SIR — Re. 'No tea at teatime' (Your Letters February 22). I thought it wise to wait until I had calmed down somewhat before I put pen to paper.

The missive, which essentially criticised the business community of Dunster for not being on full alert for a possible visit by Ros Robinson and some of her lucky friends, raised a number of interesting points and demonstrated a lack of understanding of the local economy. I thought it might be useful to clarify a few points.

It was interesting to note that the chosen method of research for her planned outing was a far from comprehensive telephone poll. Surely a better outcome would have been more likely if she had made a personal visit to the village to survey the services available and ask about opening times face to face?

We are in our fourth year of business in Dunster High Street and we are open a minimum of five days a week, normally six and seven days during the school holidays. Our opening times are 11am to 5pm-ish. The "ish" is included because we generally do not close if there are visitors in the village who look as though they might be thirsty and in busy times this can mean not closing until after 6pm.

We do not open until 11am because in our experience visitors and shoppers tend not to arrive first thing in the morning and in any event we have a production unit in Minehead which also requires some attention, not to mention a self-catering holiday accommodation business.

Whilst not suggesting that we were the perfect watering hole for Ros Robinson and her friends, we do rather resent the suggestion that all of the hospitality providers in Dunster were sitting at home in front of the fire by the time she had found refuge at the West Somerset Garden Centre (one of our favourite watering holes in Minehead on the rare occasions that we have time off).

It was also interesting that none of the tea rooms or cafés in Minehead were visited - were they also closed, or not up to standard?

Now to some of the other issues:

1) Dunster is not a "Market Town", although it may have been considered to be one many years ago. I am not an historian. It is a village with a population of approximately 1,000. A large part of the village economy has evolved into one which caters for visitors to the village. Clearly visitors can and do come from far and wide but a proportion of the lovely people we welcome do also come from the local area and these visitors are especially important to us "out of season" when, especially during spells of inclement weather (of which we have had more than our fair share in recent months, nay years) the number of people promenading around the village can number in the tens, maybe hundreds on a busy weekend. Spread over the many business seeking their patronage that amounts to just a few each, fewer still if all were open for business in these quiet times.

2) The week of her possible visit was indeed half term in Somerset. However half term for the majority of the country, including Devon, Cornwall, Dorset and London was the following week,during which we did notice a significant increase in visitor numbers.

3) Reference was made to the "thwarted" tea room/ café/ restaurant plans at Dunster Castle. I think I'm right in saying that this valuable visitor attraction is shut from the beginning of December (open weekends in 2012 for the first time) until March. It reopens this coming weekend. This presumably reflects the NT's assessment of the winter visitor numbers in Dunster. Could one argue that it contributes to the reduced number of visitors? However, we must keep in mind that it, too, is a business so is entitled to decide when it is viable for it to be open.

4) It is worth keeping in mind that many hotels and pubs are also open all day and most serve hot drinks, some also offer cakes and scones.

In conclusion, how is this for an idea? If everyone living within easy striking distance of Dunster, Minehead, Porlock, Wheddon Cross ... the list is long, resolved to pay a weekly visit to a local hospitality establishment for a cup of something hot and perhaps a snack during the quiet winter period then, in time, the demand might persuade businesses to risk longer opening times.

Perhaps more importantly residents would also have more idea of what is available not far from their doorsteps. Increased local spending, even in modest amounts, would benefit the local economy rather than BT shareholders. Meanwhile we undertake to stand by our phones and await that call. It will nice to have someone to talk to!

Richard and Lorna Robbins

Nutcombe Chocolates,

Mart Road,

Minehead.