What We Love & What We Don’t Love About House Sitting

Posted on May 5, 2021May 7, 2021 by ezypzy5bg

What we Love…….

House sitting first and foremost is all about caring for other people’s pets and the security of their home while they go away on holiday. If you love animals and also love to travel this is an amazing combination that brings a whole new dimension to seeing the world around you whether that is just in your local area and home country or as far across the globe as you wish your travels would take you.

Orchard Cafe, Grantchester, Cambridge — Orchard Cafe – Grantchester, Cambridge

For us the most enjoyable aspect of house sitting is the ability to live life like a local, to settle in to a home having pets around us with time to explore local haunts and even get to know the neighbours.

As a house sit can range in length of stay from 1 night to 6 months (or even more) there is plenty of scope for variety. Our shortest sit was for 3 nights and our longest sit for 4 ½ months – though most sits are been between 10 days to 3 weeks.

Depending on what pets we are caring for determines our daily timetable with some places allowing us lots of free time to go out and roam alone.

However there is nothing we love more than to wander off into the woods or out along the beach with one, two, three or more dogs in tow then stop at a local cafe or pub (inside or outside……as you can do that with a dog in the UK & Europe) for a drink or two.

So you start to get the picture of how this lifestyle is very enjoyable and somewhat addictive.

We also love the fact that you can house sit almost anywhere in the world…….as we have done over a period of three plus years.

Beginning right here in our local area then across the globe to the UK and also to countries where English is not the native spoken language.

Caring for pets is such a heart warming and rewarding lifestyle. We find that every animal (well maybe not the tortoises and hens) we have looked after so far have taken to us immediately and bonded with us as trusted carers. Even when home owners tell us their cat is shy and won’t sit on our knee we often find that they do.

House sitting means regularly meeting new people and most often making new friends which is also something we love. As well as meeting new home owners, we also meet other dog walkers while we are out walking the dog(s) and then there’s the local cafe (or pub) staff, supermarket staff and even people at the bus stop or train station. People who were total strangers at the beginning of a conversation have even given us their contact details and invited us to stay in their home should we pass by their way.

One evening as we were traveling towards our next destination we saw a gorgeous country pub with a grand array of beautiful hanging baskets lit up in the rapidly looming darkness. Peter quickly turned around and stopped to take some photos.

While Peter was taking photos I got talking to a man standing outside the pub who just happened to be the pub owner – next minute we were inside clinking our glasses with a free drink on the house surrounded by a few of the locals which made for an interesting end to our day.

Last and by no means least is the fact that we love house sitting because it is a very cost effective way to travel when you are an animal lover. Free accommodation in return for pet and house care duties is a win/win situation of everyone.

What we Don’t Love…….

Naturally there is often a downside to most aspects in life and although we do love house sitting there are a few negative points to note.

One of the hardest things for us both (even harder for Pete than me) is the fact that we very quickly become attached to each pet we are caring for so when it comes time to leave and say goodbye…….we really don’t want to say goodbye and we honestly do miss the pets we have cared for so the tears flow as we say our farewells and travel off into the distance to our next house sit.

It is not just the pets who we feel sad to be leaving. People who we’ve just met and have only had a brief chance to get to know often leave us with a longing of wishing we could have spent more time together.

Moving on means sorting, rearranging and packing bags…….AGAIN!! This isn’t my favourite task; in fact I (Liz) have tetchy days for the last two days of a house sit. Having to pack and clean does bring about a few tears at times depending on the exact timetable. Once we bought our own car it became easier in some ways but that also meant we ended up accumulating a lot of extra ‘stuff’ which made packing take even longer.

Living life on the run, which is exactly what we do, can get a bit lonely for Liz. This is not so for Pete as with a dog at his side he is in his element of man with companion! When we don’t have dogs to look after Peter doesn’t feel isolated as long as he can get out in the fresh air and walk a mile or ten.

Out walking one day – Slaggyford, Northumberland

On the other hand Liz is very community focused so always being on the move means that Liz feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere and there’s not usually enough time to join a local club or group. As much as social media can connect you with friends and family far and wide it does not fill the void of a sense of belonging!

As we are now in to our fourth year house sitting we are learning new ways to minimise the negative effects and finding ways to belong in an ever changing community.

No-one ever said life would be perfect so, like with all things, we take the good with the bad and make the most of everyday while we can.

February 2020

Posted on February 20, 2020March 1, 2020 by ezypzy5bg

February 2020 finds us house sitting in a rural location, Ararimu (meaning Rimu Tree Path), about 15 minutes drive from Pukekohe, minding Miss Muffet the cat, keeping our eye on nine young beef stock and helping take care of extensive gardens and lawns. This location is ideal for Peter getting to work (and tennis!) and also convenient for visiting family and grandson minding days.

