WWOOF UK Reviews 12

Ex Volunteer - Weird Farms/ Organic BS**T
I and a lot of now friends have had problems with hosts and this organisation does nothing to solve serious problems with issues raised.

Anything from young (wwoof never vet people properly for their age), I saw they condone 16 and 17 year olds working for unvetted and potentially very dangerous end parties... Make your own mind up.. 🔥(japanese/oriental) WOOFERS being with old age farmers... racism, sexism and host wanting a little bit more than working on farm and illegal activities like running caravans illegally for cash, stolen goods and tax evasion.

Even the ethos of organic... is rubbish, saw the use of pesticides and weed killers used extensively.

Also, the host cannot be checked out..., the reviewing system is pointless and the volunteer team make up constant excuses for not making any attempt to return messages, they don't have a telephone number to contact (so massive gate-keeping and gas-lighting going on)

I would avoid this group as nothing good comes of it.

I had one good experience and reviewed his farm/place away from WWOOF as the farmer had been sued and never gave feedback on others since that time. (July 2022 - Jan 2023)

I had one aborted attempt in Dorset for a dairy farmer (living with his parents) who pretended to more than that, where the descriptions of the farm activity were false and where what they expected was a kin to slavery for little food or warmth in dirty, terrible conditions. (February 2022)

I had another farmer in a wood, whom had 60 year old caravans.. with holes in and a group of kids doing some odd tasks around a herd of 6 cows... and making random piles of sticks and woods..., I decided to abort it and return to a Hotel in Okehampton after the farmer told me I would not be able to heat caravan as it also used for others to cook in... bit like a father ted, filthy unclean cold place (this was in February 2022)

I had intially a good experience in a Llama farm in Truro, albeit this decended into a farce... for so many reasons (I met some nice people living in Caravans there, also some odd types that seemed to suck up to the farmer there Tom Tripp) lasted 4 months there. Lots of illegal activity there almost as if farmer had been allowed to get away with everything for years, insurance fraud, tax and vat fraud, campsite, evading council tax, non payment of tax on campsite/llama walks... (June 2023)

Date of experience: 10 August 2023

I’ve been WWOOFing across the UK since I was 17, and many of my most wondrous and formative experiences have come through it! From smallholdings and commercial farms to intentional communities and naturally built homes, WWOOF UK has offered me the chance to experience previously unknown alternative ways of living right on my doorstep, connect with incredible people, and gather skills and knowledge that I’ve carried into my everyday life and has formed my intentions going forward.

I’m thinking back on sitting on the doorstep of a little caravan in the Pembroke wilderness, celebrating Beltane in a community in Shropshire, making a cob mural in the Scottish Highlands and my host telling me of her life philosophy to “do as much good as possible, in as many ways as possible, forever and ever she can”.

It is an exchange built on trust and I’ve found it really important to be clear and communicative. In the nature of different farming styles, some hosts can ask a lot of their WWOOFers, so I would really recommend asking questions, having open conversations beforehand, and making sure you’re both on the same page. In my experience, doing so has helped ensure that the exchange is fair, safe, and fulfilling to both.

WWOOF UK is built on trust and good values and offers so much, I’m very grateful to the organisation to have provided these experiences.

We've been hosting WWOOFers on our small organic farm for nearly two years now, and we can honestly say it’s been one of the most rewarding decisions we've made.

WWOOF UK has brought countless wonderful people from all around the world to our farm, we have loved meeting and getting to know all of them all!

We've made lifelong friends, shared meals, laughter and had so many enriching conversations around the garden and kitchen table!

Every WWOOFer has brought something special with them, we've learned so much from them, whether it's new techniques, different cultural approaches to farming or cooking or simply wonderful energy and enthusiasm.

Hopefully, we've also passed on our knowledge about our way of working with the land, growing organically, and living more sustainably. However we are a very new farm and community, so we are learning just as much from those who come to visit us!

The exchange of ideas, values and skills has been really heartwarming and inspiring, and I can't reccommend it enough :-)

We would encourage any organic farm, smallholding or homestead considering opening their doors through WWOOF to do so.

The only bit of advice I have is to do a video chat with any WWOOFer you are considering hosting (or if you are a WWOOFer, then have a video chat with any host you are considering visiting), before accepting, to ensure your personalities and values align.

I hope this review is helpful, and I hope you enjoy your WWOOFing journey if you sign up!

Thank you, WWOOF, for creating such a brilliant platform, and for all the wonderful friends we have made.

