We spent 2 weeks in a lovely little housesit in Vernon, just outside Paris. After a bit of deliberation we decided to head north again from the centre of France as this opportunity came up. We found it on Nomador, spoke with the lovely owners and everything was set.
The night we arrived the friendly owners of the house had prepared a delicious meal for us. It was the first time we had be able to meet housesit owners and it certainly made us feel very comfortable.
The house was lovely and located just out of town on a semi-rural block (maybe an acre in size). We had to look after their two gorgeous dogs, cat and a few chickens. Our kids were naturally really excited especially as one of the dogs (Lilou) was tiny and perfect for a toddler to cuddle and play with.
To be honest we had big plans to explore the area and do lots of day trips but we actually really enjoyed hanging out at home. It was a lovely big old house with lots of different and interesting collectables everywhere. They had a huge DVD collection and a lovely outdoor area where we could sit and enjoy a glass of wine while the kids played.
Milo took a particular interest in the chickens and when we let them out each day he would merrily chase, catch and carry them around the yard. I think this child might be a secret animal whisperer as where ever he goes he seems to be able to pick up anything that moves!
The boys also had a great time playing on the skateboards and scooters that were left out for us. They had a great driveway that they would play on for hours! It was smooth and on a slight hill with a lovely patch of grass at the bottom. You could not have designed a more perfect activity for the boys!
Mieka and Lilou loved to play with the kids as well. They were both outside dogs and before they left the owners of the house told me that they would never come inside under any circumstances, however after we came in from waving them off we found little Lilou sitting inside on the mat!
Scott was able to get a little bit of work done and had a fabulous working area. The light that came in was beautiful and the view out to the yard was so pretty. We had a few rainy days while we were there but we just turned to the massive collection of DVD’s and cuddled up on the couch.
After being in France for nearly 6 weeks we were dying for some Asian food. This proved to be more difficult that it sounds! I found a can of coconut milk right at the beginning of my trip and figured the shop had ‘sold’ out of curry paste that went with it. Well 23 supermarkets later and a nation wide search for anything that was Thai, Indian or even just vaguely Asian … I finally found my curry paste! It was 8 euro for a tiny little jar but so worth it!
All in all we had a great time in Vernon. We got to see Monet’s Gardens and experience a different part of France. It is a very pretty and scenic area and I can highly recommend visiting or at least driving through. I am not sure I want to housesit for 2 weeks again as it was possibly a bit long for us, I think 7-10 days is probably our maximum. One of the lovely things that housesitting offers is it gives you the chance to sit down, relax and regroup. You can take your time planning your next few moves or researching places to go. We managed to map out the following month of travels through the Balkans while were here and began research on our Turkey trip!
