About this house sitting position in Sevenoaks Weald
We are Ian and Linda, we are both in our fifties and have lived in the beautiful and tranquil village of Sevenoaks Weald for nearly ten years. The village has a very rural feel and we live on a quiet road, about 200 yards from open country. There are endless walks and footpaths and we are a short distance from the Greensand Way, a country pathway from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent.
The village has around 1500 inhabitants and benefits from a beautiful church, also an award winning real ale pub, a fabulous traditional Italian restaurant, an excellent primary school, a community shop and cafe, most of which border our village green.
Our home is a lovely detached four bedroom house, with a large and secure garden. We share the house with my mother, who is 89 and in good health. She has her own annexe and is self sufficient. This works really well as she will let the dogs out if we are out and we help her out with small bits of maintenance, maybe changing a lightbulb, more often if she has challenges with her iPad! Although self sufficient, we tend to put our head around the door every morning, just to make sure all is well and would request that anyone housesitting will do the same.
For Betsy and Smudge, being Lab and Lab x, respectively, the most important times of their days are breakfast, around 9:00 a.m. and dinner at 5:00 p.m. You can set your watch by them and they will come and stare at you if nothing has appeared in their bowls by 5.30pm!
We like to walk them, once, before breakfast and again, mid afternoon. They are very fit for their age, but we tend to limit the walks to an hour at the most, otherwise Betsy, the elder, is quite stiff the following day. They are vaccinated, chipped and are well. They will walk off the lead and are friendly to other dogs. Betsy likes to forage, on walks, but will return, to the whistle. Smudgy will stay close, normally a pace behind you and will remind you that she is there, by gently nudging the back of your knee.
They are both very affectionate girls and enjoy nothing more than cuddles. Smudge also loves having a tennis ball thrown for her in the back garden, Betsy's mainly into food, cuddles and sleep! Read more...