Örebro

We have made a 15minute video of our time at Jan-Ols: https://youtu.be/MOIvfxdfOY0
We hope you like it!

14 months spent mostly by ourselves was a long time. By staying with Mikaela, Tobbe and Olivia at Jan-Ols Gården we'd hoped to gain some sense of what it was like to live as a family in Sweden, but we were also nervous about the fact we'd committed ourselves to spending so much time around people didn't know.

Right from the beginning we knew we'd struck lucky with our choice of farm. The welcome we received was warm but relaxed so we began to feel at home very quickly. Mikaela and Tobbe didn't eat any carbs but bought in pasta, potatoes, bread and biscuits for us WWOOFers and we were encouraged just to help ourselves from the fridge and explore the cupboards in the spacious country kitchen come dining room to find out where everything was kept.

Conversation was easy because most of the time we had a purpose to get a job done and were working alongside people to do it. Spending from 8am to about 10:30pm each day with the family, Salomé and Mikael, we got to know them quickly and fell easily into being around them.

Mikaela directed the morning and evening work with the goats and horses. Because the work was so familiar to her, she wouldn't always explain tasks in depth but we became Salomé and Mikael's apprentices and could always ask Mikaela if we weren't sure. She was passionate about animal welfare and seemed to know everything there was to know about the horses and goats. With just a little encouragement she would talk in detail about their histories, characters and how she worked with them and kept them happy.

Tobbe was on holiday from his job at the Kopparberg Brewery when we arrived and directed the work on the clearance and fence at Olivia's house. He also spent a lot of time working on his and other people's cars in his garage, a converted farm building at the back of the house. When he had a spare minute he would help with the jobs around the farm. Tobbe seemed quiet at first but we soon discovered he had a great sense of humour, was open, patient and thoughtful towards others, despite having a lot on his mind.

We didn't see as much of Tobbe's daughter Olivia because she was out working for a ventilation company each weekday and would often visit her grandparents and Mum at the weekends. She would return from her day job and not even take time to change before beginning work on the farm. Like Tobbe she was open, with her own distinctive humour and would keep a caring eye out, taking time to help us if we looked lost or unsure. It was a pleasure to take her out in the canoe on the lake at sunset where she learned very quickly how to paddle well and relax, enjoying the view.

Olivia had a super relationship with her Grandad Roger, who we worked with on many days, putting up fence posts around her house. Will and Roger, who was nearly 75, got on particularly well and we were tempted with his suggestion that we stay an extra 2 months, finish the fencing with him and learn Swedish while teaching him English! He helped Tobbe, Mikaela and Olivia out almost every day (apart from when important sports events were scheduled). Although we didn't see Tobbe's Mum more than once (when collecting rasberries for the family and WWOOFers) her presence was felt at home through the saucepan trivets, socks and wooly jumpers she'd knitted. Howie the Afghan hound even sported a pirate jumper she'd made specially! It gave us a warm feeling to see the close relationships they had and made us keen to make the most of our time with our own family when we return to the UK.

The other WWOOFers only added to the feeling of family. Mikael was on his second visit and had been there the longest, so he knew a lot about the routines and how best to do the jobs, but he was easy going and funny. He returned home to France 8 days after we arrived but had plans to get a job in Sweden and we doubted it would be long before he would be back. We spent the most time with sprightly Salomé. At 19 she was the youngest in the group but determined, independent and hardworking. We don't know where she got the energy to run between jobs but we suspect it had something to do with the copious amounts of bread she loved to eat! Her English was excellent and leagues better than our French but she insisted we correct her slight misspronunciations and teach her new words. She claimed she'd fallen in love with Olivia (for her beautiful house in the forest and the land around it) and asked her to marry her, even presenting her with a ring made of plaited hay on the final day. She was a great person to be around! On the day she left, Julia arrived. She was taking time out between study and a job teaching Art in secondary school back in Germany. We spent two full days with Julia but the impression we got was of a warm, friendly person with an appetite to learn about the world and to help those in it.

As well as the people like us who were staying at Jan-Ols, there was a lively community of riders, some women who kept their horses at the farm and girls in their teens, who ensured the place rarely felt empty. Mikaela had everyone care for the horses and ponies they rode so every day at least a few, but usually about a dozen people were involved in mucking out the horses' and ponies' fields, feeding, riding and calling 'Hej Hej' when they passed us.

We thrived on being part of the Jan-Ols Gården community, engaging with others and working alongside them. It felt good to be relied upon and for people to know who we were and why we were there. We were exhausted by the physical work, and being 'on call' for the long days but we got used to it quickly and the time to say goodbye seemed to come around too soon.

After leaving we found for a few days that we had little motivation to do things and it felt strange being just the two of us and Poppy again. The experience had been good for our fitness but had also given us a really refreshing mental break.Read more