Vanessa & Ian
Vanessa & Ian
Professional full time house sitters with years of experience - let us care for your home and pets
About Vanessa & Ian
SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE: Over 30 sits all with 5* Reviews, long or short term; all animal care including rescue pets and young and old; luxury property care; remote off-grid living; water management, solar, swimming pool and garden maintenance; tropical living; countryside living, UK and Australian Citizenship.
For us house sitting is a full ti...
SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE: Over 30 sits all with 5* Reviews, long or short term; all animal care including rescue pets and young and old; luxury property care; remote off-grid living; water management, solar, swimming pool and garden maintenance; tropical living; countryside living, UK and Australian Citizenship.
For us house sitting is a full time way of life. Happy, relaxed, financially independent and positively motivated. We're also friendly, reliable and extremely trustworthy. Most importantly, your pets will love having us around to play with!
Now semi retired, we've organized our lives to enjoy an active location-independent life. Our occasional part time remote work involves publishing an online magazine for the house sitting community. This means we are home as much of the time that is needed, to give your pets as much love and attention as they deserve.
In our 50's, we are fit and active non smokers. We enjoy long walks, hikes and leisurely cycling. We're comfortable around water and enjoy swimming, kayaking and diving. Daily exercise is part of our routine, so we love the company of active pets. But for those who are more relaxed or too old for exercise, we always have plenty of time to devote to play and cuddles.
We love our freedom lifestyle, but we also get a great deal of satisfaction helping you enjoy a stress free travel experience too. House sitting is something we're passionate about, and as home owners who've used sitters ourselves, we know the reassurance you get knowing your home, and your pets are being cared for and loved , while you are away. We want to help make that process run as smoothly as possible.
You'll find we have excellent references from our house sitting assignments all around the world. Our last property ownership was an off-grid (self-build) house on a small mangrove island in Panama, so we are versed in looking after remote off-grid properties and maintaining solar and other systems.
Why we want to house sit
We find the process of being able to exchange services based around trust and respect, extremely rewarding. And while house sitting allows us to travel and experience different cultures and countries around the world, with the company of pets, we love that we can help you enjoy your travel experiences too.
Travel and house sitting are two very different parts of our lifestyle. When we are travelling we do not house sit. When we house sit we use this time to catch up with our part time work, visiting local sights and generally enjoying our time with your pets, making sure their favorite walks and play times are continued without change.
We love travel and we love animals, both having owned dogs, cats and chickens, and we miss having those pets around us. So caring for your pets is the aspect of house sitting we most enjoy. You can be sure your pets will be cared for and loved throughout our stay, with as little disruption to their normal daily routines as possible.
You get a professional house and pet sitting service all the time you are away with status reports as often as you'd like. We'll also send pictures and updates to provide as much reassurance as you need. And when you return your house and garden will be just as you left it - we guarantee it will be well looked after.
Our experience
We're comfortable with all breeds, sizes and ages of dogs and love long walks and cuddles. Ian cared for and trained a team of 20 Alaskan Huskies so can deal confidently with more dominant or willful pet personalities!
Both of us are a little soppy about cats too, but equally fine with snakes, reptiles and other small critters. We particularly like chickens and not just for their eggs. We raised our own brood from chicks which was extremely rewarding! This year we got to look after pigs for the first time too, and tortoises too!
Having owned numerous houses and handled renovation projects in countries such as Panama, Spain, France, Australia, Canada and the UK, we're very aware of how to deal with general home and land maintenance issues that might arise in your absence.
Our previous island life means we can expertly manage off-grid properties in remote locations where water management is crucial. We also have a lot of experience of caring for luxury residences with pools and land and have excellent boat handling skills. Vanessa is also pretty good at growing vegetables, and has tended almond groves in Spain. We have also house sat at an olive and pistachio grove in Australia.
We have provided accommodation through B&B and rental properties in the UK, Spain and France so we're qualified enough to look after your small to medium holiday rental property while you take a relaxing vacation. We have owned our own businesses and are very comfortable with managing staff and out of season maintenance projects. We speak reasonable Spanish and enough French to get by.
