I THOUGHT you might like to publish my letter to Lake District National Park Authority objecting to the Lowther Estate Trust's proposals to put cruises on Grasmere:

I WAS horrified to see news of the Lowther Estate Trust's request to allow holiday cruisers on to Grasmere lake.

I grew up in Grasmere from 1949 to 1954 when there was a thriving community in the village, very few motorised vehicles and the great Lake District artist W Heaton Cooper was a resident of the village.

Over the intervening 66 years there have been many changes, of course, particularly in the village and in the numbers of people who come to visit the area, but essentially the lake and its environs have remained much as they were in 1954. It is this that the visitors have come to see and to appreciate.

To my knowledge there have never been motorised vehicles on the lake and the lake is all the better for it.

This lake is far too small for the need of such craft - this is not Windermere where its great length may well be a reason for having them on the water there.

Let people who wish to go on to Grasmere hire rowing boats from the landing in Fleming’s Bay or bring their own dinghies.

Why should a small number of people spoil the area for the many?

The Lowther Estate Trust may own the lake (how on earth did that come about?) but that should not give it the right to ruin the nature and ambiance of one of the pearls of the Lake District National Park, of which you are the custodian.

Please do not give permission for the proposal.

Michael Brown

Emsworth