Our Assignment

 

After a long drive from Heathrow, and a hair-raising drive through winding country lanes, suitable for one-way traffic only, but still encountering lorries and postal vans coming at us in the opposite direction, we arrived in the beautiful Shropshire village of Ackleton for our 4-week house sit. This being our first house-sitting adventure, we were not quite sure what was in store for us, but with a sense of adventure and warm clothes in our large rucksacks we were ready for anything...

 

The owners were a lovely couple who were flying off to Hawaii for a well-deserved vacation and need us to take care of things while they were away. There were two dogs, Jilly and Jake that would need walking daily, a cat that needed feeding and watering, and 4 horses and a Shetland pony that required a feed morning and night with stalls being mucked out daily, so we were going to be busy! We met with the owners for a briefing and after meeting the animals, we said our goodbyes as they were leaving before dawn the following morning.

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Our accommodations were a converted barn (1850) attached to the farmhouse which was an old malt-house (1770). There was a large kitchen, with a sitting and dining area downstairs and a large bedroom, sitting area and bathroom upstairs, all very warm, clean and comfortable. The views from the large French windows upstairs were amazing and we looked forward to spending the next 4 weeks in our new temporary home. We snuggled down under the duvet on our first night, anticipating what was to come – early mornings for sure, but hopefully long walks, hearty meals of locally grown produce and meat, and some adventures along the way!

 

One thing we were not expecting was the coldest day of the year since records began and 10 inches of snow! However, we made the best of it and enjoyed the snow-covered countryside which looked Christmas card perfect for a couple of days, before the sun came out and melted the icy crystals into a grey mushy slush. We managed despite the cold and the snow and this certainly was an adventure!

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