On to our next house/pet sitting assignment and and we headed back into France to the Haute Pyranees area As we had a couple of days, we took a leisurely road trip from Spain across the Pyrenean Mountains. We saw some stunning scenery and breath taking views along the way - it was fantastic to have the time to stop and take it all in.
We arrived at our house/pet sit, near the town of Gallan. The old Manor House we would be looking after was over 200 years old, set in beautiful gardens and several acres of land. There were distant views over the Pyrenean Mountains from some of the upstairs windows. A comfortable home with lots of originally features, wooden and stone floors, large inglenook fireplace, with wonderfully large spacious rooms and high ceilings.
Alex, the home owner, a lovely lady, made us feel very welcome on arrival, as did Dolly and Gypsy the two Springer Spaniels we would be caring after. We enjoyed our handover with her and loved some of her quaint expressions, "Watch out for the Beakies" (reference to the Chickens), "Pesky Wazzies" (a reference to the Birds we think).... it was very entertaining! She took us around and kindly introduced us to some of the neighbours and locals, as well as taking us to a local market and took us on a "recce" to show us where the shops, garage etc could be found.
Gypsy and Dolly were two lovable rescue dogs, Gypsy was handed to Alex as she was "no longer wanted" by the previous owner (she was only a puppy!) and Dolly, she found at the side of the road. Both Gypsy and Dolly were lovely, had very gentle temperaments and quikly accepted us into the "pack" We enjoyed, some great walks around the town with them both, the countryside, the clear crisp air and the views stretching for miles against the backdrop of the Mountains.
Prior to the owner Alex leaving, we were chatting and discovered, somewhat bizarrely, that she was the cousin of a boss Tom and I both worked for back in the UK, some 25 years ago.....what a small world! It was good to hear her news and to find out he had stayed at this house only a few years before us.
Our time here was very pleasant, until halfway through the sit, we received news to say that Tom's older brother, Billy, had sadly passed away from cancer (he had fought this terrible disease for over 15 years!). His passing was quite sudden and we were faced with the dilemma of waiting to hear when the funeral would be and to work out the logistics of returning to Scotland.
I am mentioning this as people often ask how do you cope in a situation like this.
It is a very hard situation to have to deal with. On this occasion, we were able to complete the rest of the sit in Galan for Alex, as the funeral was arranged for the following week. Quite by chance we happened to have 3 days clear between this sit and the start of the next one, so were able to return to be with the family. We spoke with the owners of our forthcoming sit, Susan and Roy, as the funeral was organise for the day we were due to start with them for a "handover". Our plan at this time was for me to return for the handover and for Tom to stay on for the funeral. They were lovely, sympathetic and very understanding, fortunately, they were on a driving holiday to Italy and readily offered to move the start date by a day so we could both attend the funeral.
We feel we have to mention in this blog, the kindness, thoughtfulness and understanding that we experienced from the homeowners, both Alex and Susan and Roy. It was such a sad time for us. Also to Gypsy and Dolly, these beautiful dogs, who must have sensed our sadness and came to us, laying their heads on our knees and giving lots of love and cuddles....two furry friends with big hearts.
RIP Billy Palmer!