Retired reliable professional couple to look after your home, pets and garden

About this sitter

My husband Wayne and I are retired professionals and have been married for over 40 years. I am both French and British and Wayne has both New Zealand and British nationalities. We have lived in London for about 40 years and have two children in their 30s: our son Scott lives in Melbourne Australia, and our daughter Nina lives in Windhoek, Namibia.
We are based in London, with a house in France where we spend part of the summer and a car for each country. We both have clean driving licences (two in my own case, UK and French), and are non smokers and fit, great travellers having to keep in touch with family and friends in various parts of the world. So we are both house owners and house sitters. We have used house sitters for years, most being delightful people with whom we have kept in touch.
Our main hobbies are varied including sport, opera, gardening, art and museum exhibitions, country walks, visiting cities or wild places around the world. We are standing members of the Royal Horticultural Society and of the National Trust. We do charity work in France and UK. Wayne volunteers for a Wimbledon charity providing meals for homeless people, and I am chairman of a heritage fruit conservation association. We are also very keen gardeners, having had several gardens in our life: including ornamental, allotments, potagers, and orchards. Therefore we are also interested in “cuisine”, having a lot of our own fruit and vegetables to eat and process. We are happy to do some gardening if required (weather permitting).

Why they want to house sit

We like to travel, experience different things in life, meet “real” people with different cultures in cities or in the countryside. Housesitting is a far more interesting way of discovering new places than hotels, and we enjoy the privacy, independence and comfort of having a temporary “home”, and enjoy the company of the household pets. But we also like to join in and take part in local community events.
We would love to look after your house and garden as if it was our own temporary home. We love animals, their various personalities, and are happy looking after them.
The Covid has unfortunately put a stop to our travels. In March 2020 we were suddenly rapatriated from Namibia, and this Christmas again our plan and tickets have to be postponed due to the new variant. So we are hoping to fill up the time by doing something interesting and useful, like visiting new area and helping others with housesitting.

Their experience

We have a lot of experience of housesitters as home owners, and from 2018 year we had wonderful experiences of housesitting ourselves. We looked after three cats in Cirencester, and the following year a dog and two cats in Dorset. This winter again we are looking for a housesit in Great Britain, preferably by the sea.

What can they bring to the assignment

From experience we fully understand the needs and concerns of home owners. We are very organised people and will look after your house as it was our own. As home owners we fully understand that house sitting is just not a way of getting a holiday home for free, but that we act in place of the owner including dealing with any crisis, keeping the house clean and tidy and doing any routine maintenance of the domestic appliances. We also understand the need to keep your utility bills to a minimum. We can communicate with you by phone, Skype, mail, WhatsApp etc and will keep you informed of the situation “at home”. I am fully bilingual in French and English, and can get by in German and Italian. Being from New-Zealand, Wayne’s mother tongue is English, but he also speaks good French.
We both love animals and will enjoy caring for yours. For as long as we can remember we have cared and been responsible for pets (and wild animals) including cats, dogs, chickens, hamsters and snakes. They have been either ours or those of friends and family. Our pets live to a very old age so we are used to geriatric patients! Our daughter is a veterinary practice manager so if required, we have her on tap, and all her practice vets, for advice and guidance. We are confident in administrating daily medications to cats and dogs (including worming tablets, flea treatment, insulin injections for diabetic pets etc). In France we usually keep a few pet chickens for their eggs, and know how to check them and treat them for parasites.