21 JULY 1939, Page 15

There exists an admirable institution, known as the Anglo-French Art

and Travel Society, the aim of which is to mitigate these illusions. Gifted Francophiles, such as Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill and the late Sir Philip Sassoon, conceived the idea that many misconceptions might be removed were representative Parisians given an opportunity to visit and to examine the rural aspects of our civilisation. These visitors are welcomed at Folkestone or at Dover, are placed in comfortable charabancs and are trundled slowly and gracefully through the countryside, visiting the great houses of Kent or Sussex, and stopping from time to time to receive light or heavy refreshment in the homes and gardens of the newly poor. The effect is surprising. They return to Paris, conscious that England is something very different from what they had supposed.