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 8 years (over 50 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 8 years (over 50 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 in 2010. 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, relocated to Vancouver and are planning to continue to travel 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 Montreal (Terrebonne), 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, Maine, 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, Oregon, USA (Nov 30-Dec 17, 2014), 1 cat <--3rd assignment
2015: 2 months in Portland, Oregon, USA (Dec 15/2014-Feb 15/2015), no pets
2015: 9 days in Seattle, Washington, USA (Feb 15-23, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 8 days in Vancouver (Coquitlam), BC, Canada (May 28-June 5, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 18 days in Vancouver (Point Grey), BC , Canada (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, Maine, USA (Oct 26-Jan 5/2016), 2 cats <--3rd assignment
2016: 2 months in Denver, Colorado, USA (Jan 7-March 7/2016), 1 cat
2016: 6 weeks in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (May 7-June 19/2016), 1 cat
2016: 8 weeks in Portland, OR, USA (June 21-August 10/2016), no pets <--2nd assignment
2016: 1 week in Ottawa, ON, Canada (Sept. 26-Oct. 2/2016), 1 cat <--2nd assignment
2016: 3 weeks in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada (October 2-23/2016), 1 cat
2016: 1 month in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Oct. 25-Nov. 23/2016), 1 cat
2016: 1 month in North Vancouver, BC, Canada (Nov. 29-Dec. 30/2016), 1 dog
2017: 1 week in Portland, Oregon, USA (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, USA (March 16-April 6/2017), no pets <--3rd assignment
2017: 1 month in Portland, Oregon, USA (April 26-May 27/2017), 1 cat <--2nd assignment
2017: 4 weeks in Amsterdam, Netherlands (June 23-July 29, 2017), 1 cat
2017: 7 weeks in Portland, Oregon, USA (Aug 26-Oct 17/2017), no pets <--4th assignment
2017: 5 days in Berkeley, California, USA (October 18-21/2017), 1 cat
2017: 10 days in San Rafael, California, USA (Oct 22-Nov 1/2017), 1 cat
2017: 4 weeks in San Rafael, California, USA (Oct 31-Dec 1/2017), 1 cat
2017: 3 weeks in North Saanich, BC, Canada (December 3-20/2017), no pets
2017: 10 days in Vancouver, BC, Canada (December 20-31/2017), no pets
2017: 2 weeks in Vancouver, BC, Canada (December 20-January 7/2018), 1 cat
2017: 2 weeks in Vancouver, BC, Canada (January 8-21/2018), 1 dog
2018: 2 months in North Vancouver, BC, Canada (February 4-April 3/2018), 2 cats
2018: 1 month in Portland, Oregon (April 23-May 23/2018), 1 cat <--3rd assignment
2018: 2 weeks in Portland, Oregon (May 18-June 2/2018), no pets <--5th assignment
2018: 2 weeks in Amsterdam, Netherlands (July 25-August 11/2018), 1 cat
2018: 12 days in Portland, Oregon, USA (August 12-24/2018), no pets <-- 6th assignment
Reviews (15)
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Gwen - North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
03 February - 03 April 2018
Patricia and Derek cared for our 2 Bengal cats, Cabo & Maya, and our home Feb 4 - Apr 2, 2018. We enjoyed a carefree vacation receiving numerous emails about our cats and any house issues. We returned home to healthy cats and a very clean house. We would not hesitate to recommend them or have the...
Patricia and Derek cared for our 2 Bengal cats, Cabo & Maya, and our home Feb 4 - Apr 2, 2018. We enjoyed a carefree vacation receiving numerous emails about our cats and any house issues. We returned home to healthy cats and a very clean house. We would not hesitate to recommend them or have them come back to sit for our cats and home again.
- 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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Philippa - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
09 January - 21 January 2018
Patricia and Derek house sat for us for twelve days, looking after our dog and home. Pat is one of those instantly likable people, warm, friendly and very caring. Both she and Derek stepped up at short notice to offer their help and support when my plans changed, and I needed to leave a day earl...
Patricia and Derek house sat for us for twelve days, looking after our dog and home. Pat is one of those instantly likable people, warm, friendly and very caring. Both she and Derek stepped up at short notice to offer their help and support when my plans changed, and I needed to leave a day earlier. They could not have been more helpful. They asked all the right questions when they took over care of our home and dog, and then kept us updated as to how things were going. I can honestly say that our home was even cleaner than I left it on our return. Our dog was clearly happy and healthy. We could not have asked for more and are very grateful. If you are lucky enough to be able to offer a house sit to this couple don't hesitate to accept them.
