Bringing home owners and house sitters together
Sitter available
Responsible, neat & well-organized couple
Netherlands
Testimonials
They have 3 testimonials (view below)
Pet experience
Dog(s), Cat(s), Horse/Donkey(s), Chicken(s), Bird(s), Fish, Rabbit(s), Tortoise/Turtle(s), Guinea pig(s), Pig(s), Goat(s), Farm animal(s)
Police check
They have a police check
Availability
From: 1 October 2024
Until: 1 January 2027
Occupation
Property Manager / Caretaker
References
They have referees/references (view below)
About this sitter
We are working as a complementary team for 37 years! We are skilled in hospitality, real estate, video marketing, and are multilingual (English, German, French, Spanish and of course Dutch).
We can take good care of your house and garden as Alef is a real handyman (plumbing, electricity, gardening).
We prefer to stay in remote areas and are used to deal with basic, primitive circumstances (as well as high end premises).
Why they want to house sit
House sitting is a wonderful way of exploring the far corners of the world and experience different ways of living. Contrary to traveling you get a chance to taste the daily life in a place and meet all kinds of pets with their own characters.
Their experience
We are experienced caretakers of a South African lodge (with 26 acres of land), an Austrian holiday apartment complex, a beautiful B&B in France, historic mansions in Ireland and France, remote Caribbean & Pacific islands, a 'can' in Spain & a wild variety of pets.
We know how to maintain pools & ponds, machinery, solar- & water systems like boreholes/pressure pumps/generators.
In addition, we can also provide daily management, guest handling, supply management and cook three course dinners/breakfasts for guests in B&B's, boutique hotels/motels/lodges.
As we both grew up in a rural area and were surrounded by farm animals and pets, we know how to deal with cows & goats/sheep, but also with fishes, chickens & Guinee pigs!
What can they bring to the assignment
We bring dedication & joyfulness, (financial) responsibility, inventiveness. We both are neat and proper, and like to tidy up and get things organized. We stay calm in crisis situations (i.e. cyclones) and think in opportunities.
Last updated:
6 January 2024
Available to house sit
Africa, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Burma, Canada, Caribbean, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, North East Asia, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, South East Asia, South Korea, South Pacific, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States
Availability dates
From: 1 October 2024
Until: 1 January 2027
Do they charge?
They don't charge for house sitting services
Membership
MindMyHouse member since 2019
Personal details
Age: 46-55 years old
Family status:
Couple
Total sits
Total completed house sits: 5
References
You need to be logged in to see this house sitters' references.
About this house sitter
MindMyHouse member since December 2023
Sitemap
MindMyHouse.com – https://www.mindmyhouse.com/owners/sitter_listing/41721
Testimonials
Excellent house-sitters and lovely people
Ria and Alef came to stay for 10 days in our rambling old house in St Germain en Laye town centre, while we were away on holiday in August 2019. This was our first experience of house-sittings and it has been a great success. We shall do more. We short-listed Ria and Alef in July and met them for the first time via a video call. They were friendly and charming. They gave us two references and I made careful contact with two separate house-owners who gave them glowing references. After further exchanges of messages we both agreed to go ahead. We spent a day together before we left on holiday in order to explain the house and duties in detail. Ria and Alef are very practically-minded and understood everything without undue explanation. They are easy to get along with and very relaxed. We were completely reassured that all was going to be fine. While we were away they looked after the house brilliantly and it was clean and tidy when we returned. Our dog was well-fed, cleaned and well-walked and the gold fish were alive and swimming in clear, clean water! The garden looked beautiful and the plants had clearly been watered adequately. On top of all this Ria and Alef had repaired our outside lighting system and several lanterns, which were broken and had also repaired the external lights at the front of the house, which was a real challenge for them (well Alef in particular) because the electrical system was complex. As if this were not enough generous help, Alef also repaired, repainted and fixed our shed door after many hours of diligent work and having shopped in town for repair materials and on top of all this they offered to drive us to the airport at 3h in the morning for our flight and to pick us up at 22h upon our return! They are amazing, generous people, truly delightful, honest and reliable and I recommend them to you wholeheartedly.
ol, France, 26 August, 2019
Friendly, honest and capable house sitters
This was our first experience with house sitters and we were not disappointed. Ria and Alef were great. They kept the house clean and tidy, looked after the chickens and did some great cleaning up outside. They also sorted out a broken pump for us and went beyond the tasks asked of them to help us out. We felt relaxed leaving everything in their hands and they kindly kept us informed of how things were. Friendly, honest and kind, we would ask them back any day.
Emma, Spain, 31 July, 2019
THE Perfect House Sitters!!!
Alef and Ria are a wonderful couple! They arrived early so they could meet the whole gang of 9, and learn our routine, and seamlessly slotted into their role. They took great care to learn how to give individual care to each cat. Eager and thoughtful, kind and attentive to the cats, and very good company for us too. They did chores and helped us prepare for our visitors in our holiday home - and did gardening too, so that the weeds and lawn were kept under control. It was very interesting to see how the cats took to Ria and Alef immediately - even Billy Bob who usually takes a few days to get used to people. I don't think the cats noticed that we had gone, and were not clingy at all when we returned. This was such a delightful experience, and if you ever have the opportunity of meeting this great couple, I recommend that you grab it with both hands! They are hugely positive, unfazed, great cooks, and joyful. We will keep in touch and follow their adventures, and hope very much to meet up again.
Gail, France, 30 June, 2019