Why more retired couples are enjoying home and pet sitting

Posted on 8 April, 2019

Homesitters Karen and Neil Oddy

Retirement is a great time to take up a new hobby or spend more time travelling. For couples it’s also a chance to spend more quality time together after a lifetime of work schedules and family life.

Many couples want to keep busy and active in retirement which is leading some to become homesitters. One of the many attractions of the role is the chance to visit different parts of the country. Homesitters go and stay in people’s homes to look after the home and any pets people have.

As we operate throughout the UK people could be on assignment virtually anywhere and they can pick and choose the assignments that work best for them. This gives people the chance to visit places they’ve never been before.

The opportunity to take care of people’s pets is also a big draw. Most of our homesitters are animal lovers but they don’t want a pet of their own as it restricts what they can do once they are retired.

Home and pet sitting therefore offers people the chance to get their ‘animal fix’ and spend time caring for other people’s pets. Our homesitters often have regular clients and build close bonds with many of the pets they look after which is very rewarding.

Many couples also enjoy home sitting because it’s the chance to spend more time together. They get to have a shared experience looking after people’s homes and pets, and discovering new places together.

One couple who have been home and pet sitting through us for 18 months is Karen and Neil Oddy from South East London. Neil was previously a bank manager and retired at 55, while Karen had enjoyed a 30-year career at Lloyds Bank before taking redundancy to join Neil.

The main attractions of home and pet sitting for the Oddys are that it enables them to spend time with animals which they adore and to explore different parts of the UK and stay in fabulous homes in the countryside. They also enjoy spending time together.

Neil says, “The initial attraction of the role for us was the chance to spend time with pets, however, when we started taking on assignments we quickly found other benefits. When we both worked full time we’d take our holidays abroad, now through home sitting we get to explore the UK and we’re lucky enough to stay in gorgeous homes. We’ve visited areas that we’ve never been to before.”

Karen and Neil’s favourite homesit was at an old farmhouse near Epping Forest where they looked after two French Bulldogs. They have returned three times now and enjoy the peaceful setting and spending time with the dogs. The home has a large farmhouse kitchen and they spend a lot of time in there chatting while Karen cooks on the Aga. They also thoroughly enjoy watching the deer and pheasants that visit the garden.

Having always lived in a city the couple are really enjoying the opportunity to spend time in the countryside. They say it feels like a holiday.

Karen adds, “We are really enjoying spending quality time together. It is such a contrast to when we had young children and worked full time and had to schedule a date night to spend time together!”

For retired couples looking for a novel way to spend more time together, explore more of the UK and look after pets then home sitting could be just the role for you. We are always on the lookout for reliable and responsible people in their their 50s, 60s and 70s to join us and become homesitters. Click here to find out more about the role and to apply.

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