Giant dogs to miniture ponies

We had a variety of sizes to look after in August. We had a new sit in North Devon, near Ilfracombe. We had an Irish wolf hound, two golden retrievers and a puppy spaniel. The farm we were sitting at had fantastic views of the coast and on a clear day we could see across to Wales. There were some lovely walks to do with these dogs, through woodland and fields, the dogs were able to run for miles. The weather was quite hot on most days, and with their thick coats, the dogs got very warm. They did have a convenient bath available to them in the shape of strategically placed water troughs set in the hedges along the route.

The dogs had great fun cooling off in muddy puddles and then washing off the mud in the trough.

In contrast, we looked after two ponies near Bristol one of which was a miniature shetland, so cute, with ears like a bear. They were both very sweet ponies, and great companions to one another.

The miniature shetland was like a big dog, and the wolf hound was like a small pony, all very strange.

August was a busy month. We looked after a menagerie of animals and a campsite for two weeks. The animals were great, we had an assortment of dogs, a cat, a herd of sheep, two ponies, several chickens and two ducks.


The campsite, Hidden Spring, is in a lovely spot in East Sussex. It is set in a vineyard and orchard. Our task was to look after the animals, and the campers. There were a number of static pitches one was a teepee, a geodome and two yurts, there was also a showman's caravan. These needed to be serviced by ourselves. After a few days we got the hang of where people had to pitch their tents and the general running of the place.

We had a small farm shop to run and we enjoyed meeting and greeting the new arrivals. Guests usually arrived as Della was in the shower block doing the daily clean! Tracy got to be a dab hand at being a wine seller in the shop.

The hours were long and the work very physical, so after two days we were very tired, but the weather was great so we were able to grab a lunch break sat in the back garden, After a few days we got into a routine with the animals and the campers. We had a day off on the Sunday and were able to have a walk around the local area. East Sussex is a lovely county with plenty of rural spots. We found a little pub a short walk from the campsite.

We had a band of little helpers following us around as we cleaned each of the static tents, these were children staying on the campsite. The families were good company and they were great at alerting us to when a sheep got stuck in the fencing or when one of the dogs was touting for sausages when it was tea time with the campers.

Easter 2011

For Easter we were near Cannes, France where where we looked after our old friends a Rhodesian Ridge back, a Spoodle and a Burmese cat.

We always look forward to sitting for this family of lovely pets, they know us very well now, so we all settle into our routine very quickly.

When we try to use our computer, Bruno has other ideas. He likes all the attention to come his way.

We made our way back from the South of France in our car, and caught the ferry from Calais one more time, back to Blighty.

After a short visit with family and friends back in Bristol, and watching the Royal Wedding on the telly, we headed off to our next sit in Edenbridge,Kent, where we looked after two lovely cats.


Edenbridge is a small, historic town, surrounded by miles of woodland walks and countryside. Hever Castle is to one side of the town and Chartwell House, the home of Sir Winston Churchill is in the other direction. There was plenty to keep us occupied in this area.

For the rest of May we were back in South West France, near Cahors, for a short sit and then back to the UK to Goring-by-Sea, Sussex, for our first visit to sit for Jemima, Myrtle and Minnie. Jemima,is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and her sisters are Persian cats. We had bracing walks along the sea front, walking into Worthing, and taking the train to Brighton

where we caught up with a Kiwi friend who was visiting the area.



We found a superb vegetarian restaurant in Brighton called
Food for Friends which we hope to revisit in the not too distant.

Sudbury, Suffolk

Suffolk is another new county for us, so we arrived without any preconceived ideas. It is very rural with pretty villages and towns dotted about. We sat just outside of a town called Sudbury which is a lovely market town. Although the area is very rural the towns were built with money made from the weaving and silk industry so the buildings are very affluent.

We looked after two very sweet dogs, a border terrier who, when sat on her back legs, looked more like a meerkat, and a boxer dog. We enjoyed some lovely walks with the girls along leafy lanes that led us to small hamlets of thatched cottages looking out over fields stretching for miles. The hens we looked after kept us in a great supply of eggs for our stay.

Melford Hall

We visited Melford Hall which is owned by the National Trust. It is lived in by the Hyde Parker family and it felt lived in like a home not a museum piece. The home was visited a great deal by Beatrix Potter.

