SIR — My husband and I enjoyed a wonderful and unforgettable day out on the Waverley, the last ocean going paddle steamer in the world, to Penarth, with a trip on the Brecon Beacons Railway and a delightful coach tour of the mountains. we even had a display of the Red Arrows over Portishead to watch as we sailed home across the channel! It was so quick and easy crossing the water to Penarth, compared with the arduous and busy drive all the way round the A39 and the motorway via Bristol to Wales. The old Victorian pier at Penarth is in excellent condition and the town is very pleasant. Cardiff, with its splendid new waterfront buildings, seems so close travelling this way, as of course the Victorians did all the time. Minehead really is missing out on a wonderful tourist opportunity by not rebuilding its piece and exploiting the sea crossings to and from Wales. Rather than spend money on luxurious new office buildings for themselves, why doesn't the council grasp this golden opportunity and go for it in a big way? Why not be more adventurous and forward- looking? The West Somerset Railway has proved how successful such ventures can be, as people have more leisure time and more money to spend on it, and combining trips there with more trips on the Waverley and the Balmoral could prove a real tourist attraction. Some are already available and are very popular. If the railway does go through to link with Taunton mainline, more tourists will come, and hopefully a bus station will also be needed at the railway station - another reason for not building on the car park next to it, of course! We have the unique and beautiful Exmoor National Park on our doorstep, yet Minehead seems to turn its back on this, surely our main attraction! Why not celebrate it more? Some of us only choose to live here because of Exmoor, yet the town seems uninterested in it. And if we have to have another supermarket, why can't we go a bit more upmarket and have a Waitrose or Sainbury's instead of Asda? Does the council think that people who live here only want cheap food? What can possibly me more important than the food we put into our bodies? People are willing to spend a lot on mobile phones, DVDs, computers, holidays abroad, etc, yet it seems they want to get their food on the cheap. That is the one thing we should not stint on. We are what we eat. And Sainsbury's also have stricter ethical guidelines about not using endangered species of fish, or tuna caught by pair trawling. We should care about such things. We only have one world. Lesley Evans, Bossington Lane, Porlock.