Good for those Spanish villagers (Don’t like roosters and cow mess? Don’t come here, Spanish village tells tourists, 19 August). Unfortunately, these attitudes have been around for decades. I lived near Ludlow in the mid-1980s, and a friend who lived beside the church told of attempts to have the bells silenced, and a farmer friend told of similar complaints about noisy cows and even “ugly” farm sheds.
There are many people living in cities who imagine the countryside to be a place of absolute silence. I won’t say city slickers because that is an offensive generalisation of people who live in cities, and they are not a homogeneous group. I don’t have the same reservations about saying that people who forget the countryside is a living place and not just somewhere for their (silent) weekend convenience are selfish.
Robert Cullen
Härryda, Sweden
• Here in Cornwall, we not only have holidaymakers who complain about the noises, smells and early starts of rural life, but also feel that they can help us backward folk by bringing a little verve into our lives. Many of us have our luddite ways highlighted by those exercising their right to prove how much they are enjoying themselves with high-volume, asinine “conversation” until the small hours.
But I guess if you have been fleeced for £3,000 for a week, you probably feel you have a right to do what you wish. All aided by government handouts to buy second homes as lets.
Stephen Bassey
Porthtowan, Cornwall
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