Welcome to our website! In Cornwall we are a group of about 40 people, many of whom are retired, from  a range of backgrounds. We all live within about 30 miles of Truro and we all  share a common interest in learning about other countries and their ways of life  by having people to stay with us from these countries and visiting other  countries ourselves. Our emphasis is on sharing the lives of those who stay  with us or whom we visit and each homestay is limited to one week. In some  years we will make two such stays, usually with a few days self- arranged  extension in between and in other years maybe only one homestay. When we  apply for these homestays, we also agree to host for a similar number of  weeks in that year. Most of us have been on package or even independently arranged holidays to  other parts of the world, but the experience of actually staying with the local people in their homes  and, very often developing lasting friendships, is greatly superior to that of any “normal” holiday.  Seeing the local sights is always part of our trips, but being shown them by the locals and  experiencing their ways of life is so much more memorable.  Each traveller pays a fee to cover some of the activities organised by the host clubs, but almost all  food and accommodation whilst with the hosts is provided by them. We do the same when people  come here so the costs of this tend to balance out. The vast majority of members of the clubs  understand what it is like to have people staying in their homes and are determined to enjoy  whatever conditions they find. In practice, most overseas members are somewhat western  orientated and may speak English. Therefore friendly relationships develop very quickly and there  are very few problems. All this means that our members can travel with those whom they have got  to know here first, at costs which are probably significantly lower than they would pay for a normal  trip and with a much more rewarding experience. We are a club and none of us is paid, so all  members are expected to participate in some aspects of organisation, but we all aim to help each  other. For example, one of our most popular and enjoyable evenings with visitors is when one of our  members teaches them how to make genuine Cornish pasties in her kitchen.   We have included a growing number of diaries on this website, with each day written up by a  different member, plus a number of video diaries. I hope that these demonstrate the diversity of  activities, but what is almost impossible to put into words is the strength of the welcome we  received and the lengths people went to to ensure that we felt really at home whilst with them. We  always come home determined to do even better when we have visitors to Cornwall if we are to  emulate the warmth that we have experienced. Having people to stay, even with the cost of feeding  them and driving them around for a day or so is a very cost-effective way of having a foreign  experience without all the hassle and cost of travelling oneself!  As a member of any of the twenty Friendship Force clubs in the UK, you would be entitled to apply  to take part in any exchange organised by another club. However, selection is not automatic and  the President of your local club will be asked for a reference to ensure that you are likely to fit in  with other travellers. Once the details of the outgoing exchanges in the next year are known, you  will find a link to basic information on this website by going to the Exchanges page.  In our experience, the most successful exchanges are when the members going abroad or coming  to us have already developed close links within their group. Accordingly, we hold a number of social  functions throughout the year and many of these are organised so that potential new members can  meet and talk to us, as well as enjoy the events themselves. If you feel that what I have tried to  outline above could be of interest to you, please do make contact via this website and we will try to  do our best to answer your questions by e-mail, phone or face-to-face as you prefer.  We look forward to hearing from you.  Gavin  © Friendship Force Cornwall 2011 The photographs above are reproduced with the kind permission of Joe Cornish. You can see more of his beautiful photographs at http://www.joecornish.com/