SIR - This poem was written after walking in Knowle Park one Sunday in October. How sad it would be to lose all this? Nowhere local for us oldies to walk.

My Sunday walk took me along

The path to Knowle Park.

Camera in hand I stood and

Looked across the park on

This bright, sunny morning.

So peaceful it all seems, the

Trees an orange and yellow hue,

Brighter with the suns rays passing

Through branches of magnificent trees.

Knowle Park is the heart of Sidmouth

With its Gothic Folly still standing,

What stories it could tell of past endeavours,

A ginko tree with gnarled branches

Reaches out across the velvet lawn.

A hare sits quiet in thought as I click

Away, his home will soon be no more,

No bird song will be heard or badgers

Sett will lie in this special place.

Soon bulldozers will wrench all to

The ground, tall buildings will rise

Killing all that to us is God given.

My photographs are all I will have

To remind me of this tranquil idyll.

Beryl Smyter-Dray

Primley Road, Sidmouth