A cryptic title is your clue to this month’s picture quiz; the prize is the same as last month, but in a different colour. People of a certain age will remember this well‑documented peace camp established in 1981 — of course, it was Greenham Common. The picture shows the control tower, where we enjoyed an engaging visit, chatting with former personnel who worked there during the deployment of the US cruise missiles.
The majority of August was split between a welcome revisit and a couple of new ventures, starting off back in Littlebury, Saffron Walden with Kylo. Kylo is such a fun dog to sit for; everyone loves Kylo and Kylo loves everyone, greeting complete strangers with an exuberant half‑body wag. He has the best party trick of all the dogs we’ve sat for, and he adores an evening cuddle on the sofa.
We next travelled south to Guildford for a new sit with a two‑year‑old Cockapoo called Dougie. Unfortunately, Dougie became ill the day before we arrived, so we spent the week nursing him back to health, with all the stress and worry that entails — especially when he isn’t your own dog.
A short hop westward then took us to Hungerford and an explosive bundle of joy called Bumble, a wonderfully playful spaniel with slightly shorter‑than‑average legs who loved our walks along the canal side and proudly took first prize in the tummy‑rubbing championships. She was great company as we explored the town centre and was more than happy to join us in a café or pub for a drink or a bite to eat; we even introduced her to travelling on the train, something she had never experienced before.
Aside from our stressful week with Dougie, August turned out to be an interesting and busy month. We managed to secure two brand‑new sits for next year, and our regular hosts have already been busy booking up large chunks of our remaining 2027 dates. Plenty to look forward to.
Caring for Kylo is always a joy, he’s such a sweet, funny character and Bumble was adorable – a proper little shadow following us everywhere and the canal walks on the doorstep were lovely and relaxing – well as long as the cows didn’t block the bridge 😄
I’m relieved that we had Kylo and Bumble either side of Dougie as nurturing him through his illness for the week was both challenging and quite worrying at times – but thankfully he was well on the mend by the end of the sit 👍