Woodbridge, UK

Woodbridge is a coastal town in Suffolk UK and is approx 10 km East of Ipswich and 100 kms East of London.

Travel time is 70 mins from the Liverpool Station in London and the nearest international airport is Stansted about 60 km away.
If traveling by train then booking online is essential so that you can get a cheaper fare.
The normal ticket cost is £39 whereas the online ticket cost was only £9 during the non peak periods.
Tickets must be booked online at least 2 days before your travel then you collect the tickets at a machine at most of the bigger stations in London.
The town of Woodbridge is quite small and a car is not essential to get around.
The train to Ipswich runs every hour and costs £4.30

There are plenty of walks and cycle paths and walking around the town only takes an hour or two to see everything you would want to see within the town, but you can walk further :)
Wendy and Len have all the books on walks and cycle paths and I suspect they have done them all as they are both active walkers.
It is quite amazing how many pathways there are throughout the UK.
Woodbridge is on the tidal river Deben and a floodgate system prevents flooding in the town.
The mudflats at low tide provide an abundance of food for the local bird life and as a result it is a bird lovers paradise ... you will see many people birdwatching if the weather is fine.
There seems to be even more people out walking their dogs :)

Deben River at Woodbridge - Tidal Mill in distance

A lot of buildings in Woodbridge are heritage listed and the streets are so narrow that it is impossible to have two opposing cars passing each other and often one car has to pull over and stop to let the other pass.
I was in the bus traveling to Ipswich and the bus driver had to wait for about 10 minutes while a truck parked on the kerbside finished unloading and drove away before the bus could continue.
That convinced me that when I have to leave for the Stansted airport that I will take the train.

Sutton Hoo is a burial ship discovered in 1939 and was discovered on the opposite side of the Deben river from the town, it contained many Anglo Saxon artefacts of significant importance. While most of these treasures are now in the British Museum there is a visitors centre and replicas on the original site just a short distance from Woodbridge.

The Tide Mill is a local attraction that has now been converted to a museum for visitors.
The wooden waterwheel is still operational and drives the mill when the tide is right.
The prominent white buildings can be seen on the river Deben between the railway station and the yacht harbour (which used to be the dam for the Tidal Mill).

One thing that I have noticed about Woodbridge is that the more relaxed lifestyle than London.
Woodbridge is a dog friendly town and every second person seems to own one.
When visiting a local bar one evening there were 3 Labradors walking around.
The barman said he gets on better with the dogs than the people sometimes.
There is only one large sporting ground and it seemed to be packed when we were there and the array of facilities was quite impressive.
There is even a pool for model yachts that gets well used.
It was great to see all the kids and their yachts.

Kids racing their yachts

East Croydon, London

I spent the month of September 2015 in East Croydon.

The weather seemed to know of the change in seasons and promptly changed from the warmer Summer weather to the crisp Autumn weather.

East Croydon has excellent transport links to London and the overground train runs express to Clapham Junction, Victoria and London Bridge so within 20 mins from East Croydon you can be in the heart of London and connected with the underground system.
East Croydon is halfway between London and Gatwick airport and the train also conveniently runs express to Gatwick airport.
If you arrive via Heathrow airport then there is a bus service linking to Heathrow but this takes about an hour to complete the trip but is the cheapest option at only £1.5 but I cannot remember if you need an Oyster card for this travel or if you can pay cash.
You will need to have an Oyster card for your stay in London as most transport does not accept cash.

Marion and Brian have a small apartment only 7 mins walk from the East Croydon station. There is a bus and tram line that can get you closer to their apartment but since it is so close you would walk unless you had unlimited daily travel tickets since travel in London can be expensive and there is no difference in price between the hour bus ride to Heathrow or a short 2 min ride.
There is a large development for the East Croydon station that is due to be completed in 2016 and this  will give Croydon exciting new look.

The local fox can be seen every so often from the apartment

If you have not been to London before you will need plenty of time to explore the city.
The masses of people may be overwhelming to you if you are not used to big cities especially during the weekend.
I found the last week of my stay that I was more active and the days seemed to go a lot quicker.
The main reason for that is that during the last week the weather was sunny every day and that encouraged me to travel into London and take more photos.
The first week I had cooler weather and was content to explore closer to Croydon rather than traveling into London Central.
The Main Street of Croydon is pedestrian access only and there is lots of entertainment and activities and the street always seemed to be busy.

Pedestrian Access Only - Croydon Shopping Strip

There is no TV in the apartment, the cooking facilities are basic, and it does not have a permanent lived in family home feeling about it, but this is London and most likely your reasons for this exchange is to see London and not to stay at home watching TV.
There are 3 levels and Marion and Brian's apartment is in the middle, up one small flight of stairs.
Like all apartment living you may hear noises and perhaps be woken from the activities of other residents. I had a couple of days where the neighbours came home late or were active early morning but this did not bother me, but it could be an issue for some house swappers if they have never lived in an apartment before. The noise was not excessive and overall the complex seemed to be very quite.
There is a small convenience store a few minutes walk but you would most likely do all your shopping in Croydon where there are plenty of stores for you to choose from.
The George is a nearby pub which serves good food that is cheap.

Having a beer with my Nephew at The George - a local pub

There is a "Surrey Street" fruit and vegetable market that operates six days days per week.
There are plenty of parks and places to walk nearby.

I liked Croydon and would have no problems with returning to this multicultural city.