Moving on in Meadle

 Saturday 02/07/22

The owners' plans at our current sit changed slightly so they arrived back two days early and we have moved down the road to a camping site on a farm.  

It meant we could move Bokkie during the afternoon and cycle back to hand over the house and dogs when the owners arrived in the evening.  We were quite luckily to be squeezed in as the campsite is busy, full of hardy campers (mostly tents, small campervans and one other motorhome) hoping for some summery weather.

Red Kite

We loved our time with Bella and Beau and will remember the sit for the ever-present Red Kites swirling overhead.  In spite of many fantastic sighting as the magnificent birds glided over our heads, we only managed one semi-decent photo.  Must do better!

Beau the bouncing Basset frolicking in a field

The dogs were an absolute pleasure to look after.

Bella kept up constantly amused, here using spiders' webs as makeup.

We're re-adjusting our spatial awareness into Bokkie mode and should stop knocking against things in a day or two.  We now have a week of camping before a short weekend sit in Farnham to meet a family we will sit for again in October.  Then we will make our way down to Cornwall to catch our ferry from Plymouth to Santander.  It will be our longest ferry trip so far as we will overnight across the Bay of Biscay to the warmer Spanish coast.

Hardy campers setting up on a Friday afternoon.

Bokkie squeezed in at the end of the road.

It's always fun to be back in Bokkie and it's been a while since we have been in such a buy campsite with so many kids running around.  It almost feels like we're on holiday!

Dog sitting in Meadle

 Friday 17/06/22

Walkies in the morning sunshine

We're on a three week sit in Meadle, near Princes Risborough and are staying on a huge property in a 17th century farmhouse.  Low beams and creaky floorboards abound in this house, but we are having a lovely time in absolute luxury.

Bella in the foreground with Beau at the back

Beau, an elderly Basset Griffon Vendeen and Bella, An Irish Setter puppy are adorable and fairly easy to look after.  That is, if you are prepared to lose the odd sock, shoe, towel, spectacles and anything else you may leave within reach of Bella.  If you don't want to lose anything, you need to keep your wits about you as she sneaks away your possessions like a phantom.  Luckily we were warned so have been vigilant, and have managed to recover all lifted possessions before they were chewed.

Bella misses we when I go out - even if it is just to put the bins out.

Bella found this fossilised rabbit somewhere and was a bit put out that 
I wouldn't let her keep it...

We've been lucky having Charmaine drop in a few times (she lives about 30mins away from this sit), as well as Ettienne and Debbi who popped in for coffee, which was lovely.  We're enjoying the daily routine of walking the dogs and chilling, working on Bokkie (A) and cooking / baking (T) while we do our final preparations for our Portugal trip.

Bella turned 1 on Wednesday and Charmaine has a birthday today

It's Charmaine's birthday today so it's been fabulous that she is spending the day with us - Bobotie for supper, and birthday cake!

Jubilee weekend in Stanton Prior

 Thursday 02/06/22

Our contribution to Jubilee decorations, a stunning poppy in the garden meadow.

It's a bonus holiday today in the UK and bunting and flags are appearing everywhere to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee.  We're fortunate as Charmaine has managed to get some leave and is spending a few days with us, which is lovely.

The village of Stanton Prior, our barn visible on the left of the village

Stunning rural Somerset in every direction.

Toni and Charmaine popped into Bath for a visit today, nice and quiet to start off with but started getting really busy mid-morning.  It is a beautiful and historic town though, well worth seeing.

We have thoroughly enjoyed the tranquillity of this sit; our choice of places to sit has been paying off with lovely locations in the UK so far.  

Rule 1 of the English summer - if the sun shines, lie in it!

Cosmo has two modes of walkies - Nose down, tail up pulling on the lead or
sullen teenager, lip-on-the-ground, snail's pace when he doesn't want to go home.

We were initially nervous about sitting a Dalmatian as they can be quite highly strung but we needn't have worried.  Cosmo has crawled under our skins with his fantastic personality, strong will and loving nature.  Once again, we'll miss him when we leave, although we'll carry around reminders for some time - he sheds incredibly so we'll never get rid of all the tiny black and white hairs!

On Saturday we head out for a few days in a campsite before our next sit, a 17'th century farmhouse near Princes Risborough which we hope will be along similar lines.

Bonus pic:-

They grow the cows tall in Somerset!

Down South in Stanton Prior

 Sunday 22/05/22

The very photogenic Cosmo in relaxed mode

On Friday we swapped our normally low stress-levels for a travel day.  We usually have a gap between sits but on this occasion we had to get from Soudley to a village outside Bath in a bit of a hurry - something Bokkie doesn't do particularly well.  It was hard leaving Ash, we really bonded with him but that is the reality of house-sitting.

Bokkie performed well on the 150 mile trip and was rewarded with a tank of British diesel; we had been nursing our relatively cheap French tankful until this trip.  Diesel is the most expensive we've seen it to date and it was the fist time we had spent more than £100 on a tank, £115 for 65 litres - eye watering!

Stunning views with Bath in the distance

Our neighbours have this stunning moss-covered water-feature outside

We're settled in a lovely barn-conversion in a tiny village nestled on the outskirts of Bath.  We have a Dalmatian, Cosmo, to look after and, apart from a habit of stealing anything and everything off the kitchen counter, he seems quite relaxed.  The views from the house are amazing and the walks around the area are lovely so I think we're going to enjoy it here.

