Bringing home owners and house sitters together
Sitter available
Reliable Caring Edinburgh Couple with 14 years experience and excellent references
United Kingdom
Testimonials
They have 6 testimonials (view below)
Pet experience
Dog(s), Cat(s), Chicken(s), Bird(s), Fish, Rabbit(s), Tortoise/Turtle(s), Guinea pig(s), Rodent(s) – Yes, we have lots of experience with cats and dogs. Little birds, tortoise, gerbals, chickens and ducks.
Police check
They have a police check
Availability
From: 27 Dec 2024
Until: 31 Mar 2025
Occupation
Retired Designer
References
They have referees/references (view below)
About this sitter
Hi, welcome to our profile page. We are a dependable, early retired, active and fun loving professional couple living in Edinburgh, Scotland.
We love to travel, explore new places and meet new people. We do however miss having pets ourselves and have discovered that house / pet sitting is very much of a win win situation.
We both love the home and our chosen professions reflect this. Ron is winding down both his architect's and residential letting agent business's.
I am retired and enjoy painting and gardening.
We always have lots of fun decorating and taking care of our daily home duties. We also enjoy gardening and have a large garden in Edinburgh where we grow organic vegetables.
We are very flexible, hands-on enthusiastic people who can take care of many situations that arise within a home. Ron is fabulous at fixing things and very innovative. My strength lies more with the daily running and making sure that everything runs well and looks good. We are both experienced in showcasing houses if you are in selling mode.
Over the past 12 years, we have been fortunate to housesit in Canada, France, Italy and Spain. Many of these are repeat visits that we really enjoy as we get to know people and make friends.
In the language department, I am quite fluent in French after living in Montreal for 35 years and have a good understanding of Italian having lived in Milan for 2 years. We are both studying French at the moment.
We love cats and dogs and would take excellent care of them for you. We appreciate that it is difficult for animals to be separated from their owners and we are especially sympathetic to this. When we can we bring the pets (usually) with us on our outings.
Ron bred Springer spaniels for years and has a good experience with dogs. Like me, he's also a wee softy with cats. We both have had our lives enriched by having them and do miss them.
I was a volunteer for years at the SPCA in Montreal. My job was to socialise the stray cats when they were brought into the shelter. I would also work with young people to show them how to help the cats.
We enjoy spending time and having fun with animals and always consider their needs and comforts first. We would give them the same attention as we would give our own pets. I also have some experience with chickens, geese, hamsters, guinea pigs, tropical fish and birds. We are open to new adventures in taking care of other animals too.
We would really enjoy taking good care of your home and would consider it a privilege if we were selected. It would be very important to us that you felt happy and relaxed in your travels and would have no trouble keeping you up to date (daily if needed) and happy to chat on Skype or FaceTime.
We also have excellent references upon request. We also can supply police checks.
Why they want to house sit
We love to travel and have found that living with the locals is the best experience and the most fun. We have also become friends with most of the people we have house sat for which we really enjoy.
Their experience
We have been housesitting for about 14 years now and can supply excellent references.
One of the nicest parts of pet or home sitting is that we have become good friends with all our house sits. This has been an added bonus for us.
We housesat for a lovely couple who had a little dog in Tuscany five times. This couple have a 5 star B&B where we welcomed the guests and made sure their needs were met during their stay. Also, taking care of the pool etc..
We took care of a dog every year for a family in Montreal, Canada. Pool duties.
We housesit for various people in Paris on a regular basis and for another woman in St. Germaine en Laye.
We also housesat for a couple in the south of France near Bezier, they had 3 cats.
Another lovely couple in the South of France, Salle Sur L'Hers with a little cat.
We housesat for a lovely lady in Florence with 2 very elderly cats who needed lots of attention and medicine.
We did another cat sit and housesit was for a lovely young lady in Padua, near Venice over the Christmas time 2017.
We did a repeat housesit in Malaga in 2019 for a lovely couple with two cats.
We took care of a lovely cat in Paris for about 6 years and another in 2021 and 2022.
Christmas 2022 was spent housesitting for a lovely couple with 2 cats in Valencia.
Our last housesit was for a wonderful family and a little dog near Aix en Provence for a 3 week period Christmas holidays. 2024
What can they bring to the assignment
We have lots of enthusiasm and energy. We are warm and friendly and care very much about animals.
We also have lots of experience show casing homes and leasing homes and dealing with contractors if needed.
We love to garden and have no trouble using most garden equipment. We can also take care of a pool.
Last updated:
1 Dec 2024
Available to house sit
France, Greece, Italy, Spain
Availability dates
From: 27 Dec 2024
Until: 31 Mar 2025
Do they charge?
They don't charge for house sitting services
Personal details
Age: 56-65 years old
Family status:
Couple
Languages spoken: English, French and some Italian
Membership
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References
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Sitemap
MindMyHouse.com – https://www.mindmyhouse.com/owners/sitter_listing/7328
Testimonials
Fabulous House sitters!
