About Holly
Built on trust. Driven by love.
I started Ginger and Tails back in 2022 after 17+ years of working in the charity and corporate sectors.
It was never just about a lifelong love of animals and wanting to fulfil my ambition of working with them; it was about building a business based on professionalism, good structure, excellent customer experience, well-earned trust and most importantly, something that put animal welfare before profit.
My ambitions have never been to grow the business and take on staff, but to purposely keep it small to provide genuinely personal care, I believe that’s why all my clients stay with me – they know how much love and care I put in to getting to know their animals (and them!) and how I do everything I can do ensure their pets are not only happy, but thriving in my care. Being ‘Auntie Holly’ is a very important responsibility!
Something I’m really passionate about is raising standards in what is a mostly unregulated industry and my goal is for one day pet sitting and dog walking to be regulated with proper legal oversight. In the meantime, I work hard to try and educate people about what they should look for and what standards they should expect from a pet services company. I never take for granted how much an animal is part of someone’s family and when they come into my care, they become my family too.
I’m currently studying for a Level 4 Advanced Canine Behaviour diploma and a Canine Health and Nutrition diploma; slowly but surely – fitting it in around my work can be challenging but it’s important to me to give it the time and attention it needs rather than rushing through it. I’m not studying with the ambition of becoming a behaviourist or trainer, but because I genuinely care about being able to fully understand the dogs I look after and I want to do everything possible to make sure they’re always getting what they need. I hope to undertake some feline behaviour studies in the future too!
I’m fully insured with specialist insurance, DBS checked and registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office in the UK to show a commitment to keeping people’s personal information safe.
You’ll often find me working outside the scope of my business to do things for the local community with the aim of bringing people together through their love of animals. In 2025 I ran Colchester’s first ever dog census and at Christmas, collected 312 kilos of pet food for Colchester Foodbank. In 2026 I launched the first Colchester Pet Awards, designed to recognise the amazing human-animal bonds across my community.
In 2026 I was named as a finalist in the customer service category of two national awards, The Small Awards and The Small Business Awards, and even got invited to Downing Street!
I am very privileged to do what I do and I hope to be doing it for many more years to come.
Holly x 🧡🐾
