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During October 2021 we managed to squeeze in one Airbnb and three great house sits. but before I tell you about where we were …

An Apology!

Thanks for checking in again to see what we have been up to during October. I’m really sorry for being so late getting this months blog out – once again technology has bitten me on the arse!

I actually sent this out a couple of weeks ago but when I pressed the ‘send’ button – it stayed.

After speaking to just about everybody I could think of to resolve the problem I have been told that my original October blog is stuck somewhere in the sky between me and you. As a plan ‘B’ I decided to pull the plug out, put the plug back in,re-do the whole thing and send it out again.

Hopefully, this second attempt will have reached you as planned – if you end up with two versions, now you know why!

So, here it is – What did October 2021 bring?

Like a phoenix!

Managing to confirm three great house sits and only having to book one short Airbnb in October came as quite a surprise to us this month.

The unexpected cancellation of our Brighton sit meant that as the end of September was drawing near, we still had no accommodation at all confirmed for October.

I started to look for last-minute housesitting opportunities knowing that we needed luck to be on our side. As it turned out it was, and more than we could ever have imagined!

I scoured the advertised opportunities and applied for a few house-sits that I thought would be a good fit for us, and give us a roof over our heads during October. Then crossed my fingers and waited.

Within a couple of days, we had received some positive responses and within a week, like a phoenix from the ashes, suddenly we found ourselves with three great house sits lined up for the month ahead!

Our Airbnb in Hackney, London

The first housesit, in Kent, did not start until October 8th so, before that, we decided to find an Airbnb in London. The Airbnb searches are Karyos department and he quickly found this little gem in Hackney, East London.

The apartment was lovely and had the added, unexpected bonus that it was situated on probably the most famous street in Hackney – ‘Broadway Market’

The clue is in the name with this place and the street, ‘Broadway Market’ is, well, a market. It has a long history dating back to 1000BC but nowadays is a bustling market street filled with the sounds, smells, and atmosphere of an array of traders all vying to sell their goods.

Nowadays, the market stalls and shops in the street are mainly hip and artisan. Lots of hand and homemade food, drink and a vast choice of products to tempt you to part with your hard-earned cash. We loved it here and would definitely stay again if in the area.

Authentic Airbnbs are the best!

The Airbnb itself was ‘old school’ and authentic to the original ethos of Airbnb – someone making a few quid out of their home when they were not there themselves.

These are the Airbnbs we like the most. As this apartment did, they often have some of the homeowners’ belongings scattered around. Photographs, books, clothes, and trinkets of places travelled. I always find myself looking for clues and putting together in my mind an image of the person that has kindly loaned us their home for a while. It really did have the feeling of living in someone else’s home which is so much more authentic than many Airbnb stays nowadays that have been bought with the sole intention of letting out to short-stay visitors.

Our week here flew by, we left on October the 8th and headed to our next destination. Which was to be our first of three housesits during October – Strood in Kent.

Strood, Kent- The first of our three great house sits in October

This first house housesit in October, was actually a decent length of time – the 8th to the 26th. We had been booked to look after a beautiful 4 bedroomed detached house plus the pets. On this occasion, three cats – Salem, Ronnie and Luna.

These cats were real characters, each with their own personality. All were very independent and easy to care for. They had a cat flap which enabled them all to come and go as they wished.

Salem is a street cat at heart and loved the outside. He only really came in for food. About a year ago he turned up at the door of the house and decided to stay.

Luna likes her own company and spent most of the day hidden somewhere in the house. She did not seem to like open spaces and only became confident when in a small space.

Ronnie is an eternal kitten! Great fun to be around and never tires of playtime. He follows you around the house like a puppy. Definitely the winner in the cutest cat of the house competition!

The Location

Medway in Kent is made up of five towns – Strood (where our housesit was), Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, and Rainham. It takes its name from the River Medway that runs through the area

It is not a huge area and there was plenty to keep us occupied during our stay. The most famous of the towns is Rochester which we could easily walk to in 20 minutes from the house we were staying in.

With its cathedral, castle, museums and beautiful high street shopping area Rochester is a real tourist trap and well worth a visit. Rochester is also famous for the fact  Charles Dickens lived here and many of his novels include references to the area.

As we were about an hour train ride away, we also took the opportunity to visit Canterbury during our stay. Obviously most well known for its cathedral but the city itself really impressed us. We enjoyed a whole day wandering the pretty historic streets.

Muswell Hill, London- The second of our three great house sits in October

From Strood, we next headed back to London, this time to the area of Muswell Hill. As always, it is difficult to know exactly what to expect until we arrive but this stay definitely did not disappoint!

