Family swaps home for dream vacation villa

By Emma Dunn

A family lived a real-life "The Holiday" and swapped their home for a villa in Cyprus with strangers from Facebook.

Emma Coulthurst, 37, was looking on house swap sites after wanting to take her Mario-Kart-obsessed son, six, to Super Nintendo World in Los Angeles, US.

She posted on a Facebook group and didn't get a response until a family in Zeytinlik, Cyprus, offered up their place to swap instead - six weeks later.

Emma decided to go for it and the family spent $1,600 on their flights to Cyprus in July 2024.

They spent three weeks in the three-bed villa with a pool and ate local cuisine, visited waterparks and saw baby turtles.

Emma says they spent $3,000 in total - and would have spent the same amount had they been in the UK for the summer holidays.

Emma, who runs an art supply company and owns holiday cottages at her home in the Peak District, Derbyshire, said: "We said we wanted to live rather than holiday.

"We just spent a lot of time just at the house.

"We had everything we needed there.

"We were able to chill. It felt low-key and very relaxed.

"It was food for the soul. We felt so at peace and calm."

Emma and her husband, Martin, 37, a project director in construction, started doing holiday let swaps in 2022 after being strapped for cash while renovating their home.

The family got to visit the Pembrokeshire coast, a caravan park and Blackpool for free - just by letting other rental owners stay in their holiday home.

Emma enjoyed the experience and joined home exchange groups on Facebook.

After finishing renovating their home in 2023 they decided to put it on Airbnb to help cover the costs of a trip to Disneyland Paris.

Emma said: "People said we were crazy because we'd just finished renovating it.

"We finally had this beautiful home and we're going to let some strangers stay in it."

But after the experience went well, Emma started looking into house swaps and would browse groups and sites now and again.

She started actively looking for a house swap after wanting to take her son to Super Nintendo World, LA.

She said: "My son is obsessed with Super Mario.

"He talked about it all the time.

"He saw on YouTube a Super Nintendo World. I thought I would love to take him there but it was so out of our budget.

"So I thought why not see if anyone wants to do a swap.

"I did a post and put it in one of the Facebook groups saying we'd like to go to Hollywood.

"I got loads of comments coming back like 'it's like the real-life Holiday'.

"But I had no takers wanting to swap."

But six weeks later, in September 2023, Emma got a comment.

She said: "It said we've got a place in Northern Cyprus. Would you like to talk further?

"I said 'why not?'.

"She explained she is English and her husband is Cypriot and they were looking to spend three weeks in the UK to view houses.

"She said it's like The Holiday but with less Jude Law.

"I thought this seems like it could be fun."

Coincidentally Emma's mum was on holiday in Northern Cyprus around the time and went to check out the couple.

They ended up meeting them and being shown to the villa.

Emma said: "I was just hoping my mom would say hi and check they were real.

"She said 'you'd love it'."

The family booked their flights in January 2024 after waiting for the cost of the flights to come down.

The next day the other family messaged to say they had found a place to purchase in the UK but said they would still honor the swap.

Emma flew out in July 2024 with her kids - aged six and eight - and said they were "besides themselves" when they saw the villa.

She said: "We had seen the lovely surroundings. The sun was going down.

"We went round the side of the house and there was the money shot - the pool with lush greenery around it.

"It was just so exciting.

"That first evening itself was just pure magic."

They spent the next three weeks in boiling sunshine, eating traditional mezze, and relaxing and exploring.

They also went to a water park - spending just $80 on entry for the whole family.

Emma said: "That's probably less than the cost for one person in the UK."

Emma also wanted to go and see the baby turtles and went to Alagadi beach and a private hatching.

She said: "There were buckets with wriggling little turtles - all climbing over each other.

"They gave everyone a turtle to hold."

The family returned in August 2024 and would look to do a house swap in the future.

Emma said: "It cost the same as if we'd stayed at home and done all the stuff we normally do in the summer holidays.

"We like to go for dinner once a week and the kids have summer clubs and day trips.

"Our holiday let was still running so it meant we had an income.

"I just felt so grateful and they felt the same."

Emma would encourage people to do a house swap but would advise them to research first.

She said: "The house swap was incredible.

"It was different and so special.

"We did experiences for the children that they would never usually have had on a family holiday."