Travel the Home Exchange Way

Swap stories: Autumn and new year home exchanges

This Autumn update was sent in by Home Base Holidays member and very experienced home exchanger, Marguerite.

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"Autumn is here and I am looking forward to yet another home exchange holiday.

My last exchange was in Stroud, which I fell in love with straight away! I've visited the Cotswolds many times but never Gloucestershire, though I felt I knew it well thanks to reading books by Laurie Lee. Stroud is beautiful and more than lived up to expectations. Overlooking the Slad valley, Ruth's home is beautiful, warm and comfy - with wonderful sunset views, making a G&T in the conservatory a must every evening!

The town of Stroud is one of the friendliest I have come across, and every little cafe or restaurant seemed to have wholesome and tasty food, there is a great little market too. We enjoyed wonderful walks... for example along the canal, which was so clear and with more fish than I have ever seen.

Our next venture is Sheringham in Norfolk in December, I am really looking forward to Christmas shopping and festivities in a different town, not to mention the walks and bird watching; we exchanged in Suffolk last December and saw a marvelous murmuration of starlings, fingers crossed for the same.

The New Year is on it's way, with one exchange fixed, and the exciting prospect of another with Waiheke Island, Auckland. We're already planning more exchanges for the new year, with the Scottish Highlands and Islands being high on our list! ...but first to Norfolk and hopefully more lovely sunsets!"

- Marguerite

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Marguerite's home swap in Stroud:

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Meet the member:   Marguerite (in photo) is a retired Teacher and avid traveller. Having lived in France many years, she speaks fluent French. View Marguerite's home swap offer in Harrogate, Yorkshire

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Lake District: a wonderful home swap in Windermere

Lake District: beautiful Lake Windermere and Windermere village

"We had a fantastic week long home swap in Windermere. Fiona and Dave’s place is immaculate, centrally located in the village of Windermere. There was loads of information in the house, with helpful recommendations from Fiona and Dave. They live nearby so we met them a couple of times and they were really helpful advising us what to do and see in the area - there was a lot to choose from. We enjoyed some lovely, not too strenuous walks on the ridge above Troutbeck, up to Alcock Tarn near Grasmere and from the house up to Orrest viewpoint. We only used the car one day, as we enjoyed getting to places via the ferries on the lake and the open-top buses. In the village there are plenty of shops including a supermarket just two minutes from the house and lots of independent shops including craft shops, a health food shop, art shops and ones selling lovely local produce. There are also numerous restaurants, cafes and takeaways too. Fiona and Dave were a pleasure to exchange with, we had such good communications throughout. A big thank you to Fiona and Dave!" - Jimmy & Anne (Glasgow, Scotland)

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Highlight from the home exchange:

1. Paddling with a view in Alcock Tarn
2. A day on Lake Windermere' ferries, with an all day ticket
3. Afternoon tea in Grassmere

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Photos from Jimmy & Anne's exchange 

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Meet the members:

Jimmy & Anne:  We are Jimmy and Anne, live in Glasgow. Jimmy is a Freelance database developer, Anne works for the NHS. View their home swap offer in Glasgow

 

Fiona & Dave:  We are looking for a winter week away, in a small town or village, and would like to bring our dog so we can relax, have local walks, and explore the area. View their home swap offer in Windermere

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Best location ever: central London home exchange

Best location: Julia and David's home is in central London's Marylebone

"We had such a wonderful home exchange in Julia and David's central London apartment. We absolutely loved the flat and the location, it really was the best location ever - smack bang in Marylebone ...it really would be hard to find a better place to stay! Julia was in touch throughout and gave tons of local tips and great advice. Her flat was immaculate and so was ours when she and her hubby left it. Our neighbours fell in love with them, as did our cats, who were very well cared for. Staying in such a lovely central London location for free meant that we had lots of spare money to spend on theatre shows, river boat trips, etc - and we made full use of this! We are very lucky people to have had this opportunity. Thank you so much to Julia and David for a wonderful swap in London!" - Diana & Alexander (Loch Long, Scotland)

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Highlight from the home exchange:

1. Our home swap partners, Julie and David, were extremely lovely
2. Unbeatable location and such a stylish clean, quiet and comfortable apartment
3. London ...of course!

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Julia & David's home in central London

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Diana & Alexander's home on the shores of Loch Long, Scotland

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Meet the members:

Diana & Alexander:  We are a tech teacher and mental health counsellor from Scotland. Our kids are all grown up and we are ready to explore the world. We are open to suggestions and can be spontaneous but will aim towards travelling during the Scottish school holidays. We have two lovely cats. View their home swap offer on the shore of Loch Long

 

Julia & David:  We are a British (English & Scottish) married couple. For UK and European city short trips/weekends we often travel as a couple although it would be ideal if we could arrange an occasional swap that accommodated the in-laws and both kids, particularly to Sydney where we have family. View their home swap offer in London

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Arrange free holiday accommodation

Rather than booking a hotel or holiday rental, arrange a home exchange through Home Base Holidays and enjoy free accommodation. 

