" COME TO BRITAIN " : AN AMERICAN VIEW [To
the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—I was very much struck with your article entitled " The Come to Britain " movement, and would like to make a few suggestions as to inducing Americans to spend more of their holiday in Great Britain. You are right in saying that thousands of American golfers would come in the spring and autumn if a serious attempt was made to get them. But I am not so sure that the motor caravan and the camping holiday in Great Britain will appeal to Americans. They can get all the camping they want at home. We do not, however, have your beautiful private gardens, and the Engl:h Speaking Union can do no better work than obtain permission for American visitors to sec the chief gardens in Great Britain.
I have been, I think, in every county of England. The, courtesy and personal attention shown are delightful, but while I am afraid that Americans have been spoiled by modern conveniences such as central heating and other luxuries,
yet if the English innkeeper wants American custom he must cater to it in the ways you have mentioned.
You are right again in the matter of food. Frequently I have asked for fruit at English country inns, and have been unable to get it ; but as I know fresh fruit in Great Britain is more expensive than in the United States, I suggest stewed fruit, which is really preferred to fresh fruit as the first course of breakfast by many Americans. Salads can be procured as easily in Great Britain as in the United States if the inn- keeper will only take the trouble to have them.
I regret to admit that the coffee served in British hotels, outside of places like the , is a poor concoction. Why ? There are various machines for making coffee which may be called fool-proof. You in England get as good coffee in the raw state as any country in the world, but I must say that it is rank in the preparation.
I do not think you do justice to the meals served on British trains. The last meal I had on a Continental train was dinner going from Marseilles to Paris, and it was pretty bad. On the contrary dinner going from Dover to London was first
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