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Once again, as the dates of our house sit do not always fall neatly into calendar months, my monthly updates have gone slightly skew-whiff.

To get back on track, following last month’s house sit in Amsterdam, I still have one more November house sit that we completed to mention before diving into December.

Earlsfield (17th-28th Nov)

To leave Amsterdam, we once again caught the trusty Euro Star directly to London St Pancras.

From there, two short train journeys took us to the southwest London suburb of Earlsfield, located between Wimbledon and Wandsworth. Clapham Junction was a short walk to the north and Tooting, a slightly longer walk to the south.

Our House sit

For this house sit, we had been invited to stay in the top floor apartment of a large Edwardian house conversion.

The apartment was modern, comfortable and set over two levels. The top level consisted of the kitchen and two bedrooms. Then a couple of steps took you down to the living room which had the bonus of a huge outside balcony.

I imagine the balcony being a great asset for the summer months, but unfortunately, not so great for our wet, chilly, November stay ☹

The Pets

In our care for this stay were two very active and inquisitive cats, Flavio and Raio

Flavio and Raio were both young, mainly indoor cats. We were told that letting them onto the patio area was okay as long as they were supervised. This seemed to me to be a high-risk strategy. Guaranteed to ramp my stress level to a critical level.

I have to admit though, it was great to be able to give these predominantly inside cats, some outside play time.

Having said that, the cats were more than happy playing inside with their toys and each other so, for the majority of the time, we played it safe and went for the indoor, doors closed, option.

No sitter wants to have to tell their home hosts that their beloved cat has just jumped off a top-floor patio and made a run for it!

Meeting Friends

We have friends, Paul and Lello, who live in Battersea so were delighted when we discovered that Battersea is only three miles from where we were staying.

We contacted them and it turned out that their local pub was only a ten-minute walk from our stay so we arranged to meet up one evening.

It is always a pleasure, and a guaranteed good laugh, to meet up with these guys.

The evening was great fun, and as an extra treat, we were invited back to theirs for a meal a few nights later. As Lello is a professional chef, that is an offer we are never going to refuse!

Teddington (28th Nov – 6th Dec)

After Earlsfield, we took a short, half-hour train ride west to our next stop. This time, a short, one-week stay in the London suburb of Teddington.

As with most of the house & petsits we do, we never really know what to expect of the area until we arrive. Teddington was a pleasant surprise and turned out to be one of our favourites to date.

Located between the River Thames and Bushy Park, Teddington has plenty of greenery to offer, and also a pretty high street with many independent boutiques, shops, cafés and restaurants

It offers the best of all worlds with countryside, city life and waterfront living all rolled into one.

There are many beautiful, period houses lining the streets, mostly Edwardian and Victorian, with decent-sized gardens that you often do not find in London suburbs.

Having regular trains to Clapham Junction, Vauxhall and Waterloo, and also Heathrow Airport on the doorstep makes it easy to see why this area was recently voted the best place to live in London.

You know it is a posh area when the outside Christmas trees have real glass baubles draped all over them – and none get nicked!

The Home

Not surprisingly for the area, the home was lovely. Semi-detached, spacious and very stylishly decorated.

When we arrived the home hosts had already left for their holidays but had kindly left us Christmas gifts and a bottle of champagne. Unexpected but much appreciated!

The pets

Once again, we had two cats to care for here. This time, Mango and Nemo

These two cuties were two of the easiest cats we have ever had to care for.

They had a cat flap to let themselves in and out whenever they wanted and only came home when they were looking for a cuddle or food.

Out and About

This was only a short one-week house and pet sit. However, the area was lovely, so most days we went for a walk around the local area.

A stroll to Bushy Park, Teddington Lock or simply window shopping in the high street quickly became our daily routine.

Bushy Park

We were lucky that a two-minute walk from our house sit was the entrance to the magnificent Royal Bushy Park.

At over 1,000 acres, Bushy Park is the second-largest of London’s eight Royal Parks and a haven for wildlife. It is home to impressive 17th-century water gardens, woodland gardens and wild deer which roam freely around the park

Walking around this beautiful urban oasis with its large ancient trees and gardens makes it easy to forget that you are just a stone’s throw from the local high street.

Teddington Lock

From the top of Teddington High Street, continuing to walk a short distance farther took us to Teddington Lock, a nice riverside spot away from the hustle and bustle of the high street shopping area.

With many sailing, rowing and paddle boarding clubs along its banks, the river Thames is a popular draw for the area.

For the less energetic, such as us, Teddington’s historic lock is the longest on the Thames and the nearby blue and white suspension footbridge provides access to the winding towpath with walks to Ham House, Richmond or Kingston.

Stopping off for light refreshments along the way at any of the many cafes, restaurants or pubs made for a great day out.

We loved our week in Teddington. It is now another, on our long list of places that we would love to return to sometime in the future.

