Marley & Friends, Brittany 2015
5 week sit, 3 Dogs, 3 Cats, 2 Donkeys, Fish.
Driving through constant rain as we traveled into Brittany, it felt like we were still in the UK, however the plus side was hardly any traffic! and that was on the dual carriageways, when we got closer to our destination we knew we would be happy here, deep in the quiet countryside of central Brittany.
Our companions here are a pair of Jack Russell’s, 2 old sisters Poppy & Daisy, a Great Dane type cross called Marley, 2 cats, 1 kitten, 2 donkeys and a pond full of fish.
We had a relaxed evening with Annie the owner and Mum to said tribe followed by a day of learning the ropes. It was really useful to have this time getting to know Annie, before she left for her holiday. Getting to know all the animals the house and land was made easier by looking back on our notes, by about day 3 we had got the hang of who eats what, when & where!!
The two cats Mimi a beautiful looking, very chilled out, slightly boss’ eyed, siamese and Petal a feral cat who visited a couple of times a day, sitting patiently on the kitchen windowsill to be fed, were very, very easy to look after.
The kitten, named Rosie-lea was a little ball of fun who kept us on our toes, being fed 4 times a day, spending part of the day in a large pen so she could get used to the other pets in the house and then spending the evenings with us in the lounge room (no dogs allowed!) This changed after a couple of weeks as she grew in strength and confidence, we introduced her to Poppy, Daisy and Mimi who all put up with her kitten antics, chasing their tails and using them as pouncing practice targets etc.
Marley would have loved to play with the kitten, however the sight of an enormous, long legged, big headed dog frightened the life out of her, she scarpered, doing a super sliding scurry come scamper across the floor every time he came into the same room … Hopefully they will make friends as time goes on.
So who knew Donkeys were so funny!!? Coco & Channel live in the paddock at the back of the cottage, boy could they eat! hay, grass and their favourite, apples which were brought round regularly by a number of friendly neighbours, they also liked carrots along with the tops of the veg’ plus other veggie leftovers from the kitchen. The result of much in-take is of course much out-take!! So one of the daily jobs was, barrowing' Donkey doo!!
The easiest of all jobs was feeding the fish, made even easier on a sunny afternoon with a glass of wine in hand.
Our favourite part of the day though, was taking the dogs for walks over the fields or along the lanes. They would get so excited as all dogs do, Poppy and Daisy seemed to morph from old ladies into young pups!, they were great ratters, many a time all you could see were their tails in the air, and when they surfaced their white faces were turned mud brown, happy doggies.
What can I tell you about Marley?, maybe I shouldn't say it, as I love all the pets we sit for, but I really did ‘fall in love’ with this gentle giant, though he was only young and could be quite boisterous, he sometimes had a wise look about him, he had a knowing, an understanding, and such a loving nature. He was as tall as me when he put his paws on my shoulders, which he did often, generally for a love and to say good-morning. Being fit and very strong with excess energy we took him out for walks with the girls and then again later on, on his own, oh my what a pace he could build up …. there was much calling him back and forth between the two of us ….. lol, he enjoyed it and got double the exercise. Obviously he got nick-named ‘Bob’ for short.
All in all we had a fab time in Brittany, visiting a few places like the thousands of standing stones at Carnac, the ornate chateau at Josselin, watching kite surfers along the coast of Quiberon and listening to live music at the free festival in Mohaun.
Lastly what made our stay so special were Annie’s friends and neighbours whom we got to know quite well over the 5 weeks. Mark and Sandra aka M&S were our local source of fresh veg’ and eggs, the best M&S I’ve ever been to!! you could not leave without being given a glass of cider. We picked their brains to find out how they had set up their small holding, the ups, the downs, the legals, the nuances of the area, etc.
And our neighbours across the road Tony and Jill, were great sources of all sorts of knowledge, cat, dog and donkey … esk! along with having many interesting and alternative views on world events, we were not lost for conversation. The world was put to rights over a few games of snooker .. and much laughter at bad play, bad etiquette and a little bit of cheating!!! is one game of snooker meant to take all night!!?
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