Since January 2018, my girlfriend Fiona and I have been homeless! Well, not technically true, but we have been house sitting for some lovely couples around the UK. This consists of looking after animals (dogs mainly) and making sure their house and property is well looked after.
The house sitting is a good way for us to continue working on our own businesses, whilst not having to worry about rent or bills. In the process, we’ve fallen in love with many dogs, cats and even some chickens, plus stayed in some wonderful houses in brilliant locations.
There was the keepers cottage on the grounds of a National Trust estate, with 400 head of deer; the 3 storey farmhouse in Surrey with a large property and rogue gypsy horses; the apartment block in Bristol with a roof terrace; the list goes on.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing: Fiona’s Fiesta finally fortook its final furlong (ten points for alliteration!), we attempted a week without animals in a hotel (so boring!) and we’ve had other unexpected challenges along the way. All in all it’s been a success – we are taking it as another adventure in our crazy lives and we’ve seen so many amazing places on our travels
Work-wise it has been great to get to stay in so many different places around the UK. I’ve met so many new musicians and bands and it was definitely the catalyst for my 2019 New Band Challenge (more on this in a future post). It has been interesting to see what is happening in the music scenes I visit, and each place has had a slightly different focus for me. Up in Manchester I enjoyed playing with the Salford University Brass Band for most of February 2018, and in Brighton and Bristol I found myself at plenty of jazz gigs and jams. That’s just a small sample of the wide variety of music I’ve played since beginning the house sitting.
I’m aiming to post a little about each house sit as we finish – apologies for not doing this a year ago! So follow us on our house sitting adventure, who knows where we’ll end up next??