Country vistas are under siege in Malta. A serious downgrading of the view from Selmun to Xemxija is now in effect.

Towering 13 storeys at its highest point, a massive development threatens to blot out glimpses of the sea, destroying an important strategic view as one skirts the bend while driving to St Paul's Bay from Mellieħa.

Who would have imagined that environment organisations would have to defend the ridge over Mistra against an expanded version of the Preluna Hotel? This is a place where the unobtrusive and tasteful Mistra Village once sat without offending the eye.

An environmental planning statement commissioned by the developers is being reviewed by NGOs before consultations are opened to the public.

In urban areas, remnants of historical features fall victim to de-scheduling under the Development Planning Act, or ruthless demolition of the context in which they sit. It is this gradual chipping away of our old buildings that sees them finally swept off the map completely.

The Malta Environment and Planning Authority case notes for the much lamented Chains, which started off as a pub in one of the oldest buildings in St Julians, detail how that story unfolded.

The building was acknowledged by Mepa as a landmark of contextual and architectural interest. Yet it was argued, in the developer's favour, that sanctioned alterations carried out along the years had reduced the building's interest while the appearance of tall blocks with blank walls around the old pub eroded its importance as a landmark.

Mepa is very quiet about de-schedulings. The thin blue protective line is visible on the map one day and disappears the next.

Protected by one of those thin blue circles on the Mepa maps, a threshing floor clings to the rocky valley edge on the outskirts of Munxar in Gozo. This is a feature that the local council is proud of, yet is not signposted like so many of our best kept secrets. These little known heritage spots add to our rich and varied rural landscape. It is easy to walk past the old stone platform without seeing it at first. From the outside it looks like another rubble wall, until the unusual paving on the inside reveals itself.

This roughly circular threshing floor was purposely built centuries ago with its stone floor cleverly designed to separate grain from straw and chaff. The site is vulnerable and unguarded, except for the odd sunbather peering over the back wall of a sanctioned pool deck on the valley's edge.

The name Andar, from the Arabic for threshing floor, was adopted by Hotel Andar. In Portuguese the word means both 'to tread' and also 'a floor'. Rural accommodation on offer in Andalucia boasts of a similar feature as an attraction in their agri-tourism brochure: 'Nearby is an ecological orchard with almond and olive trees, gardens and two ancient threshing floors for grain.'

The last remaining hint of another threshing floor in Żebbug (Gozo) can be traced in the name of an alley, Trejqet ta' l-Andar. An 18th century document listing property of the Inquisition in Malta refers to a place by the name of Landar in Birzebbuġa.

In the month of June, when threshing was at its height, a wooly-haired roadside plant may have been made into brooms for use on the threshing floors. The pastureland plant is known in Gozo as Xatbet l-Andar.

The deserted rocky slope at Munxar where the last threshing floor in Gozo can still be seen was once the site of much activity and socialising. Threshed grain would have been carried from the floor to the mill, just a stone's throw away from temple megaliths in a wheat field, which are both still standing.

Remnants of the prehistoric ta' Marziena site are accessed by footpath from Triq il-Mithna. The temple's curved wall with an opening to the east and two stones suggesting apses were recorded by the archeologist David Trump in 1960. Shards from the Ġgantija era have been found in the soil. A hunting hide built over the megaliths desecrates the age-old relics.

A heritage walk linking all these sites could promote Gozo's existing resources while providing an exclusive alternative to more run-of-the-mill tourist attractions.

Today, a crane towers above the gorge, across the valley from the old threshing floor after which the hotel was named. The historic feature, a short walk away from this country hotel, was never well promoted with hotel guests despite there being enough of interest connected to the site to fill a small museum. The hotel has been torn down to be replaced by apartments, garages and a commercial centre.

Il-Blata ta' Kapuċċela, a giant turtle-shaped rock nicknamed il-Fekruna, seems poised to escape from the mayhem by swimming down the valley and into the sea. Apartment blocks rising on the turtle's back where the Hotel Andar once stood may one day carry the name Andar Flats in an attempt to give them some relevance to the landscapes around us which are being devoured and killing off memories.