Towns across Cumbria are twinned with places all over Europe, from France to Italy, Germany to Spain - but what about Whitehaven's twin?
Town twinning became a popular practice after the Second World War as a way of fostering "links and friendships between communities to prevent future conflicts," according to the House of Commons Library.
The arrangement is informal and voluntary, and can be an opportunity for school exchanges, meetings between business leaders, and council officials from each town meeting one another.
Whitehaven is twinned with a town in Bulgaria called Kozludoy - but what is life like for people living in our twin town?
Kozloduy is a small town in north‑west Bulgaria on the river Danube.
The town is perhaps best known for hosting the country’s only nuclear power plant and for its role in Bulgaria’s 19th‑century revolutionary history.
Bulgaria was under Ottoman rule from the 14th century until 1878, which profoundly shaped its social, political and cultural landscape.
During Ottoman rule, the town became an important place for those looking to cross the border into Romania.
A reconstruction of the Radetzky teamship is docked in Kozludoy which is known to Bulgarians as the passenger boat which Bulgarian revolutionary and poet Hristo Botev boarded to pass into Ottoman territory.
The climate in Kozludoy is described as "humid subtropical" meaning they have long, warm summers and milder winters, with the temperatures ranging from 1°C to 26°C.
Kozludoy's driest months are April, August and September, with approximately 603mm of rain annually.
The town's name, Kozludoy, is believed to derive from the Bulgarian words, "kozlo" meaning goat and "dolina", meaning valley or forest.
It is possible that Kozludoy was once known as a place where animals roamed free or the land was used for agricultural purposes.
Kozludoy offers children two secondary school and one primary school, plus the Igor Kurchatov Nuclear Energy Vocational High School, which is named after the Soviety nuclear physicist known as the “father of the Soviet atomic bomb.”
Today, Kozloduy functions as an industrial town with a focus on energy production.
Kozludoy Power Plant's first reactor was constructed in 1970, and they currently manage two pressurised water reactors.
Before being shut down in the early 2010s, Units Three and Four of the power plant produced 44% of all electricity supply in Bulgaria.
Share