AJ PHILLIPS, of Seattle, Washington, USA, writes:

I feel I must write to tell you how hugely disappointed I am at the vast decline in the once lovely little Devon town which I visited five years ago.

‘Dartmouth,’ I told my friends at home in the USA, was the most pretty and attractive town I found in my visit.

Now on my present visit I find the walkways covered in weed, the smell from drains outside the Royal Castle Hotel is awful. As for that abominable new building by the park, who is responsible for permission to build this awful ugly unit?

I think my final disgust was when I wanted to use the lavatory and found that a 20p coin was needed before I could get in. There were two other desperate people waiting, including a small boy waiting for someone with the correct coin. What mean-minded money grasping person is responsible for this?

I’m sorry to write such a moaning letter but I have been so disappointed with the visit that I was most looking forward to and felt that I must get it off my mind.