The notion of twin towns came up the other day.

Someone asked why it was done? For cultural, social, educational and sometimes commercial opportunities, this phenomenon gathered speed after the war when the world was ready to move towards more amicable relations with other nations.

Curious about how matches were made, I became more curious about what role the internet played in this 50-year-old practice.

So a tour of our local towns online (Lakes Links) was conducted to see what links were available.

Kendal (www.kendaltown.org) has Rinteln, Germany, as its twin.

The Kendal-Rinteln Association has a site on our CommuniGate section (www.communigate.co.uk/lakes/rta).

Both towns boast enticing market squares and active business communities.

Visually both are appealing.

You can see why they are linked.

Rinteln has a link to a market town, which has a web cam link to the twice weekly Pied Piper play acted out in the market square (see thisis site of the week).

Coniston's web site, www.coniston-net.com, is filled with photos and famous people - makes sense for this beautiful Lakes town that was home to Ruskin.

This town, north of Windermere, chose to link to Broughton-in-Furness, the 'southern Gateway to the English Lake District' at www.broughton-in-furness.co.uk.

Both provide lots of links and tourist information.

They definitely prove no village is too small to be boasting its wares on the world wide web.

Although they may be more sister sites than twins, both sites are worth visiting.

Few twins have the same name, but Brampton, Cumbria, has chosen to link up with Brampton, Canada, as the latter was co-founded by someone from the former.

The Brampton, Cumbria, site, www.brampton.co.uk is full of colourful news on festivals and sports happenings.

Its Canadian counterpart focused on politics and dogs (interesting combination).

The dog news was promoting a new 'no-leash' zone.

Ulverston (www.ulverston.net), famous for its Lantern Festival and film star Stan Laurel, is twinned with Albert, France, famous for its Festival International du Film Animalie (International Wildlife Film Festival).

Both are heavily tourism oriented and show off proud monuments.

Although they are not 'identical twins' they do look alike online.

Our sister site www.thisisyork.co.uk boasts three 'twin' connections from Germany to Ghana to France - one dating back to just post-Second World War.

Thisis site of the week: IN response to last week's request for interesting sites and web cams comes one from James Quincey, Kendal-Rinteln (Twin Town ) Association.

There is a web cam link on the Rinteln site which features Hamlyn town centre's Pied Piper play each Sunday and Wednesday afternoon at 3.45pm local time.

Follow the link on our site www.thisisthelakedistrict.co.uk to CommuniGate, go to the Kendal-Rinteln site, then link to the association site; from there click on Zeitung and go to its web cam section.

Follow the links.