Manor) or for small excursions.
Volunteers will help to renovate the archaeological nature trail of the community.Some kind of work will be to install a new footpath and create new information boards about the nature trail. The archaeological nature trail passes many interesting nature phenomenons. Also the volunteers will help to maintain public parks and the orchard.
Accomodation & food:
Accommodation:The volunteers will be staying together in a schoolFood:Food is already included but the volunteers will be responsible for the cooking and will do it together
Location & leisure:
Location:Lohmen is a village between Guestrow and Goldberg. The region is famous for its lakes and forests. Lohmen is surrounded by a nature park. There are interesting possibilities for outdoor activities like a labyrinth, sports grounds, pedestrian walkways and more. For swimming there is a lake, which you can arrive by foot. Lohmen has about 850 inhabitants and was founded approximately around 12th century. For further information about Lohmen visit www.lohmen.de (only available in German).Leisure time activities:Excursions are planned, short trips to nearby towns, swimming, canoeing-
Requirements:
Further requirements:Please bring a sleeping bag, a mattress pad, working clothes, motivation and good humour
The countless historical castles and park areas in Berlin-Brandenburg are run and maintained by the Stiftung Preussische Schloesser und Gaerten. The highlight of this cultural 300 year old landscape is the city of Potsdam, including the Sanssouci castle and gardens. You will be working right in the expansive Sanssouci gardens and will therefore get a sneak peek in this diverse field of work. In the Charlottenhof Park, created in 1883 by P. J. Lenne, you will help care for paths, flower beds, and grass areas. You will learn all about the various areas of the park and the work that it takes to care for them.
Accomodation & food:
You will stay in the Freie Schule Potsdam and sleep on mattresses placed on the floor. Meals will be prepared as a group.
Leisure:
The camp s proximity to Potsdam and Berlin means you will have endless free time activities and places to go sightseeing, as well as nature areas. You will be provided with a ticket for the Potsdam public transportation which is good for the duration of the camp.
Age:
16-26
Location:
Potsdam, Brandenburg, on the southwest edge of Berlin.
During these two weeks you will be working to lay a barefoot pathway. The work will take place on the grounds of the Naturfreibad Weißbachmuehle (www.merkendorf.de/freibadzeltplatz.htm). The project will be dedicated on July 16 during a local festival.
Accommodation:
You will be staying in the Merkendorf Fire Station. Meals will be prepared as a group.
Free Time:
On the weekends you have the opportunity to take trips to nearby cities such as Ansbach, Weissenburg, Dinkelsbuehl, and Rothenburg, on the famous Romantic Road, to Nuremberg, or to Munich. You can also use the extensive bike path network or go hiking in the nearby Hahnenkamm. Swimming and water sport activities are possible in the nearby Frankish Seenland. On Saturday, July 16, there will be a running race, the Zweistaedtelauf Merkendorf-Wolfsrams-Eschenbach, with distances from 6-10 km, which you are also welcome to take part in.
Location:
Bavaria; Merkendorf is near the Frankish Lakeland, about 50 km west of Nuremberg. Ansbach 15 km, Munich 200 km.
Nearest Train Station:
Triesdorf Bahnhof (from the station it is ca. 1 km to Merkendorf)
Airport:
Nuremberg or Munich
Note:
Sturdy shoes are required for the project. The camp starts on a Saturday and ends on a Tuesday so that you may take part in the local festival.
All projects of Open Houses are based on a sustainable principle. Also on Lohra castle the work will be balanced between natural and cultural fundamental ideas. On one hand the volunteers will repair and restore the castle buildings and on the other hand there will be a lot of work in the green area around the property.Open Houses attaches great importance to renewable energy. Under this aspect the volunteers will go into the forest and collect and cut firewood, which they find on the ground. The group will also bring the wood from the forest to the Castle. Therefor they need to load up the wood to a truck and unload it on the Castle to store it a under a roofed place for wintertime.In addition to that the volunteers will take care of the green areas around the castle, as well as for the close-by nature protection area. For example the garden needs to be digged up and to be cleared of weeds. Further more the group will correct roadway damages by filling holes with gravel to make it possible to reach the castle on a proper street. Another work will be to dig wholes for waterpipes to renew the old watersystem on the Castle. The volunteers may also pick fruits like cherries, plums and apples in the meadows around the castle for their common meals and to produce self-made fruit juice.Please be informed, that the work will take place in all weathers. So please bring rain jacket and waterproof shoes.Notes: What to bring: working gloves and strong waterproof shoes, appropriate clothes, rain jacket, sleeping bag
Accomodation & food:
ACCOMODATIONWithin the old service buildings of the castle, you will stay in four little houses with 2-, 3- and4-bedrooms with showers (limited hot water) and toilettes. The equipment is simple but fair.The fully equipped kitchen, which is situated next to the accommodation houses, is aseparate building with large tables and benches inside. The atmosphere is rustic and historic.FOODThe meals will be prepared together as they are part of the community life, what means thateverybody will be responsible for the meal at least once during its stay. So it would bevery nice if you could bring typical recipes from home in order to introduce each other to thepreparation of food from all over the world.
