East Northamptonshire is twinned with the Loreley district of Germany. This is a beautiful area on the Rhine and is steeped in legend. So why ‘twinned’ with Loreley you may ask?

The story is that sailors on the Rhine were distracted by a blonde, long haired maiden on the top of the rocks and then went aground. To commemorate this, every year the people of the Loreley elect a long haired blonde young lady to represent the legend as Miss Loreley. She now encourages tourists to the area, rather than the traditional role of seducing sailors to wreck their ships on the rocks of the Rhine.

The idea of Twinning is to foster understanding between countries and to celebrate cooperation and friendship between nations. This is rooted in each community. East Northants has been twinned with the Loreley since 1985, however in the last few years there was no formal contact between the two areas.

The Chairman of the Council, Councillor Dudley Hughes visited the Loreley district in October 2008 in order to further this twinning link. It was decided that the best way to do this was to put interested East Northants groups in touch with similiar groups in the Loreley. The groups could be of any size, and with any interests, either a sport or arts.

Oundle is also currently twinned with Nauort, in Lorley region, and Andrésy, France. Andrésy? If you haven’t managed to stumble across this picturesque French market town here is some information about the town that calls Oundle its English ‘pen pal’.

Andrésy is situated in Ile-de-France, just less than thirty kilometres to the west of Paris. It sits on an international river intersection, linking Rouen and the Netherlands. The city is overlooked by the wooded hill of the Hautil, from which exquisite views of the region can be enjoyed. Due to its prime position, Andrésy’s population and development flourished in the early years. The water ways allowed Andrésy to profit very early on, and for many years proved pivotal to the trade industry of central Europe.

The principal cities nearby are Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Poissy and Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Versailles and its castle are only a half an hour by car.

When passing through the neighbouring villages of Oundle, one cannot help feel a sense of utter bemusement when unexpectedly you meet a sign ‘Twinned with Barcelona’ at entrance to the village of Stoke Doyle. With only a handful of houses and the ShuckBurgh Arms pub to its name, Stoke Doyle, in comparison to the bustling metropolis of Barcelona is like a grain of sand on the Barceloneta Beach.

The mystery grows even more confusing for the reason that Barcelona does not in fact register any known twinned town in the U.K.

For more information on Oundle’s Twinning; contact Barry Barcock 01832 273096 or Paul Weetman 01832 273836.