Boutique hotels in Carmarthen Bay
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Hurst House on the Marsh
- Style
- Contemporary countryside clubhouse
- Setting
- Lost in Wales
Self-catering properties in Carmarthen Bay
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Longshore House
- Style
- Bubble of luxury within a Welsh stone house
- Setting
- Dylan Thomas’s Laugharne
Carmarthen Bay Overview
United Kingdom
- Coastline
- Welsh rare bit
- Coast life
- Dining out on Dylan
With its sweeping sandy coastline, verdant-valleyed interior and tale-telling locals, Carmarthen Bay has all the raw materials needed for ‘iconic destination’ status.
But the fact that it’s so frequently bypassed makes this relatively undiscovered area of Carmarthenshire blissfully unaware of its own charms – and all the more appealing for them. Stick close to the sea and you’ve got endless views of the ‘slow, black, crow-black, fishing boat-bobbing sea’ that inspired local boy Dylan Thomas’ masterpiece Under Milk Wood. Pop in on his home town, Laugharne (pronounced ‘larn’), and see just where the great man lived, worked and drank. Or head inland and embark on a fairy-tale castle crawl that takes in undulating hills, tranquil market towns and vistas of the Tywi Valley. Then tuck into some laverbread and salt marsh lamb and raise a glass of Felinfoel to the fact that you’ve stumbled across Wales’ best-kept secret.
Completely Carmarthen Bay
Pendine Sands, a wide, flat seven-mile beach, gained fame as the location for several attempts on the world land speed record. In 1924, Malcolm Campbell set the pace with a top speed of 146mph in his car, Bluebird. At Pendine Museum of Speed (+44 (0)1994 453488), you can still see ‘Babs’, the restored motorcar used by Parry Thomas on his fatal record-breaking attempt in 1927. The beach has featured as a backdrop for racing stunts on Top Gear and is popular with kiters.
Local knowledge
- Taxis
- Pre-book onward taxis from Carmarthen station with www.traintaxi.co.uk. Of the local cab companies around Carmarthen, Butcher (+44 (0)1267 237352) and Imperial (+44 (0)1267 233311) are known to be reliable.
- Tipping culture
- 10–15 per cent is standard, but many restaurants now add a discretionary 12.5 per cent, so be careful not to tip twice.
- Packing tips
- Whether your bent is literary or artistic, you’ll be inspired to capture the surrounds. Budding wordsmiths, bring a notebook and pen; arty types, pack your sketchpad and watercolours. Also bring a Welsh-English dictionary: you’re more likely to hear Welsh spoken on Carmarthen Bay’s high street than any other in the country: more than half of the county population’s mother tongue is Cymraeg. Ardderchog! – or ‘fantastic!’ as they’re less likely to say in Carmarthen.
- Recommended reads
- Peruse Dylan Thomas’ master work Under Milk Wood and try to spot the local references; or dip into his lesser-known but equally hilarious collection of short stories, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog. Ray French’s All This is Mine is a humorous account about growing up in South Wales during the Cold War.
- Regional specialities
- When you’re scanning menus and markets, keep your eyes peeled for three regional must-tries: air-dried slivers of Parma-style Carmarthen ham (www.carmarthenham.co.uk); cockle cakes, made with shellfish from the estuarine mudflats and fried in batter; and salt marsh lamb, which gains its unique flavour from a diet of marshland herbage. The Felinfoel Brewery Company is the oldest in Wales, and produces real ales including the ubiquitous Double Dragon.
- Currency
- Pound sterling (£).
- Time zone
- GMT.
- Dialling codes
- Country code for the UK: +44. Carmarthen: 01267; Laugharne and Pendine: 01994.
Don't go home without
… buying a dusty first edition from Corran Books in Laugharne (+44 (0)1994 427444). This ramshackle bookshop is run by George Tremlett, one of the first rock journalists and a Dylan Thomas fanatic. Even if the Georgian stone shop looks as though it’s closed, chances are it isn’t. Current stock is listed at www.abebooks.com/home/corranbooks.
