Building a rural home in the Ronda Hills is the project a German retiree is looking for volunteers to help him with. And the house he bought, located in the village of Cañada del Real Tesoro, a stone’s throw from the Cortes de la Frontera train station, has wooden floors, walls in need of paint and a garden full of weeds, as the owner explains in his WorldPackers ad.
A plan that asked for hands. In addition to the platform, the house has a supermarket and a tapas bar, and its owner is clear about how he wants to renovate it. For that, he needs more than money: people willing to roll up their sleeves, and that’s why he turned to popular platforms where travelers can connect with hosts who help them provide shelter and food.
The deal includes dedicating 18 hours a week to renovations in exchange for accommodation and food, with a calendar centered around October and November 2026, which the host considers the most beautiful time of year in the valley.
From Monday to Friday, volunteers work closely with local construction companies and the owner comes home on weekends. The renovation proceeded artfully and without haste.
Sand, paint and weed. Because the intention is to bring the house up-to-date, not completely rebuild, the profile is sought by someone with construction experience. Jobs listed in the ad are sanding and sealing wood floors, brushing and painting walls inside and out, restoring and painting window frames, and clearing and trimming plants in the garden.
If you protect yourself with plumbing or appliance repair, even better, since some parts of the installation need to be updated. The biggest job, demolishing the existing chimney to replace it with a pellet stove, has been left to builders in the region.
What it offers and what it doesn’t. Each volunteer has a private room, and the refrigerator and pantry are full so that everyone can prepare their own meals, although on weekends they cook as a team or the hostess does it. Added to this is a free washing machine, an equipped kitchen, high-speed internet for teleworking, pick-up at the bus station or airport and a weekend excursion or shopping trip.
Interested parties are responsible for flights, travel insurance, domestic transportation and visas. Holidays usually fall during the week and the house rules are simple, since parties are not allowed and you have to maintain order and recycle. It warns that there are cats in the house and the only formal requirement is an intermediate level of English.
Between Los Alcornocales and Ronda. The house is in the Guadiaro Valley, next to the river and at the gate of Los Alcornocales Natural Park, an area of more than 170,000 hectares spread between Cádiz and Málaga, with an important colony of griffon vultures and several species of eagles.
Cortes de la Frontera station preserves the original building from 1892 and has trains to Ronda and Algeciras, on a line that crosses a landscape that changes color in autumn. Ronda boasts the Puente Nuevo, 98 meters high, which overlooks the Tagus. And the city’s buring is the oldest in Spain.
Picture | Worldpacker
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