My friend AnneP captivated by Dylan Thomas' Writing Hut
Dylan Thomas was one of the greatest writers from Wales and a giant in the 20th century. The most renowned in a school of Anglo-Welsh writers that flourished during that period. He made particular use of the, then, new mass media technologies of broadcasting and recording.
Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea but his family roots were in Carmarthenshire and it was this county that provided him with a constant source of inspiration.
He lived at the Boathouse for the last four years of his life during which time many major pieces of work were written - including Under Milk Wood. The Boathouse, where Dylan and Caitlin lived with their children, Aeronwy, Llewelyn and Colm from 1949 to 1953, is now a heritage centre. The house now contains audio visual presentations, original furnishings and memorabilia, a themed bookshop, tea room, viewing platform and terrace.
Set in a cliff overlooking the glorious, 'heron priested' Taf Estuary the Boathouse offers a fascinating visit including memorabilia, interpretation, bookshop and tea-room.
Dylan and Laugharne
'And some, like myself, just came, one day, for the day, and never left; got off the bus, and forgot to get on again'.
(Dylan Thomas on Laugharne, taken from Quite Early One Morning).
Dylan Thomas' had a long term affinity with Laugharne ever since he visited with the poet Glyn Jones in 1934, by 1938 he lived in "Eros" in Gosport Street, then to "Sea View" until 1940. Dylan led a very peripatetic existence and urgently wished to settle down, his move to the Boathouse in 1949 was made possible by the remarkable patronage of Margaret Taylor who bought the house for the Thomases so that Dylan could once again be in his ‘beloved Wales’. It was the Boathouse 'sea shaken on a breakneck of rocks' and the unique character of Laugharne itself that combined to act as a catalyst for some of his most celebrated works. The fictitious Llareggub of Under Milk Wood. written in Laugharne was confirmed by his widow, Caitlin, in her autobiography, as being based on the Township.