15 years of six month winter château sits plus more

About this sitter

We are a retired couple (he 74 me 72) who enjoy living in other countries, especially France. My husband was a tv production manager (including 'Gardeners World). I was a senior civil servant inspecting the quality of education in further education colleges. We both did extensive consultancy in our respective fields after early retirement. We both speak fluent French and Spanish. We have four sons, one married with two children. All have their own homes in the UK.

Why they want to house sit

We want to explore environments other than our own - city centre Oxford. We enjoy the countryside. We are careful of other people’s homes and cats - we don’t enjoy looking after dogs. We enjoy moderate gardening. Vegetables rather than lots of flowers. Looking after properties and enabling any works is easy for us. We also enjoy meeting other people in the community. In France and Spain we can speak the language and like meeting locals, buying their produce etc. We enjoy a quiet life-style. We love music and bring our own Bose system to wherever we visit. We try to be as eco-friendly as possible.

Their experience

We spent 6 months every year from winter 2004 looking after a château in the Charente Maritime (Logis de la Brossardière, Taillebourg 17350) until it was sold in 2016. We were praised for keeping the château in prime condition for sale during the period it took to sell. Since then we have looked after other houses in France, Melbourne and the Cotswolds. When looking after the château we also looked after the three gites when we did short summer house-sits. We have also rented other houses in France. We have references and police checks.

What can they bring to the assignment

Experience of living in large houses in France. Reliability and confidence in dealing with artisans, the Mairie, and other local organisations. We have our own home in Oxford, plus retirement income, and income from rental property in Oxford, so no financial difficulties. We understand French bureaucracy, and speak fluent French. We are not looking for a holiday in France - we are not unrealistic about winters in chateaux in France. We know it can be cold, and even might snow!

We also know Andalucía well. From 2000 until 2008 we owned a flat in the centre of Jerez de la Frontera, and spent a good deal of time there. We have travelled extensively in Spain. One of our favourite areas is Jumilla, from whence comes our favourite red wine!