Large vegetable & fruit growing garden in rural Scotland
Stirlingshire
We live in a small village in Central Scotland - on the edge of the beautiful Trossachs National Park. Our house is in a large garden and we grow & process most of our own vegetable and fruit. We are always keen for visitors to join in with the daily tasks & exchange tips & tricks. We garden to organic standards. We have a large polytunnel which helps us to extend the short Scottish growing season.
The garden is a bit over 2 acres big. The activities vary with the seasons. We produce and process most of our own vegetable and fruit. We have some ornamental plots and a wildflower meadow but most of our time is spent in the vegetable garden and polytunnel . We rear a small flock of layer hens and we also have a retired Welsh pony on a field nearby.
In the winter we are busy with maintaining the property and sheds . We have a biomass boiler as well as a woodburning stove and chopping and stacking wood is a nerver ending activity.
We prefer to host 2 WWOOFERs (friends/couple) at a time. The household is strictly non-smoking.
We are vegetarian and enjoy learning recepies from all over the world.
We mainly speak English together though our family is bilingual and depending on who is home, we will speak German as well. We welcome guests who would like to improve their language skills.
Many years ago we enjoyed taking part in similar immersive experiences in different parts of the world and our children have had the opportunity to do the same. We feel lucky to be in a position of being a WWOOF host now.
We spend about 4 hours every day in the garden and with the animals, but tend to be flexible in order to fit it around other teaching jobs.
Organic methods: biological pest control
mulching
manure/ plant based fertiliser extracts/ netting/ compost
pheromone traps
enhanced biodiversity: hedges/ pollinator plants/ wildflower meadow
crop rotation
Certifications: not certified - own consumption only
Internet access available
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Fruit or nut farming
Poultry farming
Flower farming
Aromatic or medicinal plants, teas
Vegetable or fruit preservation
Bakery
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
0.8
Hectares
|
2
Acres
Dorrit
Member since 2022
Languages spoken:
English, German, Thai
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 88%
Response time: typically within 3 days
Stirlingshire
Stirling
Reviews
Hannah
Germany
•
July 2025
We had a fantastic time at Dalveen!
We stayed for one week and could never have imagined seeing so much of the beautiful surrounding area and feeling so welcomed. The whole family is so kind and relaxed and Maisie the dog and Ockie the horse are very adorable.
Our tasks were varied and not too hard. It was a pleasure to help in this beautiful and diverse garden. The shared meals were delicious and we also had plenty of food to prepare breakfast in our own cottage.
Thanks a lot for the great time, Dorrit!
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Antonin
France
•
November 2023
We recently had the pleasure of woofing with 2 amazing hosts, Dorrit and Dave (and their 2 adorable dogs), and we can only recommend them ! From the moment we arrived, we were warmly welcomed into their property composed of a large garden, the main house and the garden cottage we lived in.
We had the opportunity to help and work on different tasks such as, chopping wood, building a chicken house, preparing flower beds and more. We learned a lot about methods and useful skills to grow vegetables and take care of a garden (and how to use and re-use everything we can).
The atmosphere was fantastic as Dorrit and Dave are so kind and thoughtful which made the experience even more enjoyable.
We highly recommend woofing with Dave and Dorrit to anyone seeking a fulfilling adventure. Thank you for the opportunity to learn and contribute!
Antonin & Théo
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Eva
Austria
•
November 2023
Dorrit and Dave were great hosts, we would definitely stay with them again! We lived in the garden cottage which was really nice, clean and warm. The working hours were flexible and the work in general was realy well balanced. When it was to rainy outside, they found work inside for us to do :)
Their two dogs and the horse Ocky were super sweet!
In our free time Dorrit was nice enough to take us to Callender and Sterling. Even thought the public transport system there was quite good.
We also had a lot of great evenigs where we ate with Dorrit, Dave and their family and friends.
Thank's for everything!! Hopefully we'll meet again sometime :)
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Romane
Switzerland
•
April 2023
We stayed with Dorrit and Dave for 10 days and had a wonderful time there ! They are very thoughtful, welcoming, and cook delicious meals that they enjoyed sharing. The cottage in the garden where we lived is comfy and well equipped, and their two dogs are lovely !
Our tasks were varied : weeding, cutting brambles, cleaning the gutter or DIY stuff, but we especially enjoyed taking care of Ocky the pony.
We highly recommend Dorrit and Dave as hosts if you are looking for DIY garden experience and want a balanced time between hard work, good food and kind people !
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Valentin
France
•
March 2023
We spent a very good week with Dorrit and Dave. We had very interesting discussions and did wonderful walking together.
Dorrit and Dave are very good people who have taken lot of time to share their knowledges about the area, the garden, Scotland, cooking...
Dalveen is a plaisant place To do woofing. The work is diversify and the garden is really rich in plants and in huts 😁.
We recommend this place, it was a very good starting of our travel in Scotland.
We hope that we will meet Dorrit and Dave again.
Thank you so much for everything.
Valentin and Marion
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Amandine
France
•
February 2023
What a pleasure to stay with Dorrit and Dave!
We had 2 wonderful weeks, helping them with everything we could in the garden!
They are such lovely and very welcoming people. We had the chance to stay in their beautiful little cottage, fully furnished with everything we needed, and even more !
Despite the fact that we were here in December, we had amazing weather, and we had time to go for adventures around Stirling!
We could not recommend them enough, what an absolute credit they are to the Wwoofing community.
We will certainly be back to stay with them again, their accommodation and company was first class.
Rest assured, you will not go hungry when staying with them! From veg from their garden and home-made soups to freshly baked bread and cakes.
Thanks again so much, and we wish you all the best until next time we meet, Auf Wiedersehen!
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