Unlike simply booking a hotel room with a few clicks, home exchanges can be quite labour intensive, according to photographer Kate Abby.
“It does involve a lot of work leading up to it, such as extra cleaning beyond what you would normally do,” Kate, who lives in Pateley Bridge, near Ripon, says.
“When you go on holiday you can just shut your door and leave your bed unmade.”
But, the 53-year-old says, compared to more conventional travel methods, home exchanges give her family the opportunity to divert from more typical holiday destinations.
“Sometimes we go to places we wouldn’t have necessarily gone to because you are limited by choice,” she says.
“We went to a valley in the North York Moors, which isn’t far from where I live, and I’d never been and I wouldn’t have chosen it, but it was very lovely.”
