Starting a smallholding with no-dig veg gardens, pond, orchard, and building 2 eco-houses
Herefordshire
Building work is now nearly finished! You can follow our progress on Instagram: @LlamaCroft_HR4, or via our website: www.llama-croft.com
In Aug 2022 we bought 1.5acres of land in a peaceful and picturesque village near Hereford, where we are building our own low-carbon passivhaus home, and an adjacent house for my parents, and creating a smallholding for us all to share. We've been living in a lovely little cabin for the last year and a half, which we made with the help of WWOOFers by converting a couple of old sheds, and this is now our accommodation for WWOOFers. The land had been nothing but short mown grass for 50+ years before we moved here, but has so much potential, sloping to the south-west with amazing views! So far we've let the grass grow long to observe what grows, we've planted a small orchard, seeded a wildflower meadow, dug a natural swimming pond (not yet finished), built a chicken coop (needs expanding) and got rescued hens, put up two polytunnels, built a 'honey hut' and got 4 beehives, planted soft fruits and are building a fruit cage, constructed many compost heaps, and set out our large no-dig veg garden (lots of work still to do here). Not to mention that we've been building two new houses!
On our to-do list for this year is to sort and plant lots of landscaping and garden areas, finish the natural swimming pond, plant a small willow & sweet chestnut coppice, extend our wildlife habitat area, plant more trees, rebuild the chicken run, build a potting shed with solar panel structure, construct a simple 3-bay barn, build a garden studio with greenroof and straw bale walls, and much more (I'm aware that I'm quite ambitious!). We would welcome any volunteers with skills and experience, but also anyone who is simply keen to learn and help and get stuck in.
Natural building design is my expertise, and I run a small architectural practice specialising in sustainability and regenerative design, working part-time from home so I'm always around. I'm also passionate about gardens, nature and food growing. My husband is also an architect and is always active and sociable, with hobbies of cycling and paragliding. My mum's crazy about compost and loves animals, and my dad's a master bee-keeper and loves technology. We have a small dog called Peggy, and in the future we want to adopt 2 children. We believe in equality, diversity, sharing knowledge, community resilience, and fighting for a better future.
We would like WWOOFers to help out with farm tasks for roughly half a day (around 25 hrs per week) and we'll provide simple accommodation and three vegetarian or vegan meals a day, or food for you to prepare yourselves. Please no smoking. We're 4 miles outside of Hereford city, so it's lovely and quiet, but you can get into town very easily (20min cycle, 1.5hr walk, or 15min drive). We have a couple of bicycles you can use, there are some stunning walks on our doorstep, and the Black Mountains are only 30mins drive away. Also the River Wye is a stone's throw away, which is great for kayaking. There's a small seasonal farm shop just 15min walk away, and Hereford city has plenty of pubs, restaurants, shops, attractions, etc.
We've been very busy building our plant-based passivhaus family home for the last 2 years (see instagram for more details), meanwhile we've been living in our tiny-house 'wwoofer's cabin'. However, now that our house is nearing completion (technical term - doesn't mean we've finished!) we're very excited to be able to offer wwoofers accommodation again in the cabin. We would welcome 2 wwoofers at a time to stay in our cabin, and/or wwoofers who have their own campervan, or who are happy to camp in the garden. The cabin is a basic tiny house with a cosy twin/double bedroom (low headheight), a living room with small kitchen, and a separate bathroom with compost toilet, bath with hot water, and an outdoor shower in the making.
We've decided that we're not happy to host wwoofers who fly across the globe just to stay with us for a week and then fly back, as the carbon footprint is too high. This doesn't mean you can't fly from abroad, but please consider coming as part of a longer trip, and perhaps try to offset the carbon footprint of your journey and pledge not to fly again for a long time... Thank you for your understanding and efforts to look after our planet.
