Volunteer at Alfoxton

Volunteers are an essential part of our project. By volunteering, you can help Alfoxton Park thrive.

All of our volunteers become temporary community members, and join our meditations and regular programme of activities, including weekly dharma discussion groups and community night.

Accommodation varies depending on the season. We have a small dormitory space, and in warmer months volunteers are also able to camp on the land. We take volunteers on short term basis (two-three weeks) and long term (three month) bases.

Short term volunteers

Our short term volunteers help with a mix of cooking, carpentry, gardening, social media/administration and construction work.

We hope for our short term volunteers to immerse themselves fully in community life. For this reason, we ask that short term volunteers come without any external work for a 2-3 week period. For many of our short term volunteers, Alfoxton Park is their first time in a Triratna Buddhist community.

Long term volunteers

During summer retreat season we are welcoming a small number of volunteers to stay with us for three months, ideally May-August.

For this role we are particularly looking for people comfortable in cooking for retreats (catering for 40+ people), gardening (including waking up before morning meditation to water) or digital skills (including using Canva).

For long term volunteering roles, we particularly welcome people who have spent time at Alfoxton Park before and are familiar with how the community runs. We also welcome applications from other friends of the Triratna Buddhist Community, and those who have made a commitment to practising the five precepts. There is more flexibility to take on some external work if you're staying as a long term volunteer.

Interested? Contact us via Workaway or click the link below to make an application.

In your email, please include the following:

A little bit about yourself and what draws you to volunteering here
What skills you can contribute during your stay here - particularly cooking, gardening, construction and social media/administration
Any experience you have within the Triratna Buddhist community
Your availability. If you are looking for a long term volunteering role, please include 'long term volunteer' in the subject of your email application.

We receive significantly more volunteer requests than we can accommodate. For this reason, please give a large range of availability.
Whether you require accommodation, or you are happy to camp/have a live-in vehicle

Travel, accommodation & food

Travel

The nearest railway stations are Bridgewater and Taunton, around 1h45 mins from London.

Our postcode is TA5 1SG but doesn't work exactly in the satnav. Use grid reference 51.165187, -3.220080 .

Accommodation

There are a small number of spaces in shared dormitory rooms. We also have capacity to accept live-in vehicles. Through the warmer months, you can camp.

Food

Vegan meals will be provided throughout your stay.

Our 'What 3 words' are: marsh.admiringly.muted

Testimonials

Alfoxton was my first experience living and working in a Triratna right livelihood context, and it could not have been richer. The whole place sings with Dharma work and spiritual friendship. I particularly loved the energy of morning meetings. My time at Alfoxton clarified for me, as a GFR mitra, that my spiritual path lies in right livelihood community.

Frank, short term volunteer (autumn 2025)

Alfoxton offers one of the richest experiences that I’ve had the good fortune to come across in Triratna . It’s easy to join in with this thriving context which particularly emphasises friendship and communication in a culture of fun and depth. The community is psychologically literate, creative and idealistic. Big thanks to you all for creating such a welcoming haven where it’s easy to both feel held and have many opportunities to contribute as the project develops!

Amalasri, short term volunteer (autumn 2025)

My favourite ever workaway experience. Special people, magical land, interesting events/retreats. I feel so much love for everyone I met there and am so excited I'll be seeing them again soon!

Ellie, long term volunteer (summer 2025)

I spent 5 weeks here and can say that the way I've grown since been there has been immeasurable. Among the many things I'm grateful for I can mention the teaching of Metta during a full moon study night, Jayaraja's Dharma input every morning, Katherine and Vajrabandhu's help with my meditation posture, and of course all the hours of hard work with Jayaketu, David, and a beautiful group of volunteers. I'd mention a hundred more things but will leave at that for brevity.

Luis, short term volunteer (spring 2025)

I chose this place as I enjoy physical work and have worked on house restoration and DIY maintenance over many years, although not on a professional basis. I am also a practicing Buddhist and wanted the opportunity to live in a community and the chance to deepen my practice. It has been many decades since I last stayed in a community and I was a bit apprehensive about it, but I had a great time and gained (and hopefully offered) an incredible amount. My age was not an issue (I was a bit apprehensive about that too!) - it seems it is well used to, and encourages, older visitors. The residents (about ten people) are very kind and welcoming and help Workawayers (there were about 6 of us while I was there) to find their feet quickly. As far as the work goes, I enjoyed the tasks I was given and felt I made a useful contribution to the community in the short time I was there. What was more surprising was the spiritual impact on me of the stay, which was profound. I tend to be a private person and living in a community challenges that. There is plenty of scope to be private here, but there is also the opportunity to get to know people who are open to deeper connections. The short daily talks on Buddhist practice by the community leader are very insightful, funny, inspiring.

Sean, short term volunteer (autumn 2024)

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