A successful visit by 19 residents of Sidmouth’s ‘twin town’ in Switzerland could lead to more Swiss people coming to the area for holidays.
The group from Le Locle spent five days in Sidmouth in June, arriving on Sunday 18 and departing on Friday 23.
During their visit they attended a civic reception hosted by Sidmouth Town Council, bringing a letter from their own local council leader expressing his wish to strengthen tourism links between the two towns.
The visitors said they would also write articles in their local and regional papers encouraging more tourism to Sidmouth.
The group’s trip began badly when their flight to Bristol was cancelled and they had to fly to Gatwick instead, causing them to arrive in Sidmouth five hours later than planned.
But the following day they enjoyed a coffee morning in the garden of the Sidmouth Twinning Circle’s chairman Anne Bishop, followed by a walk in The Byes and a visit to the Tourist Information Centre.
One of the group, professional organist Martin Kasparek, then gave an illustrated lecture on the workings of the organ at the parish church of St Giles and St Nicholas.
They spent the evening at the Cannon Inn in Newton Poppleford.
On Tuesday the group took a coach trip to Abbotsbury in Dorset. On their return they attended the civic reception at the Harbour Hotel, where the town council were thanked for awarding a grant to the Sidmouth Twinning Circle which helped pay for the Swiss group’s visit.
On Wednesday the group visited Powderham Castle, and on Thursday they took a boat trip with Stuart Line from Exmouth to Brixham.
The last evening together was spent at the Bowd Inn, where gifts and speeches were exchanged and the visitors thanked their hosts for their hospitality.
Anne Bishop said: “On leaving early on Friday morning the visitors expressed surprise at how green, how beautiful and how peaceful they had found the area and how much they had enjoyed and been pleasantly surprised by every outing and event. All expressed a hope to return some time.”
The Sidmouth group plan to visit them in Le Locle in 2025 to celebrate 40 years of twinning.
For more information about the Sidmouth Twinning Circle, email membership secretary Edward Bearryman at e.bearryman@btopenworld.com
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