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Beautiful cottage situated in a small village with picturesque surroundings. Forest, lakes and a small ski resort are near by. It was built in 2009. It has 3 bedrooms, living room with a fireplace, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, balcony, sauna.
Home Exchange Request: Skiing, Beach, Open
Click to view full Home Exchange offer...
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Q: Do you arrange, or know of anyone who arranges car exchanges alone? We are travelling to Switzerland in Dec/Jan and would like a car to get around with. We can offer a lovely BMW in return, in Durban, South Africa, and it need not be during the same period that we are travelling. Any assistance or advise would be well appreciated. Thank you. Rob
A: In theory this sounds like a very good idea! We haven't actually heard of car exchanges on their own or know of a company that organises them - which doesn't mean the service doesn't exist so worth searching for in various ways. Would you perhaps consider a non-simultaneous home swap with someone in Switzerland? South Africa is a very popular destination for home exchanges.
Who knows, if it looks likely that car swaps on their own could catch on, this could be an additional service Home Base Holidays could offer!
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Two minutes walk from Kensington Gardens/Hyde Park; a few stops by bus/underground to the West End shops and theatres, and to the Natural History and Science Museums; one stop from Notting Hill Gate.
Home Exchange Request: France, Austria, Italy, Spain, Scandanavia
Click to view full Home Swap offer...
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The description in this recent Home Base Holidays home exchange offer is an excellent example of how to provide information on a location in an entertaining and enticing way:
Modern four bedroom detached villa with private pool and children's play area, located in the historic wine village of Fitou, halfway between Narbonne and Perpignan. Lovely views of the inland salt water lagoon and Mediterranean sea. Ten minutes drive to the beach and 90 minutes drive to ski resorts.
Fitou is a famous wine village offering ample opportunity to sample the local wine in its many village caves. There are also four great restaurants within a ten minute walk of the villa (limited opening during winter months); all serve superb food and offer a unique French atmosphere. At the Vidal restaurant you can indulge in an amazing seafood and cold meats buffet whilst being entertained by the Grandfather on his saxophone .... a truly unforgettable experience! There is also a medieval chateau within a 10 minute walk that has a museum, gift shop and bar where tapas is served. The village also offers some additional restaurants, a pizza take-away, a bar/ tabac, a supermarket and a doctors surgery.
There is a football stadium, a hard surface football/basketball court with a small climbing wall, a table tennis table, a children's playground, a skate park, a bouladrome and a tennis court.
The village comes to life in July and August when you can experience regular musical evenings outside the local bar; the annual wine fete at the beginning of August and the twice yearly 'sardinade', a traditional festival where hundreds of sardines are cooked over an open fire and served with French bread and lots of red wine!
See the full home exchange offer in Fitou and more photos.
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"Every summer Philip and I set off on a series of back to back exchanges with the sense of adventure that comes from venturing into exciting unknown territory. That little bit of a nervous thrill at possible hazards is soon overcome by an overwhelming certainty that we are about to experience a unique - and often extraordinarily comfortable - six weeks, living in the homes of generous and warm-hearted fellow exchangers.
Home-exchanging is a very intimate kind of sharing. We all open our lives to complete strangers. And yet we are not strangers. We recognise in each other so many qualities that give us immediate rapport. We are naturally trusting and friendly; we have integrity; we love meeting people; we have a sense of adventure; we love inviting people into our homes and making new friends - and we have nearly all made those homes welcoming and homely.
Whether it was Vancouver Island or Tallinn, Stirling or Oban, Brittany or Bristol, Helston or Inverness, the people whose homes we have stayed in have all been extremely warm-hearted. We have stayed in houses where deer roamed the garden, where the QE2 passed the bedroom window at night fully lit-up, in a delightful vicarage where parishioners turned up for help, in houses with libraries in three languages, gardens full of ripe raspberries, outhouses full of cuddly cats and newborn kittens.
What I love about it all is the homeliness; being able to browse bookshelves full of books I would never otherwise read; to listen to music or watch films I would never normally come across; to meet friendly neighbours who are happy to take us around and tell us their story - and then often offer to take us to the station.
I love the spontaneity. We once had a couple from England staying in our home who 'disappeared' on the first day. I kept phoning to see if they had arrived. No answer. It turned out our neighbour had swept them up and taken them to the Peloponisus to pick oranges from his orange grove and have lunch in a taverna. The next day he took them to the coast to eat fish. It was three days before we found them."
The above post was sent to us by Home Base Holidays member, Sue Camarados. See Sue's lovely home exchange offer in Athens, Greece...
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Built around 1840, the house is secluded within a mature wooded estate on the banks of beautiful Loch Ken. Glasgow is 1.5 hours by road and Edinburgh 2.5 hours.
Home Exchange Request: California, Edinburgh, Scottish Islands & Highlands
Click to view full Home Exchange offer...
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The blog is run by Home Base Holidays. We also run Guardian Home Exchange for the Guardian Newspaper.
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