Hello Ashley and Trace here!
We are a family of three who worldschools our nine year daughter and world travels full time. We find different schools and organizations to educate our daughter. We are originally from America, but have been traveling since 2019. We sold everything and live out of one backpack for each person. We are new to this platform, we have really only had one house sit, however we have connected so well that we already plan to get together this summer again!
I am looking forward to getting more tips and tricks for offers to sit with a child. I feel like a lot of home /pet owners tend to turn us down because we have a child. We will head to the UK this summer! Thanks for your time!
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Hi Ashley and Trace, my family of 5 have been travelling for the last 2 years and started applying for sits about 2 months ago and we got 9 confirmed. One homeowner actually said that in the beginning, she found singles to be more āsuspiciousā and she was thrilled because she felt like she could trust a family. Iām sure there are HOās that only want a single/couple but there are others who like the concept of a family. Keep applying because you never know.
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Laughing at the thought of someone finding me scary or suspicious 
. Iām a 5 ft tall (152 cm), 56 year-old professional woman. I typically think the risk is more on my end as a single woman going to a strangerās home. But I can certainly see how a homeowner would be nervous too.
Hi ashleylowens,
My daughter and I traveled for two years when she was aged 13-15 and she did primarily online programs for school during that time. It was a wonderful experience for her. We didnāt do any housesitting though, we stayed mostly in Airbnbās. Now that sheās older and attending a university Iām travelling and housesitting solo (although sheāll be joining me for the summer).
Iāve seen a lot of sits that indicate they are family friendly and there are tons of sits in the UK. Actually, my daughter and I will be doing a few sits in the UK in July. I doubt if you will have any trouble finding sits there.
I agree with you, I do think there is more risk as a single woman going into a strangerās home. All of the background checks are done on the sitters and not the homeowners. I think the feedback system is useful on both sides to put each at ease.
Hi @ashleylowens - welcome to trusted house sitters. Have you noticed that there is a āfamily friendlyā filter that you can use when you are searching for your sits? Using this should prevent too many knockbacks from owners that donāt feel comfortable having children in their homes.
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This is so awesome!! Where are you going in the U.K.? Are you just planning to follow house sits? Weāll be there May 24th through Sept 3, super excited! We have a couple of shorter stints in Hungary, France and Germany, but for the most part we will be in the U.K.
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Hi @ashleylowens Ashley & Trace,
We are a UK family of 4, although we often sit as a trio - myself and my 2 sons aged 14 and 12. I work in a school so have the benefit of school holidays. We have been housesitting in our school holidays since 2019 and now usually do at least one housesit every school holiday, and the occasional weekend too.
You should have no problem finding housesits in the UK as long as you look for those that are family friendly. We have found it harder to secure a sit in the more sought after UK locations where there is more competition, for example in cities like London, but it is possible and persistence eventually pays off. When we apply for more rural sits, or are open minded about the location we are far more successful. We have really enjoyed exploring new areas of the UK we wouldnāt necessarily have thought of visiting as a result of being invited to housesit or browsing available sits.
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Hi!
We actually made such good friends with a Trusted House sitter job that we did last summer in London that we are going back to see them and stay at their home. We are looking for more sitting jobs around Manchester but we want it to be for longer month-long sits, I feel like that is harder to find.
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Oh, thatās so awesome! And yeah ā I found that hard as well ā to find longer sits. Was going for a month long or longer, but didnāt find much. We are doing a 10 day, a 2.5 week, and two back-to-back 3 week stays interspersed with a couple of short Airbnb stints to fill the 3 months of our trip.
When / how long will you be in the U.K.? Where are you guys from in the U.S.?