Come & Share a Year With Us

Become a Volunteer Co-Worker at Sturts Community Trust

There are some experiences in life that are difficult to explain until you have lived them. Becoming a volunteer co-worker at Sturts is one of those experiences.

People come to us from the UK and from countries around the world, each arriving with their own story, interests and hopes for the year ahead. Some are looking for a new experience before university or employment, others want to experience life in another country or simply spend some time doing something meaningful and different. Whatever brings someone to Sturts, the year that follows is shaped by much more than volunteering.

It is about becoming part of a community.

Nestled in the Dorset countryside, Sturts is home to a wonderfully diverse community of people who live, work and spend their days together. Across our farm, gardens, workshops, woodland, creative spaces and social enterprises, there is always something happening, but at the heart of it all are the relationships that grow between people.

As a co-worker, you are invited to become part of that everyday life.

A year lived alongside others

When you first arrive at Sturts, much will probably feel new. There will be names to remember, places to discover, routines to learn and people to get to know. Over time, however, those unfamiliar things begin to become part of your own rhythm.

You might spend a morning working alongside someone on the farm, preparing food together, helping in the garden or joining an activity, before sitting down over a cup of tea and talking about something completely unrelated. There will be busy days and quieter ones, celebrations and challenges, moments when you are learning and others when you realise how much you have grown without really noticing it happening.

These everyday experiences are what make a year at Sturts so special.

Being a co-worker isn't about standing on the outside and helping people. It is about spending time alongside the people we support, getting to know each person as an individual and discovering their interests, humour, abilities and way of seeing the world.

In doing so, something important happens: learning begins to travel in both directions.

Our co-workers bring an enormous amount to Sturts, but the people we support have just as much to share in return. Through living and working together, there are opportunities to learn about patience, communication, confidence and independence, but also friendship, acceptance and the importance of recognising what every person can contribute.

Often, it is the smallest moments that stay with people the longest.

Growing through the seasons

We encourage our co-workers, where possible, to share a full twelve months with us because there is something very special about experiencing an entire year within the community.

You arrive during one season and gradually watch Sturts change around you. The farm and gardens follow their natural rhythms, different activities come and go, celebrations fill the calendar and the relationships you began forming in those first few weeks have time to deepen.

There is a very different feeling to knowing someone for a few days compared with sharing ordinary life with them over many months. You begin to understand what makes someone laugh, what matters to them, when they might need encouragement and when they simply want your company.

Somewhere amongst all of this, Sturts begins to feel less like somewhere you came to volunteer and more like somewhere you belong.

Bringing a little of your world to ours

One of the things we value greatly is the different cultures, experiences and personalities our co-workers bring into the community.

When someone travels to Sturts from another part of the UK or another country altogether, they bring a little of their home with them. It might appear through food cooked together, music shared with others, traditions, language, stories or simply a different perspective on life.

In return, you have the opportunity to experience life here in Dorset, surrounded by countryside and nature, while becoming part of a community that may be very different from the one you have left behind.

You don't need to arrive knowing exactly what you want from the year, and you certainly don't need to have everything figured out. What matters much more is being open to other people, willing to get involved and curious about what the experience might teach you.

What might you take home?

Perhaps this is the hardest part of the co-worker experience to put into words, because everyone leaves Sturts with something different.

For some it may be greater confidence or independence; for others it might influence what they choose to study or the career they eventually follow. You may discover a love of working outdoors, learn practical skills you never expected to learn or find that living alongside people who experience the world differently has changed your own perspective.

And then there are the things that are much harder to measure: friendships, memories, conversations, laughter and the feeling of having shared an important part of your life with other people.

A year is a significant amount of time to give, but perhaps that is also what makes it meaningful. You have time to settle, to contribute, to make mistakes, to learn, to grow and, most importantly, to build genuine relationships.

By the time it comes to say goodbye, we hope you leave having given something of yourself to Sturts, while taking a little of Sturts with you too.

Could your next chapter begin at Sturts?

If you are considering a gap year, looking for an experience overseas, thinking about what comes next after education or simply wanting to spend a period of your life doing something with meaning, becoming a volunteer co-worker could offer something very different.

We welcome enquiries from people in the UK and overseas, with applications for volunteer co-worker placements welcomed throughout the year. We ask people to consider staying for at least six months and, wherever possible, encourage a full twelve months so that there is time to experience the changing seasons of Sturts and build the relationships that make community life so important.

You don't need to know exactly where the journey will take you before you begin.

Sometimes you simply need to be willing to start it.

Come and share a year with us.

To find out more about becoming a volunteer co-worker at Sturts Community Trust, contact office@sturtsfarm.com.