French twin

Twinning arrangements between English cities, towns and villages with places of similar interests in Europe and further afield, are a good way to  generate harmony between nations.
They also help families to find new friends, be it in France, Italy or on another continent.
When my own village planned to twin with Couffé several years ago, I thought it a magnificent arrangement.
Not that I was too sure at the time just where Couffé was, other than in France, but subsequently found it was not all that far from the coast in the Loire region.
I should have known, because a few years back I was invited by the French Government and Air France to spend some time in the Loire region, to help assess its potential for tourism from Britain, and how best it could be marketed here. 
Not that my exploration of the region necessarily took me to Couffé, though it did take in the departmental capital, the artistic city of Nantes which is only about 17 miles away.
It was at the height of the package holiday industry and tourism officials in France were keen to attract holidaymakers from Britain as well as other parts of northern Europe.
Not surprisingly the French focused my attention principally on the seaside resort of La Baule on the Atlantic coast, just over an hour’s drive away, and  which boasts one of the finest beaches and coastal bays in Europe. Ripe for an extension of an already thriving tourist business yes, but not I concluded for all-in package holidays.
La Baule, and the surrounding region is very sophisticated, and the presence of many upmarket hotels, indicated the package tour business was not the way the region would best benefit from an expansion of tourism. My report back recommended it remained focused on the many benefits it already had and direct its marketing to its exclusivity to attract visitors as individuals, rather than a mass market.
And that I felt, was apparent throughout the Loire-Atlantique region.
Subsequently, I felt that in a small way, I might have had a hand, however remotely, in encouraging this particular twinning.
Then years later, our nearby town of Romsey struck up a twinning arrangement with the historic Italian city of Treviglio — that just happens to be where daughter Michelle and her family live!