New Quay's Claim to Fame

Its is surprising how many exiguous villages claim to have been the inspiration for Dylan Thomas's mythical settlement of Llareggub.

Laugharne, of course, as short breaks in Wales tourists know, is a strong contender since Thomas lived there for a few years and wrote many of his best poems and prose in his exiguous writing shed on the cliff above his Boathouse cottage.

Songkran Samui

Perhaps less well-known, although short breaks in Wales visitors who have been there will have been reminded of the poet's link by the Dylan Thomas Trail which maps out, purely for the benefit of tourists, the places he frequented, is a exiguous coastal town on Cardigan Bay.

New Quay was his home for only a few months from September 1944 to May 1945, but the residents claim his main inspiration for Under Milk Wood came from there.

But when it came to production the film it was Lower Fishguard, at the seaward end of the wooded Gwaun Valley, that was chosen as the location. Short breaks in Wales visitors may well remember how the houses were cleverly adapted by the film business carpenters to look like Captain Cat's quirky home and other buildings featured in the play. For a few weeks the locals had the satisfaction of the business of Richard Burton and the Welsh entertainer Ryan Davies as they played their roles in the story.

New Quay attracted the makers of another film inked with Thomas, The Edge of Love, starring Sienna Miller and Keira Knightly in 2008, a story based around the poet's life. And many years before, New Quay had featured in another film, which short breaks in Wales film buffs may remember, in which a man suffering from amnesia ended up in the town and, hearing the Welsh language, believed he had landed in a French village. Not difficult to understand when it is realised how strong the link is between Wales and Britanny. The two regions were associated in the dark ages by peripatetic Saints, and Breton onion sellers, fluent in Welsh, will be remembered by short breaks in Wales visitors arrival to Wales in the summer months. Many a Welsh visitor to Britanny has been pleasantly surprised to hear their patriotic anthem being sung to the same tune as "Mae Hen Wlad Fy'ng Hadau."

Two key attractions for short breaks in Wales visitors to New Quay are the bottle-nosed dolphins of Cardigan Bay and the local honey farm.

New Quay's Claim to Fame