Patricia & Derek
Patricia & Derek
Retired Canadian couple with excellent references
About Patricia & Derek
We are a retired Canadian couple in our early 50s with a lot of house-sitting experience and excellent references. We’ve been using house-sitting websites to travel in the fall and winter months for the past 6 years (over 30 assignments to date; see the list below). We don't smoke and we don't have kids or pets. We are reasonably fit and we lo...
We are a retired Canadian couple in our early 50s with a lot of house-sitting experience and excellent references. We’ve been using house-sitting websites to travel in the fall and winter months for the past 6 years (over 30 assignments to date; see the list below). We don't smoke and we don't have kids or pets. We are reasonably fit and we love to bike and walk around to discover new places. We are quiet, tidy and respectful of other people's property. Your house and pets would be in capable and caring hands, giving you the peace of mind that you need during your time away.
Why we want to house sit
House-sitting is a great way to discover new, off-the-beaten path places. It gives us the opportunity to stretch our travel to a longer time period while enabling us to meet new people, make new friends and enjoy a little pet therapy. We love cats and house-sitting is a neat way to compensate for not having any of our own (we travel too much at this time!).
Our experience
We are a middle aged couple who has the maturity and experience needed to take care of most (if not all) maintenance associated with house ownership. We have owned several homes over the past 25 years. We even ran a small tourist business for 6 years, renting our lovely seaside cottage to people who wanted to come to Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland to experience a very unique scenery in Canada. We are very tidy and clean and, we are good at communicating with our hosts so that they are kept informed during their travel. We are dependable and we try our best to follow instructions to the letter. We are quite versatile and we can adapt to both rural and urban settings. Our very first house-sit assignment was in Vienna in Austria for 3 months. This was a fantastic experience and it spurred a new life style for us -- working in Newfoundland during the summer and travelling the rest of the time. We sold our Newfoundland home in late 2014 and are now planning to spend the next couple of years travelling in Canada, in the United States and in Europe.
For your information, here is a list of the house-sits that we've done to date (many were arranged via HouseCarers):
2010: 3 months in Vienna, Austria (Sept. 20-Dec. 19, 2010), no pets.
2011: 2 months in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA (March 3-May 12, 2011), no pets.
2011: 1 month in Portland, Oregon, USA (September 3-29, 2011), 2 cats.
2011: 3 weeks in Vancouver, BC, Canada (October 3-20, 2011), no pets.
2011: 5 months in Gibsons, BC, Canada (Oct 29/2011-March 31/2012), 1 cat.
2012: 2 weeks in Lunenburg, NS, Canada (April 25-May 6, 2012), 1 cat.
2012: 6 weeks in Winston-Salem, NC, USA (Sept 4-Oct 16, 2012)<--2nd assignment
2012: 2 weeks in Terrebonne (Montreal), Quebec, Canada (Oct 22-Nov 7, 2012), 1 cat
2012: 2.5 months in Damariscotta, Maine, USA (Nov 15/2012-Jan 31/2013), 2 cats
2013: 4 weeks in Rochester, New York, USA (February 1-28, 2013), 1 cat
2013: 2 months in Vancouver, BC, Canada (March 12-May 13, 2013), no pets
2013: 4 days in Gibsons, BC, Canada (April 12-15, 2013), 1 cat
2013: 3 weeks in Portland, OR, USA (May 13-June 3, 2013), 2 cats <--2nd assignment
2014: 18 days in Stevensville (Kent Island), Maryland, USA (March 7-24, 2014), 2 dogs
2014: 11 days in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA (March 27-April 8, 2014), 1 cat
2014: 3 weeks in Damariscotta, ME, USA (Oct 8-28, 2014), 2 cats <--2nd assignment
2014: 3 weeks in Washington DC, USA (November 7-28, 2014), 2 cats
2014: 18 days in Portland, OR, USA (Nov 30-Dec 17, 2014), 1 cat <--3rd assignment
2015: 2 months in Portland, Oregon (Dec 15/2014-Feb 15/2015), no pets
2015: 9 days in Seattle, Washington (Feb 15-23, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 8 days in Vancouver (Coquitlam), BC (May 28-June 5, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 18 days in Vancouver (Point Grey), BC (June 9-27, 2015), no pets
2015: 1 month in Leiden, Netherlands (June 29-July 31, 2015) 1 cat
2015: 3 weeks in Brussels, Belgium (August 6-30, 2015), 2 cats
2015: 2 weeks in London/Barnet, UK (September 5-24, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 2 months in Damariscotta, ME, USA (Oct 26-Jan 5/2016), 2 cats <--3rd assignment
2016: 2 months in Denver, CO, USA (Jan 7-March 7/2016), 1 cat
2016: 6 weeks in Ottawa, Canada (May 7-June 19/2016), 1 cat
2016: 8 weeks in Portland, Oregon (June 21-August 10/2016), no pets <--2nd assignment
2016: 1 week in Ottawa, Canada (Sept. 26-Oct. 2/2016), 1 cat <--2nd assignment
2016: 3 weeks in Sarnia, Canada (October 2-23/2016), 1 cat
2016: 1 month in Calgary, Canada (Oct. 25-Nov. 23/2016), 1 cat
2016: 1 month in Vancouver, Canada (Nov. 29-Dec. 30/2016), 1 dog
2017: 1 week in Portland, Oregon (January 18-26/2017), 1 cat
2017: 1 month in White Rock, BC, Canada (February 1-March 1/2017), 2 cats
2017: 3 weeks in Portland, Oregon (March 16-April 6/2017), no pets <--3rd assignment
2017: 1 month in Portland, Oregon (April 26-May 27/2017), 1 cat <--2nd assignment
2017: 4 weeks in Amsterdam, Netherlands (June 23-July 29, 2017), 1 cat
Upcoming: 7 weeks in Portland, Oregon (Aug 26-Oct 17/2017), no pets <--4th assignment
Upcoming: 7 weeks in San Rafael, California (Oct 23-Dec 7/2017), 1 cat
Reviews (9)
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Elizabeth - Amsterdam, Netherlands
23 June - 30 June 2017
Patricia and her husband took care of our cat and home for a total of four weeks this summer. Communication with Patricia was consistent and clear from the start, and all arrangements were easy. She is very personable and I felt entirely at ease as we departed. We kept in contact throughout the w...
