Dear Council members,
I read with great dismay your decision to close the Peat Moors Visitor Centre, one of a handful of reasons for which my husband and I regularly travel from Virginia, USA to Somerset, UK. Somerset must be doing one heck of a business to be able to discard one of its primary attractions with so little concern for the impact on tourists. In the current economic climate, I would have thought Somerset would need all the tourist incentives it could get!
To be perfectly honest, one can see English houses anywhere in the UK, but the Peat Moors, the Tor, the Chalice Well... these are features that exist nowhere else. If Somerset cannot support them, then it will need to find something other than tourism upon which to found its economy.
We cannot imagine why you would elect to discard something of such great value -- especially as it could prove important to green energy research, which can only become more important in the days ahead. Perhaps some developer has persuaded you that it is "just a bog" that could be put to some greater (and even more disposable) use?
Even a short trip to Somerset, staying in the most modest accommodations, usually costs us about $5-6,000 USD. That is the equivalent of 4 months living expenses in Virginia. Why one earth would we spend this to see only one or two features?
We sincerely hope that the Council will reconsider its position on this matter. Otherwise, we may find ourselves spending our money someplace that places greater value on its own history and character.
Respectfully,
Morgaine & Frank Berman
Something is not right. This message is just to keep things from messing up down the road