Other than our annual Woodstock visit, we rarely stay rooted in one place for long — exploring new corners of the country and meeting new people is half the joy of this lifestyle. Yet this year found us back in Sparkford for almost the whole of March. Long sits can be wonderfully grounding, offering a slower pace and the space to reflect on just how fortunate we are to live this way. But this particular March had other plans.
Before settling in, we took a short break in Salisbury, revisiting the Cathedral and finally taking the tour up into the spire. The views across the city were breathtaking, but the real highlight was sitting in the bell tower for the noon chimes — a rare, resonant moment that felt like stepping inside the heartbeat of the building.
Then the chaos began.
In three years of pet sitting, we’ve only ever had one cancellation — due to hosts illness — and even that story had a happy ending when they rebooked us for Christmas and we got to care for their three lovely dogs after all.
March, however, decided to test our flexibility. One couple had to cancel when their Middle East holiday fell through, and five other hosts changed their dates. Suddenly our calm, month‑long stay turned into a whirlwind of rebooking hotels, cancelling others, and redrawing travel routes like a pair of slightly frazzled air‑traffic controllers.
But adaptability is part of the job — and part of the joy. No matter how tangled the logistics become, we would never let down our wonderful hosts or the adorable extended dog family we’ve built along the way. If anything, this month reminded us how resilient this lifestyle has made us, and how deeply we value the connections at the heart of it.
Carlos
Got to make sure you keep your wits about you, even when you are living the easy life haha!
I’ve found in the crazy world of coach driving, not to plan for any job now until the night before as they change more than the wind lately…somehow a Paris job got turned into local HS2!
Nettie
You’re not wrong Carlos 😂
You just don’t know what each day is going to bring do you? Although HS2 is rather different than Paris but somewhat easier to get to 😉
Nettie
It’s definitely been a mad March, particularly the latter part, I didn’t know whether we were coming or going at times 😀
Early March was nice though when we had a few days off between dog sits visiting Salisbury and enjoying the spectacular views from the Cathedral once we’d climbed the 332 steps – really worth the climb, especially on a lovely sunny day.
Even at the Cathedral though we couldn’t keep away from dogs as we spent our first 15 mins talking to a volunteer all about her little cockapoo who accompanies her whenever she is volunteering at the Cathedral 🥰 – I wonder if we’re addicted to dogs 🤣🐾