Travel the Home Exchange Way blog

Photos taken on recent home swap holidays: Kindle competition winners!

We received many entries and lovely holiday photos, making it very hard to select a winner. However, Hanna White's beautiful photo and evocative description had us dreaming of a sunny beach in France on a very rainy day in London.

We are delighted to announce Hanna as the winner of the Kindle Paperwhite:

"I took this photo after an afternoon spent lazing on the beach at the Ile de Ré in West France in August this year. We borrowed our house-swap partners' bikes and I think the photo captures the beauty of the French seaside as well as the French love of cycling!"  - Hanna White

 

View Hanna's home swap offer in London.

 

The three runners-up in the competition have had their memberships to Home Base Holidays extended by an extra year:

 

Runner up photo (by Fiona Dalrymple):

"Jumping for joy on the beach at St. Ives, Cornwall while on a home exchange last summer." - Fiona Dalrymple

View Fiona's home exchange offer in Twickenham, London.

 

Runner up photo (by Jackie Brown-Haysom):

"Greenland Dock: As New Zealanders our house swap took up to London where we were delighted to find ourselves staying in amid the docks of the South Bank. What could be better than a summers evening, an English pub just yards from our own front door, and dinner on the terrace with the lights of London reflecting off the water? Perfect!" - Jackie Brown-Haysom

View Jackie's home swap offer in Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

 

Runner up photo (by Karen Woodhams):

"On our swap in Exeter, Devon which we loved; photo of son Ben in Exeter town centre." - Karen Woodhams

View Karen's home swap offer in Yorkshire, England

Also view her family's holiday home in Orba, Alicante,  Spain.

 

Thanks again to everyone that sent in the wonderful photos from your home swap holidays!

Two definitions of home exchange or home swap

Fusiontourism definition: ‘House Swap or House Exchange is a tool for digital nomadic tribes modernizing the primeval bartering travel back in a world scale catering for everyone or into family-friendly environment. Revival travel tool that our great ancestors led from generation to generation travelled with their foot through lands and seas in exchanged gold or silver, into rice or potatoes.’

Huh? Anyone hearing about home swapping for the first time might be a little confused by this definition – and even that you can’t swap if you live in a flat or apartment! If you are an experienced home swapper, how would you describe the concept, as simply as possible, to friends who were interested in hearing more about this curious (possibly reckless in their eyes) practice you engage in?

An experienced home exchanger’s definition: ‘A home exchange is when one person, family or group of friends agrees to swap homes with another person or people for a pre-agreed period of time. No money is exchanged. These people usually get to know each other quite well via phone calls and e-mails before the holiday occurs.’ – Sandra N, London (see current exchange offer).

 

 

Home Swappers - the home exchange newsletter

Home Swappers newsletter: Travel the Home Exchange Way

• Featured home swaps: Bergun (Switzerland) + Highlands (Scotland)
• Home swap photo competition: stunning photo in Ile de Ré, France
• Home exchange trip report: thatched cottage in Hampshire, England
• Home swaps just in: retro caravan in Scotland, villa with private pool in Malta and a lovely mountain view chalet in Beynost, France

Read the newsletter: Home Swappers Newsletter

Find your perfect home swap vacation: join Home Base Holidays

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House sitting - an alternative to home exchange

Q: I am planning on going to England for a year and wondered whether Home Base Holidays has a house sitting link. Ideally I would house sit for a year at someone's home while they are travelling - in exchange I would look after the house in all areas (garden, bills, pets etc ). If you do not do this could you give me any information on a reputable company that does? - Sue

A: The majority of Home Base Holidays members are looking to arrange home swaps but house sitting offered or wanted are options members can also choose. It may be difficult to find a member in England who wants a house sitter for as long as a year but do check the current offers for possibilities.

From Browse Listings on the left, choose Europe, then England. Under Type of Exchange, tick the box beside 'House sitting wanted'. You will see current listings on the right. Click any of interest to read full details of their requests. If you find some possibilities, you can list your house sitting offer for a free two week trial.

There are several companies that specialise in home sitting in the UK but we haven't had experience of any to be able to advise you which may be the best for you (or what their conditions are for becoming a house sitter). Here's some I've heard of (I think the first is primarily for home owners who need pet care while they are away:

http://www.trustedhousesitters.com/gb/

http://mindahome.co.uk/

http://www.housesittersuk.co.uk/

I hope this helps and that you will consider joining Home Base Holidays. Please do get in touch if you have any questions.

Sue's reply: Thank you so much for your response. It has been so helpful. I really appreciate the effort you put into helping me. So refreshing in this era of computer generated replies!

Crab Sandwiches on Lymington Quay (on our latest home swap)

“Food and holidays seem always to have been inextricably linked. As a young child in the fifties I remember my parents renting a house in rural Spain. It seemed very exotic with huge cacti in the garden and lizards venturing indoors. One evening the lady who came each day to clean returned with a large, shallow pan and made paella over an open fire. I still love authentic paella. The following year the men who ran the garage under our holiday rental in Portugal invited us to share the bucket of snails they'd collected from all around the town.

Whenever I visit a place where crab is landed one of the first things I want is a crab sandwich: soft, brown bread, white and dark meat, butter, pepper. That's all. And that's just what I had last week during our house swap to Lymington.

We returned from an exchange to Kent in July to find a pot of home-made gooseberry jam in the fridge. Our swapees had brought a glut from their garden and said how nice it was to find a well equipped kitchen. Not that our kitchen is anything special. It just has all the things you'd expect to find in someone's home.

Home swaps have seen me try several things for the first time: Guiness in Dublin; churros in Sitges; fondue and chicken nuggets in Switzerland (yes, chicken nuggets were on lots of menus and very tasty they were too); Homity pie in Devon and good, traditionally brewed British beer whenever I can. I'm also a great lover of a decent glass of wine and love browsing in independent wine shops both at home and abroad.

I love food shopping when I'm away, especially in markets, but there's just no point if you've nowhere to cook. My favourite markets are in Biarritz and Venice and although we loved browsing in La Boqueria we much preferred the daily neighbourhood market close to our exchange apartment, an area without tourists and cheaper prices.

And if you agree to ‘share’ store cupboards then cooking in a house swap home means you have so many of the basics to hand.

The money we save on accommodation means we often splash out on food and drink while we're away, usually with knowledgeable local advice from our hosts. Last week we ate at the delightful Mill at Gordleton, just a few minutes from our home from home. We've indulged in cocktails at the Morse Bar in the Randolph Hotel, Oxford, dined in Michael Caines' Abode in Exeter and had lunch on the river terrace of a smart hotel in Zurich.

We've got all this here in Tooting too, lots of bars and restaurants, from the cafe on the common to fine restaurants with crisp, white linen, and a large covered, permanent market as well as London’s West End right on your doorstep.” – Sandra Newnham, London

The photo is of Sandra’s husband, Paul, in Nice. Click here to see their home exchange offer in London.

Home Swappers: home swap travel newsletter

Home Swappers newsletter: Travel the Home Exchange Way

• Featured home swaps: Frigiliana (Spain), Mortehoe (England), Venice (Italy), London (England) and Goa (India)
• Competition: Win a Kindle Paperwhite + 3 home exchange memberships to be won (worth £49 each)
• Home swap trip report: very successful home exchange in Brighton
• Home swap tips: pets in residence?

Read the newsletter: Home Swappers Newsletter

Find your perfect home swap vacation: join Home Base Holidays

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