www.homebase-hols.com                                                                                                 April 2012 (issue 84)

London: a foodie Heaven for a home swap 

 
"We are very excited about the prospect of our first house swap. We were slow on the dash for Olympic tickets so have decided instead to head out of London and have a break. The idea of finding ourselves in a fantastic location where we can get some insider information on where all the good places are ticks all our boxes and that we can do the same in return appeals to my social outlook on life.  

When we go away there is always one thing top of the agenda. Food. We love it - cooking it, eating it and even shopping for it. Running a business selling fresh truffles means that we've really got to know and love the foodie scene in London. Finding people all over the world who love their foodie scenes as much as their house just gets my mouth watering. My dream house swap will be as much about helping our guests enjoying the best food and coffee London has to offer as it will be about going to experience their part of paradise.  

While the Olympics are on, do not doubt there will be plenty of poor food on offer; the trick will be making sure you know where to get the good stuff. I have three recommendations I suggest anyone to try:  

1. Go to Leather Lane where you can find Prufrock and Department of Social Affairs, two coffee shops both alike in dignity serving up London's best coffee and great lunchtime eats. Prufrock is my morning coffee stop and something I might miss while I'm away...
2. Treat yourself to a gastronomic delight at Roganic, a pop-up restaurant in Marylebone headed up by Ben Spalding, a 24 year old Chef who you can expect to have a Michelin star very soon. It's very reasonably priced at £80 for a 10 course taster menu and is where I've eaten my favourite dish ever (that is a high accolade).
3. Try to meet the locals by going to a supper club. There is a movement in London for foodies to turn their front rooms into restaurants. It's an underground movement, so do a search for "London supper clubs" and you'll see there are a lot of options there.

So if any foodies out there, living in breathtaking beauty, would like to swap during the Olympics, just let me know!"

Hugo Pickford-Wardle, London  

Interested in visiting London? Hugo, Emma and 3 and 1/2 year old Oscar live in a Victorian flat in an amazing location, a two minute walk from Greenwich Royal Park (Olympic venue for equestrian events and modern pentathlon). The photo shows a view from the park. Click here to see their full exchange offer...  

Tickets offered to members for La Traviata Opera, Sydney  

Long-time Home Base Holidays members, Jan and Kev, from Salisbury (HE18465), have had to cancel a trip to Australia at short notice due to a family bereavement. As a result, they can't use tickets for La Traviata on Sydney Harbour that had been bought as a special birthday surprise for Jan. Jan writes:  

"We have four tickets for the final performance on Sunday 15th April. We would ideally love to sell these tickets as we are unable to return them so wondered if any members would be interested. The cost per ticket was $85 and we have four seated next to each other on Row J seats 3-6 Section A"  

Let us know if interested in the tickets and we'll forward your message to Jan. Contact us... 

Journalist request  

Property section of a British Sunday newspaper  

"I am looking for help in finding a case study for an article I am writing. I need two people/families who have swapped homes within the UK on a long term basis, i.e. for a year or more. If you have done this, I'd really like to talk to you (I'm hoping part of your reason may be that, though you wanted to move for whatever reason - job, family, change of scene - it was too hard to sell and buy homes and much easier to swap homes instead.)" 

Interested? If you could help the journalist, please get in touch and we'll pass your message to her.

...one more journalist request!   

Wanted: a veteran and a novice home swapper  

"I am writing an article about home swap holidays for a well known UK weekly women's magazine. I'd like to get first-hand accounts from two members (who live in the UK, preferably over 50 to fit the readership profile), one a veteran of several home swaps, and the other a novice - somebody still looking for a swap, or who has only just experienced their first one. Thrills and spills, ups and downs, that kind of thing."  

If you would be willing to talk to Andrew about your exchange experiences, please let us know so he can contact you and arrange the best time to call.  

Even more choice for Home Base Holidays members!  

Join Canadian based Global Home Exchange for just $1 

A very warm welcome to new members who recently joined Home Base Holidays at the special discount rate promoted to Global Home Exchange members. We hope you find many exciting home exchange opportunities.  

In turn, we are delighted to extend the $1 Global membership offer to all current Home Base Holidays members. Contact us for details on how to take up this offer. If you aren't a current Home Base Holidays member, join or renew and then get in touch for information on joining Global for $1.

Looking to let your holiday home? 

Holiday Lettings special offer to Home Base Holidays members

• Two month listing for £1 
• Access to 50 million unique monthly visitors*
• Global exposure on TripAdvisor
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Join before 16 April to get 2 months for £1

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