Farm Sitting
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| As seen from the road |
Thank goodness that our friends, John & Dianne are away in Europe for the winter! Why? Because they were unable to be in two places at once!! (See their amazing blog here:
20 Years From Now)
Normally, they look after the farm whenever our friends, John & Doug, go away for a vacation. So, they asked us if we would do the honours - to which we readily agreed! John and Mark have been friends for over 30 years, and we reconnected with them back in 1993.
Located just 20 minutes east of Peterborough, Ontario, the original farmhouse dates from 1872. The barn was built 4 years earlier.
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| From the back |
Just a decade ago, the guys had a flock of sheep and lambs, together with goats and a llama. Doug is also an artist and, when they renovated the old house, the front room was converted into a studio to display his work. (More on this on a later blog). John and Doug also keep an amazing garden with countless heirloom roses as well as other beautiful flowers and shrubs, backed by a pond. The vegetable garden provides organic produce along with an herbal garden and an orchard out the front. The gardens have been featured in magazines and have been part of garden tours as well.
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| Julie & Brynn love to hang out with us! |
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| Doug's Art Studio |
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| Jessie and Alice |
Now, there is a horse (Jessie), a donkey (Alice), numerous ducks, geese, roosters, hens, and guinea fowl - not to mention the cats in the barn. We are also thrilled to be looking after their two Australian Shepherd dogs - Julie and her son, Brynn. (Brynn is the larger of the two).
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| Our two charges! |
We're so lucky to have been in the right place at the right time as we now have two wonderful weeks where I return to my roots and Mark discovers the joys of feeding the animals as part of the daily chores.
The snow is quite deep in places and Mark discovered that we can't snowshoe if the dogs are with us as they step on the backs of the shoes preventing further advance!!
The inside of the house is really lovely, with a mixture of lovingly preserved architecture housing the furniture that is straight out of a children's book I remember reading when I was younger.
We love the kitchen as it reminds us of our time on the Holland Marsh. The wood-burning cookstove provides heating for the dining room, as well as the kitchen - and makes it our favourite place to be on a cold winter's day!
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| Country Kitchen table! |
The bathroom is something else!! Heated floors, a jetted bathtub, and a huge shower cubicle make it a pleasurable experience just to be there! The vistas seen from every window (including the one in the bathroom) show the expanse of the 100 acres that belong to the farm.
Having knocked the wall down between two adjacent rooms, there is an expansive bedroom which is better than a first-class hotel suite! And to think that we get to stay here for two whole weeks - it still blows my mind.
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| Cozy library area, next to the dining room |
Another favourite place of ours is the library, with its two comfy chairs - ideal for reading, doing puzzles - or just for snoozing! Oh, the luxury of it all!
It's so much fun doing something completely different and living a dream while the owners are away on vacation. Fresh farm eggs, organic veggies, and a freezer stocked with different good-quality meats promise to be a real treat that will punctuate our daily protein shakes very nicely!!
Maybe there's more to this house-sitting business that deserves a closer look!
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| I wonder if this is still in working order? |
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| The Art Gallery |
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| Doug sells his work all over Canada and the U.S. |
Pictures shared publicly with permission.
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