I’ve always had a thing for hats – even as a child I was often to be found in the hat department of our local department store trying on everything from simple berets to the most flamboyant ‘mother-of-the-bride’ affairs.

My Mum always envied me – “You just have one of those faces that suits every hat!”

But I think it had less to do with my face and more to do with my attitude.

If you plonk a hat on your head any old how and think you are going to look daft in it, then you will!  But place it just so, at the perfect jaunty angle, hold your head up high and as Madonna instructs ‘Strike a pose!’ and voila!

Late 2017 saw me housesitting in Montappone in the Le Marche region of Italy – which I soon learned was the centre of the Italian hat making industry.  Cue lots of factory outlets, several additions to my hat collection and the most glamorous dog-walker this side of the Sybillini Mountains!

So I guess it was inevitable that when thinking of must-have items for The Happy Housesitter shop, hats would soon make an appearance.

Much as I would love to have you all striding about the countryside dressed like Alexis Carrington, Puss in Boots and Sherlock Holmes (or whoever your famous hat-wearer of choice is), I am rather restricted by the kind of hats that my print-on-demand supplier can a) supply and b) print on (or rather embroider).

But I am sure when they are launched, you will find them both practical and fun and will want to add at least one to your housesitting wardrobe.

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