Natural cure

It was good to read of the Pentland Hills being used to help combat anxiety (your report, 2 September). In Scotland we are blessed with great countryside and coasts accessible to us all. Furthermore, we have a history of using the outdoor environment to boost wellbeing. In the First World War many “shell-shocked” officers were sent to Scotland to recover in hospitals like Craiglockhart. Wilfred Owen’s doctor there, Edinburgh physician Dr Arthur John Brock, practiced ergotherapy and re-education. Getting broken men back on their feet, active and connected with nature again, was vital. The Pentlands inspired some of Owen’s greatest poetry, just as the hills inspired Stevenson and Ramsay before them.

As we emerge from this pandemic we might want to consider how we can reconnect with the environment to help boost well being. Well done to those who are taking such approaches – it will not just help health but also creativity. After all, that is what keeps us human.

NEIL MCLENNAN Chair Wilfred Owen’s Edinburgh

1917:2017 Senior Lecturer University of Aberdeen