138 Summerseat - UK - House and Pet Sitting - Episode 49

Before we arrived at our next pet sitting gig, we spent the night in the Royal Toby Hotel, just five miles from where we had to be. The room was nice enough and we actually had room to move, which so many hotels don't provide these days. 

We were booked into the Italian restaurant attached to the hotel, but high-tailed it out of there when we found ourselves listening to overly loud music, complete with ads. There was something amiss with their sound system and clearly no one had Spotify with a boom box so, not wanting to put up with commercial radio, we left and went back to the pub dining room.

The meal was fine, but not memorable. As I was talking to Paul an older women hurriedly walked past with her husband, farting loudly as she went, which had begun long before she reached us. 🤣  Well, that was the end of me. We'd had a very long drive and a couple of large glasses of wine and I couldn't contain myself.  And when I looked over at the table next to us on the other side of the walkway, a woman there was also doubled over and we shared a moment. Still laughing now... Anyway, onto Summerseat. 

And here she is, the delightful Poppy. What a wonderful way to end our pet sitting adventures in the UK.  She was very excited to meet us, which is always good, and we, of course, always make a fuss of the animals before greeting the people. 

She is a sock and undies muncher and a stick terroriser. She was up for a big play.

The house was a terrace and lucky to be 4.5 metres wide.  We had to go up and down the steepest staircase we'd ever seen. The risers were taller than should have been legal and the loo was upstairs too. Good pelvic floor control was required as it was like climbing a ladder!

Despite that, we were cosy but comfortable. 

Summerseat is part of Bury, which is part of Manchester, but far enough from both to be rural and quite lovely. It's pretty small with two pubs, a convenience store and a neat garden centre/farm shop/cafe where we spent a fair bit of time and money. The garden centre was literally at the back of the property so it was a quick whip round. 

This is the duck. The duck spent three days on the bed, was chewed, tossed and shagged.  Not by me. Had to wait in line. Poppy loves her duck. Or it might be a plat-billed duckypuss, but as it's England, it's probably a duck. 

Here is the exceptionally well-behaved pub dog having a pint. 

A close up of the mini golden doods. 

With side eye...

And the "I miss you" shot from her owners after we'd left. 

And another mid rrraaaggghhh shot, because she was sooooo lovely.

There was an old steam train that went from Summerseat to Ramsbottom, which we were keen to ride and photograph. In our minds we imagined the Hogwarts Express, but alas, it was pretty ordinary. It did go "wooo oo woooooo" a lot, however, and our imaginations filled in the rest. 

There was, however, a classic steam train at a station nearby.

Paul thought he was passing the 'Whomping Willow' when walking Poppy.

The dreaded 5-hour trip back to Sevenoaks down the M25 ended up being only 5 hours, which was miraculous as it's usually a carpark. 

Adiós, good people, until our "oh bugger, we have to leave Europe" post.