MALVERN'S twin town, Marianske Lazne (Marienbad), lies within a forested area known as the Emperor's Forest, straddling the German border, and is similar in many respects to the Malvern Hills.

It is a protected area which has successfully embraced eco tourism and has provided facilities so that thousands of visitors can enjoy walking, cycling and skiing in this most beautiful part of the world.

A cable car transports skiers in the winter and walkers in the summer to the summit of a local mountain, allowing the whole community, including the less mobile, access.

Across the nearby border with Upper Bavaria there are also many such installations.

A little outside the town lies the Kladska Park nature reserve, teeming with animal and tree and plant life.

Here the authority charged with protecting the area has constructed a boardwalk around the large central lake.

This is popular with visitors throughout the year and there has been some carefully controlled development of hotels and restaurants within the forest.

All in all it's been a successful example of homo sapiens living in harmony with other wildlife.

Large numbers of visitors enjoy viewing the deer, wild boar, lynx and the natural habitat of the protected Arnica flower used in homeopathic remedies and harvested here under strictly controlled conditions.

An abundance of unspoilt Bohemian towns in the area all have their own protected areas, and yet they also manage to welcome visitors with the provision of up to date transport facilities. Trams, trolley buses and cable cars, for example.

Perhaps the Malvern Hills Conservators should lift their eyes not only unto the hills but further afield in order to appreciate that visitors should be embraced in all their huge variety, and catered for according to their needs.

Mark Young

Malvern Community Partnership