LEOMINSTER rose to the challenge to entertain 13 senior members of the Kremlin Museums in Moscow this week.

The delegation was led by the museums' general director, Dr Yelena Yurievna Gagarin, who is also the daughter of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, on its tour around Leominster.

The Kremlin Museums is a consortium of several historical monuments – cathedrals and palaces – and the State Armoury which is one of Russia’s oldest museums.

Dennis Downey, who led the group on a walk around Leominster, was approached by one of the organisers of the trip about whether he would be interested in getting involved back in January.

He said: "I got all the details as to how important the visitors were and thought 'hang on, this is something that ought to put a feather in Leominster's cap'."

Mr Downey, from Walk Herefordshire, made arrangements with the new mayor of Leominster, Felicity Norman, and the town council, to host the group and they were given a tour of Grange Court by Martin Baines, chairman of the Leominster Area Regeneration Company (LARC) and were treated to a buffet lunch of locally sourced food.

Mr Downey took the group on a guided walk around Leominster, visiting the Priory Church, the Old Priory and telling them some of the darker bits of the town's history including the story of Roger Cadwallador, an English Roman Catholic priest executed in Leominster in 1610.

Finally, they were given a tour of Leominster Museum to end their trip to the North Herefordshire town.

"It was a very good day. Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves and found it interesting," Mr Downey said.

"It was interesting getting their reaction on England. They had been here since May 10 and been to Land's End and other place and were going to Shobdon Church after leaving Leominster.

"They were saying how green England is. Apparently gardens only exist in large country houses. They were looking at the plants that we grow and all the different types. Some of them just can't be grown over there because it's too cold.

"We want to put the message out there that we will always give you a good day in Leominster."

This was the fifth such study-visit the Moscow Kremlin Museums have undertaken in the UK.