Inviting a stranger to stay in your home might seem like the opposite of a relaxing holiday, but for some travellers house exchanges are worth taking the leap of faith.

“It’s just like dating for homes,” Liz Barlow tells me.

Aged 70, the semi-retired management consultant has 31 home swaps under her belt and estimates she has saved more than £20,000 by staying in other people’s homes free of charge.

She and her husband Ivan Greenaway, 72, first began swapping their home in 2015 – but not without reservations.

Liz distinctively remembers thinking: “Will someone wreck my home? Steal my things?

“It’s a big thing to begin with, until you’ve done it.”