Get your hands dirty and your heart inspired! Join this short-term ESC Volunteering Team project focused on restoring the 7-storey tower of the remarkable Wittlage Castle in Bad Essen, Germany. Experience teamwork, cultural heritage, and community living — all surrounded by centuries of history and beautiful greenery. 🧱🌿🔥
💡 Activity Type: Volunteering Teams (European Solidarity Corps)
🏢 Host Organization: VSD Verbund sozialer Dienste gGmbH
📍 Location: Bad Essen, Germany
📆 Period: 8–21 September 2025
⏳ Duration: 2 weeks
📚 Fields: Cultural heritage, historical restoration, team volunteering
💬 Language(s): Basic English required
🎯 Eligibility criteria (Who can apply?):
✔️ Aged 18–30
✔️ Interested in cultural heritage and hands-on work
✔️ Comfortable with heights
✔️ Ready to work in a team and live in a community
✔️ Bonus: Volunteers with photo, writing, or social media skills are encouraged to support project documentation
🧪 Responsibilities / tasks:
🏰 Restoration of the castle tower (inside & out)
🧱 Plastering, jointing, stone and wood repair
👷 Supervised work under local craftspeople
📸 Optional: take part in visual documentation of the project
🔥 Participate in reflections, group sessions, and evening socials
🌟 Why to join?
🌍 Be part of a unique monument preservation project
🎨 Learn restoration techniques hands-on
🛌 Sleep in a castle-side community tent with real beds
🎉 Enjoy barbecues, nature, and intercultural evenings
📸 Document your experience & enhance your portfolio
🤝 Live and work in harmony with a diverse international group
📩 Application Info:
⏳ Application Deadline: 8 August 2025 at 23:59
🔗 Apply via the official ESC portal
💰 Compensation:
🏕️ Accommodation in a spacious tent with beds inside castle grounds
🍽️ On-site meals during workdays + food allowance on free days
🚌 Reimbursement of travel costs based on ESC distance calculator
🩺 Full ESC insurance coverage during the activity
🌐 Official link:
ESC Opportunity – Restoration of the Tower of Castle Wittlage
Eligible countries for application:
🇦🇹 Austria, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇧🇬 Bulgaria, 🇭🇷 Croatia, 🇨🇾 Cyprus, 🇨🇿 Czech Republic, 🇩🇰 Denmark, 🇫🇷 France, 🇫🇮 Finland, 🇩🇪 Germany, 🇬🇷 Greece, 🇪🇪 Estonia, 🇭🇺 Hungary, 🇮🇹 Italy, 🇮🇪 Ireland, 🇱🇻 Latvia, 🇱🇹 Lithuania, 🇱🇺 Luxembourg, 🇲🇹 Malta, 🇳🇱 Netherlands, 🇵🇱 Poland, 🇵🇹 Portugal, 🇷🇴 Romania, 🇸🇰 Slovakia, 🇸🇮 Slovenia, 🇪🇸 Spain, 🇸🇪 Sweden
