Quality Housesitter – Reassurance and peace of mind while you're away from home.

About Me

Welcome! I'm Claire, a loving Relationship Coach, who also been a full-time international house sitter for the last four years, who will treat your home and pets like they’re my own.

I decided to create this site as many of the house sitting sites can be a bit limited on what and how much I am allowed to say about myself, my experience and what I offer as a house sitter and I know as home owners it’s important to know as much as possible about anyone you are inviting into your home and to look after your furry family members while you’re away.

As a house sitter my primary concern is making sure that your home and your pets are taken care of the way that YOU want them looked after.

So please take your time to look around, check out more about me and what I bring to house sits, view my references and check out the gallery and if you want to know more please get in touch!

To give you a little glimpse into my world, these are the names of the 88 animals I've taken care of in the last four years:

So who am I?

I am a friendly, self-funded, trustworthy, well-groomed and house-trained woman with a lot of house sitting experience (over four years full-time), who is looking to provide you with the confidence and peace of mind that your furry family members are in safe, loving hands while you’re away from home.

I am a relationship coach and mentor and I run my business online, so as long as I have a decent internet connection, I can work from anywhere, and one of my favourite places is a comfy sofa with a furry friend or two cuddled up next to me!

I love all animals, and I bring a deep love of animals to my house sitting assignments. I am responsible, clean (in fact one of my previous house sitting jobs actually commented that I left the house cleaner than when I found it!), professional, non-smoker, respectful and would always look after someone else’s house and pets in the way I would want someone to look after my own if the situation were reversed.

As I run my business from ‘home’, I spend a lot of time at home, providing great company for the animals of the house, and great company for me while I'm working, in fact you can see in some of the pictures in the gallery that it’s not unusual for me to have a furry friend cuddled up with me while I'm working on my laptop!

As I love animals and exploring new places around the world, this is a perfect way for me to enjoy both! My French is basic to intermediate (while a little out of practice, and I'd love the opportunity to put it into practice again!) and I'm learning Spanish.

The best way to get a good sense of me is to arrange a Skype or FaceTime call where we can chat in person so you can find out more!

Claire is a fantastic sitter. She is wonderfully professional, friendly and took great care of both our home and our two gorgeous cats.

She kept in contact via WhatsApp during her stay and we returned to a spotless house and two very contented cats.
We would use her again at the drop of a hat if she was available, but as a professional house sitter she is in demand. Grab her if you can! She's great! :)

Organised: 5* | Reliable: 5* |  Self-sufficient: 5* |  Tidy: 5* |  Pet care: 5*

Sue Sharp

I was really nervous about using house sitters but Claire proved reliable, friendly and my cat adored her. I would recommend her to all my friends. I could relax whilst away knowing my house was safe and the cat was looked after and loved.

On our return she had cleaned the house and done a food shop so all was ready for our arrival. I will be calling her again when we are away next.

Organised: 5* | Reliable: 5* |  Self-sufficient: 5* |  Tidy: 5* |  Pet care: 5*

Lucy

Claire was an excellent sitter, communicative and very helpful.

Claire took Willow to the vets when she thought there was a problem and all was resolved successfully.

Very professional and even left us a lovely lasagna for when we returned after our flight home - very considerate. Would definitely use her again.

Organised: 5* | Reliable: 5* |  Self-sufficient: 5* |  Tidy: 5* |  Pet care: 5*

Sue Wardle

What a lovely woman. I really hope she will come again. Our dogs just loved her.

Claire kept in touch regularly throughout her sit with updates on our boxer joining in with yoga, our old spaniel playing football and great cuddles on the sofa.

The house was well cared for and we came back to everything clean and tidy. I could not recommend her highly enough.

Organised: 5* | Reliable: 5* |  Self-sufficient: 5* |  Tidy: 5* |  Pet care: 5*

Nicole & Mick

Claire is an extremely responsible person who cared for my house like she would care for her own. In fact, I think it was cleaner when she left than when I left!

I have a Golden Retriever and 2 cats and I had the opportunity to be with them all together before I left. I could tell that she loved animals immediately by how my animals reacted to her. My aloof cat plopped right in Claire’s lap!

She was available for me to check in with her when I wanted, which was awesome! I had no worries leaving my home or my animals with her and was very pleased with the entire experience.

