Hello lovely people.
I have seen a few listings where sitters stay in a separate apartment and not in the house. I’m curious about this. Who has done such a sit? Did you feel welcome? Did the pets stay in the main house and how did that work?
If you’re an owner reading this, I am very curious too about why owners choose this arrangement, and don’t ask the sitters to stay in the house?
Hi @andrealovesanimals,
The first sit I did through THS was staying in a granny annex. It was connected to the HO house though. I still had full access to the home and used the kitchen and living room.
I guess it depends on the set-up and facilities you have access to if it’s separate.
We recently did a sit where we stayed with the dogs in the guest house on the property. The pet parent had lived in the guest house while building the main house and the dogs were very familiar with the guest house. It worked out great. We arrived the morning that the PP was leaving. She showed us around the property and brought the dogs over to the guest house then she was able pack and get ready for her trip without us or the dogs under her feet. Her return worked in the same fashion. The PP got home late afternoon and dogs went back to the main house. We had a quiet evening to ourselves with plenty of time to clean and prepare for our departure.
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I have done this and honestly in a way I sort of preferred it. Felt very welcomed and also it felt very nice to have my own space. I’ve also done sits where I stayed in such a situation during handover and then moved into main house. In some of these cases this was an Airbnb when not in use by me. I kind of loved it- one thing with that is you kind of know for sure it’s gonna be super clean etc. in all cases I did have access to main house for amenities that might not be in the guest quarters (laundry etc ). To some degree I now look for sits where this is the case. They have been much cleaner and less cluttered on the whole, for one thing (which I’m admittedly picky about )
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Hi @andrealovesanimals - we’ve just done a three week sit where we lived in the guesthouse (Wooden house on stilts in the jungle) for the duration of a sit. It was actually preferable to the main house as it was less “lived in” so felt more like ours. The dogs didn’t mind either and slept downstairs rather than under the bed which we also prefer.
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I have done two sits where I stayed in a separate apartment that was connected to the house. Like the others, I had full access to the house. I also loved it, as it felt like my own space. In both cases the dogs were not allowed in there but I really only accessed it to sleep. Because I like to be by the animals, I mostly stay in the rooms where they are. I have another sit coming up in October where I’ll be staying in the MIL suite and am very much looking forward to it.
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How interesting, you all sound very positive. To me it seemed a bit like giving the pet sitter a lower status, by not letting them live in the house. Good to see that there are advantages too and people have felt welcome by the pet owners.
@mars What you say would be a bit of an issue for me. I like to be near the animals too and I think they might feel alone if nobody sleeps in the house with them. It might not make much of a difference to them though, if they sleep in different rooms from their owners anyway.
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We’ve had this situation a number of times and usually it feels very nice.
Right now we are in such a situation in Spain. The hosts have a main home and 3 beautiful guest cottages- all close together. We are in one of the cottages and its so lovely and clean and comfy and the hosts left lots of welcome goodies for us- e.g big fruit bowl, bottles of wine & food in the fridge! Since its a kind of small holiday complex in the pampa each cottage is fully equipped with absolutely everything you could need. We also have access to the pool and gym and a large bar area with games, pool table, books etc! We don’t have access to the main house but have also absolutely no need of it either. The dogs sleep outside on the main terrace and wander freely during the day. They have a beautiful parrot in a large cage who is staying with us in our cottage & he’s great company! We feel extremely welcomed and treated like honoured guests. We overnighted before and shared a meal and will stay at the end too. We’re really happy to have our own space!
Other experiences;
Once we stayed in the hosts holiday cottage in another village where we were invited a couple of days early and then the (absolutely lovely) host came to deliver the dog into our care! They had 5 dogs and this one was a bit nervy so they wanted to give him a holiday away from the gang so he’have a bit of special attention. It worked so well the sit was extended for a second week and the dog was so calm by the end!
Another time we stayed in the hosts super luxury guest wing as they (first timers) preferred not to have us stay in the house with them. But they were very welcoming and took us out for a meal and we moved into the main home to be with the dog after they left. It was great- the only (little) downside was two places to clean (to their 5* hotel standards!) before their return!
