Colin H.

We come to Europe (mainly France) every year for a 3 month period, between April and September. If you need a house sitter during that time, please contact us (colin.hargreaves at gmail.com).

My wife, Marian, and I would be very happy to look after your home and pets. We have been house sitting for nine years, mostly in France, but also in the UK and Australia. We started by sitting a chateau and a lovely Weimaraner dog in Ste Néomaye, Deux Sèvres, France, for 10 weeks in 2016, and we were asked back again in 2017. We had a truly lovely experience. We have done many house sits since then, with a variety of companies, and so we can provide many more references than just those on this site.

We love house sitting as a way of visiting new places off the tourist track and meeting new people. We have stayed in many parts of France - the South Coast, South West, Deux Sevres, Brittany, Burgundy, the Alps and Paris, and are always looking to explore more. We have a car registered in France.

When our children were young, we had many pets of our own - dogs (border collies), cats, goats, hamsters, chickens and white mice! We are happy looking after many different pets and are used to giving them medicine, including injections, as necessary. We both enjoy gardening; my wife is a very good gardener, tending the flowers and vegetables. She definitely has a green thumb. I tend to cut the lawns, and do the pruning and sweeping where necessary. We have had our own pools and have looked after other people’s pools, both salt-water and chlorine; Aussies love their pools!

I do volunteer community service, taking people to hospitals etc. For this I have had to complete many questionnaires, police checks, health checks and personality tests to check that I am suitable. Australia does not have the system of using taxis for hospital visits, that there is in France.

Many years ago I taught mathematics in France during the school and university vacations. Then, I worked in England and later Australia, as an academic for 25 years, and moved on to running my own business for 15 years. We used to live on a farm in outback Australia, but have now moved into town.

My wife and I were brought up in the UK and came to Australia in 1987; we now have both British and Australian citizenship. Both of us are non-smokers and we have full driving licenses. We are both retired and enjoy travelling.

We love art and music and often visit galleries and go to concerts. The piano is my instrument. Marian used to play the viola, but now plays the ukulele. We regularly give performances to the residents of nursing homes. Marian used to be a guide at the National Gallery of Art when we lived in Canberra, the capital of Australia.

Last year, we had house-sits near Macon, Cahors, Fourgax-et-Barrineuf, and near Rennes. This year, we flew over to Paris for the Olympics and then did a long trip up from Venice to Brittany through the Alps.

We would love to hear from you and would be very happy to have a chat over the phone, Zoom, Skype or Facetime. We are now on Australian summer time, 10 hours ahead of Paris; this makes live contacts best in the French morning, which is our evening. (Updated 26/11/24)

In the references, the place names next to the owners are their home towns. So, while we looked after their chateau in the south of France a few times, their home town was Perth. We have many other fine references from house sits found through other web sites.
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