Miss Muffet after a hard night chasing rabbits…

Summer has been hot and very dry so we are in the midst of a drought season right now taking care to conserve every drop of water that we can and praying for rain to fill the water tanks. It sure reminds us how much we take for granted our usual town water supply.

February is a celebratory month for our family with our grandson Lewis turning two and both Peter and I also having birthdays. Not that we want to be reminded of our ever increasing age…….

A highlight this month was the arrival of dear friends from England, Ann & Charlie, who spent almost a week staying nearby at a superb AirBnB called The West Wing in Drury. The weather was great so we were out and about exploring the scenery, paddling in the surf, feasting on fish n’ chips at Mission Bay, and enjoying each others company.

Following straight on from one lot of visitors to a day spent with long time friends Ian & Petrina who came to Auckland from Nelson for a long weekend. It’s great when you get to hang out with people who you haven’t seen for a very long time and you pick up where you left off as if no time has passed from one meeting to the next. These really are the best friendships.

With rolling hills, masses of trees around, loads of space between houses, peaceful sounds of nature and gorgeous star-lit skies at night (especially since we haven’t had much rain for a long time!) we are thoroughly enjoying our new (temporary) home.

January 2020

Posted on January 20, 2020February 2, 2020 by ezypzy5bg

January 2020 finds us happily housesitting south of Auckland in Pukekohe, which was our home town for 16 years before we started our nomadic housesitting lifestyle.

Whether at home or abroad we thoroughly enjoy housesitting so beginning 2020 minding young Kas (Kassie) the fun loving Jack Russell Terrier & Mochi the purry cat is a great way to start our year.

Happy New Year from Pukekohe, New Zealand

With our family and friends nearby we are also making the most of catching up while enjoying meals with friends, coffee dates (Liz) and time on the tennis court (Pete) when we’re not dog walking or taking care of house sitting duties.

Peter has also stepped back in to work at his old workplace (Franklins) in a part-time role (that’s not always so part-time…) to help out for six months, which suits them and us perfectly – it keeps Pete out of trouble and helps the cash flow for our next stint in the UK.

I am making the most of granny days while we are staying near our family. Our grandson adores playing with Kas and cuddling Mochi on the days he comes to hang out with Gran.

And after a pretty average December it seems like finally the weather is beginning to settle in to hot sunny days just like summer in NZ is meant to be…..

Rooseville Park – favourite walking spot, especially when the weather is so hot!

Wales, Scotland & Belgium

Posted on October 31, 2019May 7, 2021 by ezypzy5bg

October 2016 Prestatyn, North Wales

After four and a half months house sitting in North Yorkshire we were sad to leave and yet we were equally eager and excited to be heading to Wales to begin our next house sit. As we had two nights gap between leaving Pateley Bridge and arriving in Prestatyn, North Wales, we spent two nights in Chester on our way.

These were still early days of traveling for us so everywhere we went was via public transport. This meant we had to be super organised, pack efficiently and resist all temptations to buy ‘stuff’ in order to keep our travel gear to a manageable amount.

Traveling by train was quick, efficient and allowed us the opportunity to see the countryside as we went along. As we drew closer to the west coast of Wales, not too far from our destination of Prestatyn, we were astounded at the massive line-up of static caravans and caravan parks side by side along the coastline. Little did we realise that this first sight was only just the beginning of miles & miles & rows & rows of statics and caravan parks in this area!

We were staying only a ten minute drive from the beach with Timmy the dog (we felt a bit like Famous Five characters!) and Guinness the (black) cat. Timmy’s favourite walking spot was down on the beach so the home owners wanted us to use their car to take Timmy out walking each day. Oh what a hardship……beach walking in the morning and evening every day for two weeks. With Timmy’s eyes always on the ball to chase and retrieve (following his natural instincts as a Collie x Lurcher) we could wander and throw the ball for as long as we wanted and he never seemed to tire.

Having the use of a car we were told to go and explore some well known spots nearby. Betws-y-Coed lies in the Snowdonia National Park area so we were very keen to go there. We took Timmy along with us and we all enjoyed a great day out with gorgeous autumn colours in the trees, interesting craft shops, cafes, a miniature railway, and bush walks along the stream. Walking around the village with Timmy on a lead wasn’t the easiest (he is definitely a “chase the ball on the beach” sort of dog…) but absolutely worth the effort.

Llandudno (we had fun trying to pronounce this one!) is a very popular beach destination with quite a sizable shopping centre, long expansive stony beach, walking tracks around the limestone headland and of course a Pier with flashy stalls and amusement arcades and plenty of seagulls to steal your ice cream (cone and all!) right out of your hand if you are not guarding it – this is truly what we saw happen…….just as well it wasn’t our ice-cream!! Or our hot chips!

