AT the end of each year, I look back through the correspondence generated by this column. It is always useful to discover which topics have produced the most comments from our readers, and I take this opportunity of thanking all who have contacted me by post, e-mail, telephone or merely through a brief chat in the street. Others have written to the letters column of the paper and I thank them too.

Certain topics can be guaranteed to raise one's blood pressure. My repeated grumbles about the behaviour of caravanners on the road always results in letters but I was gratified to learn from one in Hornsea that he has now sold his van. His decision was not linked to this column because he does not read the paper.

In a discussion, he told me he gave up because of the questionable conduct of members of the caravanning fraternity. He and his family used to travel throughout Britain with his caravan but he now believes some drivers are so dangerous and careless when on the road that he has no wish to be tarred with the same brush.

He also told me of a postcard, which I have since seen. It depicts a caravan unit chugging along a narrow road in the highlands of Scotland. Behind it, stretching mile after mile over the horizon, there is a massive queue of other motorists and from the caravan comes a speech bubble saying: "Isn't this road quiet?"

As a person unfortunate enough to live in a village upon a caravan route, I can relate to that.

All I wish to add now is that I understand from a police officer that the volume of caravans on the road, and the number of accidents and incidents in which they are involved, is being carefully monitored by traffic experts. There is even a question of banning them from certain highways, or restricting their movements to certain times of the day.

And that is all I wish to say about caravans for this year!

Another constant problem is the amount of litter dumped in the countryside, and many readers join me in wondering how to prevent louts from leaving their mess behind. I refer to this subject from time to time in the hope it might prompt the authorities to collect it more regularly or impose swingeing penalties on litter louts.

Certainly it is something which deeply concerns country lovers and dwellers. More and more motorists seem to discard their junk on the verges or into roadside fields and woods.

I do know that some caring country people are now undertaking their own personal litter patrols to collect the rubbish left by others. They are doing a good job - but it shouldn't be necessary. And that's the end of my grumbles.

One subject which generated correspondence was rabbit warrens. In my column of January 23, I referred to the medieval practice of breeding rabbits in warrens because they were used for both food and clothing. Their meat was favoured by the wealthier classes and so the nobility appointed special men called warreners to supervise the breeding and maintain stocks.

Reminders live on in surnames like Warren and Warriner, and in the names of farms such as High Warren and Low Warren.

The management of these rabbit farms persisted from about 1200 well into the eighteenth century.

With the passage of time, however, and the enclosure of land plus the emergence of the yeoman farming class, rabbits began to realise they could find new homes by making burrows under hawthorn hedges and it wasn't long before they became pests.

They increased rapidly as only rabbits can do and soon the population of rabbits was destroying valuable crops which in turn led to the creation of rabbit clearance societies.

Another topic of constant interest is the variety of birds which are attracted to feeders in our gardens. Readers have related wonderful stories of their enjoyment in watching the antics of their feathered visitors, part of the fun being trying to identify the various species.

From their letters, it seems that members of the tit family are the most numerous with others like wrens, robins, hedge sparrows, goldfinches, greenfinches, bullfinches, chaffinches, siskins, blackbirds, thrushes, nuthatches and even great spotted woodpeckers, kestrels and sparrowhawks being seen in readers' gardens.

The most unusual visitor to our garden was a goshawk which arrived while a neighbour was having tea with us, and remained long enough for us to get out the reference books to make sure of its identity.

Feeding the birds is vital especially during the winter when their natural food is in short supply and their feeding time is limited due to the very short days.

Among the other birds which have featured in readers' letters are ravens, owls, geese, white storks, herons, gannets and starlings.

Both the British Trust for Ornithology and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds keep me well informed, for which I thank them.

In my comments about rabbits, I mentioned yeomen farmers and this was followed by one or two letters asking for the definition of a yeoman. As they were, and probably still are, such a vital element of our countryside life, it is worth repeating the information here.

A yeoman owned a small amount of land and worked it himself, unlike the lord of the manor who owned land but had others to work for him. Some yeoman might hire a small number of staff but the essential difference between him and the gentry was that the yeoman actually worked on the land.

There was an account of yeomen in 1614 which sought to identify these fellows. It said a yeoman would not say to his staff "Go and work the fields". He would say "Let us go and work the fields".

Another difference was that a yeoman would often eat in the kitchen of his house, perhaps sharing his meal with his fellow workers such as the rat catcher or farrier, whereas the lord would eat in a smart dining room, well away from members of his staff.

There is no doubt some yeoman worked hard enough to acquire more land and we might recognise them in some of the farmers of our region. Down the centuries they have been regarded as midway between the labouring classes and the gentry, and I have an old law book dated 1764 which defines a yeoman as "a degree of commoner placed next in order to gentlemen".

Indeed, some yeomen regarded themselves as true gentlemen by adding Esquire to their names.

In a column of this type, it is inevitable that hundreds of subjects come under discussion and in addition to those mentioned, I have received letters from readers about badgers, bats, bees and borage. We have discussed trees and logs, weather lore and folk lore including the famous green man, while another aspect of country life is one's memory of times past.

In that case, readers have happy memories of simple entertainments such as whist drives, village dances and reading rooms, while the difference of attitude between townspeople and country dwellers was aired.

From time to time, I like to venture into other countries and different parts of Britain and it seems readers enjoy my accounts of those outings.

The day before compiling this resume, a reader thanked me for reminding him how wonderful and beautiful the Lake District can be during the autumn.

I had a similar note of thanks some months ago from a reader who could not leave her house and she remarked that reports from distant places helped her to understand and appreciate the world beyond her window.

Perhaps the one thing that emerges from compiling this weekly budget is just how rich and varied is this region. I don't think any other part of Britain is more diverse, interesting and beautiful than the area within the readership of this paper and we must consider ourselves very fortunate to live and work here.

I hope my words - and grumbles - help us to appreciate what is here to treasure and enjoy, literally on the doorstep.

I thank all who have contacted me during the year and wish all readers a happy and most wonderful new year.