It is with a certain amount of unease that I learn Malvern Hills Conservators, with the support of a grant of £35,000 from the Heritage Lottery, is going to renovate the Victorian garden at St Ann's Well.

The reason for my trepidation is that, even before they have the grant in hand, they are spending some of it on a consultant on Victorian gardens to advise them on its restoration. This will, I fear, account for a tidy penny of the yet to be finalised grant. I sincerely hope that the bulk of this grant is not also going to be wasted on a few rhododendron bushes and a monkey puzzle tree.

I wrote to Gazette last year voicing my concerns about the neglect of St Ann's Well as a whole and I feel that visitors, whilst admiring well kept gardens, would appreciate improvements to the amenities surrounding this tourist spot, not just a single garden.

The terraces, built with Malvern granite, bearing benches and tables designed for passing tourists to refresh themselves many years before the Malvern Hills Conservators even existed, were neglected to the point of being an eyesore.

These tables and benches were bent and rotten with age, and, as a resident of Malvern for over 60 years, an embarrassment. The walls and little gardens on which to slurp an ice cream was once a pleasure, were covered with weeds and did not deserve the favours of our visitors.

It is only by virtue of the fact that paths cut by the Victorians themselves lead inevitably to St Ann's Well, that its cafe does such a summer good trade.

The picture I have of St Ann's Well is of neat, well cared for terraces enhanced by pretty annuals and perennials with coloured shrubs, and new tables and benches; making it the centre of attraction it was in Victorian times.

May I implore the Conservators not to spend the entire £35,000 on one Victorian garden. You have the opportunity to put some colour and neatness back into a dingy old building that once thrived.

Please remember the hills belong to the public as a whole, not the privileged few and the £35,000 spent wisely for the benefit of the many, could buy a lot of the goodwill that has not been forthcoming to MHC for some years.

Richard W Brown, Ramsons Close, Great Malvern.