House exchange, on the face of it, sounds both exotic and practical. However initially my husband disagreed. He thought it a thoroughly bad idea, akin to leaving your front door ajar or buying second-hand shoes. But a month of emailing him listings at work won him over, especially the prospect of a family trip to the UK that didn't lean too heavily on our credit card. I, on the other hand, felt comfortable with the idea from the start. I quickly sensed that it was about exchanging homes, not houses. I liked the idea of joining a club in which trust triumphs over paranoia.

Nearly everyone I mentioned our upcoming exchange to promptly replied, "What a good idea", as if just listening to me inspired them to rush home and join a home-exchange website. But I knew that hardly any of them would. It's easy to toy with the idea, but much trickier to take the next step. Yes, you have to take photos, create a listing and overcome your shyness in contacting other members. But more than this, you have to be willing to look at your home in a newly critical light. You have to look deep into your cutlery drawer and see the congealed fluff and crumbs, just as a visitor might, and then set about removing them.

I was a novice at exchanging, and yet I knew from my experience of sharing a family beach house roughly what I was getting into. I knew it wasn't free accommodation and that it wasn't something to be done lightly. I joined Home Base Holidays, a well-run site, along the lines of an internet dating agency (not that I'd really know). Apart from the obvious compatibilities, like time availability and number of children, much of the selection boils down to luck (whether a suitable member clicks on your listing) and the tone you adopt when emailing (friendly but not urgent).

Having set up an exchange I did my homework. Plenty of guides, with their bullet points and good intentions, list all the dos and don'ts. It doesn't really matter, they explain, if your home is more modest than your exchangers'. What matters is that it looks clean and well presented when they walk into it, weary from travel. It doesn't matter if you have one bathroom and they have three, just so long as they know beforehand. Ditto if they have a double garage and you only have off-street parking. Or if they're retired and you're not, just as long as they're comfortable with children being children in their sitting room. But it really does matter, here all the guides agree, if you lead them on in such a way that when they open your front door, often thousands of miles from home, their hearts sink. Guarding against disappointment is the golden rule of home exchange. Your much-prized home is, in the eyes of exchangers, ultimately just a place to stay.

When I at last got the key to turn in the lock of our house-to-be in Windsor, I felt relieved, not let down. As promised, it boasted a view of Windsor Castle (assuming, that is, I stuck my head out the top dormer window in the whipping January wind). In fact it was just the kind of narrow Victorian terrace house that would have been ours if we'd moved outside London a few years ago, rather than to Melbourne. Which is maybe why, from the first day, the house felt like a home. I'll be honest, by the fifth week, there wasn't a cupboard we hadn't peered into. In between we bought gumboots and got truly muddy in Windsor Great Park, relishing the fog and the green wetness. We explored London's museums by day and retreated to our warm nest by night. We had in-laws to stay, entertained old friends, got lost on the M25, and returned to Melbourne grateful that we have a big enough garden to even contemplate growing vegetables.

Of course our house exchange experience wasn't all roses. The house didn't have laundry facilities, and in the family's lengthy notes (nearly as lengthy as mine), they asked that we leave their linen clean and dry. Fair enough, except that the launderette was an eight-minute walk away, only took one pound coins, and we had an early international flight out.

That said, house exchange is a wonderful thing. Exchangers really can be trusted, they really will look after your things, and it's extremely unlikely that they'll scrape the paintwork on your car. They might even leave your house cleaner than the way you left it. - Helen Hayward (in photo), Hobart, Australia
 
Editor's Note: Helen's article is based on an exchange arranged through Home Base Holidays. She has recently moved from Melbourne to Hobart where she and her husband are renovating a Georgian house. Helen writes that she's 'pretty sure their new home will appeal to exchangers' and will be renewing her membership in 2010. Look out for her offer in Hobart in the new year.

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