The Twinned Towns of
Horndon-on-the-Hill
and
Romagné
What is twinning?
Twinning is the pairing of two towns from different countries. Each twinned town has varying activities and traditions within its constituency.
The towns of Horndon-on-the-Hill, Essex, UK and Romagné, Brittany, France have been twinned since 1989. This year we celebrate our 35th anniversary!
Each year, our two towns and the local area partake in a community exchange, in which culture, language, friendship, food and wine are shared by all. This occurs over a May bank holiday weekend on an alternating basis. In May 2024 the UK group visited Romagné (see some photos of our weekend below).
Each person or family that joins twinning is paired with another person or family in the twinned town. Then the families host each other for each twinning weekend.
The twinning weekend usually consists of a day of quality time spent with your twinned family (or even multiple families to help newcomers break the ice), then a day where the whole twinning group go out on a day-trip together. Previously we have visited the town of Le Mans with a guided tour of the 24h race museum, and the Cutty Sark in London!
How do I join Twinning?
Everyone from the local area is welcome to join!
The only requirement is that you can travel to Horndon (and France) to join in the festivities!
There are many ways in which to join us, and the first is to simply contact us! Send an email to welcome@horndontwinning.org and one of the committee will get back to you as soon as possible.
We will also be tabling at this year’s Horndon Feast and Fayre!
On the last full weekend in June, come and find our table on the High Road in Horndon to speak to some of our members and find out what it’s really like to be a part of Twinning.
Horndon visits Romagné, May 2024
We have shared wonderful weekends and happy memories with Ange and Edith Guerinel for over three decades and they have become our much treasured friends in France.
– Amanda & Nigel, Horndon-on-the-Hill
I expected to like my family but I didn’t expect them to become lifelong friends.
– Bernadette, Horndon-on-the-Hill
I’ve been part of twinning since I was 15 years old. When my Dad first signed us up, I was so nervous! 15 years later, I love my French family to bits and still try to join the twinning weekend trip each year. The whole French group are tonnes of fun too!
Personally, my spoken French has gone from broken school-level French to conversational French, and I owe a lot of that to the confidence that twinning gave me.
I cannot recommend twinning highly enough!
– Hannah, Montréal
Horndon-on-the-Hill Twinning Group 