Last year we had to deal with forest fires in Australia, and a Category 5 cyclone in Fiji which involved securing the property, evacuating with two dogs, and the subsequent clean-up. We think we can now deal with almost anything house sitting has to throw at us :)
House sitting is all about trust and we really do appreciate this. Our standards of professionalism and cleanliness are high and we aim to provide a service that goes above and beyond the norm. Your property will always be returned fully cleaned and refreshed so that you can slip back into your own routine as quickly as possible.
We have our own website that shows all our sits across all the platforms we've used:
https://LongTermHouseSitters.com
You can view all our skills and abilities in more detail. You'll also find all our excellent references and a link to our introductory video.
We hope this will give you a greater insight into us as a couple and answer many of the questions you may have about us at this initial stage. However, we always welcome a video chat too to get to know you more and answer any questions you might have. We hope to chat with you more soon!
Update for August 2018 - We will be back in the UK for a year or more house sitting around England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. We will have our own vehicle and are open to repeat sits if this helps with multiple dates.
Reviews (27)
-
Dave & Lisa - Cheadle, United Kingdom
04 December - 06 December 2018
This was our first experience of hosting with trusted Housesitters and fortunately for us we were in extremely safe, capable and professional hands. We cannot thank Vanessa and Ian enough for making this a superb experience for us. It really was a 5+ star experience all around. Handover was both...
This was our first experience of hosting with trusted Housesitters and fortunately for us we were in extremely safe, capable and professional hands. We cannot thank Vanessa and Ian enough for making this a superb experience for us. It really was a 5+ star experience all around. Handover was both timely and smooth and they made us feel confident from the word go that all would be well. Un-intrusive contact was maintained during our time away which only served to allay any doubts we may have had as first-timers. We would love to think they would be able to sit for us again in the future and we hope it's not to long before we meet them again. A very big thank you to you both from all of us.
- Organised
-
- Reliable
-
- Self-sufficient
-
- Tidy
-
- Pet care
-
Response from Vanessa & Ian
Thank you both and we are so pleased you had a good first experience! We had such a cozy time with the pups, it was hard to leave the house much!! We hope to see you all again soon too!
-
Alison - Lymm, United Kingdom
29 November - 03 December 2018
Anyone who has Vanessa & Ian housesitting can relax in the knowledge that they are very experienced and calm and can probably deal with anything that might crop up while you are away! They were very good with our pets and we came home to a spotless house. I highly recommend them and I hope that ...
Anyone who has Vanessa & Ian housesitting can relax in the knowledge that they are very experienced and calm and can probably deal with anything that might crop up while you are away! They were very good with our pets and we came home to a spotless house. I highly recommend them and I hope that perhaps they will be able to return to sit again for us. A lovely friendly couple who arrived as strangers but left as friends.
- Organised
-
- Reliable
-
- Self-sufficient
-
- Tidy
-
- Pet care
-
Response from Vanessa & Ian
Thank you so much Alison. We had a really lovely time and so enjoyed our theatre night out - that was a real treat and so appreciated. We hope we get to see you all again next year too!
-
Wendy - Feckenham, United Kingdom
25 November - 28 November 2018
We had never used Trusted Housesitters before and I was very anxious about how the whole process would work. I needn't have worried as Vanessa and Ian were wonderful. They arrived the night before in order to meet our pets - 4 dogs, 5 chickens and a horse and both my husband and I immediately fel...
We had never used Trusted Housesitters before and I was very anxious about how the whole process would work. I needn't have worried as Vanessa and Ian were wonderful. They arrived the night before in order to meet our pets - 4 dogs, 5 chickens and a horse and both my husband and I immediately felt at ease in their company. They came out with me in the evening in order to follow the usual routines with the animals and also took note of things like where the fuse box was and the water stop cock etc- details I hadn't considered. By the end of the sit I felt we had made two new friends and now feel totally liberated in that we can now go on holiday and away for short breaks away again. I can't thank them and Trusted Housesitters enough and look forward to welcoming them back again in March.