Moira and Ron came over to House/Dog sit for us this xmas/New Year 23/24 for three weeks. After booking tickets to the other side of the planet and posting my advertisement I was feeling sick with dread. I have a 15yo deaf Yorkshire terrier who has been prone to hunger strikes for past sitters and is very nervous, which usually takes a lot of the shine off going away on holiday. From the minute I read Moiras response I knew everything was going to be O.K. Not only from their stellar references and experience, but also due to how personable and organised they were. We were kept up to date with our dogs adventures and health regularly throughout the holiday and they didn't hesitate to ask if there were any concerns with the house or our dog, which set my mind at ease. We came home to a very happy dog who now sees Moira and Ron as family and obviously felt that she had had a nice holiday too! We have a large house and grounds in Provence, France, and are very security conscious, but Moira and Ron sent us an updated police check and were a quick study of the house when they arrived for the walk through the day before we left. We were very impressed with how immaculate the house, grounds (and dog!) were when we came home. Even my poor neglected houseplants looked happier. They replaced everything they had used and had even left us stocked for when we came back with terrible jet lag and couldn't face a trip to the supermarket. We look forward to seeing more of Moira and Ron for our future adventures! I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Moira and Ron to anyone who is looking for down to earth, competent, caring and generous people to 'keep the home fires burning' while they take time away, and can be contacted for verification of this reference. Kind regards, The Lorenzo Family
Alana, France, 10 Mar 2024
MagiCATlly orchested encounter
From the very start everything related to Ron and Moira seemed to be magiCATlly orchested. We have struggled to keep our listing updated, as always… but then I just signed in to fix the dates of our Christmas holidays listing and I found a just a few hours old email from them contacting us. I answered and it was the perfect match. They come over from Christmas to New Year to mind our beloved Kaleo and Rufus while we were abroad. As all we seem to agree in prioritize quietness and wellbeing over the hustle and bustle of the overconsumption period, we 4 made the most of those days away from home. Not to mention that the absolute winners were the kitties. Before they arrived we had a couple of video calls to meet each other and introduce the kitties. Once they arrived they were generous enough to share a full evening and night at home to make sure their stay was going to be smooth and pleasant. When we were abroad I was overwhelmed of the seriousness Ron and Moira took in informing us of how everything related to the kitties and house was going and last and most important they kept our cats no just clean, and fed but so playful and relax. Every single day they were playing hide-and-seek and pulling them in their card box attached to a rope as we previously showed them, and they enjoyed Winter evening sofa sessions watching films. We feel we have managed to create through mindmyhouse another enriching long-lasting relationship. That’s simply brilliant and heart-warming. Thanks mindmyhouse site, thanks Kaleo and Rufus, thank you very much Ron and Moira. Hope C U soon.
May, Spain, 21 Jan 2023
MagiCATlly orchested encounter
From the very start everything related to Ron and Moira seemed to be magiCATlly orchested. They have been absent for long from mindmyhouse website, we have struggled to keep our listing updated, as always… but then I just signed in to fix the dates of our Christmas holidays listing and I found a just a few hours old email from them contacting us. I answered and it was the perfect match. They come over from Christmas to New Year to mind our beloved Kaleo and Rufus while we were abroad. As all we seem to agree in prioritize quietness and wellbeing over the hustle and bustle of the overconsumption period, we 4 made the most of those days away from home. Not to mention that the absolute winners were the kitties. Before they arrived we had a couple of video calls to meet each other and introduce the kitties. Once they arrived they were generous enough to share a full evening and night at home to make sure their stay was going to be smooth and pleasant. When we were abroad I was overwhelmed of the seriousness Ron and Moira took in informing us of how everything related to the kitties and house was going and last and most important they kept our cats no just clean, and fed but so playful and relax. Every single day they were playing hide-and-seek and pulling them in their card box attached to a rope as we previously showed them, and they enjoyed Winter evening sofa sessions watching films. We feel we have managed to create through mindmyhouse another enriching long-lasting relationship. That’s simply brilliant and heart-warming. Thanks mindmyhouse site, thanks Kaleo and Rufus, thank you very much Ron and Moira. Hope C U soon.
May, Spain, 21 Jan 2023
Total confidence
Moira and Ron house and pet-sat for us two years ago at our place in southern France and did an impeccable job. We returned to a house and garden in perfect condition, and our cat Henry, who can be hard to please, had obviously taken a shine to them. And they are a lovely generous couple who we have since visited in Edinburgh and hope very much to see again. We would thoroughly recommend Moira and Ron to any house owners in need of sitters: you can have absolute trust in them in all respects. John and Emma Bowles
JOHN, France, 16 Nov 2017
Attentive, caring, interesting and happy people
Moira and Ron came at our house for 10 days. They took care of our old cat. We didn't know if they would be able to give her his medicine. But it was not counting on the sweetness, the attention and the kindness that Moira and Ron have for the animals. Regarding the apartment, the plants were more beautiful than when we left, the apartment was clean, tidy .. Everything was aboslument perfect. And because they are very generous people, we had the chance to have surprise gifts to welcome us. We only spent an evening together, the day before we left, but since then we have been trying to keep in touch because they are interesseting, friendly and funny people. After having had them as pet-sitters, it's hard to find as well afterwards.
Amélie, France, 12 Nov 2017
Perfect House/Cat-Sitter
Moira and Ron took care of our apartment and cats in Paris. They were the perfect house sitter, took care of everything as if it were there own, left the place spotless and tidy, and we even came home to a nice surprise - new plant on the balcony :) The cats were very well taken care off and didn't miss us at all. Communication was very easy and they kept us informed during the holidays about the cats. I would recommend them without any doubt.
Christiane, France, 12 Nov 2017