Volunteers Ceceda 2012

 In 2012 we had volunteers from Portugal, the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Chequia...

The second house was renovated a lot more and it is quite comfortable now! Thanks to Jessica's work on photos and videos of the dogs, 6 dogs were adopted in the Netherlands in September.

A few pictures:

Lucas and Esma who came with their little dog Zigane. Thank you for your great company and Lucas for being such an enthusiastic strimmer! More work on the hedges got done

Jessica (bathing Gus) who came with her adopted doggie Kisses

Albi from Germany with Oso, also very strong in fencing and strimming ;) (Albi not the dog)

Roisin with Kate and Nerea - we planted trees in spring and worked on the "living hedge"

March and April in Ceceda

 Alex and Renee from the US first went to the donkey paradise and then stayed in Ceceda for two weeks - then they went to visit Madrid and I drove them to Tours as I had to go to Holland in the van. Renee is a good driver so it made the trip a lot easier. They participated in a demonstration against animal abuse in Gijón where we took Tika, Negri and Mandy and repaired the fences so the donkeys could go in the meadow without eating everything in the veggie garden... They got some fantastic photos of Negri and our flying Estrella.
Read about their adventures in their blog

English Tara joined us in April with American Keely who stayed for a week. The vegetable garden was started. She brought her own car - taking the ferry from the UK to Santander. Her favourites were Súa and littleNegri, who'd she gladly taken with her on her travels. this is what she says about him:

Negri  is adorable.

With only one ear, he is obviously very chacteristic. However, that is only the beginning. He is also affectionate, intelligent and extremely inquisitive. When out walking, don´t be surprised if he runs a little way ahead. He is overwhelmed by the smells and loves to explore. On the flip side, when at home he loves to relax and lay in the sunshine. He will quite often lay on his left hand side (the side his ear is missing) as it´s obviously more comfortable that way.

Rest assured, having only one ear by no way compromises his hearing and when called, he will appear from nowhere, eager to play and get some fuss.  His little tail will wag, and by way of appreciation, he will give you kisses in return.

He loves to roll on his back and have a good scratch and the little noises he makes are heartwarming!

By adopting Negri, you will be enriching the life of one very clever, and very endearing dog.

Nice weather in February 2011

Ben and Vicky came with their campervan and their own small dog. I think William (Nano) was their favourite as it was also a hunting dog. Ben wrote:

We stayed with Anjo in February and had a wonderful time. Anjo is extremely welcoming and provided excellent food throughout our 2 week stay.

 The dogs are adorable, there were 10 dogs at the time of our stay and each of them has there own personality, it was an experience we will never forget!!

 Day to day tasks included tidying the workshop,  chopping fallen trees, clearing the wood, fixing the donkey stables, cleaning and of course most importantly playing and walking the dogs in the wonderful countryside. The area is remote, but we did attend a film night, meet other helpers at the shelter and there are two restaurants nearby. I would thoroughly recommend a stay at Ceceda for dog lovers!!! Thank you so much Anjo!

Last summer.... 2010

With the help of Couchsurfers, Workawayers and HelpX-ers the grass in the dog meadow was brought back to reasonable proportions and  a lot of wood was taken out of the meadow. Nathalie learned to drive the tractor! Erik and Olga did so much wood cutting in two days I cannot believe it! Erik is a host in the South of Spain and has lots of experience.

The dogs got lots of attention, we sampled Iranian and Greek vegetarian food and German Anne made her nice dog videos and pictures!

In this picture Yasmin, an exchange student studying in Valencia with Morgan (Captain Morgan) - rehomed in the Netherlands and Winnie, rehomed in Germany.

June - walk-in volunteers

Kai and Gwen joined us just when I had to pick up a large dog food donation. Good helpers and a nice couple! They are from Germany but thay are students in Friesland, in the North of the Netherlands. Very strange to hear German people speaking Dutch ;).

Ceceda in June - US

Veronica and Marcella who joined us for a short while in the beginning of June, both from the USA.

Ceceda in June - 24-30 June

Alma, Lucas and Lauti who joined us at the end of June with their favourite dogs. Maria (who used to be my flat mate in Barcelona donkey's years ago!!) had made sure they brought all kind of goodies from Barcelona and thanks to Alma they behaved quite well ;) (for 16-year olds that is, haha). Lucas is a son of Juan Carlos and he had been here as a 14-year old. ´He was the same, just a lot taller...

May/June in Ceceda

Susana from Bilbao and UK-based Marten who just returned from travelling around the world and just did not want to return to England straight away. He also stayed at the Donkey sanctuary, so the wellies ended up there (we got them back!).




Helpx-ers Denia and Michael gardening - they stayed twice in their little tent in the 'dog-free' zone.

Tiffany and Megan - The Aussie Connection

May 2009 Tiffany and Megan are travelling around the world with their surfboards! They stayed in Spain for a month before their final adventures in India and Sri Lanka. First they went to the Donkey Sanctuary (where they tried to teach the donkeys to read) and then they came to Ceceda where Tufo was their favourite dog - and for the rest they have been working very hard and it has been fun to have them around!

Work in April - 2

We had Barbara from the US arriving, Christina from New Mexico who works at a wolf sanctuary (and thus thought nothing of our "wolves"), and then Andrew (UK) and Katja (Finland).

Check out the wolf sanctuary's website

http://www.wildspiritwolfsanctuary.org/

A lot of weeding and building has been going on....

Barbara, Christina, Andrew, Katja and Bob

Work in April - 1

Tyler and Bob planting onions and garlic. The donkeys enjoy the company! The dogs all checking what's going on on the other side of the fence....

Tyler is a student and musician from Chicago. He plays in a band called Sidewalk Chalk http://www.sidewalk-chalk.com/

Lyckle Sterringa in memoriam

My father suddenly passed away on 23 March 2009 at the age of 75. He taught us so much.

Lyckle, vaar-wel.

The house

Views from the house.

This is Jasmin, or Jazz, the Whippet. She was found wandering the streets of Oviedo, and taken in for a few weeks by a friendly family. She was destined to end up in the 'perrera' (dog home would be to friendly a way to describe the place). We took her in and adopted her, or she adopted us.