Your sit sounds fantastic, a very interesting sit for you with many different animals. And emus, how fascinating. Donkeys are always the thing that gets me.
Yes the two sits did leave me good reviews, one I did I even had to set up a bnb accommodation and welcome the guests. So yes a lot of them should be offering payment for what we do. A very few have or have asked me, to which I have said no, but some have insisted i take something, so I have!!
The one interesting thing I have read from this forum is actually asking if a car was avaiable as often it is difficult to get to. I am always lookimg for out of town ones or farm sits and almost always a car is needed. If I am on an International sit I donāt usually have a car, which can exclude me from some fabulous sits. So perhaps in future I will ask. I have driven a right hand drive car in France when sitting for some English friends of friends. While to begin with it was a bit of a challenge, I got used to it and drove all over the Dordogne region looking at castles for a month over Christmas one year. One of the most memorable sits I have done.
But while I donāt mind the work with animals, there has to be a good balance. I am more of a home body but do like to explore the area if it is new to me.
THS is a fabulous way to see many different places and meet somewonderful peopleā¦
@Annie Your Dordogne trip sounds amazing! Weād also love to some more French housesits. One autumn we were actually (out of the blue) invited for a sit- which fortunately fitted our plans perfectly- 3 weeks in the south of France- Provence- villa with pool, 2 dogs, 2 cats & car included!! 
Sometimes you get really lucky! Right now weāre just at the tailend of a fabulous āsummer housesitting tourā of UK- just cruising around from one lovely sit to the next, mostly country homes. Its been a wonderful experience! Weāve been here since May and are now on Sit no.28 of the tour with one more booked! And seeing so much of the beautiful English countryside. Ofcourse you need a car for this. We picked up an old second hand one earlier in the year for this trip & will sell it when we leave. So much cheaper than renting a car!
I thinking asking hosts for car availability is a good idea. We have sometimes been offered use of car overseas & it can save a fortune especially now with rentals so expensive. We had a Sit recently where the hosts lent us their car (even though we had ours) because they wanted us to drive their dogs to the walking places & their car was much more suitable for 2 big dogs! And it only cost the host Ā£20 to add me on his insurance for a month (which covered 2 sits with them)
Happy travels! 
Your trip around the UK sounds absolutely fabulous. I also would love to do country ones for a while too. I did do two sits back in 2014 but both were in London, so it is time I returned I think!
The idea of buying the car makes a lot of sense too. Sounds like there are two of you, I am on my own doing this, which very occasionally can have its drawbacks!
Your French sojourn also sounds fantastic. All this is doing is whetting my appetite to get back to Europe and do it all again. I have a great fondness for Ireland, perhaps the donkeys, so I would love to get back there one last time and do some sits too.
Enjoy the rest of your sits in England, I am only slightly enviousā¦
I didnāt realize you could do a sit with two other adults.
@AnnaBaker you can sit by yourself, with a significant other or friend, or as a family. You just need to make sure you include all the sitters in your sitter profile. Here is a blog post about some of the families that currently sit with THS.
@claudinekent what a beautiful menagerieā¦and all those sloppy kisses! How could you go wrong???
@Annie Where are you from?
Yes Iām travelling with my hubby. The UK has been fabulous this year. In April there were over 4000 sits listed here! A sitters paradise! We got every sit we applied for! Still over 1000 now. We specifically chose countryside sits as I was brought up a city girl (in Brighton) & my hubby is German (and loves England) so we thought weād make the most of the abundance and spend a summer exploring the English countryside! Its been such a feast for all the senses! Many very beautiful, sometimes huge, homes- and such a variety of gorgeous animals- we added rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, sheep, horses & deer to our list of dogs, cats, chickens, fish, ducks & emus!! (Hope I didnāt forget anyone!)
I can highly recommend such a tour!
Like you weād also love to Sit in Ireland one day! We have Sat in Australia, Kuala Lumpur, Bali, Singapore, France, Germany, Spain & Switzerland so far. Weāre looking forward to adding more countries too! Housesitting has taken us on so many unexpected adventures!
I looked after a donkey, a few sheep and some ducks. Luckily the donkey and the sheep made their own way to their night shelter. On the other hand the ducks were a challenge getting them all in too the duck house. It was trial and error at its best. Food worked wonders 
Wow your sits sound like my dreams, you have ventured far and wide. All countries I have been to but not as a house sitter for most of them!