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Forestry
Beekeeping
Flower farming
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Bakery
Traditional crafts
Green Building
Methods or systems
Biodynamic agriculture
Holistic management
No-till farming
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
Former WWOOFer
Accommodation
Janna
Member since 2022
Languages spoken:
English
Sun
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Response rate: 71%
Response time: typically within 8 days
Herefordshire
Hereford
Reviews
Rosa
United Kingdom
•
April 2026
I had a truly magical two-week stay at [Host]. The project is incredibly inspiring, with thoughtful choices of materials and building design that enable living in harmony with nature.
The tasks were highly varied and fulfilling. I got involved in everything from clay plastering and fence building to tree planting, preparing flower beds, transporting wood, constructing a bug wall, transporting bricks for filling gabion cages, processing a manure delivery, weeding, and potting plants. Working with natural clay dug directly from the garden felt especially meaningful. Janna always explained tasks clearly and was patient and happy to answer questions.
It was so lovely to meet Janna, Seb, and Janna's parents, Susie and Bert, along with the wider family. They are very interesting, knowledgeable, kind, and welcoming people, and I learned so much about natural building, Passivhaus design, and sustainable living. A highlight was a lovely Easter evening with wood-fired pizza and board games.
The cabin was very cosy, comfortable, and self-contained. It was wonderful living so closely connected to nature. The surrounding area offers beautiful walks, and there are several interesting towns and villages within easy reach by train or bus from Hereford.
Thank you so much to Janna and the whole family. I’m excited to see how the project continues to evolve!
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Shini
United Kingdom
•
February 2026
I had a great time at [Host]. Janna and Seb are so sweet and down to earth. I learned a lot from Janna about building your own house and garden. It’s pretty inspiring seeing all the hardwork they’ve put into building such an intentional and interesting home. The Lomas’s also play a mean game of Catan, so be warned!
I went into town with Susu, Janna’s mum, and we went on the adventure of trying to understand Hereford’s signage in order to get to the cathedral with some of the most beautiful stained glass I’ve seen. Each day was different. :)
All in all, highly recommend.
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Andy
United Kingdom
•
October 2025
I was only at [Host] for just less than a week but I thoroughly enjoyed each day I was there. I felt welcome from the get go and I was well-fed and hydrated the entire time.
The project has so many elements, with a lot of thought gone into each stage and material choice. During my short time there, I helped with:
watering the garden, digging out dock roots, building part of a coop for some lovely rescued chooks (that love a good cuddle), lathing and clay plastering, plus a few odd jobs here and there.
Clay plastering was probably my favourite. It's a nice feeling working with natural building materials - with the clay dug up from just outside the front door!
Thanks for everything you guys shared and good luck with the rest of the build :)
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Annika
Germany
•
September 2025
We had such a great time with Janna and Seb! We got to try out all sorts of different things, like plastering and even building a chicken coop, which was super fun and a really nice way to learn new skills. There was always something interesting to do, and we really enjoyed the variety of tasks!
Janna and Seb are super lovely – they were always happy to help us out when we had questions, and in the evenings they spoiled us with amazing food that made us feel right at home. It really felt like being part of a little community. Thank you!
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Becca
United Kingdom
•
August 2025
I had a wonderful time volunteering at Llama Croft! I thoroughly enjoyed all the tasks I took part in – from weeding and watering the plants, to plastering the main house with clay sourced from the garden, planting flowers with Janna’s lovely mum, Susie, and helping to build the wooden structure at the front of the property. Janna took the time to answer all my questions and guided me through the process whenever I was unsure what to do.
The accommodation was rustic but comfortable. I had a double bed in one of the upstairs rooms and used the outdoor cabin bathroom for showers. There was a compost toilet in the main house, which was upgraded to a proper flush toilet during my stay – very exciting stuff!
The highlight of the experience was spending time with Janna, her family, and the other volunteers – such warm, kind and welcoming people. I’d highly recommend a visit to anyone looking for a meaningful and enjoyable volunteering experience.
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Sandra
Switzerland
•
July 2025
a wonderful place to be, very authentic and I could learn a lot from the passionate people.
