Hi everyone! I’m Debbie from Gloucestershire UK. I usually housesit with my husband and 2 sons. We’ve been members for nearly 2 years. We have done 3 sits in the UK so far, and are hoping to do some more this year.
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Hi… I’m also in Gloucestershire (Lydney) having moved here after doing a sitting here!
Martin
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@Martin_S Housesitting is a great way to try out living in a new area! We are in Cheltenham.
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Hi Welcome Debbie from Gloucs. a beautiful part of England, so happy you have joined our community forum we hope it’s the start of a long and happy conversation, can’t wait to get to know you better and share in your THS journey.
Thank you for being part of our amazing community.
Angela and the Team
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I had a very interesting sit in Cheltenham, it goes to show how far trust really extends on this site. I never met or spoke to the hosts at all, they accepted my application we exchanged texts and numbers with a view to an hour’s handover, they decided to leave early and the key was left under the gnome for me!
All worked perfectly well 
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Hello Pauline 
Hello Martin
Great to see all the new people joining
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Welcome Debbie!
It’s very neat that you house sit with your kids! How old are you sons? Do you think it makes it more difficult to find house sits?
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@ScrewTheAverage thank you! the boys are now 12 and 10. I also work in a school too so we’re very much tied to school holidays and weekends. I guess some of the owners who need sitters in the school holidays also have children so are more likely to be open to families as sitters. We tend to look for sits that say they are family friendly. It can sometimes work in our favour - last summer we did a sit with 4 dogs and there were 4 of us, so we could walk one each. It really helped a couple of the dogs to stay calmer and not get too overexcited or anxious.
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@Martin_S Our first sit was very like that. The key was in a key safe as the owners had left before we arrived. Then we left before they returned. We communicated by messages on the site and then texts during the sit, but never actually met or spoke to each other! They left a comprehensive information pack and all went smoothly.
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What a great experience for your boys! Travel was invaluable for both of us when we were young.
We don’t have kids traveling with us, but even as a couple we’ve found it has generally made it easier to sit. Since we do it full time, it’s gives us flexibility to split up to start one sit and complete the other if there’s an overlap of dates, we can tag team sit responsibilities, and if an emergency comes up one of us can attend to it without leaving the owner hanging.
It has precluded us from occasional sits we would have liked to do (since we’re not a ‘single applicant’) but nothing noticeable over all.
Hopefully summer will bring some great sits for you and family! 
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Hi i now live in France since 2018 but i moved from Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire A beautiful part of the world
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@RachelW Chipping Campden is a lovely place. Of course so is France. Whereabouts in France are you? I lived in Lyon for a year when I was at University - a lot of years ago now!
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The medieval town of Sarlat Exactly same buildings and stonework of Chipping Campden except hotter and cheaper to buy here in France Though I miss no M & S and the many beautiful of places in UK also.
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I have spent a couple of trips to that area Sarlat being the highlight but Domme, Beynac, Rocamadour, Les Bugue ,Brive all lovely places to visit and eat out!
Love the canoeing on the Vezere and Dordogne… we have similar on the River Wye around Symonds yat.
I’d love to return to the Dordogne at some point! 
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Martin i’ll keep that in mind! We just actually went today to Domme lunch time to walk the dogs and Beynac yesterday to walk along the river again with the dogs. The Dordogne river is normally full of canoes but sadly because of COVID river very quiet. I love the River Wye and Symonds Yat also. Many day trips there when we lived nearby
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@RachelW Sarlat looks wonderful. I see what you mean about the same stone as the Cotswolds!
@Martin_S I love the sound of the conoeing near Sarlat. We love Symonds Yat and the Wye Valley too.
Another place to add to our ever growing wish list! I speak fluent french too (or at least I was fluent the last time I dusted it off!)
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