Workaway Went Wrong: Castlewellan
From Scotland, we made our way to our next Workaway assignment in Castlewellan, Northern Ireland. It was a beautiful area in the countryside with panoramic views of rolling green hills. Just look below!
Our Workaway Assignment
In a year of traveling, something is bound to go wrong. Well, this is that part.
We were planning on staying at this assignment one month, but we only stayed 6 days, which is honestly longer than we should have stayed. The quick version is that the house was dirty and the host was rude. But before we get into the dirty details, let’s talk about our actual work.
Our daily jobs included taking care of the chicks and ducks, feeding the cats, and watering the garden. Each morning and evening we would move the chicks and ducks from their inside home to their outside home. In just a week, we became fond of these little guys.
Aside from daily duties, our main project was to build a roof for the shed. We did this with leftover flooring, which Greg measured and cut. Together, we attached it to the shed. It was my first time using a drill! My small project was harvesting potatoes, which I really enjoyed. Our next job was to build a fence for a chicken coop, but we left before we even began.
Immediately upon arrival, we knew this environment was not what we were expecting. The yard was full of junk, the kitchen was piled with dirty dishes, there were spiderwebs around the house, and overall, it just felt pretty nasty. There was another Workawayer who had arrived the previous day and told us she was leaving the next morning because of the disgust. She messaged me “turn back now” before we arrived, but I didn’t get the message until we were already there. He hadn’t washed bed linens or prepared the house in any way for guests. She had to do that when she arrived. Hosts are supposed to be accommodating and make you feel comfortable. He did neither of those things.
There were so many things wrong with this host and house, but I’m not going to list them all here. A few ‘red flags’ included him being ok with a headless dead mouse laying in the kitchen for days, and him planning that the next Workawayer was going to sleep in a closet. Don’t worry, he has been banned from the Workaway site and is no longer allowed to be a host.
Planning ahead
We obviously knew we were going to leave early, so I searched for last-minute hosts in Ireland and Northern Ireland. To our surprise, we found an amazing couple who could take us at the end of the week. Phew! This was our new plan. In the meantime, we took a weekend trip to Newcastle (which was amazing- look out for its’ own post soon).
The “Olive Oil Situation”
When we returned from the weekend getaway, we were cooking dinner and as we usually do, put olive oil into the skillet. He inched towards us and asked why we had the olive oil out. I was seriously perplexed and replied “cooking with it..?” He lost his mind. He started shouting about how we aren’t allowed to use olive oil for cooking and how toxic it is. By the way, he never mentioned this ‘rule.’ He was slamming doors in the house and took off in his car. We knew we couldn’t stay any longer. I phoned up our next hosts and they allowed us to come the next morning. We now call them the Olive Oil Saviors :)
Castlewellan
Castlewellan wasn’t all bad, just the Workaway part. So let’s talk about the town itself!
Castlewellan is a traditional Irish village, just an hour and half bus ride from Belfast. You’ll pretty much only find locals there. It is located in the beautiful countryside of Northern Ireland, off of the tourist path. We didn’t see many sheep, but we sure saw lots of cows!
Mullholland’s Bar was our go-to spot for a pint.
Castlewellan Forest Park
From the house, we were just a ten-minute walk to this gorgeous park, which had a huge lake, castle, rose garden, and hedge maze. I loved this spot! The lake has a path on the entire perimeter, which is great for running. We saw lots of families gathered for picnics. It seems to be the place to be on the weekends. I was excited to do the hedge maze, but we left before we were able to do it. It was a huge one!
Even though our stay in Castlewellan was cut short, we enjoyed the time we had relaxing in nature. It really was a beautiful area! Of all bad situations, this one worked out, because it launched us into our next Workaway assignment, which was truly incredible!
