Four French students on an exchange trip were put to work by Three Rivers District Council for a month.

The trip was part of the twinning of Chorleywood and Dardilly, and the students, aged between 16 and 17, were put to work in the council's ground maintenance team.

Elodie Faye, Xavier Colas, Victor Salvi and Anthony Schmit are all studying studying landscaping and grounds maintenance.

Malcolm Clarke, services manager at the council said: “All the students have shown an excellent commitment to working and an appetite for learning.

“They have undertaken a number of tasks for the council such as sports pitch-marking, cemetery maintenance, grass-cutting, turf and shrub bed maintenance.”

Steven Halls, council chief executive, presided over a short farewell ceremony when he thanked the students for their hard work.

He also presented them with letters in French and English recommending them to future employers, certificates of achievement, a trophy each and some souvenir photographs.

He added: “I hope each young colleague has learnt a lot, has enjoyed working with the Three Rivers teams and will return to France with happy memories of England, and especially the Three Rivers district”.