May 2022 marks exactly one year since we started our house sitting adventure. It has been an amazing year and this month has probably been our busiest to date.
In the month of May we have managed to squeeze in four different house sits, celebrated our first year house sitting anniversary, and Karyo’s mum flew in from Greece to stay with us for a couple of weeks. Phew!
The first year
May 27th 2021 was the day we knocked on the door of our very first house sit. This was in Towcester, near Milton Keynes. Never in a million years did we have any idea what the year ahead had in store for us.
From the 365 days of the year we were house sitting for 306 of those days.
We completed 20 house sits
Cared for pets and homes in The UK and Spain.
The total number of pets we have cared for so far is 47 – 33 cats, 8 dogs, 3 rabbits and 2 chickens.
We have had a lot of fun and, except for the occasional hiccup, it has been a great year. We keep getting asked how long we expect to continue house sitting? The answer is that we have no idea.
We are loving this nomadic lifestyle and neither of us are ready to settle permanently anywhere again anytime soon. Ask us again this time next year!
May House sit number one
To start the month off we headed to Wales. No, not that Wales. The Wales in Sheffield. Who knew?
This Wales is a small village about 10 miles from Sheffield city centre. We had been invited to care for the home plus one cat – Brian
The Pet
Brian is a huge 8kg Maine coon cat who loves his food and loves his sleep. He was very easy to look after, really independent, coming and going as he wished via his cat flap. Having said that, Brian is definitely a home-cat and never ventured any further than the garden. He was very vocal when he was hungry which, basically, was most of the time!
He really was a lovely cat with a great character and temperament that we enjoyed spending time with.
The Home
The house was beautiful, some of it dated back to 1600 but it has been refurbished into a modern family home whilst thankfully keeping much of its original character. In the older sections of the house some of the walls are over a foot thick making it really cool inside which was a blessing as the weather was lovely during our stay.
As an added bonus for us there was quite a bit of gym equipment in the house to use. We have let our gym attendance slip over the last few weeks so the on-site equipment was great addition to get us in the swing again.
At the rear of the house was a really lovely garden designed and planted by the current owners. It had ponds, trees and flowers galore, an ancient wall and even an outside shower. We have paid to visit less impressive gardens in the past and definitely made the most of it during our stay.
This was only a short, ten day stay. There was not much to do or see in the area as it was mainly residential. This is not particularly an issue for us on short sits as Karyo is tied to the home anyway Monday to Friday with work. Having said that, we did manage what turned out to be a lovely a day at Rother Valley country park.
The park was just a twenty minute walk from the house. A beautiful nature reserve surrounding a large lake. There was lots of activities to do here for all the family.
Lots of wildlife, plenty of sunshine, a leisurely walk around the lake and finishing off with coffee and cake at the cafe made for a great day out. We would highly recommend a visit here if you are ever in the area.
May House sit number two
After Wales, Our next house sit was only a few miles away so our home host kindly offered us a lift. It took us about 20 minutes door-to-door to get there which was quite a treat as the travelling between sits can often take us many hours and include numerous changes of transportation.
For house sit number two we had travelled to south Sheffield. The ‘posh bit’ as we were reliably informed!
On arrival, we knocked on the door and were taken by surprise when the door was opened by none other than Maxwell Thorpe!
Now, I know that most of you are now thinking who the heck is Maxwell Thorpe?
Well, if, as I am, you are a fan of ‘Britain’s got talent’ you will know him as the opera singer that made it to this years finals. It turned out that he is a good friend of the owners of the home we were about to sit. He was going away on holiday with them for a week before he was due to appear on the show in the semi-finals.
He was such a nice guy. Really quietly spoken and had me mesmerised telling us about the process of entering the contest and appearing on the TV.
In the end he got right through to the finals but unfortunately did not win. I did get his autograph though, just in case he becomes famous in the future. You never know, it may be worth a bob or two on eBay at sometime in the future!
