Sitting, as I am, on a small deck overlooking a gently flowing stream in the garden of a quintessentially English thatched cottage, it seemed an optimal moment to reflect on our role as full-time itinerant house sitters.
This current sit is particularly pleasant (despite coinciding with the June heatwave), but I can’t think of any sit that we haven’t enjoyed since embarking on our current house sitting tour of England and Wales in September 2025.
We originally started house sitting as a good way to get regular breaks (to catch up on washing and work mostly) on a 3 month trip around the USA. We really enjoyed doing the sits and continued to do a few more once back in the UK (while otherwise still living in our motorhome).
At the end of 2025, we decided it might be fun to see if we could house sit continuously over the winter period.
We were fairly picky about the sit locations. We mostly wanted sits near our kids, and other family, and in a reasonable progression around England and Wales , ie we didn’t want to be crisscrossing the country unnecessarily. Despite that, we easily filled the the six month winter period with sits, from quiet rural retreats (complete with log fires and country rambles), to urban breaks in places like Sheffield, Oxford and Cheltenham.
We managed to find a couple of longer sits, spending most of October near Teignmouth on the south Devon coast and the first six weeks of 2026 in a quiet Oxfordshire village. The rest of the time we filled with sits of mostly 1-2 weeks, and even the odd short sit of a couple of nights, to fill in the gaps.
We used Trusted House Sitters , which we’d joined in 2024. There were plenty of sits advertised on the site that matched our requirements and we think it’s worth the membership fee. It seems particularly good for the UK and USA.
We also started to get requests from people not on THS (or people who had left THS because they now didn’t need sitters as often). To assist that, I put up a house sitting web page.
As our winter progressed, we regularly received requests for sits (through THS and privately) for the rest of 2026. Always happy to seize opportunities as they arise, we decided to sell our motorhome (which we’d put in storage), downsize to a smaller van, and to continue exploring the UK through house sitting.
In the last eight months we have now completed 21 separate sits and each one has been a great opportunity to experience a new locality (often somewhere we’ve never explored before, despite living in the UK all our lives), and to care for a wonderful variety of pets (mostly dogs, but a fair smattering of cats, ducks and chickens too).
We’ve also interacted with hosts with all kinds of jobs, backgrounds and lifestyles. Each one has been very welcoming and appreciative. They get to enjoy their time away, while having the peace of mind that their house and pets are being looked after. We get to stay in what is essentially a different holiday home every week or so. Win-win for everybody!
House Sitting Frequently Asked Questions
Now that we’ve completed nearly forty sits in the last two years, hopefully we’ve learned a bit about the activity that anyone interested in house sitting might finds useful. Here are my thoughts on a few common questions:
What Does House Sitting Involve?
In my view, the key task is simply just being there. Providing security for the house (which insurance companies often prefer) and friendly companionship for any pets. Other tasks are then agreed up front, but don’t usually require anything but basic competence.
Dog walking is usually a big part of the role, assuming there are dogs. We’ve had older dogs who just need a ten minute walk around the park up, if anything, and more active dogs needing a long walk of up to few hours every day. Feeding dogs and/or other pets is also standard. Maybe also giving medication and some minor grooming if necessary. We have looked after chickens, ducks, sheep and goats, but only so far as to make sure they were fed. (We wouldn’t see mucking them out as being part of the role.)
Other small tasks might include putting out the bins, taking in parcels, watering plants indoors and outdoors, and mowing the lawn. Simple household tasks you would normally do at home. Obviously, we’d clean up after ourselves, but we’re not a cleaning service. On a number of sits we’ve done, a cleaner has come in as normal during the time.
House sitting does require some effort. We have come across hosts with negative experiences of sitters who thought it was just going to be a free holiday and hadn’t expected to do a great deal. That is a shame as we’ve never found it particularly arduous.
What Are The Benefits of House Sitting?
The most obvious benefit is being able to stay in a new location without having to pay out for a holiday home, hotel room or even a campsite pitch. We have had the odd night to pay for between sits, but overall this is a considerable financial saving for us (even compared to the relatively low cost of motorhome living).
