Does anyone know of anyone in the mid Essex area that takes in dogs into their homes, for boarding, not just day care.  We're going on holiday for the first time without Alfie, just for a week, but I would much rather he lives in someone's home with them rather than in kennels.  The national register of petsitters hasn't given me any joy.  Thanks.

Obviously it is your choice regarding where your dog goes to stay while you are on holiday. I would ask why not use boarding kennels as you say you havn't used them before I presume as its your first holiday? without your dog.
The reason I say this is because kennels have to be licenced and inspected by the local authority and should comply with the latest standards. Also the kennel owners should be on good relations with the local vets should the need occur,apart from legally responsible for the care of your dog. Don't get me wrong there is nothing the matter with home care if they pass local authority standards and are inspected by the same ,however there is the risk that a dog staying in a strange home environment where there is a possibility of a member of the family forgetting to close a door, it does happen, and the dog runs into the road and either causes an accident of gets killed, the home pet carer would I doubt be willing to accept resonsiblity or even in the case of your dog getting sick leaving you to pay the vet bills.  Another point to consider kennel owners are required by law to be on the premises 24 hours a day whilst animals are in their care, whereas a home pet carer may well decide to go out for the day leaving your dog alone for many hours.
You will find others will go against this advice for whatever reason even if only to try to stir things up or they have had a bad experience with kennels, all I would say is that everyone has different standards after all if we all liked the same thing  then life would be uninteresting. Make up your OWN mind but don't blank out kennels entirely because one day you may need a boarding kennel in a hurry and if you use that kennel on a regular basis the owners normally will put themselves out for existing clients
As I said before the choice is yours I am just trying to point out the pros and cons of pet care. What I would, if I may, suggest is you go and look at a few kennels, talk to other dog owners then have a try out period say over a weekend to see how you and your dog cope being apart, if it doesn;t work out for whatever reason at least you know for sure the route regarding leaving your dog in care should take.
You must have guessed i am pro kennels as I own one in another part of the country to you,and so often we hear of pet care at home being cancelled at the last minute generally cause the owners have seen its been a nice sunny time and decided to have a holiday themselves or give some other family reason why they cannot take your dog at the last minute, beleive me we get it all the time so it happens more often than people realise , resulting in the dog/cat owner only being able to get into a kennel that others prefer not to use.
Bazza

As someone who does home boarding but not in your area unfortunately, make sure whoever you choose is licensed by the council - they will be subject to the same checks as the local boarding kennels (4 times a year in my case). Also make sure they are insured - I have only managed to get public liability insurance for my home boarding business but I am trying to get individual insurance for the dogs the same as the boarding kennels have.

Daisym
           I think most boarding establishments who have pet insurance for those pets that are boarding are on a block commercial insurance scheme, whereby the boarding establishment have to declaire to the insurance company how many cats/dogs they are licenced for, thereby the insurance company can  price the cost accordingly. At least thats the way our insurance company works. All I can suggest is that to safeguard yourself is to insist that the owners pets are covered on their own pet insurance and that the pet owners insurance actually cover the fact that they are boarding in a place such as yours. I don't hold out much hope that owners  pet insurance would cover this eventuality unfortunately, the only way you may be able to get cover is to be like boarding establishments and declaire that you will have no more than a certain number boarding in your house during the year, this would have to be a commercial policy as well, then your fees would have to increase to cover this cost.
Thinking about it the only other thing is under the terms that you take in animals you clearly state on the boarding contract that any vet or accident fees must be paid for in full by the owner.
Bazza

I am talking to Petplan at the moment and see no reason other than cost that I won't be able to get cover. they seem to be happy that I am licensed and therefore I have a limit as to how many dogs I can take.