38. Drayton - Oxfordshire - House and Pet Sitting - Episode 2

Both Max and I have now mastered public transport around the UK with a LOT of help from Daniel, of course! He suggested the best app and also saved us a fortune on fares. His suggestion of booking return trips reduced our return fares by 90%.  Trains outside the London CBD can get expensive so any saving is a God send. Thanks, dude!

We travelled to Drayton, a little village a 45-minute bus ride from Oxford. It's a small 2-pub spot and pleasant enough, as there is plenty of farmland surrounding the village and we had the convenience of a bus stop close by.

The two dogs on this sit were Bernedoodles. A cross between a poodle and a Bernese mountain dog. I thought anything ending in an 'oodle' meant it was small. The owner looked a bit confused when I asked where he kept the saddles. These girls are big. 

After a detailed briefing, the owner left to catch a plane to Mexico and we were left with these very large pooches. One took to us straight away and the other took a couple of feeds to warm to us.

They're both the same breed. One had been shaved. 

Frida and Xanti (pron. Zanti)


We walk them every morning in the nearby fields which has been good for us too. It seems to be an accepted practice for farmers to allow owners to walk dogs around crop paddocks.

Oh and that's not a treat bag.  It's poo!


Whilst here, we will be going into Oxford for a look around. Here until Saturday, we'll then catch the train straight to Folkstone on the South East Coast for another 10-day sit. 

Comments

  1. Darryl and AnnieApril 27, 2023 at 8:20 AM

    Dog sitting Such a great idea Paul and Max . I can see you’re enjoying the adventure and location changes. UK country people can be very quirky. Haha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Max and Paul's Excellent AdventureApril 27, 2023 at 8:32 AM

      Its worked out well so far. And yes, the sense of humour here is definitely to my taste!

      Delete
  2. AnonymousApril 27, 2023 at 9:04 AM

    Couple of crackers there guys...glad you are enjoying dog sitting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. vivApril 27, 2023 at 12:20 PM

    Max- Is that a bag of tasty treats in your hand.........or treats out of the other end of said canines ? 😂

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mary Lawrence April 27, 2023 at 11:48 PM

    Saddles! Haha. Love it! And Max appears to be in her element. I'll have to look up Folkstone to get an idea of the location 🤔

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

123. Malta and Gozo

Image
After 2 and a bit hours we arrived in Malta and were greeted by Daniel, Ellen and her sister Meredith. Flights are so cheap and it's great to not feel any jet lag! I was born in Malta and always feel a sense of homecoming every time I return as I have cousins here, which I'm looking forward to visiting. The last time was 5 years ago.  We arrived at our 3-bedroom harbour-side apartment in Sliema and were pleasantly surprised at the size. I paced out approx 9 x 47 metres!  Where's Max? Standing in the doorway of the bedroom! It was nice to be in a milder climate as we've experienced a very long cold spell this winter. Typical Maltese architecture. We took a trip to Gozo with Daniel, Ellen and Meredith. The boat ride was a bit rough but we enjoyed the day out. Here is the view from the Citadel in the capital, Victoria. We visited Mdina, known as 'The Silent City', as cars are not allowed in most parts. The door knockers represent particular families' crests. Mu...
Read more

131- Lakes District - Edinburgh - Yorkshire - UK

Image
It's always good to see Daniel and Ellen. We'd last seen them in Majorca a few weeks before, and we were grateful to be able to stay with them again inbetween jaunts and pet sits. That weekend, there was a 'Lambing Day' at a local farm and Ellen and Daniel had taken a gig selling Jersey milk ice creams for a local farmer who couldn't make it that day. The queues were like this all day! Sheep dog demonstrations. Some of these border collies fetch more than 50k AUD at auctions. And... what the day was named after. This one looked blissed out!  Welcome to the world, little one. ❤️ Pics around Sevenoaks. Since we had no pet sits booked, we took advantage of the longer days and improving weather and planned a 'loop' to three destinations: the Lakes District, Edinburgh and the Yorkshire Dales.      The whole trip was just over 1500 km, which we covered in about 9 days. The first stop was Windermere in the Lakes District. We did fall in love with this place as the ...
Read more

End of Chapter 1 - Goodbye England. Goodbye Daniel and Ellen... for now...

Image
August 23rd and we went to Number 8, a restaurant in Sevenoaks, for Paul's birthday, which was the following day.  It was actually very good and we had a lovely time.  Ellen had kindly made a blackberry upside down cake (given it was blackberry season) and we left the restaurant to go eat sugar, sing birthday wishes and blow out candles.  The following day, Daniel and Ellen were selling ice-cream at an agricultural show in Oxted, so Paul and I went to London on the train.  Our last blast in the big smoke.  After a delicious breakfast at Dishoom we walked around the city and Regents Park and eventually headed back to Sevenoaks for dinner with the crew.  I'd made borscht for the first time.  Earthy dish, that.   Monday was a bank holiday (a public holiday to us Aussies) and the three of us headed to Oxted for the agricultural show. Ellen was working at the ice-cream van again so we spent the day with Daniel wandering around sheep and cows, goat...
Read more