Bergsmansgård

We are a Dutch couple (66 and 70 years old) and living in Sweden for more than 18 years running our little restaurant. Although the place with houses and garden is very big, the business is very small.
We try to make this place a good place to be for everyone, a place with a heart. We want to give it a future in a world where everything is about money, power and not quality!

After almost 15 years working with help from hundreds of volunteers we are taking a new step.
We are getting older and we felt the need to retire. A younger couple with 2 children will take over the place.
This change will take about a year. While we are slowly drawing out they will come in step-by-step.
During that time a lot has to be done to make a "split" and with that we still need help. We are only 2 persons (of age) and are not able to handle that move alone.
Besides of that we still have 4 husky-dogs who need long promenades and we still have garden-work and other things to do.

A bit special moment will be Easter 2025: the last time our restaurant will be open, and prepare for that weekend we still need some bakery and kitchen help (so not the Easter-days).

We hope of course to find some volunteers that will help us through this special period with a lot of different things to do.

We are in a time of changes: we found new owners because of our age, we feel it is time to retire. We have been inviting volunteers to stay with us for many, many years now and we are very enthousiast about the concept. Hundreds of young people have been here! We have mostly 2 to 4 volunteers at a time. In june/august and november/december we have hosted more then 8 helpers at a time! Almost everyone had a wonderful time here, with new experiences. Many friendships were born. Some of them had tears in their eyes when leaving. Some are even returning several times. All of you helped us to become more what we deeply want to be: a place where people can meet other people and where everyone can feel at home. Thank you dear volunteers!! We are very happy with the help of volunteers. We take care of that the working conditions are fitting to a volunteer. We are very happy with the young power in muscles and brains to help our old bodies to go on. Everyone has skills and experiences and we preferably want everyone to do what he/she likes most. We can learn of each other and make use of each other’s experience. We try to give you as much learning experiences as possible, a lot of fun and we want to show you how to work with love for the food, how to work with a heart for the guests, the buildings, our 4 dogs and how to work with responsibility for environment and durability. Be welcome at our place! Roswitha and Fridus More detailed info for those who are interested: Roswitha works mainly in the kitchen and restaurant and takes care of all designing and advertising. Fridus is the handyman; he is responsible for the buildings and the facilities. You can help in the garden or with the houses and building- renovating-projects we have to do. We have some lovely dogs (husky like) who love to go on a long walk every day. We hope you will enjoy the nature around us, taking a bicycle, going for a walk, swimming in the lake or paddling in a canoe. But notice that citylife is far away! You will have a room or a caravan on your own and you share the bathroom with other helpers. We have our evening dinner together, the other meals you can take when it fits you best. Our working day rhythm starts mostly late because we often have work to do in the evening also.