Conwy Castle was about a thirty minute drive away and definitely no place for dogs so after our morning beach walk we left Timmy resting while we went exploring the castle. Wow, so much history and actually all very interesting unlike being at school struggling to understand such information (for Liz that is!). To be standing on castle walls and climbing up inside towers that were built in the 1200’s by King Edward the 1st was amazing and it helped us understand how these structures are still standing when we saw the sheer width of each wall.

Conwy is very much a fishing village within the city walls which join the castle. With narrow streets, quaint shops, cafes and bakeries (with the best ever vanilla slice!!). Time your visit to coincide with the Conwy Food Festival and you won’t regret it!

Although it was not peak holiday season there were plenty of tourists around, especially queuing to view the smallest house in Britain . A great place to experience Welsh life and definitely a place we would love to visit again.

October 2017 Coupar Angus, Scotland

A stunning part of the UK to be house sitting in Autumn. Staying away out in the farmlands of Perthshire where acres of potatoes are grown we felt very much at home being that we come from Pukekohe where some of New Zealand’s best potatoes are grown.

Puss, the cat, was our sole house mate and he spent most of his day sleeping or sitting at the window watching the world go by with a bit of mice hunting thrown in just to show us how clever he was.

The home owners made it very clear to us that we could and should go off exploring as much as possible during the day as Puss clearly didn’t need us between feed times. With Scotland being renowned for rainy days we were keen to get up and get going on the first fine day. As it turned out we had brilliant weather and not much rain at all in the month we were there so we visited many places.

I (Liz) like to see the cities, towns and villages whereas Peter always prefers to go-bush though we do combine our interests well. We had time to visit Perth, Dundee, the Fife coast, and even went as far north as Aberdeen. It really was the smaller villages that we both found more appealing in this area.

Blairgowrie, Dunkeld, Anstruther & Pitlochry were favourite spots.

Locals are always keen to suggest places to visit and we were pleased to be told about Drummond Castle Gardens. These are spectacular formal gardens near the house (castle) that also lead on to acres of fenced bush area where we saw our first ever red squirrels in the wild collecting nuts for their winter feed. They really are the cutest little animals and it is so sad that they are such an endangered species in the UK.

Buchanty Spout was also recommended to us as a good place for viewing salmon leaping. Autumn is the season when the salmon swim upstream to reproduce. There were no sign posts anywhere and not much of a parking spot. A short walk through the bush and down onto the rocks beside the river and there we waited along with a guy who had his camera set up on a tripod watching and waiting.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the first salmon leap up out of the water reaching towards the top of the waterfall. I did feel sorry for the ones that had to try and try again many times before they finally made it! The trees all around were beautiful colours and the river flowed quickly with several gentle falls so it was a fascinating place to be and so fascinating to watch salmon en route to their home waters upstream.

On our way driving out to Queens View, which is not far from Pitlochry, we crossed over the Garry Bridge

and saw crowds of people standing on the bridge taking photos. This was not surprising as the autumn colours were absolutely stunning along the river bank which meant the bridge was an excellent platform for taking photos from…..naturally we also joined the crowds and also took some photos…

Queens view is aptly named after Queen Isabella, the 14th century wife of Robert the Bruce who used this spot as a resting place on her travels and is also where Queen Victoria visited once during the year of 1866. Queens View is near the end of Loch Tummel with fantastic views looking westward down the Loch.

This is only a taste of things we have seen and places we have been in this area and it is another place we would happily go back to in a heartbeat.

October 2018 Brussels, Belgium

The beauty of basing ourselves in the UK house sitting is the close proximity to many other countries. There were several countries where we were keen to house sit and Belgium was one of them. When a potential house sit came up in Brussels we quickly applied and excitedly accepted the invitation to house sit there.

Manchester was the nearest airport to fly from and we landed at Charleroi airport, which is about an hour drive from Brussels city centre. We missed the first city bus due to not having the correct boarding pass, so it was a bit stressful getting things sorted in time for the next and last bus for the night. Not speaking the language and not understanding much of what anyone else was telling us didn’t help the stress levels! Very soon we were rolling along the highway in comfy seats surrounded by many other foreign travelers all heading to Brussels city.

As we arrived in Brussels the night before our house sit began and we didn’t have to be at our house sit until later in the day we had a few hours to mosey around the streets in central Brussels.

With constant aromas of hot waffles and fresh Belgian chocolate wafting all around us we kept the pace up to avoid temptation and rather savor that experience for another more relaxing day which in the end didn’t actually happen as I got sick.

Grand Place (Grote Markt) is right in the heart of Brussels and is where the tourists head so it is always a buzzy part of town. Grand being an appropriate name with such opulent buildings (most with gold trim) surrounding the town square. An excellent place to sit ‘people watching’ for a while sipping coffee (both of us) or a Belgian beer (just Pete) from one of the nearby cafes.

