We are a mature couple who plan to go travelling in our mobile home for 6-7 months from early July Update - we may have someone lined up for the winter, so are looking for people for shorter stints udring the summer and early fall).
Our house is essentially 3 apartments; we live in the ground floor apartment with access to reasonably-sized garden that is easy to maintain with both a morning and an evening terrace . The apartment has a bedroom, a study, an open plan living/dining/kitchen area, a bathroom and another WC. There is a full-size cellar underneath with a washroom with a washing machine and drying facility, a workshop and a 'party room' as they are known in Germany, along with a couple of storage rooms. You would be the only person to be able to access the cellar.
The house lies within 15 minutes walk of the town centre of Gütersloh, a fair-sized, well-to-do town in Ostwestfalen. The town has a full range of shops and amenities and there is a small supermarket around the corner from the house, along with a swimming pool which has an outdoor facility in the summer only a few hundred metres away.
In the other two apartments above live currently 3 well-mannered, helpful and quiet young people from the Ukraine. All three apartments are accessed from a central stair case and each has it own lockable entrance door.
Our pet labrador is coming travelling with us so there is no need to pet-sit but we would appreciate somebody caring for the garden, watering it regularly and mowing the lawn and maybe keeping plants trimmed back. The young Ukrainians are also available for any heavier garden work that might need doing.
We are ideally looking for a mature person or couple, maybe retired and/or somebody who simply wants/needs a place to stay for up to 6 months and would like to explore this part of Germany. A car might be available for somebody prepared to take over the insurance and running costs for the time they are here. The cities of Hannover and Dortmund are about 1 hour's drive. Bremen, Hamburg, Cologne and Düsseldorf 2-3 hours away
Speaking some German might be an advantage but not essential. Most people locally have at least some English which they generally like to practise. We would remain in regular contact with you whilst we were away to assist in allowing you to settle in and dealing with any issues, such as repairs, that might arise. There might be points at which we would be passing nearby on our travels so we might pop in to say hello and possibly stay over at the front of the house in our mobile home.