South Croydon, Great Britain

House.
A 3-storey house with clean decor and light rooms. Kitchen with all modern facilities and a utility room. Main double bedroom plus another double bedroom. Two additional bedrooms. One of these is in the roof extension with both a single bed and a sofa bed and lovely views. In addition to the 4 bedrooms there is a double sofa bed in the front living room. So we can actually take 9 people without difficulty.

Area.
Croydon is a thriving suburb of London with its own culture - well-known concert hall and theatre, as well as excellent shopping facilities - including IKEA. Historically the worlds first international airport was located here and the Archbishops of Canterbury had a Palace. There are lots of golf courses in the area - the nearest about 1km.
South Croydon, where we live, is renowned for its many restaurants. The house is in a quiet residential neighbourhood very close to a lovely and diverse nature reserve with good views over the area.

Transport.
We are perfectly placed for all transport links. Gatwick Airport is just 17 miles/27km from us. Dover Ferry and the Channel Tunnel are less than 90 minutes by car. We have a drive with space for two cars.
At the end of the road is a bus stop with buses every 20 minutes into Croydon and beyond.

Nearby are two railway stations - Sanderstead - 20 minutes to London Victoria (for Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Harrods, Museums etc.) or South Croydon - 25 minutes to London Bridge ( for the Tower of London, the Shard, St Paul's Cathedral, the Globe, Tate Modern gallery etc.)
Croydon has its own tram network and you can take the Tram as far as Wimbledon (Tennis).
A drive of only 10 minutes will take you into nearby countryside where there are many opportunities for walking. A 15 minute drive will get you to the London orbital M25 or M23 (Gatwick Airport).

Attractions - London
London is an amazing city with many world famous attractions; The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, Madame Tussauds, The Tower of London and Crown Jewels, Trafalgar Square and Nelsons Column, Museums ( British, Natural History, Science, Victoria and Albert, Royal Greenwich), Gallerys (National, Tate and Tate Modern), Concert halls (Royal Festival, Royal Albert, Queen Elizabeth), Theatres (including Shakespeare's Globe) Cinemas,
Parks (Hyde, Green, Regent's) and the Cathedrals of St Paul's, Westminster plus Westminster Abbey. There are famous areas to explore like the City, Westminster, Whitehall, Kensington, Covent Garden, Soho, South Bank, Greenwich (Royal Observatory and Meridian) as well as the River Thames itself. The shopping areas of Oxford Street, Regent Street, South Kensington (Harrods) are open late into the evening.

Attractions - South East England.
Near to Croydon are several famous sites - Down House, home of Charles Darwin, is only 9 miles/15km away. Sir Winston Churchill's home, Chartwell is 13 miles/21km. Many other historic sights including castles (Windsor, Leeds, Rochester, Bodiam, Hever, Scotney), historic houses (Igtham Mote, Knole, Penshurst Place, Polesden Lacey), the Roman villa at Lullingstone, lovely English towns (spa town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, historic dockyard at Chatham, Rochester with its Charles Dickens connections) are all within one hour by car. There are 2 steam railways within 30 miles/50km (Bluebell and Spa Valley). The A23 and M23 give access to the south coast - Brighton, Hastings (and the nearby site of the 1066 Battle), Beachy Head. Exploring a little further will take you to Dover Castle and cliffs or to Canterbury and its Cathedral.
Beautiful countryside is found on the North Downs, including walks along the Pilgrims Way. The new National Park of the South Downs includes spectacular white chalk cliffs. The Weald, Ashdown Forest and Kent's lovely orchards also provide further walking opportunities.

Exchanges.
We have had great exchanges: 2011 to Denmark; 2012, 2015 and 2018 to Austria; 2013/14 to Italy; 2016 Queensland, Australia; 2017 France; 2019 and 2022 Netherlands; 2019 Ontario, Canada.
We are normally looking for a main Summer exchange but are also open to shorter exchanges at Easter and autumn half-term.