I spent last month making an offer you absolutely could refuse. “Would you like to spend a fortnight in a Yorkshire suburb with limited public transport, ministering to an absurdly early rising, heavily medicated dog who spurns affection, six lawless bantams who sit on your head without consent and a priapic tortoise who might take a shine to your shoe? For nothing?”
The fact that, for an annual fee, housesitting sites offer accommodation to people looking for places to stay across the world in return for pet or plant care is one of the few genuine wonders of life in 2023. But what if no one likes the sound of you?
