The university city of Bristol is only a short 25 minute drive with its historical docks and waterfront and excellent shopping at the new £500M ‘Cabot Circus’. Bristol boasts many fine restaurants and historic buildings - particularly the beautiful Georgian & Victorian area of Clifton and the Suspension Bridge. There are theatres, concert halls and live music venues catering for all tastes. There is an excellent train service to London (1.5 hours) from Temple Meads station and the Royal city of Bath with its Roman baths and brand new spa is also a short train ride from Bristol (12 minutes). The regency town of Cheltenham and the beautiful Cotswolds as well as the Welsh capital of Cardiff and the cathedral city of Wells are less than an hours drive. The area is excellent for hiking, from gentle country strolls in the Cotswolds, Mendips or Quantock Hills to the challenging Brecon Beacons in Wales or Dartmoor in Devon, or fabulous coastal cliff top walks in Devon, Cornwall or Pembrokeshire. The North Devon and Cornwall coast is also excellent for surfing. Bicycles (2) available. Bristol International Airport is less than 25 minutes from Portishead with flights to many European destinations with budget airlines EasyJet and Ryan Air as well as scheduled carriers KLM, Brussels Airlines and Air France. Continental Airlines has a direct service to the US (Newark).

We are a newly retired couple in our late fifties and we have never done an exchange before. We are non-smokers and have no pets. We are an active couple who regularly play competitive sports (hockey, tennis and golf) and enjoy walking. Gordon worked for a large pharmaceutical company for 33 years and took early retirement at the end of 2008. Brenda finished her teaching career last summer. We have two sons, one in Cambridge and the other son and his family live in the Vasastan area of Stockholm (Sweden). As we now have a grandson over there we are particularly keen to exchange in central Stockholm in mid July this year or anytime there after.