Housesitting, gardening and petsitting in Le Marche, Italy

Details

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  Description

  Housesitting, gardening and petsitting from 30 July to 25 August 2026
  
  Hello!
  
  We're a family of 5, with three kids Niko (13), Esma (11) and Nora (8). We live in a 19th century manor house in the Italian countryside, a stone's throw from the main local town, Jesi, in Le Marche. The house is on the grounds of a historic villa, which includes a church, limonaia (lemon tree greehouse) and a small centuries-old forest.
  
  We have 5 hens, 3 cats and a dog - all mostly outdoor pets and pretty low maintenance, except our dog who loves cuddles and humans in general. We have several vegetable patches and indoor/outdoor plants that need watering and love! Our land also includes a field next to our garden where we're running some experiements in permaculture - we've planted over 40 trees, to create both an orchard and to rewild parts of the field. The field includes around 30 olive trees and offers some gorgeous views of the mountains.
  
  Jesi is in the Le Marche region of Italy - a beautiful, hidden gem which isn't overloaded with tourists (think off the beaten track Tuscany). It is renowned for its wine (Verdicchio especially), craftsmanship, especially in weaving, and is set between mountains and sea. We love it because it is super serene, nature filled and offers a bit of everything including snow in the winter and lovely swims in the summer.
  
  You will definitely need a car because it's very hilly so not simple to cycle around! Jesi is a lovely medieval town, which offers a surprising amount of activities for a small town (40,000 inhabitants). It has a number of bars, restaurants, an 18th opera house which doubles as a theatre (one of the few opera houses in Italy from the late 1700s that has never been destroyed by fire or bombs), cinema, antiques shops etc. There is virtually no traffic so everything is a pretty quick ride - to other towns, to the beach (Conero is a must), to a massive cave complex (Frassassi) - the list goes on!
  
  We would love help during the year when we work on some garden and permaculture projects on our grounds.
  
  Looking forward to meeting you!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Animal Care

  Farmstay help

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  House & pet sitting
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We can let you know about any events that happen during the summer - there are a number of town festivals, usually centered around food! You'll get the chance to experience rural Italian life, eating good fresh produce (anything our vegetable patch produces is yours!), fresh eggs, lovely walks and swims.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  We would love to have you help us with:
  
  HENS: Daily collection of their eggs (and please eat them too!), and every 4-5 days checking on their food and water
  
  CATS + DOG: Daily food (we usually give them dinner) and fresh water. Our dog doesn't need to be walked as our grounds are big, but playing with him and generally acknowledging his presence makes him very happy. He sleeps indoors as our property isn't fully fenced and he might wander in the night.
  
  OUTDOOR GARDENING: We have several vegatable patches and outdoor plants that need regular watering, deweeding, deadheading, collecting ripe vegetables. We're setting up various drip watering systems which means it shouldn't be a huge amount of watering. The watering should be done very abundantly (about 1 minute per plant let's say) every 2-3 days when it hasn't been raining.
  
  INDOOR PLANTS: We have various indoor plants that need to be watered once a week.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent
  Serbian: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate

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  Accommodation

  You will have a room to yourselves which includes a sofa bed and arm chair (as well as our old kitchen for storing your things). You will also have full access to our ground floor, where there is a large open plan living room and kitchen, and bathroom with shower. The kitchen table is perfect to spread out on for some remote work if needed.
  
  We have mosquito nets on all windows, AC in the main living room and fans elsewhere.
  
  We will provide one set of bedding and towels. As we will be away, you will need to sort out your food. There are a number of supermarkets in the town, as well as a local food market. For wine, there is a great wine cantina that is a 5min walk away - you buy wine direct from the producers, 5 litres for 13 eur.

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  What else ...

  A car is a must (unfortunately) as it's difficult to get to places otherwise.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  Paolo and I work from home, so we have fast speed fibre optic internet in the house.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  My animals / pets

  

  Raisin (4 years)

  Our scardiest cat by far. She was the runt of the litter and was raised by another dog. She tends to keep to herself although at times she will chill and come for a tentative cuddle (in the pic she is the white and grey one).

  

  Oreo (6 years)

  Oreo is our biggest and oldest cat - he and Sunny grew up together so they love cuddling. Oreo tends to keep to himself especially in the hot summer months.

  

  Nuvola (4 years)

  The cuddliest of our cats, she chats a lot and runs for cuddles. The other two are a bit more weary of strangers so tend to stay away.

  

  Sunny (6 years)

  Adorable, desperate for cuddles, super gentle with all animals and small people but also loves playing, running, swimming in rivers and lakes. He is scared of: loud noises (especially thunder and fireworks), big fat flies that make a lot of noise when they fly, big crowds.

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