Yet another time we stayed in a small self contained unit of a large manor house. The hosts had a whole wing rented out on airbnb. In addition to our unit. In this case we did not really feel treated so well as we were invited to come the night before but were not invited in for a meal or even for a drink in the main house. The hosts also left nothing in the flat to welcome us and there were no basic supplies. Luckily we were travelling by car and had lots of basics on board. These hosts were first timers. They were nice enough people but clearly had a bit of a staff mentality. They thought they were doing us a great favour by “letting us stay for free” in their new unit. All appliances were there but it was very minimally equipped. E.g No dishwashing liquid, no washing liquid, or soap etc and only one toilet roll provided (for a week!)
The dog stayed with us and we had no access to the main house…
However overall I’d say being offered a designated guest suite can be very nice- its often cleaner and less cluttered than the main home!
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@andrealovesanimals , in the two homes I mention, the dogs didn’t sleep with the owner anyway. In one they slept in the kitchen, in the other they slept in the laundry room. At my October sit, they will sleep in the sitter’s room, which I will enjoy!
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This has been an interesting thread @andrealovesanimals . I think my perception of being offered a guest suite / annex was similar to yours. The responses here have made me rethink. Also, like yourself and @mars we really enjoy being close to the animals. We all love relaxing on an evening with the animals and my sons like pets who sleep in their room. I think I’ve discounted some “guest annex” sits because of this. Perhaps we should give it a try some time.
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@Debbie
Yes, I am thinking the same thing now.
I have applied for a sit with this kind of set-up after reading the replies here, but haven’t heard anything back yet. Who knows, it might happen in future.
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Hi @mars I have a really lovely sit where I stay in the casita, which is my choice. I have access to the entire property and could easily stay in the main home but "puppy’ is happy being anywhere I am and it’s just a really lovely space with everything I need.
The cleaner comes twice a week and when I leave, if it’s between her visits, I only have 800 sq feet to clean and not 6,000 
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I actually prefer staying in the guest house/Airbnb/granny flat. I’m not falling over the hosts personal stuff and there’s loads of space to spread all my things out. As others have said they are usually done out to very high standards. The first one I did I was rather sceptical if the dogs would be ok but he was 100%.
I have booked a sit for next Easter near my grandchildren and we will be in the gatehouse of the property. Ideal for us. No worrying about breaking any family heirlooms. The owner has given us permission for them to stay overnight. I hope it works out and it can become a regular sit for school holidays. Fingers crossed.
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Because of our specific needs we often ask sitters to come a day or two early so that our nervous dogs can get used to them. They stay in our guest apartment during that time. They all seem to like it. We offer them to stay after the sit if they want to explore the area and have free accommodation. They stay in the main house when we are not here
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I looked after 2 cats in a 9 bedroom house in Buckinghamshire. The annex was offered and had a door straight into the kitchen, the owners thought I might feel a bit lonely in such a huge house. It was a beautiful space and I had full use of the rest of the house and garden with no restrictions
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We’ve had two very different experiences.
On one regular sit we stay in a lovely, comfortable annexe close to the house, which we keep an eye on. We sometimes arrive a day or two before the home owners go off. They get to continue their lives with a business and young family, and we have our own space, which is plenty big enough for the two of us. The dog and cat tend to move between the two by choice, but are usually fully with us after a few days! The annexe now feels like home after about 12 sits, and staying in the main house would feel a bit strange.
Once though, we had a seperate annexe to a beautiful old house with lots of rooms. They hadn’t mentioned we’d have upstairs only: one large room, one tiny bedroom and bathroom, which made privacy for work calls difficult. It was extremely hot upstairs, and with builders using power tools right outside.
The first home owners treat us like guests in many ways, and in return we do our best to cover their frequent trips between us - whereas the latter I think saw us as the (unpaid) help, and we politely declined their invitation to return…
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Thanks for sharing all these fascinating experiences! I’d really like to stay in an annexe now and try it out… not like the second one @Sunshine_G describes though!