Barking up the wrong tree
To use T E Hardy's own phrase (July 16), I never cease to be amazed at the ability of some people to jump unerringly to the wrong conclusion.
Far from being new to rural life, I was brought up on a farm on Dartmoor and I can assure your correspondent that I do not think the countryside is a gigantic public park for my personal enjoyment.
However, since my retirement, I am fortunate enough to be able to walk my German Shepherd and Lurcher for about four miles every morning and the same distance each evening.
Lest my critic concludes erroneously that my dogs probably run amok among the livestock, causing chaos, any of the local farmers will verify that they are very well-trained and always under control. Far from causing a nuisance, they have, on several occasions, been responsible for saving the lives of injured sheep and orphaned lambs.
The presumption that, in order to circumnavigate the offending stile, I have trespassed over private land is also false, as, having left the footpath referred to, I skirt all the neighbouring farms and walk along the foot of Caradon Hill, which is common land, and rejoin the path at Minions.
Finally, my dogs have been brought up with livestock and trained not to be frightened by them.
As stated in my letter, although I am a pensioner, I am able to cope with the inconvenience of being unable to get my dogs over the stile, but I was, in fact, voicing the feelings of many people in the village who cannot and are therefore deprived of the pleasure of walking on the moor.
PATRICIA K CURNOW
Liskeard