Our house sit was two tram lines from Gare du Midi which we navigated easily and is something that I (Liz) particularly enjoy…..trams, buses and train rides. I think it’s the challenge of hoping we get on and off at the right stop that floats my boat (or should that be “spins my wheels”?).

With a gorgeous young golden haired poodle at our side we enjoyed many walks around local streets, through various parks as well as tram rides further afield all with our happy and very excitable Marlowe in tow. It was autumn time of year so walks in the parks and through the woods were particularly pretty.

One highlight of our time in Brussels was the Helmet weekly market held just 4 houses away from where we were staying. Every Monday from 8am – 1pm people flocked to the market. We were amazed at how many people came and it didn’t take long for us to join the crowd buying good quality fresh produce and nosing around the variety of stalls looking for bargains.

Our time in Brussels was fairly quiet and relaxing due to the fact that, unfortunately, I (Liz) was not feeling the best with a head cold. While Liz was recuperating Pete “persuaded” Marlowe to explore the Foret de Soignes, an 11000 acre beech and oak forest in south-east Brussels which is reached by travelling on a historic tram.

An (almost) warm autumn day, an eager young poodle, a forest filled with autumn colours all made for a great day out exploring. Brussels, yet another place on our “gotta go back” list.

Bolton Abbey, Kent & Scotland

Posted on September 20, 2019May 7, 2021 by ezypzy5bg

September 2016 – Bolton Abbey, North Yorkshire

Bolton Abbey – Built 12th Century, Destroyed 15th Century

Although Liz was working during our first summer in Pateley Bridge her hours were not full time so we were able to get out and about on her days off to explore the surrounding countryside, taking Tess along for the ride.

Liz’ boss, at The Pancake House, was super generous and insisted that we use her car to visit places further afield that we couldn’t get to on foot or by bus. One of our favourite outings was the visit to Bolton Abbey Estate which includes Bolton Priory.

Our first glorious view of Bolton Priory was from a gorgeous little tea shop not far from where we parked. We were served the best ever Devonshire Tea (coffee, scones and clotted cream). Liz, being an avid scone maker, is always on the lookout for the best scones and these ones definitely measured up! Pete, being no expert, “reluctantly” agreed to help in the taste testing…

Bolton Abbey Estate is nestled in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales on the banks of the River Wharfe with 30,000 acres of beautiful countryside and over 80 miles of footpaths. Amazingly the nave part of the Priory is actually intact and still in use today, so we were able to go inside and look around. It looked particularly stunning on the day we were there as it was set up ready for a wedding the following day. With flowers and decorations in place it made the church look even more beautiful. The rest of the Priory, which is still attached to the church part, is an impressive ruin.

Even after hearing people talk about abbeys and seeing photos it is not until you are actually standing right there that you realise the sheer massiveness of these structures. The mind boggles at how people built these incredibly huge buildings so long ago.

Another very famous part of Bolton Abbey are the 60 stepping stones that were the crossing point for the lay workers at the Priory – if you are not keen on the stepping stones

you can use the bridge to cross safely to the other side to access the many walking tracks. We took the fun path across the stepping stones!

Peter was keen to visit Strid Wood, upriver from the Priory.

The Strid, which is a natural wonder, is where the river suddenly narrows from over 10 metres wide to less than 2 metres, forcing water through at great pressure. A very beautiful but deceptively dangerous spot that has claimed a number of lives. People think it will be easy to jump across the river from one side to the other not realising how slippery the rocks are, how fast the river is flowing and how deep the caverns are below. There are no second chances. In this particular part of the woods, down by the river, it almost felt like we were at home in New Zealand with crystal clear flowing rivers, mossy rocks and huge trees around us. And just in case you’re wondering, no Peter wasn’t allowed to jump the Strid!

River Wharfe looking south to Bolton Abbey

September 2017 Kent -Three Chimneys

As we were driving towards our next house sit near Biddenden, in the county of Kent, we noticed quite a different style of houses. Having just come from Yorkshire where many of the houses are made using stone, here we were seeing many weatherboard clad houses as well as the unusual brick Oast houses.

An Oast House, more commonly called a Hop Kiln outside of south-east England, was specially designed for drying hops which were widely grown in Kent in the early years.

Many Oast houses have now been renovated into an everyday home and can be seen dotted around the countryside. The chimney is its most prominent and unusual feature.

Coming from the Nelson region of New Zealand I (Liz) found this aspect of Kent being a major hop growing area very interesting as I remember my grandma Barrow picking hops in the Brooklyn Valley area when I was a young girl. It was also very interesting for me to explore this area as my Barrow ancestors actually originated from Maidstone, Kent, in the 1840’s

The beautiful restored 17th century house that we were staying in, while minding two adorable Maine Coon cats, was located in a quiet rural hamlet with lots of space, gorgeous garden and a big pond where we saw a Kingfisher on several occasions.

Staying in this area and not having any dogs to look after meant that we were fairly free to travel in all directions during the daytime, though we definitely love to relax and enjoy our surroundings wherever we stay.

