Caux's history made it the ideal place for a high-level symposium on reconciliation. Mary Lean reports.

The MRA conference center in Switzerland : a working experiment in applying a philosophy of life

On 1st August 1291, a handful of farmers from the mountain cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwald met in the meadow of Rutli and swore to stand by each other. 700 years on, Switzerland's 26 cantons and half-cantons and four national languages represent a unique experiment in democracy. Andrew Stallybrass - English- born, married to a Swiss and living in Geneva - takes an affectionate look at his adopted country.

In one Swiss village, Caux, above Montreux, the conferences are a little different.