Smallholding
Dumfries & Galloway
We have a 36 acre smallholding, pasture, grazing and roughly 10 acres of wood. Currently we are looking for help in developing the house garden of some 4-5 acres with soft and hard landscaping. There is also work in the veg. garden, cutting firewood, and general help around the place. We have Shetland sheep and of course a very friendly collie. However there is not much work with livestock for most of the year.
We live in an area with dry-stane dykes (dry stone walls) so there is always the opportunity to patch and repair these....again anyone with experience will be most welcome. Fences and gates need to be maintained and later in the year we will need help planting hedging. There is always tidying up to do around the outbuildings.
Help in the large fruit & veg. garden is welcome between April and September with a final flurry of activity in October/November to clear up and prepare for the following growing season. Help is always appreciated to harvest fruit and veg and prepare it for the freezer.
Our main form of heating is driven by a large wood burning stove so collecting and chopping wood is a year round activity.
We are not commercial, this is something that we just like to do....most of the time. Our property is close to a small but thriving village and we are very much part of the community. Our Wwoofers general enjoy the weekly Scottish ceilidh dancing club (just an excuse for some fun) and generally joining in with whatever is happening.
The accommodation is in the house, living as part of the family. We try to cater for most diets...one of us eats meat and the other is a pescatarian. We don’t have a television but we do have internet connection. If you have lots or limited experience we would like to hear from you.
Organic methods: We use organic growing principles everywhere throughout our property,
Certifications: Not certified as not selling or gifting any produce as certified organic.
Current projects: The gardens take up a fair bit of time with preparation of vegetable beds & weeding, seed sowing, planting out and general maintenance though there’s always a good variety of different tasks to complete such as dry stone wall repairs, ditches to maintain, fencing and landscaping.
During really wet weather there is internal house maintenance/repair tasks, tidy & clearing out sheds, painting and chopping firewood.
We are hopeful that we can start planting native trees in the autumn.
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Sheep or goat farming
Forestry
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Bakery
Methods or systems
No-till farming
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
Former WWOOFer
14.6
Hectares
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36
Acres
Terry / Mary
Member since 2010
Languages spoken:
English
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Mon
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Response rate: 94%
Response time: typically within 5 days
Dumfries & Galloway
Limited public transport. Contact host for arrangements. Nearest train/Bus station is Dumfries
Reviews
Jaël
Germany
•
November 2025
My time at [Host] was the best I could have hoped for. Mary and Terry are the kindest and most welcoming people who made every moment worthwhile.
They also travelled a lot and can understand your situation.
You will mainly work in a garden for a few hours a day but not when its raining (there will be options in the house) and never too much. Terry can teach you a lot about gardening, so its really a learning exchange.
You will live as part of the family in the beautiful main building and will have your own private room.
Dumfries and Galloway has beautiful landscapes and you will actually get to see them as Mary or Terry might give you a castle or Robert Burns tour or just show you the quaint villages and beaches either by driving or cycling.
Mary will probably offer you to go ceileigh dancing in the next village which you absolutely have to do cause its a lot of fun ;)
If you have the opportunity to wwoof at [Host] you won’t regret it!
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Ken
Australia
•
September 2025
Terry and Mary were wonderful hosts. I had lots of opportunities to practise dry stone walling, and was taken on several tours of ancient castles. Roman ruins and suchlike. I really enjoyed my stay in this fascinating part of rural Scotland.
Laura
United States
•
August 2025
I would like to provide a special review of Mary and Terry for being very kind and helpful to me during a difficult time. I was with them for two weeks helping out on their beautiful land. I had to suddenly get to London to fly back to the US due to an illness in the family. Mary and Terry drove me to Edinburgh to get a night bus to London. Before the bus departure, they showed me around Edinburgh and took me to a lovely café for lunch.
Their area of Scotland is very beautiful and rural. I helped out with some invasive plant removal, weeding and pruning the raspberries, and pest control in the garden. We went on a long, beautiful bike ride on very rural roads; attended a traditional Scottish dance gathering; and visited a castle and monastery. Mary is also a very good cook with interesting recipes.
I can't recommend staying with Mary and Terry enough!
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Cyrielle
France
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August 2025
I had a great time in Dalmakerran, a beautifull place where I stayed 2 weeks.
Mary, Terry and Spot (the dog) made me feel at home. Mary is an incredible chef, Terry knows every castles and abbeys and Spot is absolutely lovely.
The work wasn't too exhausting and allowed enough time to go around for a walk. I mainly helped outside, painting fence and gates for a few hours a day, five days a week.
Several times, Terry and Mary kindly took the time to drive me around to explore the local area.
I would highly recommend staying in Dalmakerran. Many thanks to you both, I wish you all the very best & I hope to see you again one day!
Cyrielle
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Sonali
Germany
•
August 2025
We had a wonderful time at your place! It was a pleasure to plant plenty of peas :) and a lot more of course! Mary, Terry and Spot made our family feel at home. We had great fun working with you and are very thankful for the experiences our children made ♥️ Thank you for exploring the region with us too! We hope to come back soon!
Johann
France
•
July 2025
We had a great time in Dalmakeran, a magical place!
We had very good memories of these moments of sharing and enjoying the good laughs in your company.
In this context, working in the vegetable garden, in the rockery garden and in the house was a pleasure and so little in return for your welcome.
A special thank you for Félix, for your patience and your trust in him and for having opened your kitchen to him. It means a lot to us. He has grown so much in such a short time with you. He will miss you very much.
It will be a pleasure to see you again!
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