I also grew up in Brighton but in Melbourne Australia!. I also wondered where you were from because for me to do what you have done in the UK is somewhat restricted for me. Only allowed to stay for 6 months at a time and also another problem I only found out about a little while ago
I have always loved England and have been several times including house sitting but to be able to do the sits you have done would be just amazing.
I grew up in the city but my family are sheep farmers and so I have spent half my life with sheep and horses, so my love for the country has gone back a long way.
So far I have not looked after deer or emus or rabbits and hamsters but I have looked after rats and lizards!!
Right now I am living in Ghana and as the UK and Europe are so close here compared to Australia I have a feeling I would love to do some more house sitting again. Not done any since I left Australia a few months ago nowā¦ Not possible right now though.
But yes I agree with you, the adventures to be had are amazingā¦ Just I need to add some more to my resume!!!
If the homeowner is comfortable with the arrangement, I donāt know why it wouldnāt be ok?
Thatās Karma! 
@Lokstar sounds wonderful. Iāll check into buying a car because Iād really like to do this.
@Annie
Lovely to share stories with you here!
What a cooincidence that we both come from Brighton- on opposite sides of the world! I have been to Brighton, Tasmania, but not Melbourne!
Re- 6 month limit in UK- thatās more than enough time for a housesitting tour! My husband is German so is also subject to the 6 month limit. Weāll be leaving end of October after 5 months here and 30 back to back sits!!
Good luck with all your travel plans!
I think there is a way to direct message each other here- but Iām not sure how it works! So If youād like to stay connected please do feel free to figure it out!
Yes it is lovely to share, and yes I was amazed when I read you were also from Brighton. I am very happy to stay in touch and to see how best we can do this, this option is good for initial contact, so letās explore and see what we can come up with!
So does it mean with your husband you have to leave the UK for 6 months too? I guess itās ok if you have a house somewhere to go to.
When I go back to Australia I have to house sit as I donāt have a house to go to, which sometimes is problematic, especially during Covid as I left here as everyone thought I would die!! No one here did but my daughter got married and if I hadnāt gone when I did I would have missed the wedding. Australia slammed the door shut and no one could get in and no one could get out. Airfares were just ridiculous and some people never got back at all so I was lucky. It created a lot of other problems though. PS what is your name too, other than Lokstar!!
I still did manage to get a lot of sits despite the challenges, but nothing like you are doing nowā¦ That is just fantastic. I even took your advice and started, just for āfunsiesā, looking at the costs of buying a car. No intention of coming this year anyway but it is doable I can see. So lets see how we can connect via another means and stay in touchā¦
@Annie i just saw that if I click on your name a message box comes up- iām going try that! If you receive a message reply there to me & if not let me know here!
Wow @Lokstar sounds like you have had some fun adventures all over the world. Where has your favorite sit been? Iād love to see some photos from your Bali sit if you have them 
I traveled all over Bali years ago and would love to go back there.
Hi Julie
Hereās one of my favourite pics of our Bali Sit in Canggu! We had 2 lovely dogs & a gorgeous cat. Lovely villa & pool. It was a delight!
You asked about favourite sit- well thatās so hard to say as weāve had so many different experiences! We are on Sit no.54 right now and we have had many highlights over the years. One very interesting sit had Emus! And the house was amazing- a converted mill in the Cotswolds that used to belong to Ronnie Barker! (Famous UK comedian- for non-Brits!) Full of pics of celebraties, and the current ownersā amazing collection of travel artefacts! Another one in the English countryside had a beautiful herd of deer- at sunset time when the deer came closer it felt like we were in the Serengeti! Another recent favourite was with a gorgeous family who we overnighted with and the teenage daughters made the most spectacular dessert that I will never forget! But I digress!
That sit was also wonderful because of the lovely menagerie of 2 dogs, 3 guinea pigs, 4 rabbits and a hamster!! All of whom loved to be picked & cuddled- it was heavenly!So many lovely stories and amazing adventuresā¦
So happy we discovered THS!!!
Incredible @Lokstar !!! So happy to hear THS has brought you many memorable adventures. Your picture in Bali is lovely what dessert did the girls make you that you liked so much? One of my favorite things to do when traveling is trying the local cuisine!
@Julie_A they made a spectacular (mixed berries) Pavlova! They even made the meringue themselves from scratch! Absolutely mouthwatering- Iām salivating at the memory!!
Wow @Lokstar Sounds delicious 