The Sweet Charity : January 2019

About

The idea

Sweet Charity is a marriage of my two great passions. Traveling and Charity . I am a couchsurfing member and for years I have been hosting travelers in my house for free. One day I came up with this idea of doing it with a bit of a charitable twist. So the deal is simple : You are very welcome to stay in my house for as little as £10 per night. The money is not my profit, but it is going to be donated to a charity.

About me

My name is Weronika and I am originally from Poland. I live in Broadway with my family – my partner Henry and my daughter Iris . I want to believe , we are very open minded and creative people. The Sweet Charity Project is my very first attempt of raising money to help people. In the past I made some donations myself but I always had a feeling that it wasn’t enough.

What to expect

What can you expect in our house for £10 per night ? Since this isn’t quite the same as AirB&B and the price in minimal , we will expect you to understand some limitations of what we can offer.

Still we are going to do our best to make you feel comfortable and Happy ! You are going to be offered a nice and private space in our lounge. Since the idea of Sweet Charity has its origin in a couchsurfing culture, we will offer you our sofa bed. We are taking large and comfortable sofa bed ! You don’t need to bring any sheets or sleeping bags- Everything will be provided.

You will have an access to the kitchen, where you can prepare your meal, or if you choose- we can cook together. The more friendly- the better.

We have a child in the house, but she sleeps upstairs so she won’t bother you during the night. However during the day she will probably come downstairs and spend some time in the lounge.

The other thing you need to be aware of is that you won’t be given any keys to the house. Therefore your arrival and booking has to previously discussed and agreed with us. We need to make sure that we are at home during the days of your stay. Having said that ,I am a stay at home mum , so it is almost guaranteed that we will be available. If you have any question- just send me a message .

Is this place suitable for couple or larger groups ?

Unfortunately at this moment we can only offer a place for two people. So this is really an option for sole travelers and couples. However, if you have a tent during the summer time, and you would like to put in in our garden – this can also we arranged.

Location

Broadway is a well known tourist place in the heart of the Cotswolds. Beautiful landscape , stunning architecture , romantic Tea Rooms and old history. The only thing that this place lacks- in my opinion -is an affordable hostel or any other sort of alternative cheap accommodation. But here is a Sweet Charity for you. Our house is located close to the Main Street of Broadway. We live in a quiet and safe residential area. The best way to get to Broadway is by driving , but you can also use a public transport. There are daily buses arriving here from Cheltenham, Stratford-upon-Avon and Moreton-in -Marsh

Is there an option for staying for free ?

Yes, there is. Every person who has a couchsurfing profile WITH REFERENCES is going to be accepted on ‘ CS terms’. In return I will only ask to spread a good word about this place ( if you like it !) However , I need to make it clear : people who are willing to make a donation are going to be prioritized.

Safety

You can check my references with people . Hopeful people who are going to visit us are going to leave some valuable feedback.

Can I choose the charity I would like to support?

I support Red Cross ( I have direct debit set up with them) and a charity called Kiva. Because I strongly believe what Kiva does, I will encourage you to give your money to them. However if you prefer to invest your money into a different philanthropy project, you are more than welcome. As long as there is option of one off payment done with a paypal button – we can do it.

How is the donation made ?

When you choose a receiver of your donation, we are simply going to use a paypal button or your card. I do not handle money , you won’t give anything to me. You just choose an organization and before leaving my house you make an online transfer. One thing : I want to witness this transaction , so I know for sure that the money was donated. That’s all

Get in touch with me !

Thank you so much for reading this. Just the fact that someone is curious about this idea means a lot to me. Maybe you would like to give me some suggestion of how to improve this project ? Or maybe you like it so much, you would like to do something similar and we could try to BUILD A WHOLE NETWORK of Sweet Charity places ? Or maybe you like the idea and you are wiling to invite me to your house ( somewhere in Europe) so I CAN DO MY Sweet Charity Holiday !?