The nearest main shopping town was Tenterden, just a 15 minute drive away, where we were able to stock up on groceries and mooch around the village shops. Tenterden has an great range of eating places (as we find in most towns/villages), quirky shops and many excellent quality antique shops which were interesting to look around.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden was only a few minutes drive from where we were staying so we were keen to visit this famous garden site, created by writer Vita Sackville-West. Our English friends, Colin and Linda, who we met in New Zealand while they were living here for a time, came to spend a day with us. Together we wandered around Sissinghurst Gardens and through the historic buildings along with many other visitors. The grounds and gardens are very extensive with 180 acres of woodland plus a wetland board walk, an apple orchard, cottage garden, herb gardens and so much more. Plenty of room for everyone to relax and enjoy the beauty of it all.

Liz’s trip to London – while staying in Kent we were within easy commuting distance to central London so I (Liz) was keen for a day out on my own, traveling in to London by train, do a wee spot of shopping and go to a live show. Only just over an hour on the train, time to wander the streets before settling in to my comfy Dress Circle seat, I had a most entertaining and memorable day out.

I chose to go to the live show Le Miserables as I absolutely loved reading the book several years ago and the live show was even more enjoyable than I had imagined it would be. Before catching the train back home I even had time to met up with a friend in Leicester Square for a snack and a good ‘ol chin wag’

September 2018 scottish Ramblings

Peter and I are both very fond of Scotland so we are always on the look out for house sits in Scotland that will fit our into our schedule. We were very fortunate to secure a short house sit in Inverness and even better was the fact that we were flexible with our dates which left us with days either side of the house sit for us to leisurely make our way up and back following a loop circuit taking us to places we hadn’t been before.

Traveling from South Shields, through Gretna Green, out to the west coast of Scotland where we stayed at Girvan before heading inland to Tyndrum (Loch Lomond), north-west to Glengarry, up to Inverness (housesit) then back down through the Cairngorms via Struan/Pitlochry on our way back to South Shields.

With plenty of time to travel we were able to stop often and really explore our surroundings……

A crisp, clear early morning walk around the wharf at Girvan.

Wandering along the shores of Loch Lomond on a misty morning with only the sounds of water lapping on the shore and birds singing in the trees.

Scrambling over the rocks at the well known water falls of Dochart at Killen. Funnily enough we spotted some sun umbrellas outside a cafe in Killen advertising Old Mout Cider which is brewed in our own home region of the Moutere, Nelson, New Zealand.

Mooching around the small settlement at Glencoe which is on the shores of Loch Leven, over the bridge at the end of the village, a visit to the MacDonald massacre memorial, along the river and up through the beautiful lush green woods.

Searching for a car park……any car park (somewhere please!) and joining crowds of people who were gathering to wait and watch the next steam train crossing the Glenfinnan viaduct (Hogwarts Express for the Harry Potter fans).

Listening to the beautiful sound of the bagpipes being played outside Eilean Donan Castle along with crowds of bus tour folk.

Retracing steps of soldiers who fought at the Battlefield of Culloden

Fun times walking/running and playing in the sand on the beaches at Dornach, Nairn and Lossiemouth with our gorgeous girl Isla during our house sit days.

Watching salmon leaping up through fast flowing rapids at Falls of Shin – and we think life is tough!!

Surprised eyes seeing a gorgeous golden sand beach on the shores of Loch Morlich which is located 300 meters above sea level in the Caingorms National park.

To finish our Scotland tour, an inside shopping day for Liz at The House of Bruar shopping centre – Scotland’s answer to Harrods, along with upmarket outlet shops. Meanwhile Peter climbed his little heart out to the top of a misty Schiehallion fulfilling a dream of hiking in the Scottish Highlands & “knocked off his first munro” (google it…) in the process.

Schiehallion Conquered in the mist

Sailing on Loch Oich

Loch Kinardochy

Buachaille Etive Mor in Scotch Mist

Cambridge

Posted on August 30, 2019February 2, 2020 by ezypzy5bg

2018 – July/August

Cambridge

After a winter that has brought more than its fair share of wild, wet and windy weather here in New Zealand it feels very fitting to spend time remembering and writing a little more about our glorious summer outings in Cambridgeshire England at a similar time of year during 2018.

Wimpole Estate

I (Liz) was particularly keen to visit Wimpole Hall. One reason being that the most recent person to live in the house was Elsie Bambridge who was Rudyard Kipling’s (famous author) daughter.

The library at Wimpole Hall is home to one of the largest (with over 6,000 books) and most varied libraries belonging to the National Trust which also includes Rudyard’s Kipling’s collection. There seems to be an extra element of interest in visiting a place that has a personal connection in someway to me. The Jungle Book, written by Rudyard Kipling, was certainly an enjoyable part of my childhood story times.

