Yesterday I stumbled across a local website to Hertfordshire, UK, offering what I THOUGHT was boarding in one’s own home for your dog/cat etc. I’m a sitter for THS but not registered as a THS HomeOwner. I’m away for new year and although I can ask friends to look after my own dog ( I always pay them about £100-£150 plus provision of foods, treats, bedding, towels, and a cast iron promise that I will pay for any veterinary care if necessary), this year I thought I’d look around for home boarding ie someone to take my dog into their home to take the pressure off my friends ( I have no family to look after him :-(()
Imagine my surprise when this organisation based in Borehamwood replied giving me costings: £52 per day plus £104 for January 1st. So I’d be paying the sitter coming into my home over £450 for them to sit in my home and look after my dog.
My eyes are watering!!!
Best upgrade your membership to owner as well!!!
I don’t think anyone would want to come to Luton, Bedfordshire, so I’m looking at asking my breed friends. Luckily i belong to a breed club and Cavalier people look after their own.
@LTD Well… Luton has great transport links with the airport, the M1 and a good rail service to London…
I lived there for a couple of years when I got my first job on leaving University. At the final round of interviews and assessments, one of the candidates told everyone that his uncle was the town planner for Luton in the 1960s. He didn’t get a job.
Seriously though, there are some lovely little towns and villages and great countryside nearby. We’d consider applying for a sit in one of the residential areas outside of the town centre as a base for exploring the area.
It’s a great place for easy access to the UK motorway system. At weekends it’s easy for me to get to my dog shows in far flung places like Stafford. But the town itself isn’t pretty I must admit. It seems like a concrete jungle with buildings of different styles. But drive 10 minutes outside the town and you’re in rolling Bedfordshire countryside which is glorious. Next year I’m returning to my other home in South Wales and the green, green grass of home and I cannot wait!
I don’t know anything about Luton, Bedfordshire, but I’m always interested in some place that’s different from what I’m used to. I would think other sitters would also be interested in Luton.
I really like doing the normal, everyday things. Going to the grocery store, going to the thrift stores… Seeing the differences in every day life is very entertaining for me. I want to live life the way the locals do.
House and Home Sitters would do this for: £30 pd £35 per day for assignments of three days or less. Plus travel.
Bank Holidays £10 surcharge. Daily Pet Care Rates £2.50 per dog and £2 per cat. Standard dog walking fees £3 per dog per walk. https://houseandhomesitters.co.uk
Some clients prefer to pay so they know they are getting a good back up service should a sitter not be able to make it at the last minute.
I tend to do free sits abroad (for the experience of travel) and expenses paid sits in the UK. Each to their own.
I am this way as well. Sometimes just being in the home is enough for me because it is different. I enjoy the atmosphere of the place and the simple every day things like the tea kettle, the duvet, even the small fridge in a cabinet… the sounds and feel of a place. All these things that are common to the local but extraordinary to an alien. 
We would come to Luton… got a sit in Swindon next summer! As some of the others said we love to just experience something new and get to live in someone else’s shoes for a short while. It is not all about the big cities and the coast, pets need love and company everywhere. 
Hi @TravellingWitch
I was with Homesitters Uk for a shortwhile 10 years ago, and whilst the HOs were charged these high prices, I, as a sitter only received a fraction of what the HO paid.
@LTD - You may want to look at Borrowmydoggie. I am a member of this site and walk a local dog once a week. However, it also has a feature for pet boarding which you may be interested in. Like THS, no cash is exchanged.
That just goes to show how worthwhile Trusted Housesitters is
I don’t think you should assume that. I’ve a cousin in Luton so it would be handy to visit him and, as others say here, there are lots of places to visit nearby.
Isn’t the film Blinded by the Light set in Luton. I’ve only been to the airport, but the film was great.
Sure, a sit in London or Edinburgh, New York or Seattle are great. But I’ve enjoyed small town sits here in the US, a country sit in Somerset.
I can entertain myself in many different ways!
I don’t know. I hadn’t heard of Luton before, but now I kind of want to go there.
Was Lorraine Chase from there? I hated her accent but I’m sure Luton is a lovely place.
Sorry all, for being absent from this thread for a few days. I’m here now!
Oh Elsie! If only you knew … Bedfordshire itself is a lovely county, and if you drive a few miles outside Luton there are lush, rolling, green fields for miles around. But Luton itself is a shock to the system. Multi-cultural in the extreme, high crime rates, dirty streets, drug running on residential streets, people walking ‘status’ dogs off lead, crazy traffic with people driving the wrong way up one way streets, London property prices, etc, etc … on the weekend that I moved here, a 19 year old jumped a red light and crashed in to me. I’m moving back to sedate, serene, safe, South Wales next summer.
@LTD I moved to Luton for my first job after finishing University. I’m from historic York originally, which couldn’t be more different! University was mainly in Hull (grittier but definitely not multicultural at all), I did spend a year in Lyon, fantastic place, but as a big city may have given me some preparation for living in Luton.
I worked for a big company who at the time were mainly involved in brewing, pubs, restaurants and hotels, so the social scene was quite good. I’m pretty sure we only ever frequented our own pubs where we knew the staff and landlords. In fact I lived in the Red Lion for the first 5 weeks (literally, the company put us up there until we’d found somewhere to rent) and couldn’t come downstairs for dinner without bumping into work colleagues buying drinks.
I do remember picking my way carefully along the pavement on my way to work avoiding the places where they were hosing the blood? off the pavement. That and the alarms going off in the Arndale Shopping Centre and all the shutters going down on the shops at least a couple of times every Saturday. As soon as I had access to a car I used to drive to Hitchin to go shopping.
I do have lots of good memories of my time there, but they are all about the people. Some great friends and neighbours. Sadly I’ve now lost touch with most of them.
It didn’t take me too long at all to decide to take the opportunity to work in Cheltenham instead of Luton. Funny how we’ve lived in the same (and very different) towns!