It’s not just about saving money though. If I just wanted to live in a house I’m sure there are other ways to do that cheaply. The key thing is of course is the opportunity to be able to experience a different home in a new location.
Some sits have been on the edge of remote countryside, ideal for long rambles. Others have been in the centre of towns or near interesting attractions to explore. Some, like this current one, have spacious gardens to relax in. Some have had well-equipped kitchens providing the opportunity for experimenting with new recipes. We love the variety that house sitting provides and ‘moving house’ a few times a month suits us very well.
On a number of sits, we’ve been able to pick fresh fruit, vegetables and salad out of the garden, as well as collect fresh eggs. Again, it’s not so much that it’s free (we can afford to feed ourselves), but more that it’s all part of the fun, unique experience of arriving at a new place. Similarly, hosts will often leave food that will go out of date. Salad in the fridge, bread, etc. (It’s a handy benefit for them not to have to think about emptying the fridge before leaving). It’s a nice bonus to us to supplement our meals.
Obviously we have use of the various utilities, electric etc, that go along with the house, and, importantly, stable wifi, which enables us to work online consistently while on the sit. Also, most hosts are happy for us to charge our electric van too. It’s a small thing for them (just a few quid in electric), but it makes a big difference to us in removing the headache of having to find a suitable public charging point nearby.
On top of all that, house sitting is not simply a free holiday home. It’s much better than that. You are actually living in a family home rather than a sterile rental. In particular, you’re usually sharing the place with various pets. There’s something very hygge about having a pet around the house, snoring on the sofa with you of an evening or sprawled out in the sun at your feet (as our current dog is doing just now as I write).
What Are The Challenges of House Sitting?
Hopefully I’ve outlined why I think there are far more upsides to house sitting. There are a few challenges, but they are really quite minor.
One of the things we were concerned about when we started house sitting around the USA was what would happen if a sit cancelled for any reason. It didn’t happen then, but we’ve had one or two cancel since. Mostly these have been in the future and easily refilled. However, by the time I came to publish this post, our next sit has cancelled at the last minute (for understandable reasons), so we’ve had to quickly change our plans. We’re fortunate to be able to be flexible, but if you’re abroad it might be trickier. It’s something to keep in mind and have backup plans, I guess.
House sitting outside of your country is also a bit of a grey area. We’re ok for the timebeing travelling around the UK (and really enjoying exploring our own country), but it’s a bit of a grey area if you are technically ‘working’ on a tourist visa in other countries. Trusted House Sitters, for one, are adamant it is a grey area (as they would be), but the general advice is not to mention it to border officials (which seems sensible).
There are other minor challenges surrounding particular pets. We’ve had a few dogs that shed fur in great quantities, which means we’ve had to vacuum more often, but we take that as being part of the job really. One or two dogs have had behavioural issues, such as being reactive. Not with us. More often with other dogs, or people, or, in one case, tractors. It’s great when the pet behaves perfectly and does everything you say, but, again, managing their individual peculiarities is de rigour. It’s also been an interesting intellectual challenge to learn how to deal with these peculiarities.
That’s about it. As long as you like pets and exploring new places, there’s not really a downside to house sitting as far as I can see.
The Future of Professional Nomads House Sitting
We do treat house sitting as seriously as a proper job, even if it isn’t employment as such. We aim to provide great customer service (which seems to be appreciated).
We do make a small charge for private sits (to cover expenses such as liability insurance), but we’re not planning to go down the route of charging a nightly fee or anything. (I know that there are folks who do make a living out of house sitting and I’m sure there is some market for it, but it’s not our ambition currently.) We prefer the more casual nature of the exchange of labour for an interesting place to stay with surrogate pets to care for.
As it stands now in June 2026, we have sits booked right up until the end of this year, with a number of private sits already booked in for next year to (some hosts like to get the sitters booked before even booking their holiday!). Mostly they are in the UK, but we’re also planning to sit around Europe too.
Having given up full-time jobs to travel a few years ago, we’ve now fallen into a new full-time ‘job’ as house sitters – one which we are thoroughly enjoying.
