The Olive Oil Saviors: AKA Our Irish Workaway
This Workaway assignment was never supposed to happen, but we are so happy that it did! It began as a one week trial, but turned into an incredible 2 month stay!
We have lots to share about this experience, but first…..
How did we find this amazing Workaway assignment?
Well the short story is that life doesn’t always go as planned and sometimes an amazing Irish couple will rescue you and make it all better!
But the long story… here it goes!
If you remember from a previous post, we had quite the bad experience at our Workaway in Northern Ireland. As soon as we knew we weren’t going to stay for the completion of the assignment, I went ahead and started sending out last minute requests to other hosts in Ireland and Northern Ireland. If we didn’t get one asap, our plan was to abandon ship and just stay at hotels until we found one.
Missed out on the Workaway Gone Wrong? Click HERE for the story.
We had 2 or 3 quick replies (which is crazy because sometimes it can take weeks for hosts to respond), but the one we wanted to pursue was with Sabina and David. We learned how important it is to video chat before accepting an assignment, so the 4 of us did that. We immediately clicked and knew this would be a good fit.
This was their first time having workawayers. Before committing to a long stay, they agreed to host us for one week to test it out and make sure it was something they were comfortable with.
Here is a photo break from this long story….
Greg and I decided we would tough it out at the Northern Ireland one until the end of the week, and then go to the new host. This was before we knew how extremely bad the current one was (there were no dead mice yet… just an overall uncomfortable feeling). But once the ‘olive oil situation’ happened, I called Sabina up and asked if there was anyway we could come sooner. Long story short, we arrived the next day!
Within just a few days, Sabina asked us to stay longer- basically as long as we wanted! We had a workaway planned in Wales for the following month, so we needed to consider that. After video calling our Wales host and not getting a super great vibe, we decided to cancel the Wales assignment and stay in Ireland. Plus, we were VERY happy at this location. Best decision ever!
The Accommodation
This place was seriously amazing. It is a 3-story house, nestled in the quaint lakeside of Shercock, with acres of gardens and beautiful views. We had our own bedroom and bathroom, which upon arrival, Sabina apologized that she had not yet pressed the sheets or painted the room. I didn’t even know that people ever pressed sheets! This is just a clue at how amazing a host Sabina was.
This property felt like a resort, and we were staying there! We couldn’t believe it!
On our first day, Sabina took us kayaking and showed us around the lake. She is very proud of her property and absolutely loves it (as she should!). Originally from Dublin, they recently moved out there to enjoy more time relaxing away from the hustle and bustle.
Fun fact: Sabina is a neuroscientist! Check out her just-released game, Brain Gym, available at Barnes and Noble and her best-selling book, Beating Brain Fog, available on Amazon.
We loved being lakeside! We were allowed to use the kayaks any time we wished. How cool, right?!
Another awesome perk of this accommodation… a wood burning hot tub.
The Food
As you may or may not know by now, Workaway hosts provide food and accommodation for the workawayer, working 5 hours a day. Well, Sabina and Dave went above and beyond in this category (and every category). We had full access to the MASSIVE kitchen and pantry. Dave would buy us essentially anything we wanted from the grocery, including endless amounts of avocados. He even included me in on his Nespresso addiction.
But don’t touch the fancy tea! That was the only thing off limits.
One of the best parts was our ‘family’ pizza nights. Pizza was our first and last meal at this assignment. Sabina and I would decorate the pizzas with toppings and the men cooked them in the outdoor pizza oven. She introduced us to grapes on pizzas. I was a bit hesitant, but they worked nicely!
Want some keg beer or gin and tonics? Well, they provided those too! Perhaps because we were becoming such good friends! :)
The Work
Most of the work was clearing and maintaining the garden. This included acres of trees and plants, many covered with nettles and brambles. Between the 4 of us, we really transformed some of the areas! This work was very satisfying being able to see before/afters happen pretty quickly. The nettle stings… not so satisfying.
Greg learned how to drive a lawn mower (yep, this was his first time cutting grass!) and use a wood chipper. I was the wood chipper assistant on some days, but never the main operator.
This was hard physical work, but we were very well rewarded!
In light rain, we would still work outdoors, but if it was a downpour, Sabina found projects for us inside. This included staining, painting, organizing, cleaning, and some other miscellaneous tasks. I even insulated a closet!
One of our jobs included dog-sitting while they were out of town. The big task was making sure little Scruffy didn’t wander away!
Weekend Fun
Besides sitting on the counter and dancing into the wee hours of the morning, we had fun exploring the area. We really didn’t need to leave the house much though! We were very happy just hanging at the property.
Fun fact: Sabina helped me get an Irish library card
Cake Bake
On one of our first weekends in Shercock, we went to the local cake bake sale. We truly felt like locals attending this! It was hosted in city hall. We had coffee and pastries with some of their friends. We all joke that it was the worst coffee we’ve ever had- they brought us hot water and some insta-coffee to add into it.
Shercock Pub Crawl
This was not an organized event, just something Greg and I did a few times. Usually Dave would drop us off or pick us up, but if not, we’d just walk. It was 2km from the house. Shercock is a small town and had 3 pubs, one which was cash only. The locals would talk to us and were always very friendly.
We kept hoping for live music, but never found any.
If you’re in Shercock, you have to try Sillan Fries. It’s the ‘go to’ take out spot. It’s really just a small fry shop with things like burgers and fried food, but everyone raves about it. It’s crazy how busy it gets! For us, it was a good spot to grab a bite to eat after “pub crawling.”
Carrickmacross
This is a bigger town than Shercock, about 25 minutes away. Without having a rental car, Carickmacross was one of the closest spots to get a hotel and really enjoy some ‘craic’ in Ireland.
We stayed at The Nuremore Hotel & Country Club and walked into town for dinner and a night pub hopping. Our goal with this Friday night stay was to listen to live music, but unfortunately there wasn’t any. We have learned that most of these smaller Irish towns don’t tend to have much live music. Even without music, we had a fun night though!
The guy at the bar that called us a taxi back, happened to be the receptionist at the hotel the next morning. Small place!
This is the night I created my own gin tasting and had so much fun doing it! It was not sometthing that was advertised, but I asked the bartender if she could make it happen. Nobody had ever asked her this before, but she said ‘let’s give it a go.’ I had no idea how much this was going to cost, but it was one of those moments I just went for it and was living my best life. But just so you know, she only charged me for 2 shots- a fair price!
From worst to best, here are the rankings:
4. Muff Potato Gin- so so bad!
3. Monkey- decent
2: Gunpowder- a good typical tasting gin
1: Brockman- very tasty and citrusy
During this workwaway, we also took a one week trip visiting Belfast, Wales, and England. If you haven’t already, check out the blogs!
We became good friends with Dave and Sabina and were genuinely very sad to leave this assignment! Our last night consisted of pizza, popcorn, and finally watching PS I Love You with Dave. Dave is a softie and loves rom coms! As we left the house the next morning, we were all shedding tears- well maybe Greg didn’t, but us other 3 sure did! Dave didn’t want to get rid of us though and took us out for coffee before dropping us off at the hotel before we flew off to our next spot.
Until next time!