Holidays in Laugharne

The Boat House c1965
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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.