Eday, Scotland

About this house sitting position in Eday

We are James & Dee, a young married family with two friendly sheep dogs and our first baby on the way. We have recently left life in a big city and moved to a smallholding on a remote island to achieve our dreams of living a more peaceful and self sufficient life.

We live in a 300 year old stone cottage on a 2.5 acre smallholding located on the very remote island of Eday in Orkney, Scotland. The island is surrounded by the North Sea so seals, dolphins, orcas and wild sea birds are a daily sight. It is tranquil, uniquely beautiful and completely rugged so it offers great walks, fishing spots, archaeology, bird watching and amazing coastline!

The baby is due to arrive at the end of September and we are planning to give birth on Orkney mainland, which means we will be leaving the smallholding for a couple of weeks from about mid September to start of October. We are looking for someone to look after our two lovely dogs and a small flock of chickens whilst we are away.

It would be great if we could find volunteers who are confident with dogs and who are looking for a peaceful and remote holiday experience. We will be here to meet you and help you settle in, but then move to Kirkwall and leave you to live in our cottage with all of our facilities and the food cupboards full, coal stocked up for the fireplace and a wine rack full of James's homebrew and a fridge full of beer! We will also leave enough dog food to last the duration and their treaty box filled up as well as full instructions of our usual routine. You will also be the first to meet our new baby when we arrive back home.

Eday has a small local island shop, a GP surgery, a daily ferry to the mainland Orkney and really friendly island folk who are always there to help.

The dogs are a great pack who lived together for 3 years, both are very well bonded, calm, friendly and well trained.
- Sam is a 5 year old girl - GSD x Border Collie - calm, confident, quiet, extremely friendly.
- Charlie is a 4 year old boy - Australian Kelpie x Border Collie - talkative and loves playing with his ball.

Please contact us for more information if you are interested! Read more...