Wales : Laugharne

Laugharne pronounced Larn as in yarn, which is something my friends are good at and so am I, don’t want to give them all the credit. I digress.

Yes, so Laugharne in Carmarthenshire has a castle, Laugharne Castle on the Wales Coastal Path overlooking the Taf Estuary, where Dylan Thomas wrote Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog.  The castle was part of a series of Norman coastal castles from Chepstow to Pembroke. Wales has hundreds of castles you know.

Laugharne was the inspiration for Llareggub (read it backwards) the fictional town in Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood. Walk along the estuary path past the castle and the fishermen who are incredibly good for a yarn and then up some steps is the recreation of Dylan Thomas’ writing room and a little further is the boat house. Interesting fact : The shed inspired Roald Dahl’s writing hut at his home in Buckinghamshire. Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin are buried in St Martin’s Church.

Dylan Thomas drank in Browns Hotel, where there is Dylan’s Bar and Penderyn Restaurant, so named to reflect the close relationship between the hotel and the distillery. Penderyn Distillery, in the Brecon Beacons and soon to be in Llandudno, is known for its whisky and gin, and being along the road from Ty Newydd where many Merthyr friends had their wedding receptions. Oh yes I’m full of the yarn today.

Scenes from Un Bore Mercher / Keeping Faith were filmed in Laugharne, known as Abercorran in the series, interestingly some of the characters work for Corran Energy and there used to be a bookshop called Corran Books. I know DL Corran Tree Surgeons from Abergavenny, I wonder if there’s a connection - trees, paper, books! See what I mean by a yarn. I digress. Again!

If you have not watched Series 1 or 2 then catch up! Un Bore Mercher Series 3 is on S4C now with English subtitles and Keeping Faith begins in 2021. Un Bore Mercher Series 3 sees Faith, Evan and family and friends 18 months after the end of Series 2, with some new faces like Celia Imrie and Sîan Phillips. It's tense let me tell you!