2 Beardies and a cat that thinks she's a dog
Ruffec, France
Introduction
We moved to France in September 2017 and live with our two Bearded Collies and cat. We have both just retired, Alison was a Midwife and David a Maths tutor. We enjoy living in the country, spending time outdoors and walking our Beardies, sometimes the cat comes along too.
Since moving to France, we feel it would be beneficial to our pets, to have a house sitter come in to look after them in the comfort of their new home whenever we are away. They are all very sociable and love spending their time with us whatever we are doing (including watching the telly on the sofa in the evening).
Our Home & Location
We have a large 3 bedroomed house in a sizeable plot of parkland with some woodland areas. It is very quiet locally but we live on the edge of a village and within 10 minutes of a good sized town (Ruffec). It has all the general facilities with vets, supermarkets, hospitals and a weekly market. We are close to the N10 for trips further afield to Angouleme, Poiters and La Rochelle is only a couple of hours away. The area is rural and very French - the British who live here in relatively small numbers are generally well integrated and so the locals will be friendly and forgiving if your French is not that great. They prefer it if you have a go in French first though - and who can blame them?
There are walks from the house , often in woodlands, and with a bit of planning and map-reading, you could be out for hours without meeting a soul. However, some of the neighbours will recognise the dogs if you are out and may stop to have a chat....
A note on WiFi - the speed is good (about 20Mbps) but the volume is constrained to about 20Gb per month as it is carried over the 4 G phone network in the absence of copper wires to the house. Please use it as you need but try to avoid excessive consumption.
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Responsibilities & Pets
We would need the house sitter to feed and walk the dogs twice each day and our eldest Beardie requires a liquid painkiller given by mouth on alternate days. On the other hand, Millie, our cat, just needs company and feeding - although she sometimes likes to join the Beardies on a short walk.
If you are feeling brave, you can try some grooming, but this is optional on short length sittings. The garden doesn't need much attention but cutting the lawn would be a huge help on sittings longer than a week or so....
The most important thing is to give our pets your time, love and attention.
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