U.K. working holidays shoot up in popularity
September 24, 2009
Groups like the National Trust are saying they are finding it difficult to keep up with the demand by holiday makers in the U.K. wanting to pay to work during their time off. The National Trust offers around 3,800 places each year on its volunteer working holidays programme, but at times demand for places results in huge numbers of people fighting for the chance to pay £100 per week to restore a muddy bog.
The National Trust’s volunteer programmes manager, Jennie Owen said that the amount of interest in their volunteer programmes shot up this year when they opened the booking lines by 12 percent on the same period last year. She went on to say that the National Trust has not been able to expand its programmes to cater for increased demand because the group is restricted by how much work is available and how many people they can usefully manage.
Popular choices by volunteers this year have been making a boardwalk out of recycled plastic and learning to become a tourist guide at a castle. People can also volunteer to make cider, weave baskets out of willow strips, dig holes or build dry stone walls.
The attraction of these working holidays seems to be that they are relatively cheap with a week’s food and accommodation usually coming in at around the £100 mark. The other attraction is that holidaymakers now get to give something back by learning new skills and helping to benefit others. The holidays also get people outside and doing a bit of exercise.
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