Lavenham was another of our favorite visits. It is a medieval
village, very pretty. We did a circular walk around the village
to see the surrounding countryside, before having lunch in one of the pubs on the high street.





Bury St Edmunds was a real surprise as we didn't expect a town with so much history and architecture set in such a rural location.







Vegetarian Restaurants in this area

Veggie Red Lion
Another great find, a superb vegetarian restaurant, well worth a visit, at Great Bricett. We met up with some friends who were holidaying in the area and we had a lovely meal.

The Black Boy
This is a pub in the centre of Sudbury market place, and although not exclusively vegetarian, the owner of the pub and hotel is vegan and had a lovely selection of dishes on the menu. It was a really old building, apparently with its own ghost, and had a great atmosphere. We were spoilt for choice on the menu.

2011 the year so far....

The first half of 2011 has passed in a blinking of an eye or, more appropriately, a wagging of a tail.We started off the year in France living in a Maison de Maitre in the Dordogne region. We managed 3 gites for the owners, providing change over services, pool maintenance and general gardening. We met lots of people holidaying at the property, each week having a new dynamic, depending on who was staying.

We got to know our immediate french neighbours, one of whom was a veteran of the Foreign legion. We were given loads of tomatoes and produce from their very productive potager, (vegetable garden). We tried to pay them back with bringing them English tea, which they loved, and making cakes. They didn't want anything in return though, they were just grateful that their produce was being appreciated and utilized.

We had the opportunity to practice our french a bit more in this area, as we had more people around us, and became very fluent in swimming pool jargon, as we oversaw some major works on the pool over the season.

In March we left the Dordogne and went further South to Carcassonne where we said hello again to a regular client and their pets, and made some new acquaintances. Carcassonne is a lovely fortified town with a very impressive medieval castle fully intact. The old town is contained within the huge walls of the city. Both our house sits were just outside of the main city, in the surrounding countryside, which is rugged and beautiful.
New friends made.

Old friends re-visited.

We were pleased that we would have the chance to look after a family of African grey parrots again, as well as two dogs and a Camargue pony. They all remembered us from a sit the previous year and it was great to catch up with them again.

Wolvercote an Olde English Village

A last minute booking brought us to Wolvercote near Oxford. This is a new area for us and we were pleasantly surprised to find a little village tucked away from the busy main roads that surrounded it. The village is on the edge of Port Meadow, a large piece of common land, which stretches for miles, and has the Oxford canal running through it. This was very handy as the dog we were looking after had so much energy.

Tracy getting her daily exercise. This dog had endless energy.

He was only a young pup and so sweet, although we were only with him for a few days, he really stole our hearts, and we had great fun throwing the ball for him. We also helped harvest the owners' allotment whilst they were away which was laden with produce.

Sitting in Scotland

June saw us travel from the South Eastern tip of the UK to the North Eastern tip, to Aberdeen for our next sit. We travelled the whole distance in one day, feeling the temperature drop the further north we went.

We do not know Scotland very well, Della only having been there once before, and Tracy never having been. We were looking forward to exploring this part of our country.

Aberdeen is by the seaside, and we were lucky to pick two lovely weeks of calm, sunny weather, although a tad cold for us Southerners. The North Sea was like a mill pond, and the scenery was breathtaking. We loved the beaches which were vast, empty spaces of clean white sand, with colonies of seals and Eider ducks. Very unspoilt and pristine countryside and coastline for miles around.
Slains Castle Cruden bay

We were looking after two very low maintenance cats, who enabled us to go out on walks and explore the local area. We found a small general stores in Auchnagatt, the only store in the small village, as we wanted some matches. The shop was something out of 'The league of Gentlemen' very Local. There were a few items on the shelves, such as the odd tin of beans and a bottle of sauce. The window display was ancient, with bars of soap with 'sell by dates' from 1999!

The old part of Aberdeen was interesting. It is called Footdee There are a number of fisherman's cottages which are built into the harbour walls. They face inwards with their gardens in quadrangles so that the people are sheltered from the weather coming in from the sea.

When this sit finished we had a few days before we had to be at our next sit in Oxford, so we took advantage of the lovely weather and made our way back down South via Inverness and the Highlands. We called in on Nessy on the way passed and enjoyed the scenery of the mountains and lochs. We had lunch in a lovely loch-side restaurant in Fort Augustus called The Boathouse which gave us views back up the loch where we had driven down.