Two relaxed greyhounds and 4 chickens in Northern Brittany, France

Introduction

Hello there! We moved from the UK to France nearly 20 years ago. We both work over here and have settled well into the local community. Its a beautiful area, less than half an hour from the North Brittany coast. We have two retired ex-racing greyhounds Olive and Reggie (who are just adorable!) and three chickens. We are looking for a reliable house sitter to care for them whilst we go to visit family in Australia…… The dates can be flexible either side of our trip as we have a flat upstairs where the sitter(s) can stay before and after our trip. When we have a day off we love to eat in the local restaurants, walk the dogs, go up to the coast or just spend time in the garden.

Home & location

We live in a small detached house in the village of Plédéliac, Côtes d’Armor. The house is split into two flats, we live downstairs with the dogs, the upstairs flat is extremely useful when friends and family visit! The downstairs flat has a double bedroom, sitting room (with woodburner), kitchen (with dining table, electric oven, gas hob, fridge/freezer, air fryer and microwave), bathroom and a second bedroom, currently used as an office. There is also a ‘back-kitchen’ with extra storage, washing machine and freezer. As well as the woodburner we also have central heating. The south facing garden is accessed through french windows from the sitting room or through the garage. We also have a vegetable garden and chicken run that are seperated from the main garden by hedge / gate. We would need the sitters to stay in the downstairs flat, there is one double bedroom. The dogs sleep in the sitting room and very occasionally need to go out during the night. The flat is on the ground floor but there are two steps to get into the front door. Our village has a bar, bakery (which is fantastic!), butchers, village shop, hairdresser, football pitch, tennis courts, small but fully fitted gym. Our nearest town, Lamballe, has four supermarkets, lots of restaurants, a weekly market….etc etc. Lots of beautiful beaches are within 30-40 minutes drive away as are at least two golf courses. The historic towns of Dinan, Dinard, St Malo and Dol de Bretagne are all with 45 minutes drive. A car is definitely necessary as there is no public transport in the village. We have a number of friends nearby who know the house and the animals very well and who will be happy be contacted if the housesitter(s) have any queries while we are away. We will also be contactable by email.

Responsibilities

As soon as we wake up we let the dogs into the garden, go and open the chicken house and feed them. Then we feed the dogs, Olive inside, Reggie in the garden……you have to keep an eye as Olive eats faster than Reg! The dogs are very easy, love spending time in the garden, on their beds, having cuddles! They have memory foam beds in the sitting room and are not allowed on the furniture. When we go out the dogs stay in the sitting room, they can be left for 4-5 hours maximum. They are fed again at about 5.30pm. We let them out into the garden regularly, last time is usually about 11pm before we go to bed. The chickens go into their house at dusk and we shut them in for the night. The dogs enjoy a walk but don’t need one every day. They only need to be walked for approx 20-30minutes and must always stay on the lead unless they are at home, they are ex-racing greyhounds and if they see something that moves they would not see anything in between them…….roads, fences etc. They are very good on the lead but you need to stay vigilant in case of cats, rabbits etc. We will of course give the pet sitters details of local walks. We have a good friend who is a vet nurse and knows the dogs very well. If there were any issues at all whilst we were away the sitters could call her and she would be able to arrange/undertake any vet visits required etc. She speaks English and French. The chicken house might need cleaning out once during the stay, its very easy and straightforward, the house is plastic and has two trays that pull out to change the sawdust. The girls should provide the sitters with eggs, on average one a day (between the 3 of them, they are getting old!). We also have a small pond with a few fish that need feeding every day.