| The strangest town in Wales? |
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| Written by Marion Shoard, 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 True communityToday, Laugharne is remarkably unchanged. Though located in deepest Wales, it is not in spirit typically Welsh, and its sense of separateness is bolstered as it was in Thomas's day by its own peculiar form of local administration.The town remains a place of unself-consciously diverse individuals who live their lives out in the community, not behind net curtains in their own living rooms. Walk the streets of Laugharne in the evening and you encounter 'Laughnies' making their way to pubs, sports clubs, a youth club, street corners. People do not slump in front of their televisions and this is certainly not just another seaside town dominated by the retired. Apart from the pubs, the most important social institution is the rugby football club. But this is not an exclusive male preserve: men do not go off to play rugby to get away from their wives. Rather, the whole family comes to matches and to celebrations afterwards. As well as its first and second teams, Laugharne also has a junior team, an under-13s, an under-11s and an under-9s. The WI is strong here too, with 45 members and a strong contingent in their late 20s and 30s. Laugharne also remains marked off by the peculiar aspects of its woody-salty coast. Leafy trees overhang honey-coloured sand banks, saltings and softly whispering mud over which gulls cry, herons lazily flap and curlews bubble their musical song. Climb Sir John's hill and at once trackless saltmarsh gives way to a firm, deep-pink sandstone path rising steeply beneath beeches, sycamores, hazels and lichen-encrusted oaks, through whose branches the bay and castle remain in view. In spring, a carpet of bluebells, speedwell and red campion spreads underfoot, while chiffchaffs sing overhead. Laugharne enjoys plenty of fine weather, but you should also see it in the rain (which somehow heightens awareness of the natural world) and, if you can stay overnight, so much the better. Thomas relished absorbing atmosphere after dark from boyhood nights wandering the streets of Swansea. In Under Milk Wood, the night in Laugharne tumbles out. Why don't you, too, "hear the dew falling and the hushed town breathing" and "come up the drifting sea-dark street now in the dark night seesawing like the sea"? Bed down in one of Laugharne's bed and breakfast establishments, where you can also pick up on the latest comings and goings in the town. Those in which I have stayed recently and found to be excellent are Swan Cottage and The Coach House. Laugharne Castle and The Boat House are both open to the public. Quite apart from the Dylan connection, this corner of west Wales offers many other distractions. Atmospheric and historically fascinating castles are also worth seeking out at Llansteffan, Kidwelly, Carreg Cennen and Dryslyn. Shakespeare plays are performed in them in the summer. A list of accommodation of all types can be obtained from the Tourist Information Centre in Carmarthen (tel: 01267 231557). There is no disabled-friendly category in the WTB's grading - ask at any establishment in which you are interested. The streets of Laugharne are ideal for mobility aids though - witnessed by the fact that the new, befittingly eccentric Anglican vicar makes his way around the town on a skateboard. Carmarthen enjoys good train links through Swansea to Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham, London and beyond or, in the other direction, Fishguard Harbour. You can obtain bus times on the Internet or a full timetable (taking in Llansteffan and countless other villages) from Carmarthenshire County Council (tel: 01267 234567). The M4 motorway extends a few miles past Swansea. Marion Shoard is the author of A Right to Roam and many other books and articles about Britain's landscape. Details can be found at www.marionshoard.co.uk Further reading A new edition of The Oxford Guide to Literary Britain and Ireland, which catalogues links between writers and places, has recently been published by Oxford University Press. |
