Madam, - Sarah Marriot's article on country living (July 3rd) really did sound like The Good Life. But, in reality the countryside is extremely noisy nowadays. Be prepared to put up with an almost endless cacophony of rock splitters, earth movers, tractors, chain saws, etc. If you should be relaxing in your garden one lovely evening, as she suggested, sipping a glass of home-made wine, listening to the birds and bees and the 6 p.m. road traffic report, spare a thought for your close neighbours and keep the volume down, so that you don't annoy them.
For close neighbours you are sure to have, as the inexorable tide of bricks and mortar engulfs these once lovely acres of the so-called countryside. Maybe staying in town is the real answer! - Yours, etc.,
JOYCE HEAP, (A very disappointed country dweller) Killarney, Co Kerry.