We live in a 3 bedroom / 1 bathroom home in Staines-Upon-Thames quite near the River Thames. My wife and l are both non-smokers and like to keep our home clean and tidy.

Our house has 3 bedrooms comprising two double bedrooms and a single bedroom. We have just one bathroom with a shower over bath arrangement. We have added a large conservatory to the back of the house. This extends the time the garden can be used in Autumn, Winter and Spring.

We have a 60’ back garden (large by UK standards) and our house has an open (gas) fireplace, cable TV, ADSL broadband wireless internet access and all of the typical modern conveniences (but no dishwasher).

Within the area boarderd by the M25 Motorway (Greater London area) most houses only have on-street parking which means it is often difficult to find a parking space. Our house has off-street parking which is convenient for guaranteed parking of up to 2 vehicles as well as lay-by parking in front of our house. This makes it very easy for friends to be certain they can find a parking space when visiting.

We have one car (a 2010 model 5 door automatic Renault Clio) that we can include in the home exchange.

We also have 2 bicycles (mountain bikes) which we use to ride around Staines, often to go shopping in the Staines town centre which is a 15 minute walk away or to the railway station which is 20 minute walk away. These bicycles can also be included in the home swap.

The house has been fully renovated in 2008 and a new conservatory added to the back of the house plus a patio area was then added on to the conservatory making a large patio area overall.

We also have a variety of Sky Cable television channels and numerous radio channels.

We have wireless internet so if you bring your laptop/notebook computer you can access the internet anywhere in our home. If you do not have a laptop/notebook computer we will provide one (Microsoft Windows 8) already to use and connected to the Internet.

No Smoking inside

No Infants

No Pets

No wheelchair access

The bedrooms and bathroom are on the first floor. The entrance to the house via the front door and the rear conservatory also has steps. Our house is unsuitable for anyone with mobility issues. Our house is definitely NOT a wheel chair friendly house.

If you arrive in the UK via London Heathrow Airport (LHR), the main international airport for London, then we are ideally located just a 15 minute drive south of LHR.   We recommend to home exchangers to pre-book a 'Meet & Greet Taxi' from Gemini Cabs (a pre-booked taxi service) as this is vastly cheaper than catching a London Cab taxi on the taxi rank.   Alternatively you can catch either the Route 71 or Route 441 bus to Staines (the first bus stop past Staines Bridge) and walk a short distance to our home.   If you arrive via other London airports, railway stations, ferries, etc we can advise you the easiest way to each our home.  

We are often asked where can people go on day trips from Staines-Upon-Thames. Because we are near to the M25 orbital motorway (it completely encircles London) and the intersections of the M3, M4, M40, M1 and further afield the M2, M29 and other A roads it is actually quicker to drive to Oxford (50 minutes away) than it is to reach central London (1 hour drive on a quiet Sunday).When we have had friends visit us from Australia we have taken them to the following places on day trips:1. Thorpe Park (5 minutes drive away)2. Windsor Castle (15 minutes drive away)3. LegoLand (15 minutes drive away)4. Hampton Court Palace (25 minutes drive away)5. Oxford (1 hour away)6. Stratford-Upon-Avon (1.5 hour drive away)7. Portsmouth (1.5 hour drive away)8. Southampton (1.5 hour drive away)9. Chatham/Rochester (1.5 hour drive away)10. Dover Castle (1.5 hour drive away)11. Warwick Castle (75 minutes drive away)12. Isle of Wight (75 minutes drive away plus ferry)13. Brighton (1.0 hour drive away)14. Cambridge (1.0 hour drive away)15. Birmingham (1.5 hour drive away)16. The Cotswolds (1.5 hour drive away)17. Mallvern Hills (40 minutes drive away)16. Winnie the Pooh 100 acre woods (1.5 hour drive away)17. 300 Great Britain Heritage sites (within 15 minutes to 2 hours away)Basically the while of the South eastern part of England can be reached within a 2 hour drive from Staines-Upon-Thames.