Volunteer as a Trustee or a Member
Unstone Grange is run by a charitable trust and our aim is to maintain, improve and make available our beautiful venue to groups of people. We hope that they may come here to explore their lives, take conscious steps forward in their personal development and ultimately feed that growth and development back into their lives and communities.
We have been here for over 20 years and for those of us involved, Unstone Grange has been part of our own individual personal growth as we meet the challenges and enjoy the opportunities that it faces us with.
If you feel that you might enjoy being a part of this unique place and this unique group of people, to share and contribute your skills and to face your own challenges in good company, then please come and talk to us about becoming a member or a Trustee. We will always welcome adventurous people with new energy and ideas who want to help us to take this project forwards.
Resident Volunteer Vacancy
At present we have a full contingent, but from time to time Unstone Grange reaches out for additional resident volunteers to help care for the buildings, the gardens, and the various groups that gather here. We are a retreat centre housed in a rambling old house, set in 5 acres of beautiful gardens, and surrounded by lovely Derbyshire countryside.
The mission of Unstone Grange Trust is to enable people to come together and take another step on their life path. We make the space available to a wide variety of groups under the umbrella of personal and spiritual growth. We have no doctrine other than to celebrate the diversity of our lives and to encourage others to live consciously on the path of their choice. To this end, we need volunteers to maintain the beauty and balance of the house and grounds.
We seek dynamic, grounded, and practical people to join us working in a loosely managed structure. It is essential that you will be self-motivated and self-responsible, but also able to work as part of a team and take direction about prioritising tasks. You would need to be flexible and practical, work varies. We are responsible for property maintenance from cleaning to roofing (although do employ outside contractors for some jobs), and grounds management from grass cutting to vegetable growing. So ideally you would have property maintenance and building skills, or be experienced in DIY. An interest in organic gardening would be a plus, as would mechanical skills.
On a personal level, some awareness of the issues of communal living would be an advantage, as would the desire to engage with your own personal growth and development. We are not an intentional community, as such, but are developing our own ideas of living together. We share occasional meals and some jobs and also recognise the importance of personal space.
In return for a beautiful place to live, we ask 20 hours work a week, plus being on site for groups at weekends on a flexible rota. There are currently two accommodation options: a large sunny upstairs room with a great view and its own fireplace, or your own caravan with woodburner. You would be free of all bills except personal ones such as telephone, transport and food. (That said, we do attempt to grow many of our own vegetables). Please note this is not a woofing venue; we are looking at a longer-term arrangement.
You would need an outside income to meet your personal monetary needs as there is no paid employment on site and signing on is not possible from the Grange. However, we do have good commuting links to the town of Chesterfield and the city of Sheffield.
If you think you might be interested in becoming a resident volunteer here, and would like to find out who is currently engaged with the project, and a bit more about how the place works, please drop us a line to admin@unstonegrange.co.uk and tell us a little about yourself.