Patricia and her husband took care of our cat and home for a total of four weeks this summer. Communication with Patricia was consistent and clear from the start, and all arrangements were easy. She is very personable and I felt entirely at ease as we departed. We kept in contact throughout the weeks, and I knew that the cat was in good and capable hands. We returned home to find a very happy cat and an extraordinarily clean apartment. I highly recommend!
- Organised
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- Reliable
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- Self-sufficient
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- Tidy
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- Pet care
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Charles - Portland, Oregon, United States
25 April - 25 May 2017
Patricia and Derek have house sat for us several times now, including an entire month when we were in Europe. They are the ultimate responsible people you want taking care of your house and pets. You will return home to a healthy, happy, well-cared for pet, a very clean house, and have received r...
Patricia and Derek have house sat for us several times now, including an entire month when we were in Europe. They are the ultimate responsible people you want taking care of your house and pets. You will return home to a healthy, happy, well-cared for pet, a very clean house, and have received relevant communications while away. What more could you want. The fact that they are fantatic people as well, is just a bonus. I went through a lot of good applications before I settled on these two, wonderful Canadians. Boy, did we get lucky in finding them. 7 stars would be a more appropriate rating.
- Organised
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- Reliable
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- Self-sufficient
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- Tidy
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- Pet care
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Irene - White Rock, British Columbia, Canada
01 February - 01 March 2017
Patricia and Derek stayed at our home with our two cats for a full month. We felt confident immediately upon meeting them. They kept us up to date a few times while we were away. One of our cats is 19 plus and requires extra attention. He looks great and even gained a bit of weight thanks to Pat...
Patricia and Derek stayed at our home with our two cats for a full month. We felt confident immediately upon meeting them. They kept us up to date a few times while we were away. One of our cats is 19 plus and requires extra attention. He looks great and even gained a bit of weight thanks to Patricia's and Derek's diligence and nurturing.
We came back to a spotless house and happy cats who I believe are both missing them. Could not ask for anything more.- Organised
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- Reliable
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- Self-sufficient
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- Tidy
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- Pet care
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About Patricia & Derek
We are a retired Canadian couple in our early 50s with a lot of house-sitting experience and excellent references. We’ve been using house-sitting websites to travel in the fall and winter months for the past 6 years (over 30 assignments to date; see the list below). We don't smoke and we don't have kids or pets. We are reasonably fit and we love to bike and walk around to discover new places. We are quiet, tidy and respectful of other people's property. Your house and pets would be in capable and caring hands, giving you the peace of mind that you need during your time away.
We are a retired Canadian couple in our early 50s with a lot of house-sitting experience and excellent references. We’ve been using house-sitting websites to travel in the fall and winter months for the past 6 years (over 30 assignments to date; see the list below). We don't smoke and we don't have kids or pets. We are reasonably fit and we love to bike and walk around to discover new places. We are quiet, tidy and respectful of other people's property. Your house and pets would be in capable and caring hands, giving you the peace of mind that you need during your time away.
Why we want to house sit
House-sitting is a great way to discover new, off-the-beaten path places. It gives us the opportunity to stretch our travel to a longer time period while enabling us to meet new people, make new friends and enjoy a little pet therapy. We love cats and house-sitting is a neat way to compensate for not having any of our own (we travel too much at this time!).
Our experience
We are a middle aged couple who has the maturity and experience needed to take care of most (if not all) maintenance associated with house ownership. We have owned several homes over the past 25 years. We even ran a small tourist business for 6 years, renting our lovely seaside cottage to people who wanted to come to Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland to experience a very unique scenery in Canada. We are very tidy and clean and, we are good at communicating with our hosts so that they are kept informed during their travel. We are dependable and we try our best to follow instructions to the letter. We are quite versatile and we can adapt to both rural and urban settings. Our very first house-sit assignment was in Vienna in Austria for 3 months. This was a fantastic experience and it spurred a new life style for us -- working in Newfoundland during the summer and travelling the rest of the time. We sold our Newfoundland home in late 2014 and are now planning to spend the next couple of years travelling in Canada, in the United States and in Europe.
