Wild things, you make my heart sing

Animal and bird-spotting opportunities; a tent with a view in Stockholm; and concerns about tourism in Puglia

provided by residents on their rooftops.

My wife and I treasure the memory of warm summer evenings spent around the village square in Rust, sampling the famous Ruster Ausbruch sweet wine, to the accompaniment of the “hollow coconut shell” sounds of the cranes’ bills clacking as they settled down for the night above our heads. VERNON STRADLING

Wheelchair birder

A childhood accident meant my father had to use a wheelchair, but it singularly failed to diminish his passion for birdwatching.

One of our favourite trips was to the Platier d’Oye, just north of Calais. The wide, smooth paths through the reed beds were made for us, and we would sit all day in a hide overlooking a scrape (patch of water.) From the (relative) comfort of the hide we observed Kentish plover, Temminck’s stint and pectoral sandpipers. During duller moments we snacked on hunks of baguette and Brie, washed down with bitter black coffee.

We didn’t always see anything remarkable, but we did always have a great day out. CORINDA M CARNELLEY

Happy camper

Your article on luxury camping (‘All of the Escapism None of the Drudgery’), revived happy

Trulli, madly

I was interested to read about the effects of excessive visitors on the city of Dubrovnik (‘Dubrovnik raises the alarm over waves of day trippers’, June 24).

We have just returned from a week staying in a traditional trullo house in Puglia. Although on a smaller scale than Dubrovnik, we visited memories of my own dating back 40 years.

For the penniless student in the mid-1970s, camping was the way to see Europe on a budget and combined with hitchhiking it provided a sure route to adventure.

I once arrived in Stockholm on Midsummer’s Day at the end of a six-week backpack around Europe, hungry, weary, and down to Alberobello, Puglia’s picturesque town famous for its districts of whitewashed trulli dwellings with their characteristic conical shaped roofs.

The majority of trulli houses were spoilt by being given over to mass tourism, with tacky souvenirs spilling out of every doorway and signs beckoning you in for a better view than the my last pennies. Under Swedish law you could pitch your tent anywhere as long as you left the land as you found it. I walked up a hill overlooking the city, erected my tent and sat back to admire a sunset too beautiful for words. ‘Glamping’ may have much to recommend it, but nature itself will always win out in the end. STEVE GREEN house before. Given that it has Unesco status, it surprises me that there aren’t more stipulations in place requiring Alberobello to retain its original appearance.

I appreciate that tourism matters to the local economy but it should not lead to the creation of a Disney-style experience. CAROL FERGUSON WINS A £250 RAILBOOKERS VOUCHER

Romania revealed

In Hazel Bailey’s winning letter (‘Lost in Transylvania’, June 24) we inadvertently misspelled the name of the company she travelled with. Her memorable trip through Romania was arranged through DiscoveRomania (discoveromania.ro), a company based in the splendid city of Brasov.