The colour and detail in the design and decoration of each room at Wimpole Hall is stunning. Then to go down to the lower level where the servants lived and worked is equally as fascinating, especially to see the ‘bell’ system which alert servants to their masters requests. Quite a different world to anything Peter and I have ever seen before.

Not only is Wimpole Hall massive and magnificent the grounds and gardens are very extensive and beautiful too so we made a point of going there on more than one occasion to wander through the woodland and garden areas. From almost every angle of the estate grounds there are great views looking towards the stately home. You can certainly while away countless hours here as we did.

Anglesey Abbey

Anglesey Abbey and Lodge Mill was another place we thoroughly enjoyed as we wandered along the canal and through the gardens with grand displays of Dahlias and Roses.

As you step through the door at Anglesey Abbey (which isn’t really an Abbey at all) you feel as if you have stepped back in time to the year of 1938 when Lord Fairhaven was in residence there. Everything is laid out just as it was while he was living there. With a grand library and upper gallery displaying much of Lord Fairhaven’s array of fine clothing, it really brings to life what it was like living in a different era. The most interesting room within the Abbey is the dining room with its vaulted ceiling.

It was very interesting to climb up inside to the top level of the mill and see first hand how everything works. Lode Mill dates back as far as 1086 and although the current building is not original, it is still very old. After a full restoration of the waterwheel the mill is in working order producing freshly ground flour that is sold onsite.

newmarket

One highlight of our time spent in Cambridgeshire was our visit to Newmarket, the heart of England’s horse racing country. We had a personally guided tour by a very good friend of ours, who was brought up in Newmarket and was closely associated with the horse training industry as her father worked for a local trainer years ago.

We drove past many prestigious trainers’ estates, stopped at the gallops to see horses in training (which we find rather fascinating), and visited racecourses, all the while hearing stories of growing up in Newmarket. It was a perfect way for us to see and learn about an area that we were both keen to visit. Once again, Dick Francis comes to life!

duxford – Pete & Planes

Imperial War Museum Duxford – Planes, planes & more planes. Pete on his own – a boys day out. The airfield that was home to the first RAF squadron to fly the Spitfire now houses a huge display of mainly military aircraft spread across a number of hangars. Boyhood dreams were realised as I walked through a Concorde in the AirSpace hangar and drooled over Spitfires & Hurricanes in the Battle of Britain display.

As I walked toward the American hangar there was an airworthy B17 Flying Fortress on the Tarmac. Inside the hangar was a B29 Superfortress, a B52 Stratofortress (it’s massive!), an SR71 Blackbird, a P51 Mustang, etc etc etc. I don’t have the words to do justice to how it felt standing beside aircraft that for a boy who grew up in the 70’s are the stuff of legend. Funny thing too – also inside the American hangar amongst the crowd of visitors was a total stranger who talked to me, in a Kiwi accent, who was ex-RNZAF and who used to work with Air Force guys I know. What were the chances? It’s a small world…

And the final hangar I visited, the Land Battle display with its tanks and armoured cars, brought home the reality of a World War. A sobering finale that emphasised the ugliness of war & the very real human cost of conflict.

Wow, what a day! I walked out the gate right on closing time (or maybe just after) knowing that one day wasn’t enough to see it all. Knowing too that somehow I have to find a way to come back on a day when the Spitfires take to the skies!

And Other Places…

Bury St Edmonds and Peterborough were two other towns we spent time mooching around. Most places we visit have old buildings, castles, an abbey or cathedral and beautiful gardens that interest us as much as ambling along cobbled streets and around town squares where the shops and market stalls are found. Each town has something different to see and do. Our visit to Peterborough coincided with a celebration of 900 years of Peterborough Cathedral & an amazing display of British astronaut Tim Peake’s Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

Many towns and villages have market stalls on certain days of the week so we do try to visit a town on a market day when we can. Bury St Edmunds being a prime example. With mountains of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish and baked goods plus a myriad of crafts and just about anything else you can imagine makes market day mooching an event to look forward to at any time.

Peterborough Cathedral celebrates 900 Years

Tim Peake’s Soyuz Spacecraft at Peterborough

North Yorkshire & Cambridgeshire

Posted on August 20, 2019May 10, 2021 by ezypzy5bg

August 2016 Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire

Our willing & able staff… The Pancake House

House Sitting in Pateley Bridge for four and a half months gave us plenty of time to integrate into the local community, especially once Liz began working at The Pancake House. Soon after arriving in Pateley Bridge we did the usual rounds to check out the local cafes to see if we could find ourselves a decent cup of coffee (which is not as easy as in NZ). The Pateley Pancake House is on the corner of High Street, at the bottom end of town, in a lovely sunny spot. As we stepped through the front door we were greeted with a very cherry welcome and found ourselves a cosy table for two near the front window. The atmosphere, presentation of food and the customer service was excellent though the coffee wasn’t as good as we serve up in NZ (sorry Jane)! Liz instantly fell in love with the place so a few days later, when we were passing by, Liz popped in to ask if they would need extra staff over the busy summer season.

