How lovely to see that the great estate agent gift of positive description is still alive and well in Roxburghshire (Fantasy house hunt, 7 April). A two-bed cottage described as decorated with a “surprising palette” (deep orange and dark blue) and benefiting from a “rewilded garden”.
Peter Adamson
Peldon, Essex
• Forget cherry blossom, plant damson trees instead (UK hopes to emulate Japan with cherry blossom tourism plans, 7 April) . Not only do you get gorgeous blossom in spring and fruit in autumn, but also the best jam in the world, damson gin, chutney, fool and so much more.
Jean Wright
Denstone, Staffordshire
• Your article (Woke the plank! Were pirate ships actually beacons of diversity and democracy?, 4 April) mentions two sequels to Treasure Island by Andrew Motion. There is also a prequel by Arthur D Howden Smith, Porto Bello Gold. It has some of the same pirates and tells how the treasure came to be on the island (also how Long John Silver lost his leg).
Marcia Wheeler
London
• Re Susan Harvey’s fried bread (Letters, 5 April), our French teenager fell in love with piccalilli. He much preferred it to marmalade on his toast and he dunked with gusto. Four decades later, I can still see the pickled onions floating in his cafe au lait.
Gerard Hastings
Céret, France
• It’s a good job Julia Edwards (Letters, 6 April) was not with me in a restaurant in Lille, France, a few years ago. Next to me was a woman with a lapdog that had its own dinner at the table with her.
Frances Worsley
Whaley Bridge, Derbyshire
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