For your information, here is a list of the house-sits that we've done to date (many were arranged via HouseCarers):
2010: 3 months in Vienna, Austria (Sept. 20-Dec. 19, 2010), no pets.
2011: 2 months in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA (March 3-May 12, 2011), no pets.
2011: 1 month in Portland, Oregon, USA (September 3-29, 2011), 2 cats.
2011: 3 weeks in Vancouver, BC, Canada (October 3-20, 2011), no pets.
2011: 5 months in Gibsons, BC, Canada (Oct 29/2011-March 31/2012), 1 cat.
2012: 2 weeks in Lunenburg, NS, Canada (April 25-May 6, 2012), 1 cat.
2012: 6 weeks in Winston-Salem, NC, USA (Sept 4-Oct 16, 2012)<--2nd assignment
2012: 2 weeks in Terrebonne (Montreal), Quebec, Canada (Oct 22-Nov 7, 2012), 1 cat
2012: 2.5 months in Damariscotta, Maine, USA (Nov 15/2012-Jan 31/2013), 2 cats
2013: 4 weeks in Rochester, New York, USA (February 1-28, 2013), 1 cat
2013: 2 months in Vancouver, BC, Canada (March 12-May 13, 2013), no pets
2013: 4 days in Gibsons, BC, Canada (April 12-15, 2013), 1 cat
2013: 3 weeks in Portland, OR, USA (May 13-June 3, 2013), 2 cats <--2nd assignment
2014: 18 days in Stevensville (Kent Island), Maryland, USA (March 7-24, 2014), 2 dogs
2014: 11 days in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA (March 27-April 8, 2014), 1 cat
2014: 3 weeks in Damariscotta, ME, USA (Oct 8-28, 2014), 2 cats <--2nd assignment
2014: 3 weeks in Washington DC, USA (November 7-28, 2014), 2 cats
2014: 18 days in Portland, OR, USA (Nov 30-Dec 17, 2014), 1 cat <--3rd assignment
2015: 2 months in Portland, Oregon (Dec 15/2014-Feb 15/2015), no pets
2015: 9 days in Seattle, Washington (Feb 15-23, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 8 days in Vancouver (Coquitlam), BC (May 28-June 5, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 18 days in Vancouver (Point Grey), BC (June 9-27, 2015), no pets
2015: 1 month in Leiden, Netherlands (June 29-July 31, 2015) 1 cat
2015: 3 weeks in Brussels, Belgium (August 6-30, 2015), 2 cats
2015: 2 weeks in London/Barnet, UK (September 5-24, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 2 months in Damariscotta, ME, USA (Oct 26-Jan 5/2016), 2 cats <--3rd assignment
2016: 2 months in Denver, CO, USA (Jan 7-March 7/2016), 1 cat
2016: 6 weeks in Ottawa, Canada (May 7-June 19/2016), 1 cat
2016: 8 weeks in Portland, Oregon (June 21-August 10/2016), no pets <--2nd assignment
2016: 1 week in Ottawa, Canada (Sept. 26-Oct. 2/2016), 1 cat <--2nd assignment
2016: 3 weeks in Sarnia, Canada (October 2-23/2016), 1 cat
2016: 1 month in Calgary, Canada (Oct. 25-Nov. 23/2016), 1 cat
2016: 1 month in Vancouver, Canada (Nov. 29-Dec. 30/2016), 1 dog
2017: 1 week in Portland, Oregon (January 18-26/2017), 1 cat
2017: 1 month in White Rock, BC, Canada (February 1-March 1/2017), 2 cats
2017: 3 weeks in Portland, Oregon (March 16-April 6/2017), no pets <--3rd assignment
2017: 1 month in Portland, Oregon (April 26-May 27/2017), 1 cat <--2nd assignment
2017: 4 weeks in Amsterdam, Netherlands (June 23-July 29, 2017), 1 cat
Upcoming: 7 weeks in Portland, Oregon (Aug 26-Oct 17/2017), no pets <--4th assignment
Upcoming: 7 weeks in San Rafael, California (Oct 23-Dec 7/2017), 1 cat
Verifications
Verification level
Standard level
Animal Care Experience
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Dogs
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Cats
Availability
Preferred Countries
Profile Details
Age
Occupation
Travelling as a
Previous house sitting experience
Member benefits
Member since
House & pet sitting timeline
Patricia and Derek have done 11 house sits since 2014
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AmsterdamNetherlandsJul 2017 -
AmsterdamNetherlandsJun 2017
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PortlandUnited StatesApr - May 2017 -
White RockCanadaFeb - Mar 2017 -
CalgaryCanadaOct - Nov 2016 -
SarniaCanadaOct 2016 -
DenverUnited StatesMar 2016 -
BarnetUnited KingdomOct 2015 -
EdinburghUnited KingdomSep 2015 -
LeidenNetherlandsAug 2015 -
CoquitlamCanadaJun 2015
