PEOPLE from Beaconsfield's twin town of Langres spent last weekend getting to know their English cousins.

A group of 25 from the small town near Dijon spent a long weekend in Beaconsfield in a whirlwind of cultural engagements.

The party was greeted by town mayor Alan Walters as well as town crier Dick Smith and whisked into a champagne reception when they arrived on Friday evening.

Deborah Sanders, a member of the town twinning association, said: "On the Saturday evening we took over the United Reformed Church in Aylesbury End for supper and a music evening."

They also went on a tour of Oxford.

David Lacey, the organist at St Mary's Church, gave a recital for the evening as did teenage violinist Aletta du Plessis, who attends Wycombe Abbey School.

The group of 25 French visitors were also invited to the annual harvest service at St Mary's Church on Sunday where prayers were also said in French before being given Sunday afternoon to recover.

Mrs Sanders added the visitors lapped up English customs. She said: "They loved Dick Smith. They loved anything that smacks of Englishness and ceremony."