diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index fcb3a2b..3e6cbd6 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1450,6 +1450,16 @@ version = "2.1.0"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "9a3a5bfb195931eeb336b2a7b4d761daec841b97f947d34394601737a7bba5e4"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "humantime-serde"
+version = "1.1.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "57a3db5ea5923d99402c94e9feb261dc5ee9b4efa158b0315f788cf549cc200c"
+dependencies = [
+ "humantime",
+ "serde",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "hyper"
 version = "0.14.19"
@@ -1745,6 +1755,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "headers",
  "http",
  "humantime",
+ "humantime-serde",
  "indicatif",
  "log",
  "lychee-lib",
diff --git a/fixtures/configs/smoketest.toml b/fixtures/configs/smoketest.toml
index a1edc73..73b6486 100644
--- a/fixtures/configs/smoketest.toml
+++ b/fixtures/configs/smoketest.toml
@@ -17,8 +17,7 @@ no_progress = true
 cache = false
 
 # Discard all cached requests older than this duration.
-# Error: invalid type: string "2d", expected struct Duration for key `max_cache_age`
-# max_cache_age = "2d"
+max_cache_age = "2d"
 
 #############################  Runtime  #############################
 
@@ -69,8 +68,7 @@ headers = []
 remap = [ "https://example.com http://example.invalid" ]
 
 # Base URL or website root directory to check relative URLs.
-# Error: invalid type: unit variant, expected newtype variant for key `base`
-# base = "https://example.com"
+base = "https://example.com"
 
 # HTTP basic auth support. This will be the username and password passed to the
 # authorization HTTP header. See
diff --git a/lychee-bin/Cargo.toml b/lychee-bin/Cargo.toml
index 7dd1d8a..dd8c106 100644
--- a/lychee-bin/Cargo.toml
+++ b/lychee-bin/Cargo.toml
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ once_cell = "1.12.0"
 dashmap = { version = "5.3.4", features = ["serde"] }
 csv = "1.1.6"
 humantime = "2.1.0"
+humantime-serde = "1.1.1"
 secrecy = { version = "0.8.0", features = ["serde"] }
 supports-color = "1.3.0"
 log = "0.4.17"
diff --git a/lychee-bin/src/options.rs b/lychee-bin/src/options.rs
index 1c4d7c0..f30b5a9 100644
--- a/lychee-bin/src/options.rs
+++ b/lychee-bin/src/options.rs
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ pub(crate) struct Config {
         default_value = &MAX_CACHE_AGE_STR
     )]
     #[serde(default = "max_cache_age")]
+    #[serde(with = "humantime_serde")]
     pub(crate) max_cache_age: Duration,
 
     /// Don't perform any link checking.
diff --git a/lychee-lib/src/types/base.rs b/lychee-lib/src/types/base.rs
index 0c550db..e300f3a 100644
--- a/lychee-lib/src/types/base.rs
+++ b/lychee-lib/src/types/base.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ use crate::{ErrorKind, InputSource};
 /// Both, local and remote targets are supported.
 #[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Eq, Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
 #[allow(variant_size_differences)]
+#[serde(try_from = "&str")]
 pub enum Base {
     /// Local file path pointing to root directory
     Local(PathBuf),
diff --git a/lychee.example.toml b/lychee.example.toml
index ff48f21..7792b70 100644
--- a/lychee.example.toml
+++ b/lychee.example.toml
@@ -16,8 +16,7 @@ output = "report.md"
 cache = true
 
 # Discard all cached requests older than this duration.
-# Error: invalid type: string "2d", expected struct Duration for key `max_cache_age`
-# max_cache_age = "2d"
+max_cache_age = "2d"
 
 #############################  Runtime  #############################
 
@@ -68,8 +67,7 @@ headers = []
 remap = [ "https://example.com http://example.invalid" ]
 
 # Base URL or website root directory to check relative URLs.
-# Error: invalid type: unit variant, expected newtype variant for key `base`
-# base = "https://example.com"
+base = "https://example.com"
 
 # HTTP basic auth support. This will be the username and password passed to the
 # authorization HTTP header. See