City recommendations between housesitters

Hi Everybody,
It occurred to me that as HouseSitters we often travel to places we haven’t seen before, and are not necessarily on the beaten track. That’s great of course, but it might take a while to find the good cafes, great decently priced restaurants of even good supermarkets around you. On the other hand, many owners use house sitters several times a year and not everybody is very organized with area recommendations - so why don’t we give each other a helping hand and leave a list of recommended places behind us?
To start, I will write down (in my first comment) a list of places that I loved in my stay in Leamington Spa, UK - where I am just finishing a sit of a bit over a month. Hope this catches on and maybe if anybody has recommendations for Brighton you could write them down?
Adi

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Hi @AdiMoreno great suggestion - what have been your highlights of Lemington Spa ?

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Essex, England: Wickham St. Paul’s Housesit suggestions:
Wickham St. Pauls is a very pretty, charming area, with lovely people, a huge village green, and a fun farm market and cafe within walking distance, and
very narrow countryside roads for driving.

Lots of tracks for walking, and the weather was lovely in May-June.
The C-o-x Farm Shop AKA Spencer’s had lots of fruits and veg, and garden potted plants outside,
and a big freezer full of frozen prepared foods to warm up for dinner, AKA Tea.

I have not tried the Cafe, which is just through a doorway from farm shop), but it had very fancy cakes in the case, and tea and hot drinks, and a peaceful large table seating area with views of the farm around it.
Thanks for asking.
Love,
Aloha,
Claire + Tarkina

Sorry - it took me a moment to reconnect :grinning:

Leamington Spa is a lovely city/town in central England - close to coventry & warwick, half an hour from Oxford on one side and Birmingham on the other, and with a good train connection to central London.

It is rather small, but very reach in culture for its size. It has 2 cinemas plus one that I haven’ t attended in the nearby Warwick university, lots of music venues and many many parks and gardens. Here are my highlights

Coffee:
there are so many good cafes, but we eventually settled for our favourite two: Desa, which is close to the very central Jephson park, and Lola provisions, a bit farther but very good french croissants! (and good coffee)

Food:
Nanas - home-style Japanese cuisine. Which means not sushi but many rice dishes and a menu that changes every day. Its also very reasonably priced.
The Leopard spots - great pizza, nice style, and generally a pleasant place for lunch or dinner

Pub: DB - a great british pub, again very close to the park with lots of board games on the second floor, so its a nice place to pass time if you’re in a group

Music:
The temperance. This place is tiny but we’ve seen there very good shows, and the atmosphere is super friendly and local.
Seismic records: excellent record store, and a good place to ask about local venues and gigs

Nature:
Its really all around you, no matter where you go. But I highly recommend going to the nature reserve in Newbold Commyn. Its 15 minutes walks frrom city center, and you feel in the middle of the wild. We even saw a small deer! and many birds, some rabbits, lots of flowers etc.

to sum up, here is a google map with our highlights:

Corrected map link:
https://goo.gl/maps/mGc3eXMhEE3ujyrT7?coh=178572&entry=tt

This is a wonderful idea! Maybe even a topic location for just such listings. Each one could be titled with the Town, location, etc., and if someone is heading to a particular area, they could do a quick search to see if there is anything noted for the location. If not, they could start one themselves.

I absolutely love this idea. @AdiMoreno I nominate you to being the section!

xxxo

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Nederland, Colorado, USA.

I’m on a sit in this quirky, dog-friendly, fun mountain town with loads of hiking, friendly (but, did I mention quirky?) people, a few good cafes and several good breweries. Great hiking and mountain biking all around, and if you come in winter, nearby skiing and winter sports. There is a sit here listed for early September if you can get it!

  1. Crosscut pizzeria and tap house. Hands down the best place in town. The BEST staff, pizza and beer. Crowded, but as a solo sitter I can always squeeze in one spot at the bar. DF patio.
  2. Busey’s brewery and BBQ. Don’t miss Thursday night trivia nights. Join a local team and make new friends. DF patio
  3. Knotted Root Brewery. Unconventional beers, great live music, fun, mostly younger crowd. 100% dog-friendly and always dogs in there. Ask Lindsey, one of the bartenders, to get the karaoke going after the live music is done. He’s amazing.
  4. Very Nice brewery. Chill vibe, low-key (acoustical) live music, excellent traditional brews, a real local gem. Generally a more mature crowd. DF on leash.
  5. New Moon bakery. Good coffee and great baked goods. Opens early and full of locals. DF patio.
  6. Salto. Hip coffee spot connected to a bike shop. Really good coffee. DF patio
  7. The Train Cars. Good coffee, tiny donuts that are addictive. Yes, it’s inside repurposed train cars. DF patio.
  8. Kathmandu. Good Nepalese and Indian food. A local fave.
  9. A few cool art galleries and touristy shops that are hit-or-miss.
  10. The Carrousel of Happiness. You must do it once as a rite of passage here. Google it. Not really for pets.
  11. Mud Lake open space. Inaptly named beautiful uncrowded local park/trails a few minutes out of town. Keep dogs on leash or risk a $100 fine!

And so much more to explore.
I will def find a way to get back to this town soon!

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Hi @J0e Nederland, Colorado sounds fab! Thank you for all the great recommendations :+1:t2::slightly_smiling_face:

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That’s great! I’d be happy if we could have something like that, or at least a pinned post or something that anybody can search & add

@AdiMoreno , this is great idea! I’ll add one to Leamington Spa, recommended by my HO there: a Greek restaurant called Beba’s. Their halloumi gyro was delicious.

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Hi @AdiMoreno I agree Leamington Spa is a lovely town and thank you for all the excellent recommendations! :slightly_smiling_face:

I tend to put recommendations on places to visit in my feedback on the sit for future sitters to read.

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