Ardingly has been twinned with the small town of Beuzeville in Normandy, France since 2009. Since then, there has been at least one organised visit between the two communities each year involving approximately 50 residents – adults and children – from each village. There have also been successful language-learning exchanges between the French and British children and trips organised by the Tennis Club.
Twinning is an excellent way of discovering France, improving your French and getting to know more about French culture and family life. Due to its proximity to the ports of Dieppe, Le Havre and Caen, as well as being only two hours by motorway from Calais, Beuzeville is the perfect destination for a long weekend. It is close to the beautiful port of Honfleur, the chic seaside resorts of Deauville and Trouville, the Normandy landing beaches, the historic city of Rouen and is also only two hours by train from Paris. To find out more about Beuzeville, why not take a look at their websites at:
www.beuzeville-tourisme.com/english or www.beuzeville.fr
The Twinning Association is always looking to recruit more families from Ardingly or surrounding villages, who would be interested in joining the association and in taking part in exchanges with French families this year or in the future.
Although the Twinning Association has the full support of Ardingly Parish Council, it should be noted here that the Twinning Association is entirely self-funding and that participating families are therefore responsible for their own travel and entertaining costs. A number of social and fund-raising events are organised during the year and all monies raised go towards the cost of entertaining the French when they visit Ardingly – keep an eye on the Ardingly Village Club noticeboard outside the Hapstead Hall or the Village Voice.
The respective twinning associations do their best to match the families in terms of interests and children’s ages, but as long as you like meeting people, eating good food, seeing new things and trying out the odd word of French, twinning could be for you. When we go to France, we stay with our French families, but all get together on the Saturday evening and there are always lots of opportunities to meet up with other families for meals or day trips over the weekend. We then provide similar hospitality when the French come over to stay with us.
If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Jennifer May on 01444 892012 or 07771742281 or via email at [email protected]