![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aleta.life\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Jarno-pet-sitting.jpeg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThere comes a turning point in every parent\u2019s life when your children start teaching you things by example. For some parents that day becomes one of angst and hard resistance sets in. For others it is a day of joy. As a parent I knew a long time ago that all my children are smarter than me. Way smarter. My only offset was life experience into which my meagre abilities could be put in useful context and make me appear intelligent. As your kids mature, their experience soon matches yours and presto!, it\u2019s back to the school of life in your dotage. Some say it keeps you young. I like to think so.<\/p>\n
My daughter Emma and her fianc\u00e9e Jarno, committed digital nomads, quit their London flat and now live rent free thanks to an internet site called TrustedHousesitters<\/a>. The premise is you sign up as a caretaker for homeowners with pets who want to go away for a break. They leave their house and pets in your capable hands for anything from a few days to a few months. Mutual reviews keep both parties honest. The combination of caring for dogs and a shore-based home with a kitchen and running water proved so tempting that Carol and I signed up as soon as we learned about it.<\/p>\n It has proved an even better experience than we imagined it might be. Emma and Jarno\u2019s photos of handsome pups in exotic locations like Germany and Portugal were attractive, but off limits to us thanks to our expired visas. So, for the last six weeks we have confined our activities to England. The homeowners have been generous and their dogs friendly and well-behaved.<\/p>\n At our very first house sit in Hampshire the owners had left early for the airport. We picked up the key and were greeted by the barks of two large doodles* at the door. Their body language indicated curiosity rather than fear and on entry both calmed down with a good neck rub. A long walk and lots of cuddles later the dogs settled into our laps. The real entertainment, though, came from three kittens, each competing for the nutty award. Their wrestling antics and purring demands for attention kept us charmed to the point where Carol is (almost) sold on cats as pets.<\/p>\n Our second sit was for two aging dachshunds whose exercise range was limited to a few hundred yards a day. We would walk them to the end of the long driveway in the morning, far enough to settle them down. That gave us a chance to explore the countryside around Northamptonshire on foot.<\/p>\n If you enjoy hiking, then you can really appreciate the extensive network of public footpaths and bridleways in England. Well-marked and mapped, you are never far from a good walk. Crossing a wide field one day we met two men and a dog heading towards us. Naturally, I said to them as they passed us, \u201cAh, two men and their dog. Are you off to mow a meadow?\u201d They laughed and invited us to join them.<\/p>\n Carol looked at me askance, as though she had witnessed some secret exchange by the Illuminati. I explained it was a nursery rhyme<\/a> every English child learns. If I were a WWII German spy I guess it would be one of those things that I would want to know. After all, fluency with a language is not the same as facility with the culture.<\/p>\n After that we spent a few days in Cheltenham with an aging greyhound and a young whippet. Both dogs needed less exercise than their breed’s reputations might suggest, but that gave us the chance to explore yet another town I used to live in.<\/p>\nHants<\/h6>\n
Northants & Gloucs<\/h6>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t