Manchester, North West England

About this house sitting position in Manchester

We are a 30-something couple looking for responsible animal-lovers to look after our pets, home and garden whilst we are on holiday for 3 weeks very soon.

Our animals are our babies and we have a yellow labrador, Chip and a blue ragdoll, Rupert - who get on extremely well (it's very cute!). We want sitters who LOVE animals and will give them lots of attention and care as the animals do miss us whilst we are gone.

We are also looking for someone who will treat our house as their home. Our home is clean, tidy and relatively newly decorated to a high standard. You should be willing to keep the house tidy as best you can.
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The house is a beautifully renovated 16th-century cottage with lots of traditional features such as open fireplaces, exposed oak beams, exposed brickwork and solid wood doors. The house looks out onto a church, which has many visitors snapping photos because of it's history and charm.

The house is located in a conservation area of South Manchester with easy access to the M56, M6 and M60. It's 5 minutes drive from the popular areas of Didsbury and only 25 minutes to Manchester city centre. In walking distance is the green area of the mersey valley, with walking and cycling routes along the river. A 2 min walk gets you to a bus stop for the 43 (the airport-city centre/Piccadilly bus link). A 7-minute walk gets you to the main road and several more bus routes (41 (to North Manc), 43, 143 (to Piccadilly), 288 (East Didsbury)). The area is also served by Uber, which can get you into the city centre for £8-12.

One of the best features of our home is the basement, AKA the media room. It features 2 wall-mounted TVs, one of which is 4K, with 5.1 surround sound built into the ceiling. It runs off a PS4 pro from which you have access to Amazon Prime video, Netflix (UHD) and NowTV. It's our own home cinema and you are more than welcome to use it! We also have superfast broadband.
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Duties of the house-sitter:

1. Feeding, walking and giving attention to Chip and Rupert.

2. Watering hanging baskets and planters (there aren't many) and topping up bird-feeders. There are also some house plants which require very minimal attention.

3. Ensuring the home is secure and tidy.
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There are only really a couple of things to consider:

1. We do not like to leave our animals for too long at any one time. probably only 5 hours max. What we tend to do is take them with us. We could potentially give you access to the family car so you can pop the animals in there and take them with you. Our favourite spots include Formby beach and Delamere forest, as well as countless dog (and cat) friendly restaurants!

2. Since we have no garden, the dog does need walking 4 times a day. He has one short loo-break first thing, then a big hour-long walk at midday, another 30-60min walk at 5pm and a final loo-break before bed. If he is out all day at the beach or other activity, then he only needs that one walk and the 2 loo-breaks.

3. The cat is a house-cat and is not allowed outside without supervision. Thus, his litter tray needs emptying daily. The cat can stay at home on his own for longer than the dog, but he does like to go out on walks wherever possible (on his lead and supervised of course). Some dogs will try to chase him, so you much be careful and pick him up as soon as you see other dogs, but other than that he is better behaved on the lead than the dog! Read more...