Report by Karen Barraclough
Zamość visit, part of the “Twin Green” project
Four 70-80 year old ladies from Newbury went on a “Twin Green” trip from 20 – 24 August 2026. We were told that the visit would include a recycling plant and different forms of sewerage, as well as visits to places of interest, talks, delicious food, and entertainment at home with hosts or out together with the group. I had a few doubts about the programme when I agreed to go, but thoroughly enjoyed it, despite a few “hiccups”.
As usual, there was a very early start on Thursday, as we were flying with Ryanair but we managed somehow, with Paul (taxi) collecting everyone from home. Taxi 5am, from Luton to Lublin and then by road to Zamość. We all stayed with different hosts. I had a very warm welcome from Pawel and Agnieszka Pilch. They hosted 3 Twin Town guests – Thomaz from Kiskun, Benedikt from Eeklo, and me.
She loves flowers and they have a very pretty and productive garden. She spent the first day baking trays and trays of buns filled with various jams – all home-grown fruit and home-made jams. She seemed to be feeding her entire family and the neighbours as well as all three of us.
On the Friday, Janusz took us on a guided walk around Zamość. It is a very pretty town with some fascinating art work and statues. The weather was fine but we kept moving, so there was no time at all to stop or shop… That evening was spent with our hosts, at home. They had a barbecue for us, Pawel specially went to the shops to buy beer and they couldn’t have gone to more trouble. He keeps bees so there was their own honey and a home-made honey liqueur as well.
On Saturday morning my hosts told us that they would be leaving to go on holiday that evening. They had booked a holiday in Croatia and would be away for a week! We were welcome to help ourselves to food etc and they showed us how to lock the house, what to do with the keys etc, but it was rather a shock – to say the least!
On Saturday we were taken by coach to a lake – Plaza Mariny, very pretty, but it was too cold and windy to really enjoy it. Later we had an excellent guided tour of Szczebrzeszyn, visiting both a former synagogue and a neighbouring Catholic church with amazing frescoes.
That afternoon we had presentations from all the towns. Karen Cameron-Taylor did a great job for Newbury, with slides and an excellent description of our Circular Economy & Green Transition – well done KCT! My impression is that we may not have EU funding to “green” our economy, but we are doing very well at a personal and local level.
We were kept well-entertained with food and music and very kind people. Huge thanks from me to Anna & Robert Daciuk, who took over when my hosts left… They made sure that we were always in the right place at the right time. I really don’t know how we could have managed without them.
On the Sunday we visited a park and museum in Zwierzyniec – more sewerage, this time using plants as a filter when the park is very busy in the summer months. I noticed solar panels everywhere – on almost every roof, on walls, in fields…
Although it didn’t sound exciting, it was a super visit and the first thing I did on my return was to order solar panels! They’re already on my roof (but not working well today because it’s raining)!!
