A little foray away from my usual holiday stories, well, only just, because we recently adopted a kitten, and he’s so special that I couldn’t resist sharing how he came to live with us here in England.

At the start of September, we took a very last-minute trip to visit some dear friends from our Singapore days, who now live in the Netherlands. We spent the weekend wandering around beautiful Maastricht, eating, chatting, and catching up properly.

On Sunday afternoon, we began the drive home, hearts and bellies full. We’d recently switched to an electric car and, at long last, have become slightly more organised about charging stops. About an hour from Calais, as the sun was starting to set, we pulled off the motorway to a random little charging spot: five chargers tucked beside a field and a couple of farmhouses.

While the car charged, we let the dogs stretch their legs and have a drink. That’s when he appeared, a tiny, inquisitive kitten who wandered straight over and tried to share their water. Then he started nibbling on a few crumbs we’d dropped… and before we knew it, he was attempting to climb into the car. It honestly felt like he’d chosen us.

He was so calm, so trusting, and so unbothered by the chaos around him (aka our younger dog – Maple). My husband, meanwhile, was convinced he must have rabies (he didn’t, of course), so I had to keep my distance, but as we drove away, my heart absolutely broke leaving him there all alone.

The next morning, still thinking about him, I opened Google Maps to pinpoint exactly where we’d stopped. Then I started emailing anyone I could find nearby; restaurants, Airbnb hosts, dog breeders, horse breeders, even a few animal charities. Some replies were kind, others… less so (looking at you Mr dog breeder who told me they weren’t Noah’s Ark). But then the lovely cat ladies of Middelkerke came through. They rushed over, found him, and whisked him to safety.

Within a few days, he’d been placed with a foster family, vaccinated, microchipped, and, quite literally, had his bits sorted out. We officially applied to adopt him through their programme, and the funniest part? They’d been calling him “she” right up until his operation, when they realised he was actually a boy. They sent me the funniest message saying ‘surprise you’re having a boy‘.

Four weeks later, we drove back to Belgium for a day trip to collect him. He was being fostered near Bruges, so we made the most of it and stopped for a long lunch in town before meeting our little man, now named Fudge (my kids like to name all our animals after food).

I’ve always been a bit of a hippy at heart and genuinely believe that animals find you when you need them most. Fudge has slotted into our lives as if he’s always been here. It took a few weeks to sort themselves out, but our dogs love having him around too.

And as someone who never thought of herself as a “cat person,” I can honestly say I couldn’t love him more. Thank you to the cat ladies for giving him and us this chance.

Have you ever come home from a holiday with more than you expected?