Reigate, Surrey | April to May 2026
Oh my God, I still laugh when I think about this one!
Deb and I were house sitting in Reigate, Surrey, through TrustedHousesitters, looking after Kevin the cat while his pet parents were away. They were absolutely lovely, and they even left us their car to use while they were away. How awesome is that!
Having the car meant we could explore a little further afield, including a trip to Stonehenge, somewhere I’d been looking forward to visiting for ages.
We’d had a wonderful day and got all the way home without a problem. We came in through the front door, locked it behind us as we always did, and then decided to put the rubbish bins out.
So we headed out through the back door, leaving it unlocked, and walked through the side gate to take the bins around to the front.
Of course, Kevin the cat decided he was coming too. He started wandering towards the road, so we were keeping an eye on him when suddenly…
BANG!
The side gate slammed shut behind us.
Oh, bugger!
The gate had a coded lock, and the code was written in the TrustedHousesitters Welcome Guide.
Which was inside the house!
The front door was locked, and although we’d left the back door unlocked, we couldn’t get to it because we were on the wrong side of the gate.
We just stood there looking at each other, laughing.
Holy shit! How were we going to get back in?
Meanwhile, Kevin the cat had lost interest in the road and was sitting by the front door, waiting to be let inside.
Well, Kevin, we’d love to let you in, mate, but we’ve got a slight problem here!
Deb and I wandered around looking for a way back in, still laughing about the situation, when we spotted some ladders beside the shed.
Ah, fantastic! We’ll grab one, climb over and Bob’s your uncle!
Except there were three of them, all secured together with a cable. We couldn’t separate them, so if we wanted one ladder, we had to move all three!
Well, you should have seen us!
Two Australian women trying to carry three ladders attached together, laughing so hard we could barely manage them. The more we struggled, the harder we laughed, which made the whole thing even more difficult.
It was like something straight out of a Laurel and Hardy film.
And then we remembered the CCTV cameras.
Oh my God, imagine watching that footage back!
Then we started wondering what would happen if one of the neighbours spotted us. They knew the pet parents were away. What if they thought we were burglars and called the police?
“Honestly, officer, we’re the house sitters! We’ve just come back from Stonehenge, and all we wanted to do was put the bins out!”
Eventually, we managed to get the ladders into position. Deb climbed onto the shed roof and over the other side, heading for the unlocked back door.
And then all I heard was…
“Ow! Ow!”
“Are you okay?” I called out.
“Yeah, I think so!” came the reply.
She’d fallen onto the ground on the other side!
I couldn’t see her, so I wanted to make sure she was all right. Thankfully, she was able to answer me, but honestly, what a carry-on!
All this because we’d gone outside to put the bins out!
Eventually, we managed to get ourselves back inside, and Kevin the cat finally got through the front door too.
I reckon he must have wondered what on earth had taken us so long.
Later, when we spoke to Kevin the cat’s pet parents, we told them the whole story.
I said, “If you want to watch something really funny, you’re going to have to check your CCTV footage. You’ll see Deb and me laughing our heads off trying to carry three ladders that were all tied together!”
They thought it was hilarious.
And when we told them we’d wondered whether somebody might call the police, they told us something we hadn’t known.
The police station was just down the road!
Well, that set us off laughing all over again.
Sometimes the best travel memories aren’t the ones you plan. They’re the unexpected things that happen along the way, the moments that still have you laughing months later.
Three ladders, two house sitters and Kevin the cat.
I’ll never forget our great Reigate break-in!
What We Learnt the Hard Way
If there’s one thing we learnt from our Reigate adventure, it’s to make sure you’ve got the gate codes handy before you head outside. Having them written in the Welcome Guide is wonderful, unless the Welcome Guide is on the other side of a locked gate!
It’s also worth knowing who to contact if something unexpected happens and having a backup way to get inside.
And while we can laugh about it now, climbing over sheds and fences isn’t something I’d recommend. We were lucky Deb wasn’t seriously hurt when she fell.
Would I do another house sit?
Absolutely!
But next time we take the bins out, you can bet I’ll be checking how to get back through the gate first!
Slow Roads & Simple Things