We live in a typical English end of terrace house on a quiet cul de sac in Chiswick. The subway - or tube - station is fewer than 5 minutes walk away and will get you to central London within 20 minutes. Heathrow airport is a 20-minute taxi ride away. The house was recently refurbished and is bright and clean. It has 4 bedrooms that can sleep 4 adults and three children. Additionaly, there is a sofa bed. The house has 2.5 bathrooms and an eat-in kitchen with a conservatory leading to a small patio - perfect for eating/bbqing outside, or at least under a glass roof in case of rain. The house also has a sizable (for London standards) sitting room and a dining room. At the moment the dining room is used as a playroom, but we will remove and store all toys and Babar pictures for adult visitors who want to dwell in more civilized surroundings. For those who need them, the house comes with baby cot, buggies, car seats, high chairs, bicycles etc., all of which can be hidden away if not required. The house comes with a very docile cat. We could arrange for him to be cared for by a housekeeper, but would prefer it if our visitors were willing to cat-sit instead.

The biggest benefit of being in Chiswick is that it is a safe, high-income, family-friendly neighbourhood within a very short distance of all the museums, theatres and sites of central London. It is also very easy to get to from Heathrow. Chiswick has great restaurants (several Michelin-starred chefs), shops, cafes, language schools, children's sports camps, and even a threatre. It has a village feel, with a family-run fish monger, butcher and lots of green space. For a truly British experience, you may even spot Chiswick resident Colin Firth - the actor who played Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and who won an Oscar for The King's Speech. Our house is about a 5 minute walk from the river Thames, where you can eat, stroll down historic streets once walked by William Hogarth, the British artist, or watch the sailboats and the rowers. The river is also a good place to get exercise, so we will leave you our bicycles. Chiswick is steeped in history, especially the river and Bedford Park, London's first garden suburb, created by the leading architects of the Aesthetic Movement of the late 1800s. We'll leave all vistors with a folder of maps of Chiswick and greater London, a bit of historical context and tips on what to do, where to eat and shop etc.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you would like any more information about us, Chiswick or London. We'd also be happy to grab a cup of coffee with London-based friends of potential exchange partners if that would help.

Generally, we need to travel during UK school holidays, I'm afraid.

**** We are looking for a house end Apil/early May in or near New Orleans, USA ***

More generally, Andrew grew up spending his summers on Cape Cod and we would like to give our children a similar experience. Anywhere in the countryside near a place to swim (ocean, lake, pond or river) and within 3-4 hours of New York City and Boston would be good for us. I'm afraid, Australia and New Zealand are just too far away for us at the moment. At weekends we would also be up for heading to the English countryside (within 2 hours from London).

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Our names are Carola and Andrew, we are 39 and met at university. Carola is a correspondent with a major international newspaper and Andrew is a management consultant. Our daughters are 8 and 2 years old, and our son is 5. Carola is from Austria and Andrew from the US east coast. We are lucky to have interesting jobs and enjoy spending most of our time and energy raising our son and daughters, while squeezing in sports - basketball, skiing, swimming - when we can. We don't smoke.

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