- 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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Judy - Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
20 December - 31 December 2017
Patricia and Derek were my house sitters over Christmas 2017. Even though my cat had passed away in November, I still wanted somebody in the house while we were away. We instantly clicked with them. They are very friendly and easy going and felt totally comfortable having them stay in our hous...
Patricia and Derek were my house sitters over Christmas 2017. Even though my cat had passed away in November, I still wanted somebody in the house while we were away. We instantly clicked with them. They are very friendly and easy going and felt totally comfortable having them stay in our house. There were no problems whatsoever, while we were gone. Upon our return the house was spotless (really appreciated that Patricia). I would highly recommend them to anybody who needs a house/pet sitter.
- Organised
-
- Reliable
-
- Self-sufficient
-
- Tidy
-
- 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 8 years (over 50 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 8 years (over 50 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 in 2010. 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, relocated to Vancouver and are planning to continue to travel 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 Montreal (Terrebonne), 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, Maine, 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, Oregon, USA (Nov 30-Dec 17, 2014), 1 cat <--3rd assignment
2015: 2 months in Portland, Oregon, USA (Dec 15/2014-Feb 15/2015), no pets
2015: 9 days in Seattle, Washington, USA (Feb 15-23, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 8 days in Vancouver (Coquitlam), BC, Canada (May 28-June 5, 2015), 1 cat
2015: 18 days in Vancouver (Point Grey), BC , Canada (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, Maine, USA (Oct 26-Jan 5/2016), 2 cats <--3rd assignment
2016: 2 months in Denver, Colorado, USA (Jan 7-March 7/2016), 1 cat
2016: 6 weeks in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (May 7-June 19/2016), 1 cat
2016: 8 weeks in Portland, OR, USA (June 21-August 10/2016), no pets <--2nd assignment
2016: 1 week in Ottawa, ON, Canada (Sept. 26-Oct. 2/2016), 1 cat <--2nd assignment
2016: 3 weeks in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada (October 2-23/2016), 1 cat
2016: 1 month in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Oct. 25-Nov. 23/2016), 1 cat
2016: 1 month in North Vancouver, BC, Canada (Nov. 29-Dec. 30/2016), 1 dog
2017: 1 week in Portland, Oregon, USA (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, USA (March 16-April 6/2017), no pets <--3rd assignment
2017: 1 month in Portland, Oregon, USA (April 26-May 27/2017), 1 cat <--2nd assignment
2017: 4 weeks in Amsterdam, Netherlands (June 23-July 29, 2017), 1 cat
2017: 7 weeks in Portland, Oregon, USA (Aug 26-Oct 17/2017), no pets <--4th assignment
2017: 5 days in Berkeley, California, USA (October 18-21/2017), 1 cat
2017: 10 days in San Rafael, California, USA (Oct 22-Nov 1/2017), 1 cat
2017: 4 weeks in San Rafael, California, USA (Oct 31-Dec 1/2017), 1 cat
2017: 3 weeks in North Saanich, BC, Canada (December 3-20/2017), no pets
2017: 10 days in Vancouver, BC, Canada (December 20-31/2017), no pets
2017: 2 weeks in Vancouver, BC, Canada (December 20-January 7/2018), 1 cat
2017: 2 weeks in Vancouver, BC, Canada (January 8-21/2018), 1 dog
2018: 2 months in North Vancouver, BC, Canada (February 4-April 3/2018), 2 cats
2018: 1 month in Portland, Oregon (April 23-May 23/2018), 1 cat <--3rd assignment
2018: 2 weeks in Portland, Oregon (May 18-June 2/2018), no pets <--5th assignment
2018: 2 weeks in Amsterdam, Netherlands (July 25-August 11/2018), 1 cat
2018: 12 days in Portland, Oregon, USA (August 12-24/2018), no pets <-- 6th assignment
Verifications
Verification level
Standard level
Email Address, Phone Number, External references (10), Identity & Document Check
All Standard Verification checks are carried out by a specialist 3rd Party
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 19 house sits since 2014
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AmstelveenNetherlandsJul - Aug 2018 -
North VancouverCanadaFeb - Apr 2018 -
VancouverCanadaJan 2018
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VancouverCanadaDec 2017 - Jan 2018 -
VancouverCanadaDec 2017 -
San RafaelUnited StatesOct - Dec 2017 -
San RafaelUnited StatesOct - Nov 2017 -
BerkeleyUnited StatesOct 2017 -
AmstelveenNetherlandsJul 2017 -
AmstelveenNetherlandsJun 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 -
HamburgGermanyAug 2015 -
CoquitlamCanadaJun 2015
