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Author Archives: ASWilliams
Balloon Flight over the Chateau
Frank and I celebrated our 33rd wedding anniversary in September. On our ninth house-sit of this year we decided to book a balloon flight. Paying for our accommodation in kind (offering pet care) means we free up cash which can … Continue reading
Sailing along the Amsterdam Canals
Dear readers, I promised you a blog about Amsterdam and here it is! You might remember that Frank and I are OOPOEHs. Omas en Opas Passen Op Een Huisdier, which translates into the rather unflattering; Grandpas and Grandmas look after … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, travel, Uncategorized
Tagged Amsterdam boat trip, Amsterdam canals, Amsterdam tourism, Boats4rent, day trip Amsterdam, Oopoeh, travel
7 Comments
All Good Things…
After two months of house-sitting it is sadly almost time to go home again. We’ve travelled through Hertfordshire, Nottinghamshire, East Riding of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Leicestershire and spent the last two weeks in the smallest county in England, Rutland. … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, lifestyle, travel, Uncategorized
Tagged Animals, British food, house-sitting, Peak District, pet-sitting, pets, Rutland, travel, Visiting England
7 Comments
Llamas, Outrageous Wealth and The Black Death
It’s a first! pet-sitting llamas in deepest Peru, I mean deepest Hertfordshire. Continue reading
Posted in Animals, history, lifestyle, travel, Uncategorized
Tagged Aldwick village, black death, hertfordshire, home counties, house-sitting, llamas, plague village, Rothschilds, tourism england, tring, waddesdon manor
4 Comments
Is it OK to trample on the tulips, in pursuit of the ultimate selfie?
We live in an era of narcissism fuelled by sites such as Facebook and Instagram. Many people post images of themselves amongst the tulip fields surrounding the famous spring gardens, de Keukenhof and this often involves traipsing through and destroying … Continue reading
Posted in lifestyle, travel, Uncategorized
Tagged keukenhof, mass tourism, selfie-mania, top tips for visiting Keukenhof, travel, Tulips, visiting the Netherlands
4 Comments
Creative Hub – De Ceuvel in #Amsterdam
Sorry for the radio silence, dear followers! I have been doing a turbo-boost fiction course which I blogged about for Writers Abroad here. That took up my writing energy for a bit. Clichéd Vision The new series on BBC1, Sunday … Continue reading
Posted in lifestyle, travel, Uncategorized
Tagged Amsterdam, Baptiste, Café de Ceuvel, circular living, de Ceuvel, Ferry 901, Itinerary Amsterdam, off-grid community, River Ij
2 Comments
Silence: an elusive pot of gold at the end of the rainbow
Noise, it’s everywhere, isn’t it? Loud machines and vehicles are associated with importance and personal status. It’s even infiltrated our language. The idiom; he/she’s a big noise means someone is an important person. Fire Alarm set too loud Even if … Continue reading
A Ghost Story for #Christmas!
The Haunting of Hill House plays with that numinous area between emotional vulnerabilities and supernatural possession suggesting that we are all, like the Crain family, ‘haunted’ in some way; perhaps by family trauma, relationships that went wrong or wishes that never came to fruition. Continue reading
Coffee, Cake and Furry Friends #catcafe #jippies #haarlem
Haarlem is so close to Amsterdam that Frank and I often go there for a day trip. It’s much more civilised than Amsterdam. The Red Light District there is quite small which means it doesn’t attract the amount of low … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Food, travel, Uncategorized
Tagged Cat café, Day trip from Amsterdam, haarlem, Jippies Katten café
2 Comments
This Little Pig Likes to Frolic #Endthecageage #CIWF
Can I Play Outside? I grew up on a smallholding so the welfare of farm animals has always been an important issue to me. I believe farm animals should live without pain and discomfort and be able to fulfil their … Continue reading


