House Swap Holidays (aka House Exchange)

 We have had several successful house swaps, including two in California (San Diego area), Vancouver, Austria and one short swap in the UK (Devon). We plan to continue swapping, as this enables us to have long holidays in great locations at reasonable expense.

 Here is a description of our house and the area that we have written for potential swappers:

This is a modern Cotswold stone house set in a garden of 3/4 of an acre, in a small quiet lane leading to a local farm. The garden contains a stream, and has a gate leading into Beckford church, which dates from Saxon times. You will often see wildlife in the garden such as rabbits, pheasants, squirrels, ducks and many songbirds. Across the road from the church is the village shop and post office.

Beckford is a small village nestling under Bredon hill, near the border between Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Apart from the shop it has a village hall, tennis courts, and the Beckford Inn. Our lane leads to walks up Bredon hill and onto other hill villages. You will find the neighbours very friendly, and our previous house swap visitors have made good friends here, and enjoyed the social life of the village.

Beckford is 7 miles from Evesham, a small market town on the river Avon, and 25 from Stratford upon Avon (Shakespeare's birthplace, and home of Shakespearean theatre). The Regency town of Cheltenham is 8 miles to the south; it has an excellent range of shops, and many parks and fine buildings including the Everyman theatre. Five miles to the west lies the medieval market town of Tewkesbury, where the Avon and the Severn meet. This is a very beautiful town with a variety of black and white and Georgian buildings. The cathedral cities of Gloucester and Worcester are both about 20 miles away, with Hereford about 30.

There are swimming pools at Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Evesham and Gloucester. Cheltenham has a public golf course, and there are golf clubs at Tewkesbury, Cheltenham and Broadway. The area is good for eating out, with many local pubs providing good low cost meals; at the other end of the scale are excellent restaurants in Cheltenham, and local villages.

The well known Cotswold hills are very near, with fine walks and views and picturesque villages such as Broadway and Stow on the Wold. We are particularly fond of the Malvern Hills which are about 20 miles away, and offer a different landscape with lovely walks along the top of the hills, and views as far as Wales on a clear day. Further afield, is the Royal Forest of Dean (30 miles), where there are plenty of way marked forest trails and picnic sites. The University town of Oxford lies 40 miles to the east, and London is 2 hours away. The old Roman town of Bath, with fine Regency buildings, museums and quality shops is around 90 minutes to the south. We are also well positioned for further excursions into the Southwest (Devon, Cornwall), south Wales, and the beautiful Lake District (Northwest) is reachable by motorway in around 4 hours.

There are many other tourist attractions in the area, including Sudeley Castle at Winchcombe, Berkeley Castle near Gloucester, Warwick Castle, the National Waterways Museum, and the Severn Valley (steam) railway. At Batsford in the Cotswolds and at Westonbirt towards Bristol there are two old established arboretums.

The house has 3 floors, and a separate Annexe connected via the back porch. The ground floor has a large Kitchen / Breakfast room, Living room with dining area (35 feet length), Conservatory, Utility room and toilet. The kitchen has cooker, larder fridge, dishwasher, microwave; the utility has freezer, washing machine, drier. Living room has TV, Video Recorder, CD Hi Fi. There is a portable BBQ. The second floor contains the main bedroom with King size double bed and private shower room, two other bedrooms with double beds (1 Queen), and a bathroom. The third floor has one bedroom with no beds at present, and another bedroom with TV and double bed settee. There also are a variety of chair beds, which can be used to sleep extra people. All furniture is well cared for and comfortable.

The house has a gravel driveway with ample parking area onto the large double garage, with remote controlled electric doors, and automatic security lighting. There is a separate self-contained annexe between the house and garage, with a lounge (TV, double bed settee), kitchen and shower room.