Where are some really quaint inexpensive towns in England?

Why are towns in England "twinned" with towns on the Continent?

• Many villages and towns throughout England are paired or twinned with towns in France, and perhaps other countries.  How did this origin start, and what purpose does it serve?

• Answer:

  It's about International Relations and building links with other places. The idea of "twinning" is not one simply unique to the UK in fact it happens all over the world. It probably occurs more within Europe, however, because of the many different cultures and nations virtually "crammed" into such a small continent. There are nearly 50 countries within an area smaller than Canada. The UK will have many links also, because we, as a nation, are more separate from the "Eurozone" countries and so these links provide closer relations with the rest of Europe. I live in Exeter, a city in the South West of England. We are twinned with Rennes in France, Hamburg in Germany and Yaroslavl. Russia. I may need a iteration on the last two. So as a city, we are twinned with other cities in Europe. I know of a village called Stoke Cannon nearby which is twinned with another village named Bavant. So although Hamburg is quite a bit bigger than Exeter, they are also twinned to share similarities. So although we may be in Britain and Rennes may be in France, we are not that different.