Paignton people: Has anyone been to Hamelin or Hellevoetsluis?

By seashopper | Tuesday, May 18, 2010, 10:57

Many

Hamelin.
Hellevoetsluis.

Paignton residents will drive up and down Hamelin Way and Hellevoetsluis Way on

a daily basis venturing in and out of town.

case you didn’t know Hamelin and Hellevoetsluis are towns twinned with Torbay.

Hamelin

is a town on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. Its undoubted claim to

fame is its part in the famous folk tale “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”, a

medieval story that tells of a tragedy that befell the town in the 13th

century.

The version

written by the Brothers

Grimm made it popular throughout the world; it is

also the subject of well-known poems by Goethe and Robert Browning. In the summer

every Sunday, the story is performed by actors in the town centre.

Check

out the town’s website for a virtual tour of the town: www.hameln.com.

Hellevoetsluis

is a small village and municipality on Voorn-Putten Island in the western Netherlands, in the

province of South Holland.

It is

located on the Haringvliet, a large inlet of the North Sea. Beaches and dunes can be found close

by.

Hellevoetsluis

is known to be one of the largest water sports hubs in Holland - with 2,000

mooring places, spread over five harbours.

Judging

by some of the images each town looks very pretty.

Has anyone had the

privilege of visiting Hamelin or Hellevoetsluis? Any stories, observations,

photographs?

Re-post Write a story

Ads by Google

Comments

Hey martijng, I remember in Torbay we celebrated Williams of Orange's 1688 landing in Brixham in 1988 too! The Queen and Prince Philip came down to the Bay for the 300th anniversary festivities, staying overnight onboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. Obviously the Palace Hotel wasn't good enough for them! Check out this page for more info plus other selected Torbay history here - http://tinyurl.com/3er58e6

By thespinthief at 11:12 on 15/08/11
Report
I'm from Hellevoetsluis and now live in Exeter, I found this page by accident. Hellevoetsluis was were William and Mary's fleet left from when they landed in the Torbay area in 1688. I still remember how back in 1988, this was celebrated in Hellevoetsluis as a rather big event. It has a little old town but, unless you're into water sports, I wouldn't recommend visiting it; the vast majority of the town was built in the past 50 years.

By martijng at 22:46 on 13/08/11
Report
Hmm... Been reading on Answers.com that: "A town will adopt a twin town, normally in another nearby country in order to develop an exchange of cultural ideas and activities."

Does anyone in Paignton, Torquay, Brixham ever have anything to do with Hamelin and Hellevoetsluis??

Think this is the more likely reason for town twinning from the same site: "Cynics have criticised town officials, suggesting that the twinning program is little more than an excuse for paid travel for a selected few within the local governments."

Do remember though when some bright spark put a fake name over the Hellevoetsluis Way sign saying - Hell Of A Way!

By thespinthief at 22:22 on 30/03/11
Report
Just stumbled upon this. I must say Hamelin looks beautiful, like many German towns. I've been to Besigheim (twinned with Newton Abbot) but not Hamelin. You would have thought a seaside town would have been chosen as Paignton's twin though.

By Granny_Green at 13:09 on 30/03/11
Report
I think Hellevoetsluis is one Hellevoemouthfull ! lol

By Paigntoneer at 15:43 on 14/07/10
Report