Hello from Maggie the Campervan, UK!

Welcome & Getting Started
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Hi to all sitters and owners alike!

My name is Georgie and my little family (Hubby Chris and daughter Freya) have just signed up to THS and are so excited to start our new adventures meeting new people, in new places, with new pets :slight_smile:

We are primarily Vanlifers in the UK, meaning that for most of the year we live in our self converted 7m campervan called Maggie, travelling the UK. It’s a small space for a family of 3 but luckily our daughter loves being outside, so while Chris is working full time on his business as a remote video game programmer, you can usually find me and Freya trekking national parks, on local dog-walking paths in forests or camping on farms just to meet all the friendly animals!

I have my own virtual assistance business which is flexible around being a full-time mum. And Freya, even at 2 years old, loves being given responsibility and joining in with mummy’s chores, so we have all day to spend playing, walking, cleaning, feeding and chilling with any animals we care for.

We love life in our van all together, but time in a house would be just a luxury for us. Hot showers, a quiet space for my husband to work (away from “Daddy, daddy, daddy!”), a secure area for our daughter to explore, the chance to spend time with new furry friends and even more chance to teach my daughter how to properly interact and care for the animals we love.

We are already looking into how a furry friend can join our wonderful family as we miss having animals of our own but until that happens, this is a chance for us to give our love to those furry friends who need looking after while their owners are away.

We are only applying to house sit for owners with large grounds, in the countryside or with large drives as we would be driving to the house with our van (a 2013 ELWB sprinter van like what delivery drivers use, 7m long), so I hope no one minds if we park on your drives when we do a sit-in the near future :slight_smile:

Thank you for reading and we hope to meet some of you soon!

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Hi @georgina.ballshaw a very warm community family welcome to your family and Maggie the van, thank you for joining us and for your wonderful introduction … we’d love a picture of Maggie & her family too. Welcome also to TrustedHousesitters I’m sure you have a great adventure unfold in 2022, we can’t wait to share it with you.

There are a number of members around the world combining vanning and pet sitting, the opportunity to enjoy a “static home” as in one not on wheels, with a furry companion is a great combination of lifestyles.

Enjoy the conversations and connecting with our members from around the world, welcome again.

Angela and the Team

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That sounds wonderful. Please post a pic with Maggie the van :blush:

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Hi Georgie
Welcome to the forum. Great introduction! We have had 4 campervans, the first one had three paintings on it. There are lots of artists in Morocco who earn a very nice living painting camper vans. I wish I had my photos with me they are locked away in the UK while we are in Spain.

I think you are incredibly brave living full time in a van with your family. John and I have travelled hundreds of thousands of miles over 25 years in our campervans but never full time.

It’s a wonderful life! I hope you all continue to enjoy being on the road and manage to get some lovely sits.

All the best

John and Caroline

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Welcome @georgina.ballshaw and family!
Have to join in and ask for some pics and stories of course of your adventures with Maggie!

@CarolineJohn1 you too!
Maybe in the travel category?

Sounds like some incredible tails lie ahead!

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We’ve got 1000s of photos from all over the world but they are on a hard drive in the UK.

We could probably bore people senseless with them :scream::rofl:

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Don’t underestimate yourself. I am sure there are many here who would be interested. It would be fun. We can wait till you get back :wink:

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Thank you for the lovely warm welcomes! As requested here is Maggie in all her grey glory, when we had the awning out in summer drying all the cloth nappies I had just hand washed!

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We’re just completing our first house sit and it’s very refreshing. We are really enjoying home comforts and of course, new fluffy friends, but also reminded of why we love our vanlife too (stairs are exhausting! especially with a toddler who thinks they are great fun!) haha!

Yeah, I’ll find the travel section and see what stories would be worthy of posting, we have so many already!

Thank you everyone!

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And a pic of maggies family too! Hi everyone :smiley:

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Thank you @georgina.ballshaw family, what a lovely photo … how did your van become a Maggie?

Congrats on your first sit, where is it, what pets are enjoying your company and where are you off to next?

Although it must be great to have a change of abode, a little more space etc., you have obviously embraced your mobile lifestyle … the best of both worlds, sounds perfect for you.

Looking forward to reading your stories …thank you for sharing your family pet sitting travels and those lovely smiles :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Hi Angela! Well we actually bought Maggie preconverted, as the idea was to get out into the van ASAP as we were living at my mother in law’s (who we loved staying with but it was a small flat for the 4 of us!) And she was a Maggie by the previous owner, but unfortunately that owner turned out to be not a nice person and had not only failed to mention rather large structural issues with his work (cowboy diy job!) But had actually painted over black mould to sell it to us…even though little Freya was with us when we bought it!

But luckily we found the problems quickly, had both just quit our jobs (so we had the time to spend on it) as we had saved up for a year out with our new baby and my mother in law loved my cooking, as my husband spent the next 6 months ripping out the entire inside of the van and redid the lot by himself! Which isn’t bad work for a computer geek haha

We’re lucky that we enjoy spending so much time together, that our work is now flexible enough so that if one of us just needs a break the other can just go for a walk and that we get to park in such beautiful places that make all the little bad times worth it :smiley:

For our first house sit: We’re in lovely Cardiff! The people in this city are so nice and friendly, and everyone is wearing masks when they are supposed to! (Big change from North west where we’ve been for most of winter…) we’re looking after a lovely black cat called Mila, who reminds me of my childhood cat but she is way cuddlier :slight_smile: The family has made us feel very welcome and I’m going to try to take my little girl to their allotment tomorrow to do some weeding for them if the weather is nice.

Then next we are back to England for a toddlers birthday party, before coming back to Wales, snowdonia, port marion to celebrate with my mum having finished her last chemo treatment and being cancer free! Before waiting to be accepted for our next house sit :slight_smile: All good things x

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Oh my goodness thank you for sharing more of your story and what a lovely ending to this episode …

We wish you safe onward travels , happy family time and more wonderful sit experiences, all we ask is that you take us along … for the ride, in Maggie of course.

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Yes, I’d like to see a pic of Maggie too!