AN OXFORDSHIRE travel blogger is behind a major initiative to help front-line healthcare staff recover from the fight against the pandemic.

Launched by Rachel Sherwood, who lives in Hinton Waldrist near Wantage, Operation Recuperation is a charitable venture that collects pledges from people across the world who own a second home and want to 'donate' stays and hotel nights to employees in the medical sector,

Ms Sherwood said: "I started this when I heard about thousands of NHS staff coming out of retirement and putting their lives at risk on a daily basis.

"I wanted to do my bit and put my experience in the travel industry to work for them.

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"When we have won the fight against Covid-19, our healthcare workers are going to be psychologically as well as physically tired and they will need some proper rest and relaxation."

Operation Recuperation has received more than 100 donations including stays in Oxfordshire and across England, but also Wales, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Barbados, India, Thailand and Indonesia.

Pledges are coming in for cottages, multi-family holiday homes and even a fully equipped glamping Landrover for a UK overland trip.

If you have a second home, a glamping site, run a hotel or a B&B you can pledge a stay by emailing Ms Sherwood at help@operationrecuperation.com