No one seemed to have anything negative to say about short-term home swaps, so the wife has given the OK for me to try to find a place in Europe, preferably London, for 7 to 10 days this summer.

Pros
Two bedroom (one king, one queen bed), one bathroom townhouse.
42” TV, 100 cable channels, Nintendo Wii, DVD, washer, dryer and dishwasher, propane grill out back
Singletrack trails 25 metres from front door.
No cars allowed on street on front of house.
Golf course 200 metres away.
BC Museum of Anthropology a 15-minutes walk, as are botanical gardens, a canopy walkway (elevated walkway through the treetops).
Shops and restaurants 10 minutes away
Pacific Ocean beach 5 minute drive, 30 minute walk
On major transit route.
On university grounds (if you’re into lectures and guest speakers, etc.)
Sorority houses 300 metres away
Nude beach 30 minute walk away (please don’t walk there nude)
30 to 50 minutes from North Shore bike trails.
One hour drive to Squamish, two hours to Whistler.
Cons
It’s family student housing for university students (I’m working on a PhD)
Kids everywhere because there’s lots of child-friendly amenities.
Neighbours are English, Canadian, Canadian, Chinese on one side of my place, Russian, Serbian, Canadian, Saudi on the other.
You can use my (crappy old) Dodge Grand Caravan, which hasn’t caught fire since last August and even then it was just a small blaze and the firemen were pretty cool, considering . . .

Would Edinburgh do?

Warwick, 5 mins walk from the castle, over priced coffee and US/Japanese tourists?

Boroughbridge is near London & it's nice here in the summer.

Nude Beach! Glentress needs this

Not that I'd know, but if I did, I'd say the ratio of fat, old blokes to university girls is about 291 to 1 (290 if I don't count myself)

my house – pros
PS3, wii, leaky shed, 32" tv, surround sound, bean bag, mirror with 24" bike tyre surround, windows, vast DVD collection, walk in wardrobe, it's in Cornwall

Cons
dirty carpet, one bedroom, odd smell in fridge, bins need emptying, damp, crap shower, no tv upstairs.

How about it?

…nude beach 30 mins away please don't walk there nude!!! 😆

cool concept good luck with your vacation!

Vancouver is a shit hole

I quite liked it but I was only there for 3 nights

still, better than Manchester* 😉 Or Bradford

*MOT

London? Sorry never heard of it.
Come to the west country. Oooh ar.

I guess I should clarify the "London" thing.
Wife and seven-year-old son want "castles" and other historical things to do.
I want to be able to rent and then ride a mtb bike.
I'm sure I can convince wifey that [insert town here] has all sorts of historical buildings that'll keep Junior occupied.
You just need to convince me/her.

You want castles? We got castles!

How about a 4 bed house in Cheltenham 5mins ride from trail head? 😉

Not being particularly intelligent, I forgot to have a visible email address in my profile.
I've got one now if you want to send me a message re: your place.

For free accomodation in Vancouver it'd be wrong not to mention my flat on the outskirts of 'Historic' Cambridge 🙂 The riding is crap (well mountain wise roads are all rideable though), the city would only last you a day of interest as a tourist destination, maybe 2 at a push. Not miles from London though 🙂 Personally though I'd definately be getting the better deal as my flat ain't all that!

Well, if we're going to be all honest, I have to confess my place is small(800 square feet) and hasn't been updated (except for the paint) since it was built 25 years ago, the singletrack nearby is easy enough to cyclocross on, and the North Shore trails still scare the shite out of me, even after five years of "riding" them.
And, for some reason, the university girls are not all that interested in fat,old blokes who drive 10-year-old minivans.
Other than that, it's perfect.

You want to come to Wales. Plenty of castles, near to Chester loads of trails near by etc.