Home swap: The Keanes
Tim and Katy Keane and their children, Bethany (8), Charles (9), and Joe (16) couldn't believe their luck when they arrived at Washington Drive, Greenville. "The houses were all enormous," said Tim. "I expected to see film stars coming out of them!" The Millers' house has five bedrooms, a study, two bathrooms, and an extra downstairs toilet. "Our bedroom was huge, and it was lovely having an en-suite," said Katy. "It was like staying in a hotel!" "We didn't see much of the children for two weeks!" says Tim. "They were either in the computer room, in the basement, or outdoors." The weather was fine for the Keanes' visit to South Carolina, so they made good use of the Millers' yard. "The Millers had sports equipment and a permanent barbecue in their yard," said Joe. "And their neighbors had a swimming pool, which we used once. It was great!" "The children really enjoyed the yard," said Katy, "but I found it a bit dull. I like nice English gardens with lots of flowers. All the Millers had were a few trees." And Katy didn't think much of the décor, either. "It was all very smart and clean," she said, "but it wasn't very colorful. It's obvious that Americans spend more time outdoors than the British! We had good weather, but luckily we didn't need to use the air-conditioning system. The Millers had lots of security systems and alarms that we had to fiddle with every night and morning - that was complicated enough!".
