FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF DYLAN THOMAS

Dylan Thomas Laugharne The Boathouse looking out over the estuary. Laugharne Castle The grave at Laugharne Parish Church

The film, “The Edge of Love” has brought writer and poet, Dylan Thomas, his work and his places of inspiration to the attention of a new, wider audience – adding to his already huge fan base across the globe, many of whom make the ‘pilgrimage’ to his beloved South West Wales. This new film follows Dylan Thomas’ life during the year that he spent in Newquay, Ceredigion; however if one place best captures the inspiration for his work, it is Laugharne in South Carmarthenshire – his home during his last years and his final resting place. Thomas wrote of the town, “In this timeless, mild, beguiling island of a town...here we are and there is nowhere like it anywhere at all.” Laugharne, where Dylan joked that he “got off the bus here and forgot to get on again” and which is said to have inspired Llanregub the small Welsh town in Under Milk Wood, has scarcely changed since he lived here with his family – first from 1938 to 1940 and again from 1949 to 1953. Found just over 13 miles from the historic market town of Carmarthen; Laugharne is in the main made up of charming stone built cottages, the Grist - the town square with its ancient cross, St Martin’s Parish Church and a romantic, commanding twelfth century Castle which overlooks the beautiful Taf Estuary. It is this same view across the estuary that Dylan enjoyed from his home and which resulted in what many believe to be his most productive years. His home from 1949 until his death in 1953, the Boathouse, “a seashaken house on a breakneck of rocks”, is now a museum and heritage centre, preserved as it was in the poet’s time. It is here that he wrote the famous Under Milk Wood and some of his best loved poetry. Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin are buried in Laugharne’s parish church. Their graves are marked with a simple, white cross standing at the centre of the graveyard. Inside the atmospheric church a memorial plaque simply reads, “Time held me green and dying, Though I sang in my chains like the sea” – a line from his most famous poem “Fern Hill”. Some places to stay in Laugharne:- Swan Cottage Bed & Breakfast The Boathouse Bed & Breakfast Packwood Court Bed & Breakfast Keepers Cottage Bed & Breakfast Limeslade Self Catering Cottage Other places to visit:- Tourist Information Centre - King Street, Laugharne Sea View, Market Lane, Laugharne; the second house Dylan & Caitlin occupied in Laugharne, from August 1938 until May 1940. Brown's Hotel, Laugharne; a drinking haunt of Dylan Thomas' Laugharne Walking Trail Laugharne Festival Laugharne weekend Places to eat:- The Cors Restaurant - Newbridge Road, Laugharne Tel: 01994 427219 The Green Room Cafe Bar - 6, Grist Square, Laugharne Tel: 01994 427870 Llansteffan & Llangain Also nearby is Llansteffan, another place dear to Dylan’s heart - and where many of his family lived. This seaside village were described in a number of his works, including “A Visit to Grandpas” and “The Peaches” (included in his ‘Portrait of the artist as a young dog’). The area is also home to “Fern Hill”, still located in Llangain four miles away from Llansteffan and the focus of his most famous poem. Llansteffan Walking Trail Llangain Community website South West Wales For more information on the other places in South West Wales that have provided inspiration to Dylan Thomas and other writers and poets, visit Inspirational Wales.