Walkies with Cosmo

The owners have converted the lawn and orchard into a lovely meadow area

We have Bokkie booked in for her MOT next week so hope that goes well.  We're only here for two weeks so we'll spend out time exploring the area and relaxing.

Enjoying our time in quiet Soudley

 Monday 09/05/22

We are kept amused by the antics of the sheep and lambs outside the house.

We're loving our time in Soudley - we both agree that this is the best sit we've had in the UK so far; the house and location are fantastic and Ash is an absolute gem, our favourite dog in the world.  

Ash's happy place - Bishop's Wood walk.

He is no trouble at all, never barks, is extremely well behaved and obedient, and all he asks is that we keep him close and give him cuddles.  Walking him daily, on or off leash, depending on where we are going, is an absolute pleasure.  On the rare occasion he gets out of our sight in the woods, two short blasts of the whistle and he streaks back to our ankles - fantastic!  

We had to keep Ash on a leash as the duck were just too tempting.

The Wharf campsite, wharf and Tavern, a lovely walk away.

We had a spell of cooler weather so would light a fire at night, but it is slowly starting to warm up again which is nice.  We have a really easy routine here, having the dog means we get plenty of exercise and the garden keeps us busy enough so that we aren't bored.  The lovely kitchen means Toni gets to do some cooking and baking and I eat like a King as usual, not a bad life, really.

Spring is a lovely time in the UK

The first of the Peony blooms

Bonus videos:

Working Ash in the field is fantastic, it's wonderful to have such a well-trained dog!

We asked one of the ewes if she was also impressed...

A Springer in Soudley

 Thursday 28/04/22

A blog update for those wondering what we're up to these days.

We're looking after Ash, a highly trained Springer Spaniel, and three hens in the county of Shropshire in the Midlands.  

The lovely Ash with the lovely Toni

Our three egg factories.

We had a relatively uneventful crossing on the 12th; using the train to cross the channel is usually very quick and easy so it really suits us.  We camped for a few days near Wendover Woods to see Charmaine before travelling up to the sit.

Bokkie is an old hand at squeezing onto the train now.

Brexit queues on the UK side - guess who pays for this?

The lovely view from Bokkie at Hill Farm Campsite.

This is, by far, the most peaceful setting we have had in the UK as it is on the edge of a tiny village, surrounded by farmlands.  Getting Bokkie here was a bit challenging as the roads are single-track for the last few miles but we managed fine.

Sometimes it is nice to drive something more manoeuvrable than Bokkie.

Charmaine getting to do a check-up on a relaxed pet for a change.

Ash absolutely loves his walks...

but is just as happy getting a cuddle

We met the owners for a couple of hours before they headed off and got on very well with them.  The property we are looking after is fantastic and we have the use of a vehicle so Bokkie is resting and getting some repairs and upgrades.  We are kept fairly busy with the routine of letting the hens out, walking the dog, rinsing the dog, a bit of gardening, cooking, reading and lighting fires in the evening.

A bit of a gloomy morning but lovely countryside on our walk in Bishop's Wood

It is a lovely part of the world to see and we're lucky that Charmaine can pop in for the odd weekend even though it is quite a long drive for her, we can spoil her with Toni's cooking (and I wash her car).

The house owners are enjoying themselves on a long-awaited, five week Caribbean cruise so we get to enjoy their home and pets for a nice long spell - heaven.

Wrapping up in Brittany

 Sunday 27/03/22

The cherry blossoms look like a wave breaking across the pathway

We only have two weeks left at our sit before we begin the 'Brexit-shuffle' back to the UK.  

We're using the rest of this year as an opportunity to spend a bit more time in the UK (and nearer Charmaine), and have quite a few house-sits lined up in England,  as well as a return trip to the farm sit in Portugal later in the summer.

Bokkie has been spruced up with a few odd jobs and a good clean, and we're looking forward to taking her on a long drive, even though the diesel price is making us wince a bit.

Spring is certainly the time for renewal.

Although the daffodils are coming to the end of their time they have given a magnificent display this year, the beauty of this garden is that the next show is already underway with poppies and tulips

Interesting story:  while we were busy getting all of Bokkie's stuff together I saw I had forgotten the front screen hanging in the hangar where I had left it to dry.  Toni saw a little bird fly out of the screen and also what looked like the start of a nest being built in its folds.  I went to roll it up to stow it away and was about to drop the leaves out of it when I saw there was a full nest deeper in with four tiny eggs.  Panic stations!

You can just make out one of the four tiny eggs.
Unfortunately we need to take the screen with us!

We managed to slide the nest into a piece of drain pipe so that we didn't disturb it too much and made a new sling with an old potato sack and plank.  We then relocated the nest and crossed our fingers.  Amazingly, a few hours later when we went to check, the parent bird had returned.  

I thought it might be a robin at first (except the eggs aren't blue) and now think it might be a chaffinch or tree sparrow.  We only catch the briefest glimpses when it flashes out of the nest if we approach, but we are absolutely thrilled that it didn't abandon the nest and eggs.  Hopefully they can go to term.

Luckily the new home seemed to meet with approval.

Spring is really a lovely time of year, especially when you are looking after such a wonderful garden.  We have relaxed completely into the lifestyle here and it will be a wrench to leave, but lovely that we get to see family soon.