Good as new

SIR – AR Barton’s letter (April 9) is right. Small-scale furniture makers need help with the burden of VAT, but everything should be of quality.

We take our garden rubbish to Exeter’s recycling facility, where the amount of furniture being disposed of is phenomenal. The sounder items tend to be older and possibly outdated but still worthy of a home, so restoration would be ideal if the financial incentive existed.

I have taken some items home and restored them but my husband thinks that, were I given free rein, we would need to move house. Alma Maria Harding

Kenton, Devon