D&B House Sitters

ABOUT US

We are an early-retired couple, who have worked in the UK for over 30 years.
We have homes in both UK and France, but are now based permanently in the
Poitou-Charentes region of France in department 79.

In 2013 we completed a summer season working together looking after two very large old farmhouse holiday lets, and a smaller cottage holiday let, all with swimming pools, for a lady based in the UK. Between us we were responsible for opening up the pools at the start of the season, opening up the houses and fully spring-cleaning them. Keeping the houses, large grounds and slightly temperamental pools fully clean, tidy and working was a full-time responsibility.

All laundry and housekeeping responsibilities were ours. We managed two French staff who assisted with hand-overs,(we both speak French) meeting and greeting holiday makers and trouble-shooting any problems during their stays. In the recent past we have been loving dog owners ourselves for many years, but currently have no pets of our own.


However, for some years we regularly looked after friends' homes and pets here in France when they have returned to the UK. We are reliable, trustworthy and have a good sense of humour - all necessary when 'things go wrong'. We enjoyed our season working together looking after the holiday homes and decided we want to do continue to work together.
We also wish to explore more of France, the UK, Europe and the wider world - hence we have no pets of our own any more.


Why we want to house sit

We have discovered that we work very well together as a team. We each have different skills and strengths which go well together, and house and pet-sitting allows us to continue using our skills, whilst allowing us flexibility. We are also too young and active to retire fully yet, and want to use this time to both work and travel. House and pet sitting gives us plenty of opportunity to explore different regions, and different countries, whilst also feeling that we are offering something useful to other people too. It seems such a good 'win-win' experience for all concerned. We do not want long, extended assignments
as we have plenty of work still to do on our own house, but we would be very happy to look at regular and/or intermittent assignments throughout the year, or assignments of up to 6 - 8 weeks in length. We also know that when we had our own much-loved dogs we were much happier when friends would come and look after them in our own home when we were
away - so much better for our lovely dogs too. We also felt our house was less vulnerable to unwanted attention from potential wrong-doers if someone was living in it - greater peace of mind all round. We would now like to offer that peace
of mind and security to others.


Our experience

We have had, and loved, pets of our own in the past, and have looked after dogs, cats, sheep, alpacas, ducks and chickens. We have now completed many very successful and enjoyable house/pet-sitting assignments and now have regular clients who have also become friends. These clients are all contactable for references. We are home owners ourselves and are practical in solving day to day problems as they arise. We are now fully registered within the French system and have a SIRET number. We do charge a very reasonable daily rate for our services. We are non-smokers. We are fit and able-bodied. We provide all our
own food during our sits. During cooler months we are frugal with heating, and also economical with the use of water.
We are motor-home owners, so we fully understand how to be economical in the way we live. We respect your home fully, and maintain its security at all times during our sit.
We provide your animals with the loving routine they know and love.


What we can bring to the assignment

We can bring energy, enthusiasm and much life and sitting experience. We can provide a wealth of excellent references.
One of us is a qualified design engineer, project manager and business support manager who has also recently taught within the UK university system. The other is a qualified primary school teacher and qualified social worker who was also a senior workforce development manager for a number of years before taking early retirement. We always give our absolute best
to any job, task or undertaking, and are keen to learn new skills as we go along. We bring to our sits a true love of animals, compassion, empathy and a very good sense of humour. We have the maturity to apply good sound common sense to all situations.

Many of our clients now book us regularly, and we know we provide them with absolute peace of mind that their pets,
animals and home will be safe, secure, loved and cared for whilst they are away.

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