One of the things I love most of all the is the discovery of new locations, new historic places and fun things to do. In an old fashioned sense it is travel, living in a new location and latterly doing all that on a budget by housesitting UK.
While I live in the UK it may seem like a busman’s holiday but I have been amazed by all kinds of places discovered while walking the pet owners’ dogs, chasing after indoor cats escaped in a traditional English village and meeting some fabulous people along the way.
This year I completed a number of dogsitting assignments across the country, from up in the North East of England, down to the West Country in Gloucestershire, in the South East to Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to name a few.
I also enjoyed a variety of cat sitting assignments in Nottinghamshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire for some very characterful felines. All this added to my fabulous experiences housesitting UK.
Fascinating discoveries in Gloucestershire while housesitting in UK
While I was housesitting UK in the charming town of Newent in Gloucestershire I tripped across a number of unexpected discoveries that made me take a side step. For example I met some surprising pets while out dog walking:
Surprising pets
Did you know that people still keep ferrets as pets and walk their pet ferrets on a leash in Gloucestershire? While walking Tilly my dogsitting charge in Newent, I met a lovely family with young children walking around the Lake. The youngest children took it in turns to hold the leash for their pet ferret who seemed quite content to be led on a walk!
Curious histories of famous characters through time
Did you know that Dick Whittington of pantomime fame and four times Mayor of London originated from a hamlet near Newent in Gloucestershire. While folklore describes him as a poor young orphan who walks to London in search of fame and fortune, he in fact came from a wealthy medieval merchant family. However, he did leave a charitable legacy that has lasted over 600 years that still helps people in need to this day, so time has looked kindly on his name and he is still as popular a historical figure as ever.
Pub names that evoke local history
Another fun thing to do I found while housesitting around the UK was to pick out and reflect the pub names in the various places I visited. Some pubs are naturally named with something suitable for their location — The Ship in Newtown Northumberland was in fact once a sailor’s hamlet.
The Ship Inn
The Tally Ho!
In deepest darkest Berkshire, where there are many studs and horse stables there is also a long history of riding and as the English like to call it ‘The Hunt’. No longer legal in the UK fox hunting was a sport in the country where riders and dogs would chase the local fox. ‘Tally ho!’ was the cry of the huntsmen as they charged in pursuit of the fox.
Rediscovering Ada Lovelace while cat sitting in Nottinghamshire
Another wonderful discovery this time while cat sitting in rural Nottinghamshire was a family home that had belonged to Byron’s family and his daughter Ada Lovelace.
My assignment for a couple of weeks was to care for four fabulously characterful Burmese cats in the charming village of Thrumpton. I cam across Thrumpton Hall while volunteering to walk a neighbours dogs in local parkland.
My experiences housesitting UK have given me enormous pleasure and offered me a new perspective on how to learn and discover every new location. Travel is an education and you just don’t have to go far to enjoy these new learnings.
By Lamia Walker
Founder of HouseSitMatch.com
