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| The Boat House, Laugharne Dylan and Caitlin Thomas House |
This timeless, mild, beguiling island of a town with its seven public houses, one chapel in action, one church, one factory, two billiard tables, one St. Bernard (without brandy), one policeman, three rivers, a visiting sea, one Rolls-Royce selling fish and chips, one cannon (cast-iron), one chancellor (flesh and blood), one portreeve, one Danny Raye, and a multitude of mixed birds, here we just are, and there is nowhere like it anywhere at all.' Dylan Thomas.
Hi Everyone,
Laugharne is a beautiful town situated on the Taf river with a Castle that dates back to 12th Century but the main street has a number of elegant Georgian houses.On a really foul, miserable day last week I went to Laugharne in order to see where this year's literary and music festival is going to be held. Brown's Hotel was looking very sorry for itself which is a great shame as it was a favourite haunt of Dylan and Caitlin Thomas.
I then decided to go for a ramble towards Dylan Thomas's Boat House and his studio/garage. Having not been there for a while I had forgotten that the house had not got a similar front window view to his writing garage. I thought i would take a photograph from the shoreline looking up to this non existent front window at the Boat House. In pursuit of this picture I then waded through estuary mud in swede baseball boots only to discover it was not how i had imagined and had to abandon the idea squelching back to the footpath!!! All is okay with the boots they had a quick wash at home!
It is not Caitlin's ghost in the reflection but yours truly sorry to disappoint you all! I thought it was a very atmospheric writing shed, a little gem of a place. Onto the main topic I slightly digressed from, the Laugharne Literary Festival a small little intimate festival gaining a great following from those in the know!!! Here are just a few highlights for this year's festival John Cooper Clark, Owen Sheers and Carol Ann Duffy will be performing poetry. The actor Micheal Sheen, Dom Jolly, the painter Molly Parkin and Howard Marks will be holding talks. Mark Billington who writes crime fiction and the young author Rachel Trezise will be discussing books. I have actually heard Rachel Trezise discuss her acclaimed short story book "Fresh Apples" about life in the valleys which she won the prestigious Dylan Thomas Award for in 2005 when i went to the Winter Festival at Hay on Wye in 2006. It was great to hear her read from her short stories which were a combination of bitter sweet and funny.
There will the Laugharne players performing "Under Milk Wood", by Dylan Thomas in the Tin Shed.
There is a great music line up which to highlight a few includes Cate Le Bon, Sweet Baboo, and the acclaimed Fernhill who have played at Womad and internationally, with their blend of folk and welsh traditional music. It will be a memorable weekend to be a part of so book your tickets and hope for fine weather to put the final icing on the cake!!! http://thelaugharneweekend.com/
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| The 12th Century Castle at Laugharne. |
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