- Organised
-
- Reliable
-
- Self-sufficient
-
- Tidy
-
- Pet care
-
Response from Vanessa & Ian
Thank you so much! I'm so pleased you guys had a great experience and that you are now free to travel (like us)!!! We so enjoyed our stay and the time we had to spend with you, and the pups - as you say... new friends!
About Vanessa & Ian
SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE: Over 30 sits all with 5* Reviews, long or short term; all animal care including rescue pets and young and old; luxury property care; remote off-grid living; water management, solar, swimming pool and garden maintenance; tropical living; countryside living, UK and Australian Citizenship.
For us house sitting is a full time way of life. Happy, relaxed, financially independent and positively motivated. We're also friendly, reliable and extremely trustworthy. Most importantly, your pets will love having us around to play with!
Now semi retired, we've organized our lives to enjoy an active location-independent life. Our occasional part time remote work involves publishing an online magazine for the house sitting community. This means we are home as much of the time that is needed, to give your pets as much love and attention as they deserve.
In our 50's, we a......
SUMMARY OF EXPERIENCE: Over 30 sits all with 5* Reviews, long or short term; all animal care including rescue pets and young and old; luxury property care; remote off-grid living; water management, solar, swimming pool and garden maintenance; tropical living; countryside living, UK and Australian Citizenship.
For us house sitting is a full time way of life. Happy, relaxed, financially independent and positively motivated. We're also friendly, reliable and extremely trustworthy. Most importantly, your pets will love having us around to play with!
Now semi retired, we've organized our lives to enjoy an active location-independent life. Our occasional part time remote work involves publishing an online magazine for the house sitting community. This means we are home as much of the time that is needed, to give your pets as much love and attention as they deserve.
In our 50's, we are fit and active non smokers. We enjoy long walks, hikes and leisurely cycling. We're comfortable around water and enjoy swimming, kayaking and diving. Daily exercise is part of our routine, so we love the company of active pets. But for those who are more relaxed or too old for exercise, we always have plenty of time to devote to play and cuddles.
We love our freedom lifestyle, but we also get a great deal of satisfaction helping you enjoy a stress free travel experience too. House sitting is something we're passionate about, and as home owners who've used sitters ourselves, we know the reassurance you get knowing your home, and your pets are being cared for and loved , while you are away. We want to help make that process run as smoothly as possible.
You'll find we have excellent references from our house sitting assignments all around the world. Our last property ownership was an off-grid (self-build) house on a small mangrove island in Panama, so we are versed in looking after remote off-grid properties and maintaining solar and other systems.
Why we want to house sit
We find the process of being able to exchange services based around trust and respect, extremely rewarding. And while house sitting allows us to travel and experience different cultures and countries around the world, with the company of pets, we love that we can help you enjoy your travel experiences too.
Travel and house sitting are two very different parts of our lifestyle. When we are travelling we do not house sit. When we house sit we use this time to catch up with our part time work, visiting local sights and generally enjoying our time with your pets, making sure their favorite walks and play times are continued without change.
We love travel and we love animals, both having owned dogs, cats and chickens, and we miss having those pets around us. So caring for your pets is the aspect of house sitting we most enjoy. You can be sure your pets will be cared for and loved throughout our stay, with as little disruption to their normal daily routines as possible.
You get a professional house and pet sitting service all the time you are away with status reports as often as you'd like. We'll also send pictures and updates to provide as much reassurance as you need. And when you return your house and garden will be just as you left it - we guarantee it will be well looked after.
Our experience
We're comfortable with all breeds, sizes and ages of dogs and love long walks and cuddles. Ian cared for and trained a team of 20 Alaskan Huskies so can deal confidently with more dominant or willful pet personalities!
Both of us are a little soppy about cats too, but equally fine with snakes, reptiles and other small critters. We particularly like chickens and not just for their eggs. We raised our own brood from chicks which was extremely rewarding! This year we got to look after pigs for the first time too, and tortoises too!
