House sit in rural West Sussex for 2 lovable Cavalier King Charles Spaniels

Introduction

We are a fit and youthful retired couple who used to own a niche advertising agency in London. We live in a new eco house built in the grounds of our old pretty listed cottage where our daughter and family now live. We are surrounded by countryside, lovely pubs and hundreds of walks straight from the house - along the Wey-Arun canal and up to the South Downs. We love our new enormous South facing patio & more manageable garden, which has wonderful views over fields one side and treetops into the distance the other. We also have an apiary in the orchard below the garden with hives that produce delicious local honey. We travel a great deal as 2 of our children live abroad - probably 3 or 4 times a year. We have an adorable 4 year old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Rafa. He is affectionate, loves people and dogs, and is playful and can be cheeky. He has attended dog training classes up to the advanced level, is very quick to learn and loves his sessions. He also does agility training which he adores. We are surrounded by wonderful walks which are on our door step and Rafa walks by the canal twice a day and otherwise has the run of our fenced garden. For some sits our daughter’s almost one year old Cavalier King Charles spaniel will be staying at our home too. His name is Ernie & he & Rafa spend most of their time together while the family is at work/school, so they are the best of friends.

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Home & location

Our eco house was built in 2019 in the grounds of our 13th century home which is now lived in by my daughter and family. It is built in a Scandinavian style but with all modern and eco fittings, a huge patio surrounded by garden beds, a fruit and vegetable garden and a large orchard/paddock down the slope from the garden where we have an apiary of 4 - 8 hives, producing quantities of local, delicious honey. The house is surrounded by fields with wonderful views and is opposite a farm that breeds Charolais cattle which graze in the pastures. From the house we can walk miles - along the canal, through woods or as far as the South Downs. You can walk to a pub on the canal... You need a car to get to the local village shop and larger shops further afield. Cranleigh (known as the largest village in England) is 10 minutes away and has shops, garden centre, restaurants, pubs & our vet. There are numerous good pubs very close by. We are about 15 minutes from Horsham town with all its shops, restaurants, theatre and cinema. We are about 25 minutes from Guildford town - a large old market town with cobbled streets and lots of excellent shops, restaurants, leisure centre, cinema, 3 theatres... We are about 25 minutes from Gatwick airport and our nearest train stations are: Billingshurst, 10 minutes drive away and 1 1/2 hours to London Victoria & Guildford, 30 minutes away and many fast trains (30 minutes) to London Waterloo. There are local buses but they do not run very frequently. We are surrounded by beautiful and interesting Sussex villages, towns, stately homes, Arundel castle, Parham house & much more.

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Responsibilities

We need people to take care of our beloved young dog - take him for walks, carry on with his obedience training, look after him as if he were their own. He is very lovable and nicely mannered. On some sits our daughter’s one year old Cavalier King Charles spaniel will also be at home & will need looking after too. Ernie & Rafa are great friends. We would also like our house to be taken care of and, depending on the time of year, various things done in the garden - watering, picking fruit & vegetables to use etc. We would particularly like them to keep us updated with how everything is while we are away - especially news of our dogs.

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Meet the pets

Photo of Rafa

Rafa

6 years

Photo of Ernie

Ernie

3 years

Sitter Reviews (7)

Homeowner Reviews (0)

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This sit was fabulous. Suzy and Jack were great to communicate with and went over and above to make sure we felt comfortable when we arrived. The house is lovely, modern, warm and clean. We really enjoyed the peaceful country side. Raffa is adorable. He is very well trained and easy to manage. He loves your company but doesn’t need loads of attention. He is more than happy to sleep near you all day long. We loved taking him out on walks and will really miss him! We would recommend this sit to anyone and are really looking forward to returning for future sits.

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Stayed: 26 Feb 2024 - 24 Mar 2024
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Stayed: 11 Dec 2022 - 07 Jan 2023
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This was a really great housesit. Suzy is super organised and a great communicator. Her welcome guide should be the gold standard for house sitting. We really appreciated having it to refer to as we knew all the answers would be there. Suzy and Jack’s very comfortable home is not only beautiful but is set in the most wonderful area. There were fabulous walks directly from the front door through woods and along the canal. We were able to take walks in a different direction almost every day accompanied by Rafa the best trained dog ever. We were really lucky to have the totally gorgeous Ernie the second week of our stay and he was absolutely delightful. Rafa and Ernie are best friends and it was clear that Ernie was learning best behaviour from his “ uncle Rafa “. They were brilliant to take on trips too as they were so well behaved. We totally enjoyed their company and found ourselves smiling and laughing at their antics . Suzy and Jack were wonderful hosts making our stay very comfortable with the added bonus of interesting chats over dinner. We would highly recommend this sit and would love to return to give the boys a big squeeze and get a good licking.

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Stayed: 19 May 2022 - 03 Jun 2022
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A beautiful house with perfect housesitter accommodation and set in the wonderful West Sussex countryside, close to some great pubs and wonderful walks. We had a fabulous time with the gorgeous Rafa who was so sweet, loveable and most definitely one of the best behaved dogs we’ve had the pleasure to spend time with, an absolute joy to be around. His older pal Buster joined us for a short while at the end of our stay and together they were both delightful to sit for. Suzy and James are terrific people. Relaxed. warm and friendly with a great sense of humour. Communication was a breeze and they were both generous with their time and kindness to Daniel and I. I cannot recommend this sit enough and we hope to be returning time and time again. Very many thanks to you both and we look forward to seeing you all again soon

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Stayed: 22 Jul 2019 - 14 Aug 2019
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Stayed: 23 May 2019 - 07 Jun 2019

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James & Suzy
Last time sitter needed: 5 months 22 days ago