Location & leisure:
Lohra Castle is situated in the heart of Germany in Northern Thuringia. The castle, which is surrounded by a scenic hilly landscape, is located on the edge of a nature reserve area. Being one of the largest castles in Thuringia, the history of the castle Lohra begins in the Middle Ages. The castle is more than 1000 years old. Today, it includes 20 buildings from different times: medieval fortifications, remnants of a tower from the 11th century, a roman chapel, a manor from the Renaissance period as well as stables and granaries from the 19th century. The ensemble is situated in the centre of a beautiful forest. From the top of the buildings you will have a wonderful view over one of the most impressive landscapes of Germany: the Harz Mountains. For years Lohra Castle was vacant. At the beginning of the 1990s Open Houses started to restore the castle and to revive it by cultural activities at the beginning of the 1990s. Since that time, a large number of art-workshops, exhibitions, concerts and international meetings took place in the castle. The castle is situated next to a nature protected area. You can explore the landscape by foot;worth seeing is the chapel in Munchenlohra. Excursions to Sondershausen, Muhlhausen orNordhausen will be discussed once you arrived.
The ecosystem with its trees, plants, animals and nature- and environmental educational stations will be extended with new elements. We need also your help to add new facilities and decorative things in the area of the old farm. For this project we would like to find 12 committed young people, who are keen to do manual work, advance their knowledge of all kinds of skills and do landscape design.
Accomodation & food:
The participants stay in the romantic farmhouse-room. Please bring bed linen, sheets or sleeping bags and Isolationmat, house-shoes, work clothes. You are very welcome, if you can offer ecological information from your own country.
Location & leisure:
The Study-part:How do you create a productive garden which mingles plants and animals in a way that only a minimum input of energy and resources are required to achieve maximum sustainability to the environment? Education for sustainable developement - theory and projects of best practice, for example nature people s and tribes lifestyle.The leisure time:The afternoons and evenings as well as weekends are mostly free. We will try to offer you various activities for your spare time such as sport, excursions, swimming etc. There will be excursions in the region, especially to the picturesce town Freiberg, to the Nationalpark Sachsische Schweiz , and to a very nice piece of land called Rote Baumwiese .
Requirements:
You are very welcome, if you can offer ecological information from your own country.
This workcamp is for nature lovers as the work will be mainly outdoors. Around the natural reserve there is a lot of work. Since it s not possible to use common agricultural techniques, volunteers have to do everything manually. Moreover all meadows around have to be cut and following the grass have to be put aside. Aim of this project is to help to protect this unique reserve through your contribution. In the meadow every spring grow rare flowers like orchids that need light and space that in case of not attending wouldn t be available. Typical for the region are salt and orchid meadows. This project will be done in cooperation with environmental agency of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Accomodation & food:
Accommodation:The volunteers will be staying in a schoolFood:Food is already included but the volunteers will be responsible for the cooking and will do it together
Location & leisure:
Location:The volunteers will work in a nature reserve which consists of two main lakes: Upahl and Lenzen. Consequently many different kinds of birds, plants and other animals can be found. The volunteers will stay in Lohmen, a small village. Lohmen has about 850 inhabitants and was founded approximately around 12th century. For further information about Lohmen visit www.lohmen.de (only available in German).Leisure time activities:Excursions are planned, short trips to nearby towns, swimming, hiking-
Requirements:
Further requirements:Please bring a sleeping bag, a mattress pad, work clothes gloves, motivation and good humour.
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