Eric and the Alpacas

We had been really looking forward to our house/pet sit in Quillan in the Languedoc Roussilion region of France. Our assignment - to looki after Lucky and Jacques, two rescue dogs, one lucky cockerel with a harem of 21 hens, 4 alpacas (Storm, Maestro, Cloud and Negrito) and one African Grey Parrot called Eric….quite a menagerie!

The home, a beautiful restored farmhouse was set in a few acres of land, complete with swimming pool. Owners Susan and Roy, a really lovely couple (originally from the UK), made us very welcome. Due to unforeseen circumstance, we only had a short handover. That said, they had kindly left us lots of written instructions and took time to show us the “ropes”. By the time they departed we felt very comfortable with our assignment and what was required for the care of the animals and their home.

Lucky and Jacques, happily showed us their favourite walks - a lovely track along the riverside ( had a warning to keep an eye out for fisherman, as neither had a liking for them), and the other a track, up the hillside to were a grumpy old man lived - another one to avoid! One sunny morning, as we were walking alongside the river, a gentleman passed by on a bike. Lucky and Jacques took one look and decided "wouldn’t it be fun to give chase". Unfortunately, the poor man clearly scared of dogs. The faster he peddled, the faster the dogs ran. This entailed us legging it after them…..we tried in our best French to get the man to stop but to no avaii. The dogs both decided, despite us shouting their names till we were hoarse , that it couldn’t be them we wanted as they were just too busy having fun! Eventually, we got them to stop and we apologised to the poor man, who clearly upset, shouted some sort of verbal abuse at us, in French (not sure just what but it was accompanied with a bit of fist waving….However, Lucky and Jacques seemed very pleased with themselves….what great fun that had been!

The alpacas were lovely, big, woolly with gorgeous huge dark eyes, gentle natures, very nosey, and always inquisitive to see what we were up to. Surprisingly easy to look after, just a case of making sure they had fresh water, some hay and every 2 or 3 days, a treat of some chopped carrots and pellets We all loved treat day thye got their treats and we got to hand feed them.

They only other job was cleaning up the alpaca poo!!! Actually not a dirty job (I can say this as it was Tom was task not mine!). Alpaca poo looks a bit like large rabbit droppings - thankfully no horrid odors - just a case of shoveling the poo into one place. The owners sell ths - apparently it’s very good for the garden! " Woohoo, time for the Alpaca Poo"….became Tom’s chant, much to the amusement of the neighbours whom Tom didn't realise were in their garden

The chickens had a very large pen and 3 chicken coups. One of the coups, the home of the cockerel and his favourite assortment of females, was fitted with an electronic door. We discovered one morning that the door had stuck and hadn’t opened. We quickly released the door - out tumbled the hens followed by the cockerel who strutted around looking very pleased with himself……hmm one wonders - is it possible he was the one who locked the door?

Still, couldn’t complain as we regularly received fresh egg. However, despite enjoy a couple for breakfast each day, production stepped up to a point that we had quite a supply of them by the time Susan and Roy returned.

Lastly Eric the Parrot, at the grand old age of 22. What a source of great entertainment, with his tunes, noises and funny whistles, included squeaky car brakes, dripping tap, ping of a microwave, wolf whistles galore, kisses, “who’s a pretty boy” to name but a few. Once he got into his stride these could go on for up to an hour especially if encouraged. I’d whistle along with him and really enjoy our exchanges. Tom on the other hand kept enquiring if either of us came complete with an “on/off switch”…..Tom never did find either of our switches!

The Languedoc Roussilion area around Quillan was beautiful. When we house/pet sit we tend not to go too far, but try to get a feel for the local area. We have found, one of the best ways to do this is to find out where the local markets, shows, fetes are being held and visit the towns on these days. Even the smallest villages comes alive when there is something happening and you get to be part of the community. Both Tom and I love the market days, strolling around the stalls and a favourite in France purchasing fresh produce and some of their wonderful cheeses….absolutely yummy!

Another very enjoyable house/pet sit with an invitation to return in the future, something we would love to do. Thanks Susan and Roy!!!