I am sure you know what it’s like when ‘they’ say give me your phone number and we’ll let you know if anything comes along. You are pretty sure that means you will never hear from ‘them’ at all. Well, you know what, just two days later Liz got a call asking if she could start work the next day as the owner had to urgently go out of town. Not only was Liz going to a new job the boss wasn’t even going to be there. New job, new people, new routines that fit like a glove. A very busy, fun filled and satisfying summer job which has also led to amazing lifelong friendships.

This wasn’t just a new routine for Liz. It was the beginning of Peter’s upskilling in home management duties of cooking, washing and cleaning along with lawn mowing and walking the dog which of course he already knew how to do. It was pretty much a role reversal from our known NZ life which we both embraced enthusiastically.

August 2017 Risplith, North Yorkshire

Walking with Tess the Yorkie the first year was a superb way to explore the countryside. Tess was almost always on lead and quite content to trot along in front of me for an hour or three, at a decent pace. Good for 9-10 miles her owners had said, & they were right. Those little legs just kept going. The Gouthwaite Reservoir loop, around Brimham Rocks, across heather-covered moors. If I stopped too long anywhere for a photo (or to catch my breath…) she soon gently let me know it was time we were moving again. This year with two Labs to walk it was a different ballgame. Just as much fun, but in a different way.

As Ash & Cassie were used to running off lead they moved at a rather faster pace than me… Result being that the best places to go with them were woods with few other people or dogs, lots of room to roam, and the scent of rabbits, deer etc to get them going. Fortunately there are plenty of those places around Ripon. One favourite spot was Hackfall Woods, a gorgeous woodland with its follies and waterfalls on the banks of the River Ure near Grewelthorpe. The river provided a cooling off spot (Labs + water = wet dogs!) and on one visit Ash decided that she was going to swim over to the fly fisherman on the far bank – fortunately discretion won the day & she turned back. Things didn’t always go to plan on our walks though.

On a visit to another local woodland, which shall remain nameless, there were large numbers of pheasants (early August, just before shooting season). Unfortunately one of the pheasants wasn’t quite quick enough & Cassie proudly brought me a present. (ooops, sorry Mr Gamekeeper…). Walking in the great outdoors of the Dales was something I had always looked forward to doing, and to do it with such great companions as Tess, Ash & Cassie brought that dream alive. There’s more places still to walk – I want to go back!

August 2018 – Toft, Cambridgeshire

Our early morning, or in the cool of the evening, walks around the village and through the nearby fields in Toft are very pleasant. It almost feels as if time is standing still as we amble along keeping pace with Hershey who is not in any hurry whatsoever. During the heat of the day we happily relax under the shade of the large trees in the backyard and feast on the fast ripening delicious figs (well, maybe not Pete but Liz does for sure!)

House sitting duties always take precedence over sightseeing when planning our days. We are careful to work out suitable time slots to go off exploring the local area. With it being so hot it wasn’t suitable to take Hershey on outings with us as we so often do which was a pity.

Every place where we stay has a myriad of things to do and places to visit so Peter spends our downtime, which is usually in the evenings, researching what will be of the most interest to us. A house sitting life doesn’t lend itself to frequent paid outings unless you have a job on the side with a regular income (which we don’t), so we look for low cost or no cost things to do as often as possible.

We are members of Heritage New Zealand which is recognised and accepted in the same way as National Trust and English Heritage cards are in England. National Trust and English Heritage sites are renowned for their fabulously restored buildings and immaculately kept gardens and grounds so while in Toft we visited Anglesey Abbey, Wimpole Hall and Audley End. Our visit to Audley End was particularly interesting and enjoyable as it was on a “Bringing Audley End To Life” day where you step back in time to experience a day in and around the grounds as it was in the 17th century. It was a fabulous day as we wandered through the magnificent big old house watching cooks baking and preparing food and chatting with stable hands while they worked with horses in the yard. It was great to see crowds of local folk and tourists supporting and thoroughly enjoying this well run annual summer event.

Speaking of locals getting out and enjoying the countryside……we joined a long line of cafe going, picnicking bunch of people at ‘The Orchard Tea Garden’ in Grantchester. We had been told of its popularity so really weren’t surprised at having to search high and low for a spare seat to sit in the shade while we ate our very rapidly melting ice-cream.

While in Grantchester we had time for a walk along the banks of the river Cam where we came across a popular swimming spot and local punting tours coming and going along the river with their passengers. Everyone lapping up the perfect summer weather.

