Social Care Farm with a community

Drenthe

11 reviews • Updated 26 days ago

At Living and Working community 'De Gouden Zon' (The Golden Sun) people are living together as a community. All of the people who live here receive help and assistance with their daily lifes, as the reason why they are there is because they are not able to live their lives independently. Most of them cope with mental and psychological health problems. They live together in three farm houses in the beautiful area of rural Drenthe (beautiful region of the Netherlands). In total currently 20 people are sharing their lifes at De Gouden Zon. With them, a vivid team of coaches (we call them assistants) are taking shifts to be there 24/7 to help them in all sorts of daily activitities such as cooking meals, cleaning up, shopping, doctor consultations, etc. De Gouden Zon consists of a rural area of about 5 hectares, of which most of it is farmland for the little bunch of animals that is walking around. We have many different kinds of animals (horses, cows, goats, chickens, rabbits, sheep, pigs, donkeys, cats and dogs) and of each kind just a few in number. One of the main daily activities at our community is taking care of the animals and making sure all is well with them. As animals have a big positive impact on their well being, this is being seen as an important part of their daily business. We have a special 'working community' running from monday to friday, dealing with the daily farm tasks such as the animals, maintenance work and last but not least: our little food forest project and veggie garden. We use the principles of permaculture to make it all work. Since we have just started using these principles in practice, we are still seeing a lot of opportunities for this to further improve practically. Mainly for this we are in need of help of Wwoofers who a pro active and looking for a challenge to pick up a project that helps things further in a permaculture way, trying to actively involve our community members with the work. Our working community is being run daily by two coaches (assistants) who do not live a the place, but come daily to do their job coordinating and facilitating what needs to be done that day. Along with the assistants, we also work with scholars from social studies, who come once or twice a week to learn from this working experience. Apart from the above mentioned, we also encourage wwoofers to come who want to take an active part in organising small activities for the community members, such as arts workshops, yoga, meditation, theatre classes, sports venues, cooking etc. This is of course in close communication with the working community assistents. But the main daily task during the growing season will mainly be maintenance work in the garden and its surroundings, possibly together with other community members.

Learning opportunities

Vegetable farming

Fruit or nut farming

Raising of other farm animals

Forestry

Beekeeping

Wild foraging

Vegetable or fruit preservation

Natural cosmetics fabrication

Food justice / sovereignty

Methods or systems

Holistic management

No-till farming

Permaculture

Host type

Nonprofit / Community

5 Hectares | 12.4 Acres

WWOOF-Verified

Accommodation

2 WWOOFers

Camper / RV

Campsite

Cabin / Mobile-home

Children not accepted

Pets not accepted

Meals

Omnivore

Vegetarian

Vegan

Length of stay

1-2 weeks

3-4 weeks

Over a month

Cathelijn

Member since 2019

Languages spoken: Dutch, English, German Response rate: 96% Response time: typically within 5 days

December 2025

Open

Planned visit

Closed

MapLibre | Protomaps | © OpenStreetMap

Drenthe

Busstation Borger

Reviews

Elizabeth

Kenya • November 2025

I don’t know how to express the joy i feel giving reviews for this farm. There are a lot of amazing words i wanna say but i’ll try to make it precise as possible. “The golden sun” full of beautiful souls who made me feel welcome & respected. I was warmly welcomed to this place with a lot good cheer that made me feel at home. I look forward to seeing you again in the near future. I appreciate you all wonderful people of De gouden zon. veel liefde

Margot

Netherlands • September 2025

Net terug van twee weken Wwoofen op de Gouden zon en het liefst zou ik morgen weer terug gaan. De plek is prachtig, de mensen fantastisch en het werken gebeurd op een rustig tempo. Er is veel aandacht voor elkaar, de dieren en de natuur en alles wordt gedaan in rust en met aandacht. Ik vond het ook erg fijn dat er ruimte was voor eigen initiatieven en deze werden gewaardeerd. Echt een hele bijzondere plek en voor mij een prachtige ervaring.

Carolijn

Netherlands • August 2025

Ik ben net gisteren teruggekomen van mijn twee weken verblijf en ik mis al sinds ik in de trein stapte de gezelligheid en de mensen en de dieren. Wat een hartelijke, eerlijke, fijne gemeenschap! Ik heb met volle teugen genoten en kan het iedereen aanraden hier een tijdje mee te draaien en te genieten van de zorg en verbinding die centraal staan in alles wat iedereen doet. Mijn activiteiten en dagen waren ongelooflijk veelzijdig, ik heb in geen tijden zoveel spelletjes gespeeld en ook de natuur heeft me erg goed gedaan. Ik heb ontzettend veel geleerd van de respectvolle omgang met elkaar en ben iedereen dankbaar die de tijd heeft genomen me dingen uit te leggen, te laten zien of gewoon voor een gezellig praatje. Ik kijk ernaar uit nog eens terug te komen.

Peter

Netherlands • September 2024

I would love to write down all your names but I am so afraid I might forget one name and you have all become dear to me. Sweet people in a beautiful environment with respect for each other, nature and animals. My first trip as a Wwoofer and I feel lucky to have ended up at the Golden Sun! And here I leave with wet eyes after 4 weeks. What I received here with you I will take with me and that will help me to become a better person. So much to be thankful for, being allowed to be here as you are. I leave the feeling that I have received so much and given back so little. And thank you for everything I have received from you, my camper has many reminders of you: window open, CDs with nice (guitar) music coming from the boxes, painting, 3d flower pot with plant and dog, fridge magnets, drawings and a snap of my pendant on the mirror: I'm flying high.. And Louise, thanks for you open minded hospitality, your knowledge of permaculture and friendly way of teaching me. Thanks for the opportunity you gave me to be a Wwoofer at De Gouden Zon. And lat but not least Dennis, the guy who knows everything. Thanks for your guidance and patience, I've learned a lot from you. The way you shared your knowledge, the friendly advice and the way you work and live has been an eyeopener for me! And not to forget Anne, thanks and you go girl! This was an encounter I'll never forget. Henri

Anna

Germany • June 2023

I will keep my time at De Gouden Zon and the people there very close to my heart. The work is very nice as you can choose what you want to do according to your interests and likings. I learned about permaculture, gardening and taking care of animals. The working times are very nice and you can have some time for yourself as well. What I loved most about De Gouden Zon though were the people. Everyone is incredibly helpful and welcoming when you're new there. I had great fun there as well as deeper conversations. I felt that everyone is free to be who they are, which is a beautiful thing. Thanks for everything! Definetely learned a bit of Dutch as well ;)

Sander

Netherlands • May 2023

It was my first experience at a care farm. I didnt know what i was getting myself into, but it turns out it was a great one! I met some beautiful people and learned to work with horses, donkeys, goats and more. Allthough the work with the animals got a little onesided at times the people you are working with will definitely keep it interesting. There are alot of beautiful stories to share. And i also liked working in the garden learning about permaculture and much more. But most of all i liked the free time spend with the people that live there playing games and learning their ways. The people here are free to be themselves and i felt the same because of it. The first 2 weeks i was the only woofer so i got to eat with the community. But the last week another woofer joined which meant no more breakfast and diner with the community, so the experience became a little different but still very nice. Thanks for everything, till next time!