The Pets
For this stay we were looking after three tiny dogs. Baby, Stevie and Molly. We were a bit concerned before arriving that they might be a bit noisy. We all know that the smaller the dog the more bigger the bark. Thankfully, that was not the case at all. They were all very, very cute and really well behaved.
As they were all so small they did not need long walks. Stevie, the Chihuahua, often gave up half way. Luckily I had a sling with me he could jump into when his little legs had had enough.
I know you should not have favorites so don’t judge us but Molly quickly became ours. Wherever you were, Molly wanted to be with you. She was so loving and friendly that we instantly fell in love with her and were really sad to say goodbye when it was time for us to leave.
Baby was a bit of a loner and the guard dog of the household. He spent most of his time sitting by the front door checking for intruders, of which there were never any. As an alternative, instead he would growl at the postman and milkman just to let them know who was the boss!
The Home
The home hosts here were really friendly and instantly made us feel comfortable in their home. When we arrived there were both the hosts, their mother, two adult children, and Maxwell all waiting to greet us. They ordered a take away and by the time we had eaten it felt as if we had all know each other for years.
This was another beautiful house. Large and detached. The owners had built it themselves so it had all the mod cons you would expect including hot tub, sauna, dog grooming salon, and a finger print entry system – it’s the future!
Meeting Friends
During our stay in Sheffield we were delighted once again to have the opportunity to meet up with other house sitters. This time it was Lynne & Graham. They are very experienced house sitters and Sheffield is their home town. When they contacted us to let us know how close they were, we jumped at the chance to spend an afternoon in their company.
We really do genuinely enjoy being able to meet other sitters in person as we travel around. It is always a pleasure and this time was no exception. Lynne and Graham have far more experience at house sitting than we do so were really inspiring. We had a great afternoon chatting, laughing and sharing stories.
How to fill a three day gap in our calendar?
This was already turning out to be a hectic month. The Sheffield house sit was only for a week, The family were friendly, The house was beautiful and the dogs were all lovely. – a perfect sit. We definitely would have been happy to stay longer but before we knew it, it was time to move on again.
After Sheffield, we had a bit-of-a-dilemma. We now had a three day gap before our next confirmed sit in Leeds. I checked for anyone looking for sitters over those three days and found a choice of two.
Manchester or London?
Manchester was perfect for us location-wise, not too far from Sheffield, where we currently were and also not too far from Leeds,where we needed to be next. The only issue for us was that it was with two very large, very slobbery dogs.
London, on the other hand was a long distance to travel but with a much easier , and far less slobbery cat.
I had checked for an Airbnb but it would have cost us around £300 for the three nights. The £120 train tickets to London meant a saving of £180 so was really a no-brainer. Peckham, London was to be our third house sit of the month.
May House sit number three
As it turned out, Peckham was a great choice and well worth the extra effort it took to get there.
The home host was lovely, as was her home. This time a large Victorian semi- detached. It was minimalistic but comfortable. I am always very envious of those people that can choose just a few pieces of old furniture and instantly turn an ordinary house into a very stylish home. I’m sure if I tried it I would turn an ordinary house into an ordinary house full of old tat!
The Pet
The star of the stay for this house sit was the cat – ‘Mr Grey cat’
The home host told us that she had agreed to look after Mr Grey cat for a short while for an animal rescue centre whilst they found him a permanent home. As she knew this was to be only a temporary arrangement she decided not to name the cat as this may result in her getting too attached to it. So, as a temporary measure, she simply called him Mr Grey cat.
Unfortunately, it took longer than expected to find Mr Grey cat a permanent home, and by the time they did, she had become too attached and couldn’t let him go so decided to adopt him permanently. By this time Mr Grey cat was used to his unusually charming formal name – and so it stuck.
Mr Grey cat had a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character. By day he was a street cat and basically used the house as a feeding station and somewhere to take the occasional nap if he fancied. By night he turned into a really loving house cat and would happily spend all evening curled upon your knee.