Liz was very interested to learn that Grantchester is home to author Jeffrey Archer (one of her favourite authors), Rupert Brooke an English poet and David Gilmour (Pink Floyd). It was also the inspiration behind Roger Waters’ (Pink Floyd) song called Grantchester Meadows and David Gilmour’s song Fat old Son.

EzyPzy 3,2,1 (3 Years, 2 Years, 1 Year Ago)

Posted on August 7, 2019October 14, 2019 by ezypzy5bg

August 2016 – Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire

Guise Cliff looking toward Pateley Bridge

The first week of August 2016 finds us in the most picturesque Yorkshire Dales village called Pateley Bridge. Securing our first medium term house sit with Trustedhousesitters before we left home lead us to this magical place. It couldn’t have been a better introduction to living in England. A 17th century old vicarage stone house with a delightful and very energetic Yorkshire terrier (what else?) to care for, along with George the rooster and his 4 ladies who supplied us with fresh eggs every day, was a warm welcome to house sitting in Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire Dales is well renowned for its stunning scenery and hiking trails so Pateley Bridge is a very popular summer holiday destination. The somewhat sleepy winter village suddenly transforms into a buzzing hive of industry with the local cafes, hotels and B&Bs filled to overflowing. Mobile ice-cream carts can be found almost anywhere there is a crowd of people gathered.

On Sunday afternoons during summer the Pateley Bridge bandstand also comes alive with free entertainment from surrounding village bands. While people play bowls, basketball, walk along the banks of the river Nidd or visit The Oldest Sweet Shop in England you can hear the echo of music resound through the village. It sure didn’t take long to feel right at home here though we often had trouble trying to understand the local Yorkshire accent. And eeh by gum, they also had trouble understanding ours…

As we didn’t own a car we did a lot of walking, which is of course the best way to explore any new place. We didn’t keep a log of how many miles (not km’s as in NZ) we walked but oh how we wish we did. Peter and the Yorkie clocked up many miles up hill and down dale, with one of their favourite walks being up to Yorke’s Folly and along the bluffs for spectacular views back to Pateley Bridge and Gouthwaite Reservoir.

August 2017 – Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire

Fast forward to the exact same time the following year and here we are again back in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. The primary reason for our return was so that Liz could rejoin the team working at The Pancake House. With such a swell in numbers of people visiting and holidaying in the area, cafes in particular need extra staff. This of course suited us (Liz) perfectly as she thrives on people contact, has excellent service industry skills and had an absolute blast the previous summer season. That’s a whole story of its own……..for another day.

We had several moves in a short time while back in North Yorkshire. From staying with friends near Ripon to holiday accommodation in the village of Middleham then on to house sitting with two enthusiastic labradors in Risplith and back to staying with our friends in Ripon again.

Middleham is the heart of North Yorkshire’s horse breeding/training country which we found very fascinating. With Johnston Racing stables (“Britain’s winningest trainer”) next door to where we were staying we saw first hand the morning (6am start) routine of Jockeys and trainers riding horses up through the cobbled main street to the gallops for their daily run. Brilliant – Dick Francis books became more than just words on a page for us.

This year we had the advantage of a car (an el-cheapo £550 Ford Focus) to get around after our first year of traveling solely by public transport, which meant we could explore North Yorkshire in a lot more detail and go deeper in to faraway places. We saw enough of the Dales to know that however many times we go back there’ll always be more to explore!

August 2018 – Toft, Cambridgeshire

Hershey, our fave Choc Lab flat out in the heat…

This was our second visit to Toft, a village of only a few hundred people just west of Cambridge. Our first visit was a very brief three day house sit so we were thrilled to be invited back to look after our favourite chocolate Labrador for a second time, especially for three weeks during the summer. With an absolutely fantastic English summer (in fact too hot for walking the dog believe it or not) and a vegetable garden producing copious quantities of delicious vegetables for us to help ourselves to (and keep well watered) we lapped up an English summer as good as any in NZ.

Cambridgeshire has very significant connections to us personally. Firstly, Peter’s grandfather, Frank Collin was born in Chesterton, Cambridge and at the age of 17 he moved to New Zealand to live. It was also from the farm lands of Cambridgeshire that Peter’s ancestors on his grandmother’s side (the Adams family…) originated from before coming to live in New Zealand. With some info from cousins and helped by google we spent several days searching out villages like Hatley St George and Graveley, places we knew Peter’s ancestors had called home, and also hunting out family grave sites in their churchyards. We both felt quite emotional knowing that we were walking the ground our ancestors once trod.

One very interesting thing that we noticed while traveling in and around Cambridgeshire was that the lie of the land felt to us very much like Canterbury, with the fields golden with wheat. It is no wonder that T W Adams (a Canterbury pioneer) and Papa Collin felt so at home on the Canterbury plains in New Zealand.

Oh so much more to write about – so check in here again soon and also keep an eye on our Photo Gallery, Facebook and Instagram pages @ Ezypzy Life