Tuesday 29 January 2019

Wales

Our short trip to Wales was rather spontaneous. We knew we were going to have some time off in January . Wales seemed like a natural choice. If you ever decide to come to Broadway , probably you should think about combining your visit whit a short ( or long) trip to 'Cymru'. Not only because of its beauty, but also because of tourist friendly prices. For those, who travel on tight budget this part of United Kingdom is way more welcoming than England. But enough of boring you with all the informations, you already know or can easily find in travel guide and Internet. Lets talk about the money we managed to raise. So this time we are talking two night . My ' evaluation of the Sweet Charity Value' , led me to conclusion that I should donate £15 per night. Just to remind you- we were lucky to be hosted in amazing church converted to house. How was the money distributed ? £20 went to old good Red Cross and £10 to organization called Womankind.
Womankind Worldwide works in solidarity with women’s movements around the world to bring about lasting change in women’s lives.
We are hoping to return to Wales this year . Probably around the summer. We just loved it there :)

Monday 21 January 2019

Presents, trips and more money

More good news my lovely friends ! Last weekend I hosted two girls : Bozena and Nina. For Nina this was a first time in the Cotwolds. Bozena came here last summer and she just loved Broadway. I was happy to see her again. Since we met, we have been keeping in touch and we actually became friends. Sweet Charity has brought so many good things into my life, but new friends is probably my number one. Nina and Bozena were obviously first people who slept on my new double sofa. They appeared rather content. I must mention that they also brought me a present : a beautiful embroidered pillow . Bozena and Nina spent one day and one night in the Cotswolds. Together we prepared delicious breakfast and coffee. They invited me to join in , and together we visited some beautiful villages. We definitely had loads of fun and we raised £25. Girls paid £10 each in return for my hospitality. And I also decided to donate £5 to say thank you for the presents, food they cooked for me and free ride around the villages. This time we decided to support an organization called pennyappeal .Penny Appeal was set up in 2009 to provide poverty relief across Asia, the Middle East and Africa by offering water solutions, organising mass feedings, supporting orphan care and providing emergency food and medical aid.
So that was my weekend. I hope yours was equally positive and rich in experience. I would like to invite you to read Bozena's blog : http://mojaanglia.mozello.com/

Tomorrow we are of to Wales . To see more beautiful places and to raise more money !

Saturday 19 January 2019

London

This week we visited London. I used to live in this great city and every time I go there , it reminds me of my early youth . My daughter is now two years old. London with free museums , great selection of food on every corner and escalators in the tube stations is definitely a perfect place !! I know some people will argue , that big cities are overwhelming for toddlers. But my family absolutely enjoyed the time spent in the capital of England. Important information for you : getting to London from Cotswolds cost us as little as £12 per person. And that is for return ticket. I simply pre-booked a ticket few weeks ago. The journey took less than 2 hours . So for those of you who are wondering if it is possible to get to Cotswolds without renting a car, the answer is : YES. We were very fortunate with our free accommodation. We all stayed in the beautiful specious room , in the most amazing house filled with art and old old furniture. Just what we love . Since London is insanely expensive for room renting I thought I should donate at least £20 in return for my host's hospitality. So here it is . First money raised in 2019. I decided to support Antek Wojownik SMA again. This little fella has been in and out of hospital again :( Hope you get better my dear boy !
Just look at the picture of Iris sleeping peacefully on the mattress. She is such a brave little couchsurfer already ! Hope all of you are having beautiful Saturday !

Tuesday 15 January 2019

Happy Birthday !

Today is the day ! The Sweet Charity Project is turning one . On this special day I would like to give a big big thank you to all of you who made it happen. I am so grateful for all your contributions. Thanks to those who visited my home. Thanks to those who hosted me. Thanks to those , who did language and skills swap. Thanks to bloggers for their support , for the interviews, for the stories written about my place and the Cotswolds. Thank you for all your ' likes' and ' shares'. Thank you for the letters ! Last year we managed to raise £220 :) It makes me so happy. But of course ...gigs like this are never just about the money. I met some new amazing people , I learned new things and my life of stay at home mum is no longer so extremely boring . Needless to say , we are going to continue our adventure in 2019 . Hopefully , now with our new double sofa we are going to achieve even more . Meet more amazing people and raise a little bit more money . In fact we have some good plans for next couple of weeks , so definitely stay with us !

Sunday 13 January 2019

Big changes !

Look at the picture attached. How many of you can recognize this legendary piece of furniture ? How many of you remember sleeping in this room ? New year is here , bringing some good changes. I am very happy to announce that from now on I can easily host two people. My old rule was that I could only host solo travellers or mums with kids. But now we had bought a new double sofa bed which means, that I can host couples or any travelers who are willing to share a bed. I already have two brave girls coming next weekend to test it and raise some money. Stay with us in 2019 and we hope to meet some of you soon !