DELEGATES from Wolsingham were given a real taste of French hospitality when they embarked on their first visit to their twin town.

People in the town were overwhelmed with gastronomic delights on a visit to the French town of Poix de Picardie, in northern France, which was in the middle of its annual gastronomy festival when they arrived.

The two towns are currently in the process of being twinned and during the visit - which took place earlier this month - documents were signed to make the links official.

The trip followed a visit to Wolsingham by their French counterparts. Dave Sugden, from the Town Twinning Association, said: "They certainly looked after us. They had quite a feast on Friday evening. There were seven courses of food which started at 8.30pm and finished at 3am.

"The festival of gastronomy cost them one million francs of local authority money, the equivalent of £100,000, just for the weekend. There is a problem of scale here. We are a bit impoverished in comparison, but we will work on that."

Anyone interested in joining the twinning association can contact Mr Sugden on (01388) 527930.