- Lovely family to know!Read Less...
Became a member in: 2019
Renewal Date: 31/Mar/2023
We are a couple with a 6 year old daughter. We love travelling and seeing new things. We enjoy food (cooking it and eating!) and wine of all sorts and love to try new things.
We enjoy camping and being out and about, seeing sunrises, sunsets, birds, animals and any other natural beauty.
We have done one really successful home swap in Australia but are now looking for home swaps closer to home.
Additional languages spoken
French, Spanish
Affinities
Golf,
Pets,
Watersports,
Hiking,
Wine Lovers,
Foodies,
The Arts,
Music Lovers
MoreLessAffiliations
Civil Service Professionals
Profession
UK Civil service
Our pets
One dog
Paul & Carmel
Australia
Non-simultaneous Home Exchange
Simultaneous Home Exchange
Weekend Home Exchange
Hospitality Exchange Offered
Smoking Not Allowed
Children Welcome
Use of Personal Car is not possible
Open to all dates | Wales, UK | England, UK | United Kingdom |
Open to all dates | United Kingdom | France | Netherlands |
Description of the home we are offering for exchange
3 bedroom house located on a beautiful residential estate on an island in the Medway estuary.
Our house has 2 bathrooms (one en-suite and one family bathroom), a lounge, dining room and good-sized kitchen. We have a back garden which we use extensively in the summer months (as well as spring and autumn subject to the weather!). Please see photos to get an idea of our home. The bedrooms include a master room with king size bed (and en-suite), a double bedroom and our daughter’s room with a single bed that has another pullout single bed underneath.
The location is perfect for those who want to explore the Garden of England (Kent) alongside trips in to London (45-55 mins on the regular train services), Canterbury and the lovely Southern seaside towns of Whitstable, Hastings and Margate.
Our home is on a small island with excellent local amenities. We have a small convenience store, several pubs, restaurants, a cinema, trampoline park, small outlet shopping centre and pharmacy within 10-15 minute walk. There is also a lovey walk around the island which finishes by a Kent gin distillery and cafe and the Chatham Maritime marina.
In terms of our home we have a washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer, double electric oven, gas stove, gas central heating in all rooms, broadband internet and a downstairs toilet. We also have a single garage where we store all sorts of things including bikes, camping gear etc.
Type
House - 2 or more floors/ Main Residence
Amenities
Entertainment
Extras
Setting
Description of our neighbourhood and surrounding area
Our riverside neighbourhood is residential and is therefore quite quiet and family-oriented. We are a 10 minute walk away from the local co-op, some pubs and restaurants, and a small outlet centre which includes The Range and an M&S outlet.There are buses to Chatham rail station which serves London regularly all day long.
Outdoor Activities
Leisure
Transport Nearby
Neighbourhood Services
Our home exchange - places to go and things to do while staying in our home
Chatham itself is about 5-10 minutes by car but is not worth visiting. We do however have the excellent Chatham dockyard (15-20 minute walk) which showcases the Uk’s Maritime history and has a number of fun activities for children and adults alike (quite a few films and tv series have been filmed here). There are also ‘call the midwife’ visits which are supposed to be good. You can walk around a number of boats and a submarine. The ticket entitles you to multiple visits.
Historic Rochester is also about 10-15 minutes drive and is a lovely place to spend the day (Dickens wrote some of his books there). It has a castle, cathedral and old high street with unique shops. It also hosts a number of festivals throughout the year. Upnor (on the other side of the river) is a small, historic village with traditional pubs and a small castle.
Close to Chatham there are a number of country parks within 30 minutes drive including Riverside Country Park, Jeskyns Park and an RSPB nature reserve for birdwatchers.
Canterbury is a beautiful cathedral city and is under 1 hour away by car. It’s historic centre has lots of cafes, shops and restaurants and tourist tours.
Kent countryside- from Chatham you can explore the beautiful Kent countryside including our renowned vineyards (Chapeldown and Tenterden). The Kent seaside towns are also worth a visit on a sunny day- lovely views, quirky streets and fish and chips/oysters. Whitstable, Herne Bay and Margate (Tate gallery) and Folkestone are definitely worth a day trip (all about 1-1.5hr drive on a motorway). The Kent downs are also beautiful for walking.
London is very do-able in a day. The journey takes between 40 mins (to st Pancras) or 55 mins (to London Victoria). From these stations London is at your feet- from theatres, musicals to world-class food, museums, concerts, shopping to simply mooching about soaking up London life.
Chatham is also a good location for Dover (good castle as well as ferry and Eurotunnel links to France). We are also 1.5 hours from Gatwick Airport should you want to take a short hop to any number of European destinations. Gatwick is served by British Airways and easyJet amongst others who offer decent flights to lots of places.
Our favourite restaurants
Cafés & bars
Special places to shop
Leisure and cultural activities
Walks or jogging paths
Health or fitness clubs
Interesting day trips
Our home exchange - here are our Preferences and House Rules
Our house is our home and while it isn’t a luxury penthouse flat filled with antiques we would expect anyone who stayed to look after our home as if it were their own. Smoking isn’t permitted in our home, but we have a garden for those who smoke.
We live in a quiet, family-oriented neighbourhood so if you are looking for late night parties with loud music our home probably isn’t the right match.
Conditions
Use of Personal Car
Home Exchange Type
Became a member in: 2019
Renewal Date: 31/Mar/2023
We are a couple with a 6 year old daughter. We love travelling and seeing new things. We enjoy food (cooking it and eating!) and wine of all sorts and love to try new things.
We enjoy camping and being out and about, seeing sunrises, sunsets, birds, animals and any other natural beauty.
We have done one really successful home swap in Australia but are now looking for home swaps closer to home.
Additional languages spoken
French, Spanish
Affinities
Golf,
Pets,
Watersports,
Hiking,
Wine Lovers,
Foodies,
The Arts,
Music Lovers
MoreLessAffiliations
Civil Service Professionals
Profession
UK Civil service
Our pets
One dog
Paul & Carmel
Australia
Over 70 years of home exchange experience
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