Having owned numerous houses and handled renovation projects in countries such as Panama, Spain, France, Australia, Canada and the UK, we're very aware of how to deal with general home and land maintenance issues that might arise in your absence.
Our previous island life means we can expertly manage off-grid properties in remote locations where water management is crucial. We also have a lot of experience of caring for luxury residences with pools and land and have excellent boat handling skills. Vanessa is also pretty good at growing vegetables, and has tended almond groves in Spain. We have also house sat at an olive and pistachio grove in Australia.
We have provided accommodation through B&B and rental properties in the UK, Spain and France so we're qualified enough to look after your small to medium holiday rental property while you take a relaxing vacation. We have owned our own businesses and are very comfortable with managing staff and out of season maintenance projects. We speak reasonable Spanish and enough French to get by.
Last year we had to deal with forest fires in Australia, and a Category 5 cyclone in Fiji which involved securing the property, evacuating with two dogs, and the subsequent clean-up. We think we can now deal with almost anything house sitting has to throw at us :)
House sitting is all about trust and we really do appreciate this. Our standards of professionalism and cleanliness are high and we aim to provide a service that goes above and beyond the norm. Your property will always be returned fully cleaned and refreshed so that you can slip back into your own routine as quickly as possible.
We have our own website that shows all our sits across all the platforms we've used:
https://LongTermHouseSitters.com
You can view all our skills and abilities in more detail. You'll also find all our excellent references and a link to our introductory video.
We hope this will give you a greater insight into us as a couple and answer many of the questions you may have about us at this initial stage. However, we always welcome a video chat too to get to know you more and answer any questions you might have. We hope to chat with you more soon!
Update for August 2018 - We will be back in the UK for a year or more house sitting around England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. We will have our own vehicle and are open to repeat sits if this helps with multiple dates.
Verifications
Verification level
Standard level
Email Address, Phone Number, External references (6), Identity & Document Check
All Standard Verification checks are carried out by a specialist 3rd Party
Animal Care Experience
-
Dogs
-
Cats
-
Reptiles
-
Horses
-
Fish
-
Poultry
-
Farm animals
-
Bird
Availability
Preferred Countries
Profile Details
Age
Occupation
Travelling as a
Previous house sitting experience
Member benefits
Member since
House & pet sitting timeline
Vanessa and Ian have done 29 house sits since 2015
-
FramlinghamUnited KingdomDec 2018 -
CheadleUnited KingdomDec 2018 -
LymmUnited KingdomNov - Dec 2018 -
FeckenhamUnited KingdomNov 2018 -
BangorUnited KingdomNov 2018 -
Fuentes de CesnaSpainNov 2018 -
MalmesburyUnited KingdomNov 2018 -
FarnhamUnited KingdomOct - Nov 2018 -
PortisheadUnited KingdomOct - Nov 2018 -
NewburyUnited KingdomOct 2018 -
UppinghamUnited KingdomOct 2018 -
Bury St EdmundsUnited KingdomOct 2018 -
BerkhamstedUnited KingdomOct 2018 -
CardiffUnited KingdomSep 2018 -
BangorUnited KingdomSep 2018
-
GravesendUnited KingdomSep 2018 -
KirklingtonUnited KingdomAug - Sep 2018 -
FromeUnited KingdomApr 2018 -
BrattonUnited KingdomApr 2018 -
AlbanyAustraliaFeb - Mar 2018 -
East Victoria ParkAustraliaJan 2018 -
GravesendUnited KingdomNov - Dec 2017
-
MatlockUnited KingdomNov 2017 -
FrodshamUnited KingdomNov 2017 -
San Miguel de AllendeMexicoJul - Aug 2016 -
KingsbridgeUnited KingdomJun 2016 -
DroxfordUnited KingdomMay - Jun 2016 -
East Victoria ParkAustraliaMay 2016
-
DuncraigAustraliaMar - Apr 2016
