Large house. Quiet village. Secluded garden. 2 Doggies. 500mb/s

About this assignment

We are both 66 and retired. Our lives changed for the better in Spring 22 when we had the great honour to become the grandparents to a lovely little girl who lives around the corner. The corner of the world! In Sydney. Now, to our added excitement, we have a second grandchild! A lovely biy born in December 2024.

At the same time, our niece has had her first child in Germany and we are excited tio ssay that we are going to see her and her family in August 25. Although, though we would dearly love to take our doggies, they are absolutely useless when trying to sit still for that long a flight. And honestly, I’m not sure peeing and worse in the aisle would be appreciated…..

Having left the smoke of London a decade ago, we have discovered that we were made for the more sedate village life and (miraculously) are keen gardeners! The garden looks beautiful at this time of year.

Heidi has spent her career as a mother and a project manager. while Prem spent his period of servitude in technology sales and marketing. Heidi has undoubtedly been the most successful. Prem just had a smile on his face for his whole career.

We have two grown up (unlike their father) sons. One is in Sydney and the other in London.

What responsibilities are required of the house sitter

Dougal and Lenny have both been trained and awarded the Kennel Club Good Citizen Silver Award. Dougal could easily get the Gold award but Lenny is a little too young and a bit too, shall we say, ‘enthusiastic’ at the moment! :-)

They are both easy to please dogs who like a lot of human contact. Expect them to sit (or lie) by / on you at every opportunity. They have the run of our house and no place is out of bounds. As poodle mixes (Golden Retriever and Poodle) , they do not shed hair.

Dougal and Lenny need to be walked at least once a day for about 60 minutes. If the ground is wet, they will probably be muddy and will need a shower in the utility room bathroom. There are lots of towels and a large dog hair dryer in there as well.

In addition, they appreciate being played with in the garden or in the house for as long as they can get away with. Hide and seek with snacks is always a winner but it does inevitably have an effect on their waistlines!

Mary, our wonderful dog walker (and dog whisperer ...) will collect them every now and then and take them on a walk with lots of their friends. They normally return from these walks exhausted and Mary normally appreciates a coffee, chocolate biscuits and a chat!

They also need to be let out into the garden when they 'ask'. If the weather is good, leave the kitchen side door open and they will wander in and out. (Just make sure the heating is off and not needed)

They eat a small amount of food at around 9AM which is when they have their joint water bowl refilled.

They then have a large portion of defrosted raw food at around 6PM. They should be let out to do their business immediately after each feed. We would ask that you keep on top of the 'dog deposits' in the garden for us.

In addition to looking after Lenny and Dougal, we would appreciate you keeping the garden watered. Fay, our gardener will be here regularly to sort things out but we may ask you to help as well with specific plants.

If you could spin the petrol lawnmower around once a week, weather permitting, that would be appreciated.

I’m afraid that the hot tub is out of action at the moment given that electricity bills are of mortgage proportions. Sorry. Blame Mr Putin.

What are the good features of the property and location

A large detached house overlooking open fields to the front and with a private entrance to secluded woods at the rear. The rear aspect is to die for as it's west facing and gets the afternoon sun as it sweeps over our stables and the woods backing onto our property.

Downstairs is a huge living area (wood stove, massive TV, SKY. Netflix, Amazon, PLEX etc.), a similarly sized kitchen/dining room, office, utility room and a shower wet room. There is an additional doggie shower room off the utility room that will be in continuous use as they have a superhuman (superdoggie?) ability to get muddy!

Upstairs we have 4 bedrooms. We would invite you to stay in a large double bedroom with an ensuite (bath and shower). Lenny and Dougal are used to sleeping in whatever bed they choose! You would have thought this was their house….

The sitting room and dining room lead through full wall bi-fold doors to a large patio with newly laid ceramic slabs. To one side is a hot tub which is sadly out of use. Blame Vladimir.

Two brick paths lead up the garden. One to an additional circular patio surrounded by bamboo, ferns and roses - perfectly secluded for relaxation or yoga. The other path leads up to the stable, our 'McBones' outside 'bar', past the greenhouse, vegi plots and then on to the private entrance to the woods.

McBones is great for those late evening chill outs. It's decorated with all kinds of esoteric stuff, ambient and UV lighting, a BOSE Bluetooth sound system and a heater above a large table suitable for 8 people.

The garden has been recently planted but has matured well over the hot hot hot summer. Luckily we have a water well so we have dumped a swimming pool worth of water on them every week!

The front of the house has a separate garage (full of 'stuff' that Heidi would prefer me to throw away but I don't) and the driveway can easily accommodate 4 cars. We will leave at least one of our cars on the drive. Perhaps both.

Helpston is a small, quiet, village of about 400 houses about 5 miles from Stamford and a similar distance from Peterborough. There is a village shop here and a wonderful local pub (The Bluebell) just 2 minutes walk away. Just next door to the cottage home of John Clare - One of England's most famous poets.

Stamford is the place to go if you would like to shop down narrow lanes and a bustling main street or visit lovely pubs and restaurants.

Peterborough has a 50 minute super quick train link to Kings Cross if you need to get into London.

There are a large choice of supermarkets about 10-15 minute drive from us in Stamford or Peterborough.

As far as walks are concerned, there is an endless choice of them around here. Many are across open fields so they can get muddy so bring your wellies. The woods behind us are a favourite walk for other dog people and we are literally on the doorstep. We will leave you a package with information on the interesting walks and things to do around here.

Oh ... and we have fibre internet so your connection to the rest of the world is through a blazingly fast 300mb/second link.

What does the house sitter need to consider before applying for this assignment

Helpston is a small village off the beaten track with no more than an hourly bus into Peterborough and Stamford which, to make things worse, stop ruining at 5PM. It will be easier if you have a car to get around.

We have created a document that contains all the details you need about the house and we send it to you when we decide that we are matched. For now, type this into your browser to see a short version: bit.ly/public-10-heath-road

Can I bring my own pets?

Yes

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