I cannot agree with Mr Williams (Your Letters, October 3) that the 50-year-old picture shown in your last two issues represents any kind of improvement on the British Camp we enjoy today.

That bare and eroded version would soon look a good deal worse with today's visitor numbers.

What literal minded devotees of the Malvern = "bare hills" school of thought seem to ignore is that when the hills were bare, the country around was much more richly wooded. This is no longer the case and the hills now offer a haven of mixed habitat for people and wildlife.

It's really a question of maintaining a sensible balance, isn't it? Leave the tops bare but let's not slash and burn those wooded slopes that add such great pleasure to any walk, especially at this time of year.

Martin Reed, West Malvern Road.