Organised: 5* | Reliable: 5* |  Self-sufficient: 5* |  Tidy: 5* |  Pet care: 5*

Julie Keywell

The best in every way.......Claire went out of her way in unforeseen circumstances to be totally professional and kind.

Organised: 5* | Reliable: 5* |  Self-sufficient: 5* |  Tidy: 5* |  Pet care: 5*

Joy and John

A little more about what I do...

Why use a housesittter and why do I house sit?

People use housesitters for a variety of reasons, but the most important one is to ensure that their pets are well taken care of by someone who knows and loves animals in the comfort of their own home. This way they aren't put through the distress of going to kennels, a cattery or somewhere else that they aren't used to spending a lot of time. They can stay in their routine, and are relaxed and well loved while you are away.

Other reasons can include the security of having your home occupied while away, ensuring that homeowners insurance criteria are sustained (some policies are invalidated if a property is unoccupied for a period of time), even ensuring that your home is taken care of in extreme weather. On a prior housesit I experienced a category 5 hurricane coming to the area, which led to hurricane-proofing the property, and doing a 2000 mile round-trip evacuation to ensure that I and the cat in my care stayed safe.

Why do I house sit?

I decided to house-sit as my ability to work from anywhere with an internet connection and a power outlet has meant that I'm now free to indulge my desire to travel and experience different cultures while still enjoying somewhere that feels like ‘home’ and also somewhere where I can still spend time with pets and animals too.

I have really enjoyed the house sitting assignments that I've done to date, making friends with pets in different countries (and the neighbours too!) and I'm very honoured every time someone chooses to entrust us with their home and furry family members.

My skills and experience

Just some of the experience I have from my housesitting assignments includes:

Animal medication
Special diets for pets
Experience with pets who struggle eating
Vet visits
Experience with a wide variety of animals including dogs, cats, poultry (ducks and chickens), parrots, snakes and horses
Managing hurricane-proofing a property, evacuation and managing clean-up/repair on return
Experience learning the care of new animals/breeds
Basic house maintenance
Basic garden maintenance (with direction)
Hand-held and ride-on lawn mowers
Basic swimming pool and hot tub maintenance
Tending to fruit and vegetable patches
Handover to other housesitters/family members
Looking after guests / guest accommodation
Production of welcome baskets for guests (including homemade banana bread!)
Production of ‘house sitting manual’ for homeowners to provide clear instruction for future sitters
Managing spa area and treatments for guests
Managing onsite activities for guests, e.g. liaising with yoga instructor for regular classes and therapists for treatments
Managing staff – housekeeper and groundskeeper
Managing car repairs being completed
Technology troubleshooting, management and maintenance
And lots and lots of love for my animal friends! :)

What I bring to homeowners and pets

With over four years of experience, I have taken on a number of house sitting assignments across the globe. Some of the countries I’ve visited so far while housesitting have been the UK, Costa Rica, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Greece, Ireland and the USA. I’ve cared for dogs, cats, ducks, chickens, horses, a snake and parrots, and homes ranging from small houses in the south of England to a 5 star luxury villa in Brazil that slept 18 people, properties with guest accommodation in Costa Rica and a bed and breakfast with guests in Glastonbury.

I love going for walks and love having a dog (or dogs!) to accompany me on my time outside. I'm adaptable, flexible, and happy to look after and maintain the properties I'm entrusted with to the level at which the owner requests. I’ve dealt with animals with eating problems, vet visits and a plethora of medications all with no issue. And if the sit involves an animal I’ve not taken care of before as long as I’m provided detailed information on how to look after them, I enjoy learning how to take care of new types of pets.

As a relationship coach, my speciality is understanding what’s most important to other people and ensuring that their needs are met as a priority and I bring that approach to my housesitting assignments.

I’m happy to do basic pool maintenance, gardening and chores around the property to keep everything beautiful for you and make sure you have a welcome return to your home, feeling like you’ve never been away. I've never had any complaints and have been told that I often leave properties cleaner than when I arrived.

I love to connect with home owners who are considering us for assignments via Skype or FaceTime in order that they can ask me anything that they want to know, convey to me what’s most important to them in house sitters and feel confident that if they choose me that they can have complete peace of mind while they’re away from home.

Contact me

If you like what you see here and want to find out more about me housesitting for you, just send me an email and I'll be in touch as soon as possible!

E-mail: claire@qualityhousesitter.com

Peace of mind while you are away from home.