Holidays In Laugharne
A Memory of Laugharne.
I and my family stayed at the Ferry House, next to the Boat House from 1965 to 1973. The house was then owned by the wife of my dad's boss and we used to be able to go for a fortnight each summer. We used to park our car, with permission, on the drive of a big house opposite Dylan Thomas's writing shed, and then everything - bedding, food and personal belongings - had to be carried along the cliff walk and down the steps to the Ferry House. Each summer we used to scan the estuary from the top of the walk to see what changes a year had brought to the river bed - there was always a change in the way it wove itself round the bay. Specific memories: going for a walk by myself in the bay when the tide was out and finding and bringing back a dab, which my mother cooked for my breakfast; being allowed to swim at high tide at midnight, when I could walk off the rocky slope just past the house door straight into the sea; going horse-riding at the stables on Sir John's Hill; lying on the rocks near the house and seeing a rain-storm come in from the mouth of the estuary and being so transfixed that I didn't get in in time and got soaked; walking to the village both via Cliff Walk and along the seashore past the castle; climbing into The Boathouse grounds from the sea-wall and exploring the house (it was not a museum then). I have very many happy memories of the summers we spent in Laugharne, and look at the photos taken during that time with much fondness. One day I hope to go back there and re-visit my childhood.
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Comments & Feedback
I too went to stay at the Ferry House in the sixties. My dad used to work with your dad. I had many happy memories of our stay there.
I returned there this week, fifty years later. I'm sorry to say it has been demolished. All that remains are the foundations and the dodgy path down fenced off with "Danger keep out. Trespassers will be prosecuted". I was very disappointed. However, it was lovely to walk along a path beside the estuary from a car park next to the castle to Dylan Thomas' museum and up some steps to the path we both used so many years ago.
I've just told my Dad, he remembers you from when our families used to live near each other in Salisbury. My sister Lisa went to Laugharne a few years ago and reported the same thing back except I think the owners were still trying to get permission to build a lift up to Cliff Walk then. A real shame - the Ferry House should have had a preservation order on it as far as I am concerned. I Googled it the other day and a tourist company is trying to build a glass box on the site now. Small world that you should spot this and have been there as well!! I still plan to go someday though I think the experience will be sadder now.
Julia.
It was very sad to see the site but I was glad I made the effort to go. My best wishes to your dad, I'm not sure I've seen him since he left Sykes. My dad died in 2011 but mum is well but with mobility issues at age 89.
All the best
Andrew
Do you have any pictures of the sloping red rocks outside the Ferry House – I used to live with my grandmother at Raven Hall, Duncan Street – and that was one of the favourite 'spots' of Laugharne.
Its all been destroyed by a development now. I was trying to find a photo of it, but none seem to exist.
Many Thanks if you can help, Lawrence
I too used to stay at The Ferry House - I even took my first steps there, so I am told, using the step between the sitting area and the kitchen area, to help me. I have very many happy memories of the place - and of the village and people there. Mrs Dalton used to hold the key and we used to shop at Mrs Brown's - we would take our boat from the Ferry House to the Grist to shop as an adventure! We used to go to that amazing bakery where you just walked into the where the ovens were, and took a can to the farm for our milk.
I too remember going through the boat hole in the wall of the Boat House - long before the house had any attention paid to it.
I loved being able to look out of the second bedroom window when in bed! I loved how it was all on different levels - steps everywhere - and having a great back room with a drain hole in it for when we came in wet and muddy.
Granny B and Grandpa Geoff were my Father's guardians. My father was Julian Regnart. He was brought up partly at Godwins - B and Geoff's house - and worked with Geoff for a while.
We stayed at the Ferry House for very many years until Mike Forrest - Granny B's son who had inherited it - sadly sold it. The last time I stayed there must have been in 1996. He offered to sell it to me, but I did not have the funds at the time - in retrospect if I had known that there were so many who had feelings for it we could have bought it between us.
My Mother was born and lived here pre and post war until marrying and moving North.
I have many memories of times visiting my grandparents who lived in Duncan Street until the 8 kids were gone and they moved to 2 The Strand overlooking the castle. My grandfather was the local postman but as also being a Master shoemaker like his father before him, took in shoe repairs to supplement his income(handy having 8 children to feed) I found out not too long ago that he was known locally as 'Cobby the Post'.....great name. I am sure that there is a book about the village in which a mention is made of the postman with 8 kids but can't now find it. Does it ring a bell with anyone?...ps. I met the old postmaster(named Emlyn Hughes like the footballer I think) many years ago and I remember him saying in a broad Welsh voice, your grandfather could take a left shoe and turn it into a right one......hahaha!!!