Our house is an 1860 villa that we rebuilt eight years ago in a contemporary style that should not look out of place in any glossy interiors magazine. We think it would be a superb base in London for one or two families to enjoy a holiday. It is unusual in London it has a large driveway, with parking for four cars, and fabulous long (150’) and wide (50’) garden. Behind locked gates is a slate lined swimming pool 36’ * 15’ and studio designed by an award winning architect. The house itself is over 3000 square feet / 300 m2.

Please have a look at the photos to give you a feel of our home. The heart of the house is an openplan kitchen dining room 32’ * 24’. The kitchen has honed granite worktops, with a large French range cooker and walk-in larder. This space is ideal for entertaining as it opens on to the formal drawing room; both rooms also have french windows to the garden and large south facing terrace. The terrace has a dining table seating up to 10.

On the ground floor is also the TV room with a 42’ Panasonic plasma.

Upstairs are five bedrooms: the master bedroom with a 6’ bed, a guest room with a 5’ 6’’ bed, Hugo’s (age 5) bedroom with a cot and a 5’ bed, Julian’s (12) room with a double bed, and Charlie’s (10) bedroom (a wide single bed). The children's bedrooms are perfectly suitable for adults in decor. In addition to the masterbedroom’s ensuite bath/shower, there is a further bathroom and a shower room.

Most of the technical wizadry you might want: wireless broadband for your laptop (or use our Mac), B&0 hi-fi linked thru the reception rooms.

London on your doorstep: we live in Hammersmith and Fulham, the Borough next to Kensington and Chelsea. We are not in real central London but Gucci, Prada and Dior are less than a mile away in the new Westfield shopping centre. Notting Hill is ten minutes away by car, Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament twenty five minutes. Public transport is not much longer: the nearest tube/metro/subway stop is less than 10 minutes walk thru the park behind the house. From this station both Westminster (for Parliament/Buckingham Palace) and Piccadilly Circus (for the Royal Academy/Soho/the theatres) are 21 minutes, slightly less to Harrods, and in the other direction Heathrow is 35 minutes. As we are on the West side of London it is an easy drive to places such as Bath, Stonehenge, Oxford and the West of England.

Bicycling from our house is a delight: it’s a ten minute ride thru the park and on some quiet roads to the River Thames. From here you can bicycle the towpath West to Oxford (ok – it might take three days) or East along the river into London. Fabulous for jogging as well.

Less than a mile to the Westfield shopping centre, Europe's largest urban shopping mall. Home to Gucci, Prada, Dior, Louis Vuitton, Burberry as well as a fab Waitrose supermarket.

We are free to travel or have someone use our house only during the UK school holidays: Xmas, Easter and Summer holidays, and half-terms in February, end May and late October. Non-simultaneous possible if you fancy ours in the UK summer and we fancy yours in the UK winter.

If you have something lovely to exchange and fancy a holiday in London/UK please try me; I don't want to be limited by the paucity of my imagination.

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Edward 45, Katie 39 and three boys: 12, 10, 5. I hope you can see that we look after our house, and would do the same for yours.

Two resident guineau pigs who like to be given the odd lettuce leaf or could stay with friends.

We have a Toyota Prius that we should be able to loan to you. If that is not eco-friendly enough we also have a fully electric Citroen van!

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