Rick’s TV series is a boost for Cornwall

HOW can Tommy Bray ( Letters, 6 January) be so bitter and twisted in his condemnation of the excellent Cornwall TV series by Rick Stein?

He should take it as a great compliment for his county that so many ‘outsiders’ are beguiled and besotted with its beauty and wish to share it with others.

So what if it encourages more visitors? Where would Cornwall be without its income from tourism?

We are not all as fortunate as Mr Bray to have been able to remain in the Duchy all our lives.

Innumerable Cornishmen and women have had to earn a crust east of the Tamar and in many a far flung outback. Thank goodness we have been more warmly accepted than the icy welcome that Mr Bray seems only prepared to offer to any incomer. I too deplore the fact that many of Cornwall’s communities have been irrecoverably ruined by second home ownerships, but to suggest that lovers of the county such as Rick Stein are responsible is a blinkered view. Perhaps Mr Bray’s opinions are influenced by some other motivation?

As an exile, I am simply delighted to have the opportunity to enjoy the wonderful scenery, meet some very interesting characters and learn even more about the county of my birth, as seen through the eyes of admirers who don’t wish to keep these treasures to themselves.

They make miserable winter evenings much more tolerable.

Patrick Whatty Eggbuckland, Plymouth