Petersfield (3rd Dec – 7th Dec)

After Teddington, we had a short gap before we were due back in Brighton for a long sit where we were looking forward to staying over Christmas and New Year.

We noticed a short house sit advertised which would cover the dates we needed, although it meant we would have to split up for a couple of days.

We do split up for a day or two quite often. This helps us to avoid hotel accommodation costs, so on December 3rd, Karyo set off alone to Petersfield. I was to join him a couple of days later on the 5th.

It was only a four-night sit with two friendly dogs, Midge and Daisy. We were expecting an easy stay. Unfortunately, it didn’t go quite to plan.

Day One

Karyo arrived by himself.

He was told that the dogs normally slept on their beds, in the home host’s bedroom.

Karyo was sleeping in the guest room and, as instructed put the dogs in their beds in the master bedroom before going to bed himself.

Sensing their owner was not there, unfortunately, they would not settle and started to whine and bark.

Fearful of disturbing the neighbours Karyo was up and down all night trying to settle the dogs. Eventually, after much trial and error, at 3 am he moved their beds to a spot on the landing which seemed to do the trick – or more likely, by that time the dogs were as tired as Karyo so decided to give in and dropped off!

Karyo was exhausted the next morning.

Day Two

It occurred to Karyo that the bed he was sleeping in seemed smaller than normal – and I was going to be sharing it with him the following day. He was right to worry!

On the plus side, the dogs did settle better so he managed to catch up some of his lost sleep from the previous night.

Day Three

I arrived and discovered that the double bed was not a double but was in fact a ‘small’ double.

This was not good news. For a perfect sleep, we normally always ask for two beds. Where only one bed is available it has to be a king-size. For very short sits, we will suffer a double. We had never attempted a small double before…

I don’t know if you have ever shared a small double bed. If you haven’t, my advice is don’t. Not ever. Under any circumstances!

To avoid confusion, a ‘small double bed’ should be more correctly labelled as a ‘slightly bigger than a single bed’.

We had the worst night’s sleep ever, and were both exhausted the following morning.

Day Four

By day four Karyo was suffering from severe sleep deprivation so he booked himself into a hotel for the night. He says it was the best £100 we have spent in ages 😂

I slept alone in the slightly bigger than a single bed, and the dogs slept well in their beds – Hurray!

At last, Karyo, me and the dogs miraculously all slept well. Hurray!!

The verdict

The home host, dogs, home and area were all very nice.

However, because of the bed size, this house sit is only suitable for a single person.

We learned a lesson here. Always check the bed size before accepting a house sit!

Oh well, life is a learning curve.

You win some, you lose some. Onwards and Upwards.

Next stop, Brighton

Brighton (7th Dec – 18th Jan)

Thankfully, Petersfield had been a very short sit. Had it been longer, because of the size of the bed, we really would have struggled.

In stark contrast though, we were now happy to be sitting on the train, heading to a long six-week house sit in one of our favourite cities in the UK, Brighton.

Having been to this home twice before, in June ’22 and August ’23, we had no concerns about the sleeping arrangements awaiting us here.

A lucky break!

Our Brighton home host had been excited to be going on a six-week cruise. It had been booked for months.

We arrived as promised on December 7th. This stay would be our last house sit of 2023 and six weeks long, covering the whole Christmas and New Year period.

What could possibly go wrong?

The bad news…

When we arrived, we were in for a shock.

The home host told us that, two days previously, she had received a phone call to inform her that her cruise had been cancelled!

Our hearts sank. Of course, we felt sorry for the home host. I can’t imagine how disappointed she must have felt. Her dream holiday had been cancelled with just three days’ notice, leaving her no time to rebook anything else – what a nightmare!

Though, at the same time all I could think of was where did this leave us? My mind was racing. With very little notice, we now had a six-week gap to fill.

The good news…

Luckily for us, as it turned out, we didn’t have to worry. Our lovely home host saved the day.

By a stroke of luck, very recently she had completed the purchase of a UK holiday home for herself.

She had yet to visit her holiday home but having bought it fully furnished, it was all ready to move into so she decided to use it as a Plan B.

Admittedly, six weeks in a small cottage in the UK, in December, didn’t have the same ring to it as a six-week ocean cruise, but knowing our predicament, and with the knowledge that at least she would have a change of scenery, she decided it was her next best option.

So that was that. She unpacked her swimwear, re-packed her winter woollies and set off for an impromptu six-week UK winter break.

Leaving us to unpack our suitcases. Relieved, our plans had not been thwarted by her holiday disaster. Phew – We could not thank her enough!

We now had one long sit in Brighton to look forward to.

One sit, no pets. Well, that didn’t go quite to plan either!

Little did we know, we were about to save someone else’s Christmas.

More on that next time, until then, as always thanks for reading.

Hugs, Colin & Karyo