“We completed a two-week exchange with Gisela and Gerard this August and had a wonderful experience. Their house is wonderfully romantic and enormous and so close to the town centre of Cheltenham that we made a habit of walking somewhere every day. There is a lovely bike/walking path just up the road that provided a secure, picturesque and quiet shortcut to downtown and we used it extensively to shop, visit cafes and go to the theatre. We enjoyed fresh eggs from the chicken coop in the back each day and I twice harvest mulberries to bake pie from their tree which was dripping with ripe fruit. The area is surrounded by historic sites and we rented electric bikes from the shop located just up the road to tackle a 50km ride through all the villages just north of Cheltenham. One of our highlights was a roadside picnic on a carved wooded bench complete with sausage rolls, sandwiches and a bottle of French wine, sans glasses. Near the end of our visit we spent a lovely evening with the host's sister Gina and her husband Kenneth, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Can't say enough good about our experience in England, our exchange partners and their beautiful house.”
