Tim Cooper, Totton, Hampshire:

In my childhood I lived in a house that backed on to Afton Marsh.

In those days (1970s) there was no footpath around the marsh, and an open rubbish tip where the recycling centre is, where we would root around looking for old prams, so we could take the wheels off for our go-karts.

And dare I say more, we used to make rafts out of wood from there with old oil drums, and float on the Afton Marsh river there.

In those days the river was dredged every so often, not quite sure by who, but meant the river was much lower, less flooding and more free flowing and clearer then it is now.

Anyway, the reason for my letter here is to praise whoever it was, that has recently installed the new hard standing cycle/walkway there.

I moved to the mainland some 40 odd years ago, and returned this week to visit family who still live here, and cycled along this new path.

It must have taken some thinking on the building of it, as it’s on wet ground prone to flooding, but it seems to have been well designed and built, and it was a pleasure to cycle along it.

So well done to all involved in the project.