A Charity Auction For Ukraine With Stays In Stunning Private Homes In Europe And The U.S

A travel auction, Home for Home, is aiming to raise £50,000 for urgent humanitarian aid in Ukraine by auctioning stays in some beautiful private homes around Europe and the U.S.

The collection comprises 30 properties, many of which are not typically available to rent. They are available on www.32auctions.com/organizations. Opening bids starting from £500 all proceeds will be donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee (D.E.C.), which allows the added benefit of a pound for pound donations match, an initiative of the U.K. Government.

Homes listed include Neuendorf House, a villa in the Balearic island of Mallorca that was created by architects John Pawson and Claudio Silvestrin and Thyme, the innovative 31 bedroom bolthole in the heart of the British Cotswolds.

The auction, running from April 23 to 27 is the project of Josephine Ryan, an author, interiors expert and stylist. She says: ‘ I felt overwhelmed with fear, sadness, rage and compassion. I wanted to help but was unsure how so I created ‘Home for Home’ to raise money for urgent humanitarian aid’.

The lots are a deep dive into interior trends, especially heritage properties. There’s a rare opportunity to stay in one of Bath’s most interesting houses. On Duke Street and sleeping six, this unmodernised Georgian home is furnished with period furniture and paintings. It is not usually available to rent.

On a bucolic Hampshire, a three-bedroom folly allows bidders to experience its Gothic charms, with fireplaces designed by the eccentric 18th-century landscape designer Batty Langley, surrounded by an estate in the heart of the Meon valley.

Fans of Georgian architecture can also bid to stay at Lorum Rectory in County Carlow; there’s space for up to six people to stay. Also available is Ballyvolane House in County Cork, where the Prince of Wales recently stayed and a two bedroom cottage in the estate of Burtown House in County Kildare, plus a wooden cabin on Lough Ree on the River Shannon, Ireland’s longest waterway. The house, which sleeps four, was recently awarded Ireland’s ‘home of the year.’

There are a cluster of properties around the Cote d’Azur in France. Ryan’s own house in Uzes, which sleeps nine, is featured, Towards Luberon at Pernes-les-Fontaines, a three bedroom private home comes with fourteen acres of pine forest, views towards Avignon and the Alpilles, plus swimming pool and pool house, it’s the home of English antiques dealers and it’s never usually available to rent. Just outside Uzes, La Bergerie is situated in the hamlet of St Mediers, sleeping six and surrounded by vineyards and olive groves.

Further afield, there’s a six bedroom riad in Marrakech. In the U.S., there’s a 1854 mews house near the West Village. On Vashon Island in Washington, near the village of Burton there’s a 1912 waterfront house with its own wide veranda,

If there is one thing that unites these properties, they are a million mile from the horrors that the residents of Ukraine are experiencing and yet by staying there, they are providing much-needed humanitarian funding.