Trustworthy English couple available for house and pet sitting

About this sitter

Steve was a freelance director who made television documentaries. Gill a teacher and more recently a marketing executive. We have a desire to discover what life is really like in the places we visit. We hope to meet interesting people, work at our languages, where appropriate, (Gill has pretty good French and Italian, Steve is working on his French! We do not view housesitting as a `free holiday`. We intend to work as and when required and hopefully meet new friends in the process. Over the years we have travelled extensively in France, Spain and Italy. The photograph above was taken at Beziers in southern France.

Why they want to house sit

Our son and daughter have both left home and have their own careers, although they do come back to be fed now and again!
We believe taking house sitting assignments might be an interesting way to discover something new. Nothing ventured?

Their experience

Steve is a keen gardener and loves cooking. He has a passion for food (preferably organic) and loves the simple pleasure of wandering around markets smelling all those wonderful vegetables. Sunshine on a plate. He loves music of all kinds, and is a self taught pianist. He`s fairly useful on the DIY front (though not an expert!!) and willing to carry out simple house maintenance tasks and take care of pools if required. Gill is an avid reader. She`s always got her head in a book. Her other interests include, opera, theatre, art history, painting and spotting bargains at antique fairs. Our home is full of `stuff`. You can imagine!
We both have clean driving licenses, and have our own car so we could drive to some assignments. A few years ago, we lost our lovely cat Pogger, he was eighteen and a real character!
Around the same time we carried out our first housesitting assignment (for six weeks) in the Tarn area of South West France. The property was near Cordes sur Ciel and we had to take care of three cats, eight chickens, seven runner ducks and a goose. Quite a family! We like to think the owners were happy with our efforts on their return from travels in Italy and Greece. For another housesit, we travelled to the Gers in South West France and spent six weeks looking after Pepper the Labrador and two cats. A beautiful region with so much history, and for Gill, many Brocantes! In June 2023 we housesat two cats for three weeks in the hills of Umbria, a beautiful region with with the renaissance on almost every street corner.

What can they bring to the assignment

We are honest, reliable, and will guarantee to look after your house and animals as you would yourselves. We can forward mail, provide
e-mail, phone or WhatsApp/Facetime updates. We have been homeowners ourselves for many years, and know how important it is that you feel your house is respected and in safe hands. We have never smoked, eat mostly vegetarian and fish, are enthusiastic, adaptable and willing to take on new challenges.