The area
Our stay here was really short but we loved Peckham. Famous for being the location of Nelson Mandela house, the home of Del, Rodney and Uncle Albert in the hit UK sit-com ‘Only fools and horses’.
*Fun Fact*. None of the filming for Only fools and horses was actually filmed in Peckham!
Peckham is one of the least affluent areas of London that we have visited however it is lively and multi cultural with what seemed to be a market stall on every street corner.
With so much wheeling and dealing going on in the area, it is easy to see why the creators of the much-loved comedy thought that there could not be a better location for a character such as Del boy to live.
We have a visitor!
Before we knew where we were, we were back on the train again heading north to Leeds. Before we went though, we had to make a quick detour to Manchester airport.
Karyo’s mum had flown in from Greece to stay with us for a couple of weeks.
Karyo’s mum comes to visit us every year but, because of Covid, this was the first time she has been in three years. As we no longer have a permanent address of our own we decided to ask whether any home hosts would be open to having three adult sitters stay. I was unsure how open to the suggestion they would but was delighted when the very first sit I applied for happily accepted us.
I did not know when I applied but lady luck had been on our side. The home host had previously been married to a Greek man and having lived herself in Greece for twenty years she spoke good Greek herself. This Greek connection obviously had struck a chord with her and hence, she was more than happy to allow us to have Anastasia join us to stay in her home.
House sit number four
Our fourth and final house sit of the month was in Leeds.
Honestly, the location of this home was nothing special. We were in the middle of a large housing estate with basically nothing to see or do in the area. On the plus side the home was big enough to accommodate all three of us, there was a large supermarket very close by which is always useful and we were a very short UBER ride to the train station which enabled us to easily take Anastasia on some day trips to other, much prettier, near-by towns.
The Pet
Another cat and another ragdoll named ‘Blue’. We have now cared for quite a few cats of this breed. The upside is that they are very friendly, the downside is that they moult – a lot!
This Blue was no exception. As far as friendliness goes he was the best and was in his element when curled up on your knee. The moulting? – Oh my! It is hard to believe that so much hair can come from one cat. We brushed him daily but it was a battle we were destined never to win.
The lady of the house was a keen gardener and she had created the most beautiful garden which was a perfect playground for a cat.
For years Blue had been a house cat. Recently though, the garden had been made cat safe so he now had full access to it. He obviously loved his new outside freedom. He would disappear amongst the plants for hours but thankfully always showed himself when you called his name and/or shook a packet of cat treats.
Meeting friends (2)
One one of our days out, on the recommendation of two friends, Pete and Sue, we went to visit Harrogate. This was only a short twenty minute journey on the train.
I have known Pete and Sue since I was a teenager, but had not seen them for a few years. They have a son that lives in Harrogate so visit regularly. When they noticed we were staying not far away they suggested we meet up for the day. Of course, we were delighted to do.
We had a great day out catching up with news and wandering around the town and parks reminiscing on the time gone by . Pete and I were paperboys when we met. I was with him the night he met Sue, and here we were, 45 years later still the best of friends!
Time to head south again?
Not quite.
Leeds came and went, May came and went, and Karyo’s mum came and went. She had had a great time, as always enjoying her visits to us and to the UK.
This time had been very different for her. Until now, she has been unsure about our new nomadic housesitting lifestyle and why we are doing it. To be honest I think she thought we had fallen on hard times and had become homeless!
We enjoyed sharing the experience with her and it was good to wave her off knowing that she understands it much more now. In fact, she is already talking about joining us again sometime in the future. For now though, it was time for her to return home.
May really had been super busy but we knew that June was going to be much quieter.
We will start what is to be a four month stay in Brighton for the summer which we are really looking forward to.
Before that though, we have one more house sit to do ‘up North’
Next stop – Barnsley!
