Type of Programme
One-to-one, personalised English language tuition living full-board with the tutor's own family and in the tutor's own home, including local visits and excursions, meeting friends, neighbours and professional colleagues etc.

Type of House: Detached House

Teaching Qualifications and Experience
BSc(Hons) 1965; PhD 1968; CELTA 2001. I have considerable experience of living and working in other cultures. I know from first hand the difficulty of communicating in a foreign language. I have learned patience and tact. I am mature, well-educated and able to sustain conversation on most topics. I am also well qualified and experienced in teaching English as a foreign language. I love my language and work hard to see it spread, but spread properly.

Hobbies and Interests
Archaeology, history, cooking, writing.

Excursions and Local Attractions
Oxford, Woodstock, Wallingford, Abingdon, Dorchester, local villages and pubs, the Downs, the Cotswolds, Blenheim Palace, Basildon House, Upton House, Wittenham Clumps, White Horse Hill and other hill forts, the River Thames etc, etc depending on individual interests.

Accommodation, Facilities and Local Area
Lemon Tree House is a modern well-heated and insulated house. Guests are accommodated in two large double bed rooms, with a guest bathroom across a small landing. Soap and towels are provided and the use of a hair-dryer if required. Each bedroom is equipped with a desk and chair for private study.

Guests also have full access to the large comfortable sitting room with TV, Video and DVD players and radio, dining room and the kitchen, where they are welcome to help themselves to tea, coffee and biscuits. Guests may, by arrangement, have access to our internet, email, telephone and fax facilities, although additional charges may apply.

Guests are also welcome to relax on the sunny patio, or in the shady loggia and garden, or rest beside the fishpond.

British cooking is not generally highly regarded overseas. This poor opinion does not apply to Lemon Tree House, where Richard has been complimented by an EFL agent as ‘…single-handed… changing the international reputation of British cooking.’ It is true. Richard is passionate about good food, is an excellent cook and in fact in addition to cooking for our guests, cooks professionally for visitors to the village and caters at special lunches and dinner parties.

Students generally eat with us as a family, usually at the kitchen table. Breakfast usually comprises juice, a selection of cereals, toast and marmalade, tea or coffee. Generally we eat a light lunch, such as a salad, frittata, pasta, cheese on toast, risotto, Thai soup and noodles, egg-fried rice or kedgeree. Dinner is more substantial and ranges from traditional English dishes such as Shepherd’s Pie, Sausages and Mash and Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding to cuisine from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, through India to China or Mexico. Individual likes and dislikes will always be taken into account.

We live in the south of Oxfordshire, an area of pleasant countryside dominated by the River Thames and the low hills of the Berkshire Downs. The area is rich in history and pre-historical remains such as Iron Age forts. The area is dotted with many quaint old villages and includes picturesque Thames-side towns of Abingdon, Dorchester and Wallingford. The well-preserved old university city of Oxford, only 25 km away, offers many opportunities for sightseeing, visiting museums, galleries and the old colleges as well as shopping, whereas Reading is more for the dedicated shopper. South Oxfordshire is also conveniently located for visiting other areas of outstanding natural beauty, such as the Cotswolds.

Lemon Tree House is situated on the edge of the ancient and picturesque village of East Hagbourne and the railway town of Didcot. East Hagbourne was probably founded in Saxon times about 1,200 years ago. Certainly it was a well- established community when it was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. The church was built in the 12th century, with many later additions and many of the older village houses date from the 16th century. Village amenities include a pub, and a small village shop and post office.

Our house is just 20 minutes walk from the centre of Didcot, with its range of basic shops, services and banks, and the mainline railway station that provides access to London (45 minutes), Oxford (15 minutes), Reading (20 minutes) and to other places of interest such as Bath and Stratford-upon-Avon. Buses to Abingdon and Wallingford leave from the station and buses to nearby villages stop outside our house.