Just a few minutes walk from the tube station, down a tree-lined street brought us to our home for the next few days. A beautiful five bedroomed family house. The house had four floors plus a basement where there was a games room, huge TV and mini gym! Our bedroom was on the top floor of the house, it had a balcony with great treetop views – We could hardly believe that we were in central London!

The pets here were Greco the cat and Roxy the dog.-

So far, we have mainly looked after homes with cats so Roxy was a nice change. She is a Staffordshire bull terrier. Her temperament was lovely and she was really well behaved. She even brought the mail to you when the postman called – and did a poo on command!

The only drawback of looking after Roxy was that she seemed to be quite a local celebrity. Every time we were out walking with her we had to stop on numerous occasions as passers-by went out of their way to come say hello.

Greco is a housecat. She loves attention and human interaction but, as she is a little wary of Roxy she tends not to use the ground floor living and dining area of the house. She seemed more than happy to spend her time in the upper levels of the house. Her particular favourite place to sit and lie was on the stairs. Nice for her but a health and safety nightmare for any humans passing by!

A last minute fright!

Greco gave us a bit of a scare at the end of our stay and had me reaching for the panic button!

About 30 minutes before the homeowners were due back from their holidays I decided to sweep the leaves off the drive. As I was sweeping I glanced towards the house. To my horror, I saw Greco slip out of the house and head under the hedge towards the next-door neighbours garden.

It turned out that the cat that we were told never left the house – did!

I dashed next door but she was nowhere to be seen. My heart started to pound. How could I be so stupid not to have closed the door? I called to Karyo for help and when the neighbour came out to enquire why I was on my hands and knees amid her impressive hydrangea bush she took pity of my predicament and also joined in the search.

Thankfully, after a frantic ten-minute search that felt like ten hours, we spotted her looking a bit bedraggled and sorry for herself. With some gentle persuading, and with the help of a box of dreamies we managed to coax her out of hiding. After swearing the neighbour to secrecy and giving Greco a quick rub down with a towel all was resolved and the homeowners arrived home shortly afterwards none the wiser!

This house sitting malarky can be really stressful at times!

Wapping, London- The third of our three great house sits in October

Our first two housesits in October so far had been great. Lovely hosts, homes and pets.

This, our third and final house sit of the month was to be the icing on the cake.

Before arrival, we had chatted via video call to the home hosts. They were really friendly and explained that as they were leaving really early in the morning they would leave us keys with the concierge of the apartment block.

We arrived at a building that was residential but had the feel of a very up-market hotel. The reception area was luxurious and the concierge very nice. She told us that our host had arranged that we had access to all the facilities of the building during our stay and proceeded to give us a tour of the on-site gym, sauna, steam room and private 12 seat cinema – all very posh!

After our tour of the building’s facilities, we headed to the apartment that was to be our home for the next ten days. It turned out to be a beautiful million-pound penthouse apartment with an amazing multi-million-pound view over the London skyline. I don’t impress easily but this, I have to admit, was very impressive indeed!

The Pets

In our care were three cats – Millie, Kipper and Onion.

Millie is a British blue, really sociable and was waiting at the door to welcome us on arrival. She is definitely the queen of the home and spent much of her time draped over the back of the sofa. She wouldn’t look out of place in some fancy TV commercial.

Kipper is a Scottish Fold – a breed of cat that is new to us. Traits of this breed include a round face with large eyes giving them an almost owl-like look. They have small ears that fold forward giving them their name. They also spend a lot of time on their backs and will often fall asleep in this position.

She is the baby of the bunch, three years old but still very much a kitten at heart, Her time was spent chasing feathers – or sunbathing, she loves sunbathing!

Onion is also a Scottish fold and as cute as a button!. She is super-timid. We had been at the apartment for two days before we even saw her! Then one evening to our surprise and delight she showed her face at the door. From then on each day she became more and more confident and soon joined the others with us in the living area.

There really was nothing not to like about this housesit. The location was amazing, literally ten minutes walk from the tube station with great running areas along the waterways that surrounded the vicinity. The owners were so welcoming, the apartment was beautiful and the cats were a delight to care for. For us, it had been a real treat but, as they say, all good things must come to an end. We are already looking towards November – where does the time go?!

What Next?

Finding three great house sits for October at such short notice probably was a very lucky fluke so, thankfully, we already have a head start for November.

To start the month off, we are heading back ‘up north’. We have promised to look after a home and their pet, Freddy, for friends in Manchester.

That takes us to the 16th of November. We have nothing yet confirmed to follow that but we are hoping to cast our net further afield. I have already started to apply for house sits both home and abroad to see what opportunities there are for us through the winter months.

Currently, I have sent off applications for house sits in the UK, Switzerland, Iceland and Spain. Nothing is confirmed yet but, as October has proved to us – In this game, you never can tell what is around the corner –

As always – watch this space!