As a way to learn about how to grow food and life in the countryside this org is the best. You can stay with people who live off-grid and get to experience what it's like to live that way. Some hosts live in really posh places and there's totally different experiences to have there. The hosts are so dedicated to looking after the land where they live and each host is obviously different to the next. Some places you are the only volunteer and other places like to arrange a group of you to all stay at the same time. It's such a good way to get away for a break too. You can feel part of a family really quickly and some places you become part of the local community and make friends all over the place.

I've been a WWOOF host for 20 years and it's truly enriched my life! I've met interesting people from all around the world (many of whom I'm still in touch with), learned about different languages and cultures, gathered some amazing recipes and benefited from lots of help on the land. In return, I've given my guests somewhere safe and comfortable to stay, fed them excellent food (even if I do say so myself!) and taught them a lot about how to grow and live a life closer to the earth. So many people say that WWOOFing has changed their life - well it certainly changed mine. Big love to a brilliant organisation

I really enjoyed my WWOOF experience. I visited 4 farms all over the UK and learnt so much about growing and taking care of animals. All my hosts were so welcoming and I met loads of lovely people (and animals!) I would recommend WWOOFing to anyone looking for a meaningful experience in nature.

I and a lot of now friends have had problems with hosts and this organisation does nothing to solve serious problems with issues raised.

Anything from young (wwoof never vet people properly for their age), I saw they condone 16 and 17 year olds working for unvetted and potentially very dangerous end parties... Make your own mind up.. 🔥(japanese/oriental) WOOFERS being with old age farmers... racism, sexism and host wanting a little bit more than working on farm and illegal activities like running caravans illegally for cash, stolen goods and tax evasion.

Even the ethos of organic... is rubbish, saw the use of pesticides and weed killers used extensively.

Also, the host cannot be checked out..., the reviewing system is pointless and the volunteer team make up constant excuses for not making any attempt to return messages, they don't have a telephone number to contact (so massive gate-keeping and gas-lighting going on)

I would avoid this group as nothing good comes of it.

I had one good experience and reviewed his farm/place away from WWOOF as the farmer had been sued and never gave feedback on others since that time. (July 2022 - Jan 2023)

I had one aborted attempt in Dorset for a dairy farmer (living with his parents) who pretended to more than that, where the descriptions of the farm activity were false and where what they expected was a kin to slavery for little food or warmth in dirty, terrible conditions. (February 2022)

I had another farmer in a wood, whom had 60 year old caravans.. with holes in and a group of kids doing some odd tasks around a herd of 6 cows... and making random piles of sticks and woods..., I decided to abort it and return to a Hotel in Okehampton after the farmer told me I would not be able to heat caravan as it also used for others to cook in... bit like a father ted, filthy unclean cold place (this was in February 2022)

I had intially a good experience in a Llama farm in Truro, albeit this decended into a farce... for so many reasons (I met some nice people living in Caravans there, also some odd types that seemed to suck up to the farmer there Tom Tripp) lasted 4 months there. Lots of illegal activity there almost as if farmer had been allowed to get away with everything for years, insurance fraud, tax and vat fraud, campsite, evading council tax, non payment of tax on campsite/llama walks... (June 2023)

Sounds pretty good as an idea but in reality is a mixed bag, you have to pay 25 pounds to message these hosts but than you reach out to so many of these farms and hardly get replies from most of them. Than there is a "capitalisiation issue" that nowadays many registered farms which generate large profits from events, camping, produce sales etc... they want volunteers simply so they dont have to pay actual workers. Im sure there are lots of good farms out there but sadly when you apply you often do not get a response from where you would like to go and have to take something completely different or irrelevant to your learning interests. Sorry but cannot see this as a serious place as you can apply to most of them but these places will still be packed during summer season and than they will be empty during autmun/winter/spring when you cannot attend. Good as a concept but absolutely useless in practice.

Supposed to be Worldwide but you have to pay for each country.

A great idea in principle but they allow host farms to specify volunteers are vaccinated against COVID. This is a form of medical discrimination and does not fit with their supposed ethos (organic/healthy). When challenged they did not even consider the issue.

I really like the idea and I'm sure that it can work really well in some cases, but I give very little credit to the "WWOOF" org and webpage; and a lot more to the farms and community. I'll explain:

- The calendar feature is misleading (or broken) and you have to pay for the year so I can't recommend this to anyone who can only go in summer as most places will be full.
> Luckily; a few very kind hosts acknowledge the issue and share their availability on the description
- Many farms have zero or 1 reviews after 10 years or even more; and only positive reviews seem to be socially acceptable (either that or every place is perfect but most 'volunteers' don't care to share their experience)
- Can't filter by number of reviews (no scores are given) or number of spots... and the work hours or conditions are never specified; even after being accepted for the volunteering (the first message must have dates and be a request already)

It's just a review... but here for anyone to read and get their opinion too. Thank you!