FAMILY OF THREE- EXPERIENCED CUSTODIANS OF LARGE/PERIOD PRPERTIES

About this sitter

Hello all. We are Nathan (53), Emily (38) & Rafferty (6). We have years of experience both as custodians of large period properties, housesitters of large contemporary properties, and residents of various period buildings- up to 400 years old. We are very active, non smokers, love the outdoors, love travelling, and have experience of all the nitty gritty tasks of caring for a variety of buildings- from contemporary modern, to large period homes and extensive grounds. I've got the DIY skills and motivation to be up on an ancient rooftop plugging a leak in a midnight gale, for example (true story).

We both enjoy gardening, and I've also helped recover and restore acres of lost gardens. Through residing in various properties between 200-400 years old, I've gained experience of dealing with repairmen, surveyors, craftsmen, chimney sweeps, plumbers, electricians and so forth- and I pay attention to the details, and pride myself on spotting a problem before it becomes major.

We are mature people, are well educated, literate, have no criminal records, no CCJs, no driving points, no issues of this type at all- and we are comfortably and sustainably financially self sufficient. We all have fresh passports with many years to run.

Emily spent over a decade working at the BBC and Channel 4 as a high level production assistant and P.A, has strong interpersonal skills, and is very experienced at organising and scheduling complex lists of tasks when needed.

I'm of Anglo/Scot/Irish background, and Emily comes from Hastings fisherman stock with a splash of Mediteranean.

This might all make us sound a little dry- so let me also say we have a sense of humour, love animals, are empathetic and try to do good.

Why they want to house sit

We are both lucky enough to work from home, myself in media/writing (screenwriting), and my partner Emily runs an online bespoke childrens clothes label. These cover things comfortably, and leave us lots of time to look after our home, and our son Rafferty.

Raffertys current school unexpectedly closed down after Christmas, so we currently have an unplanned 2 year+ gap before he starts at a SE England school place we have lined up. Thus our decision to return to house sitting, and use this time wisely- we wish to spend this last precious period of early childhood with him- preferably somewhere fresh and natural, as he's a big strong lad who loves nature and being outdoors.

I also have some writing to do, and I absolutely welcome the peace of more isolated properties- as does Emily.

Their experience

Absolutely yes. We were residents for almost two years of a 230 year old country house named Brightling Hall, a 16 room mansion in a very large private park (complete with deer) which was sadly rather neglected. I was responsible for overseeing the recovery of much of the long overgrown grounds, and bringing the old place back into internal order. It was a bright, warm and cheerful home once we'd got our hands on it, and we reversed decades of neglect. It had all the usual country house foibles- clunky old kerosene heating, bats in the attic, jackdaws in the eves, and there was the endless round of wood chopping and fire building to keep the place dried out and its 'bones' warm. I loved the place. We in fact transformed it so much, the owners decided to return from Singapore and move in!

Subsequently, we've been taking on/off care (busy international owner) of a large 5 bed detached modern property in the Sussex countryside, whilst renting various others- a 400 year old Jacobean cottage in a mediaeval fishing village, a Regency ballroom overlooking the sea in St Leonards, and we are currently in a grand period home in Brighton.

As a traveller I've lived in Berlin, Paris, London, Los Angeles, New York Vancouver, and Perth, and I have spent extended periods in Ibiza, Thailand, Australia and many other places.

What can they bring to the assignment

I believe I've probably shared so much info in the above sections that I fear I can only repeat myself here, but perhaps I should do an 'abridged' summary:

Very experienced, self sufficient, financially comfortable small family, Non smoking, no negative legal issues. We come with great references, are flexible home workers, love the outdoors, and are practical people with no fear of rolling up our sleeves when needed. Particularly experienced, respectful and fond of large period properties.