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Join our friendly family of six in a beautiful country home just 20 minutes from Belfast! Help care for four fabulous ponies, two Labradors, and two cats, along with some light outdoor tidying. Hands-on horse experience is essential, though riding is not required or offered. Enjoy your own private bedroom and bathroom, all meals included, a home gym, easy transport links, and plenty of opportunities to explore Northern Ireland. 🐾✨
25 hours of help per week
Animal Care: Help look after and take care of animals.
2 days off per week
Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.
Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.
Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.
Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.
Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.
Get free drinks or beverages.: Drink up! Get free and tasty drinks for yourself.
Bikes at your disposal: You can use our bikes any time you want.
Pick Up: We will pick you up when you arrive, and take you to our property.
Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.
Fast Internet Access: High-speed internet for you to work remotely
Beginner English
Between 18 and 50 years old
Welcomes solo volunteers, couples, and partners of volunteers
Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa
We are a friendly, busy family of six living in a large country house in the beautiful Northern Irish countryside, around 20 minutes from Belfast and close to Lisburn.
We have four children and lots of fabulous, friendly animals — four ponies, two Labradors and two cats — all living with us at home and very much part of our family.
We are looking for a friendly, responsible and practical animal lover to join us and help with the everyday care of our animals, particularly the ponies, as well as some light outdoor jobs.
You will stay in our family home and have your own private bedroom and exclusive use of a bathroom, Wi-Fi and full use of our facilities, including our brilliant, well-equipped home gym. We provide all your food, although as we are a busy family we ask that you are happy to prepare your own meals using the food provided.
Although we live in the countryside, we are well connected. There is a bus stop at the end of our driveway, Lisburn is around a 30-minute walk away, and from there there are good train and bus connections to Belfast and beyond.
It's a lovely opportunity to experience genuine family and country life in Northern Ireland, surrounded by animals, while still having easy access to Belfast and a great base for exploring on your days off.
Most importantly, we want someone who will enjoy being here and treat our animals with the same kindness and care that we do.
The main focus of your help will be the everyday care of our four ponies.
This includes mucking out, feeding, providing water, turning them out and bringing them in, checking their general welfare and keeping their stables, barn, yard and feed/equipment areas clean, tidy and organised. We would also appreciate help keeping our horsebox clean and tidy when needed.
Previous hands-on horse experience is essential. You do not need to be a rider and no riding is offered, but you must have spent time handling or caring for horses before.
This isn't suitable for someone who has never handled horses or is frightened of them. You don't need to be a professional groom — we simply need you to understand the basics of safely handling, leading and working around horses.
The horses live here at our home and I will be here and involved with their care, so you won't be expected to take sole responsibility for them. I will show you our routine and how we do things; we simply need you to arrive with enough horse experience to be comfortable and confident around them.
We also have two fabulous, friendly Labradors and two very friendly cats. Help with them includes feeding and walking the dogs and generally giving all the animals some extra care and attention.
There will also be some light outdoor work around our home and garden. No gardening or specialist maintenance skills are needed — it is simply helping to keep outdoor areas neat, tidy and organised.
We are looking for someone who is reliable, practical, naturally tidy, genuinely loves animals and doesn't mind getting their hands dirty. Once you know our routine, we'd love you to be someone who can see what needs doing and happily get on with it.
No smoking or vaping. No guests without permission.