• Search thousands of home exchange offers

Wonderful 2 month home exchange on Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island: photographer in front of Olympic mountain range

"We had a wonderful 2 month long home exchange with Carolyn & Mick staying in their lovely home in Victoria (Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada). We borrowed their camping gear and travelled 'up island' and 'across island' as we explored and travelled all around beautiful Vancouver Island. We explored many of the gardens in and around Victoria and followed many of Carolyn's excellent 'visiting gardens' suggestions. We explored a large number of museums and heritage centres (around 40+) and we travelled across to Vancouver City. We wish we had allowed extra time to explore Seattle (Washington) and Portland (Oregon) and even Alaska via the Inside Passage but we simply never had enough time to see it all ...there's always next time! Thank you so much to Carolyn and Mick for a wonderful swap." - Philip & Amanda (London, England)

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Highlight from the home exchange:

1. Exploring a great deal of beautiful Vancouver Island
2. Expanded our travels using Carolyn & Mick's car
3. Expanded our travels using Carolyn & Mick's camping gear

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Photos from Philip & Amanda's Vancouver Island swap

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Meet the members:

Philip & Amanda:  Members Philip & Amanda have a two bedroom central London apartment. Their home is on the 15th floor and has sensational views across Central and East London. View their home swap offer in London

 

Carolyn & Mick:  Members Carolyn & Mick have a 2 bedroom home in Victoria on the southern-most tip of Vancouver Island. View their Vancouver Island home swap offer. View their home swap offer on Vancouver Island

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Arrange free holiday accommodation

Rather than booking a hotel or holiday rental, arrange a home exchange through Home Base Holidays and enjoy free accommodation. 

• Search thousands of home exchange offers

Scottish Highland swap in Cathy's wonderful cottage

Highlands home swap: Cathy's traditional fishermans / crofters cottage

"We enjoyed a two weeks home swap in Cathy's fabulous Scottish Highland cottage. Cathy's home is such a lovely charming sea view cottage in a fabulous location very near to the sea. It was very well equipped and we felt really at home in the cottage. Every day of our home swap we explored more of the beautiful Scottish surroundings. After a day exploring, it was always great to come back to the cottage to relax. We also enjoyed really good meals in the lovely local pub. Cathy was very helpful during our stay, thank you so much for letting us stay and have the most beautiful holiday!" - Petra (Eckbolsheim, France)

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Highlight from the home exchange:

1. Beautiful sea views from the top floor of the cottage
2. Watching dolphins from the seashore!
3. Scotland! The nature, the landscape and the locals

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Photos from Petra & Stephane's swap:

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Meet the members:

Petra & Stephane (pictured) have a lovely apartment next to Strasbourg, France. View their home swap offer in France Cathy's wonderful traditional fishermans cottage is in the picturesque coastal village of Portmahomack. View Cathy's Highlands home swap offer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Arrange free holiday accommodation

Rather than booking a hotel or holiday rental, arrange a home exchange through Home Base Holidays and enjoy free accommodation. 

• Search thousands of home exchange offers

Home swapping puts you in touch with the nicest people!

Swiss swap: the beautiful city of St Gallen, Switzerland

It's always great to hear members' home swap experiences! Here we have the trip reports of this summer's home swap between members Bea & Kaspar's from St Gallen, Switzerland and Christine and Peter's from Usk, Wales.

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Home swap: Usk, Wales >>> St Gallen, Switzerland

"From the moment the home swap was agreed we had lots of very friendly and informative messages from Bea - these continued throughout our home exchange period and so I really felt I knew the person whose house we were were staying in. Switzerland is of course beautiful and the weather in was just lovely. The apartment was clean and very comfortable. We really enjoyed preparing some of our meals and eating them from either of the home's two lovely balconies. We also exchanged cars, which was very useful and easy to drive on roads that are far from overcrowded. The helpful people at the Tourist Information Centre in St Gallen advised us to buy a Bodensee Card Plus, aimed at visitors and which, once purchased, gave us free entry into most of the cable cars and Lake Constance ferries, not to mention tourist trains, museums, the nearby chocolate factory and numerous outdoor pools. This was certainly a good buy. We really enjoyed the local walks suggested by Bea, the area has so many lovely places to explore. Local buses and trains were also very easy to use. I would highly recommend a home swap to Bea and Kaspar's lovely home. They took great care of our home and fed our cat, fish in the pond and wild birds too. Thanks Bea and Kaspar for a wonderful swap!" - Christine

 

Home swap: St Gallen, Switzerland >>> Usk, Wales

"Thanks so much for your lovely comments Christine! We so much enjoyed being in your home, and relaxing after a fairly busy two weeks in Brighton, London and Brackley. Your house is so clean and comfortable and the garden with the two seating areas is a dream! We were there during a heatwave, so finding a cool shady spot n the garden was a great relief - we spent quite a few lovely hours reading and dozing there. When we could persuade ourselves to go out we walked Usk’s fascinating Blue Plaque trail, visited the Museum of Country Life, enjoyed the shady nature trail and various other walks along the river and up to the castle, drove to Ledbury (lovely hotel there called the Feathers), and visited Monmouth and Raglan Castle by bus. We discovered that although Usk is tiny and very rural, it’s really easy to visit a lot of great places by bus. You buy a day ticket and off you go! Usk is delightful, full of flowers and friendly people and excellent places to eat. I must also mention that Usk has an excellent taxi service run by (I was delighted) a fellow South African! We’re very impressed with idyllic south Wales so thank you for a completely delightful swap and the lovely online chats. Please give our regards to Alfie, who made us so welcome, and to the fish that nearly ate out of my hand after just a week, and the hedgehog that honoured us with an evening visit, and the birds that ate the feeder empty as fast as I could fill it. Home swapping does put you in touch with the nicest people!" - Bea

 

 

Bea & Kaspar's home in Switzerland

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Christine & Peter's home in Wales

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Meet the members:   View Bea & Kaspar's home swap offer near St Gallen, Switzerland View Christine & Peter's home swap offer in Usk, Wales

 

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