LITERARY PUBS: THE BLACK LION HOTEL, NEW QUAY, CEREDIGION

 New Quay, a charming seaside village on Cardigan Bay, is famous for its dolphins, which can often be seen without even getting in a boat.  Another claim to fame is the fact that the notorious Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and his wife Caitlin spent a short time living there from 1944-1945 in a bungalow called Majoda, and that he based some of the characters in Under Milk Wood on people from New Quay.  While he no doubt visited most if not all the hostelries in the area, the Black Lion Hotel was a favourite of his.  The hotel featured in ‘Quite Early One Morning’, in which it was described as a pink-washed pub “waiting for Saturday night as an over-jolly girl waits for sailors”. 

The incident which led up to Dylan and his wife Caitlin moving out of New Quay started in the Black Lion.  William Killick, the husband of Dylan and Caitlin's neighbour and friend Vera, and a Captain fresh from a mission behind enemy lines in Greece, had a violent encounter with Dylan Thomas in the Black Lion and later attacked Majoda.  Dylan and Caitlin, no doubt unnerved by the incident, moved out of New Quay shortly afterwards.

The Black Lion still operates as a hotel, and serves decent meals to both residents and non-residents.  It is blessed with a large garden with lovely views over the bay.  Inside there is an array of photos and Dylan Thomas memorabilia.  Visitors to New Quay can follow a  Dylan Thomas Trail which includes both the Black Lion and Majoda.  In 2008 a film was released called The Edge of Love about Dylan and Caitlin and the Killicks starring Matthew Rhys, Cillian Murphy, Keira Knightley and Sienna Miller.  Many of the scenes from the film were shot in New Quay.

The Black Lion - geograph.org.uk - 3521553. Photo by Chris Whitehouse, via Wikimedia Commons.

 Map of the area.

A POETIC CORNER OF COUNTY LONDONDERRY: SEAMUS HEANEY/LOUGH BEG

 The Nobel Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney, who died in 2013, was born near the village of Bellaghy in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, and he is also buried there at St Mary’s Church to the north of the village.  The surrounding countryside provided much inspiration for Heaney’s work, and there is now a museum, the Seamus Heaney HomePlace, dedicated to his life and work.

To the east-north-east of the village is a body of water called Lough Beg, north of the much bigger Lough Neagh.  Heaney’s extended family was touched by The Troubles in 1975 when his second cousin was shot dead, and it was after this tragic event that he wrote an elegy called The Strand at Lough Beg.  The poem’s references to his cousin’s violent death sit in stark contrast to the lyrical descriptions of the location: “Church Island’s spire, its soft treeline of yew”...the cattle “Up to their bellies in an early mist”...the “squeaking sedge”...”Lough Beg half shines under the haze”.

Lough Beg (Londonderry side) - geograph-2684320. Photo by Kenneth Allen, via Wikimedia Commons.

Lough Beg is a small freshwater lake which lies on the border between County Londonderry and County Antrim.  Church Island is a small island in the lake, its medieval church built on the site of an earlier monastic settlement.  The spire of the church provides a picturesque landmark.  The island lies within a protected nature reserve, so the best way to view it is via a specially constructed viewpoint at Longpoint Wood.

Church Island, Lough Beg - geograph-2684322. Photo by Kenneth Allen, via Wikimedia Commons.

Map of the area.

ON THE SCENT IN KENT: WHITSTABLE PEARL

Whitstable Pearl, currently showing on UKTV Play, is a light-hearted crime series with a bit of romance thrown in, starring Kerry Godliman as Pearl Nolan, owner of the Whitstable Pearl restaurant, and Howard Charles as DCI Mike McGuire, temporarily relocated to the town from London.  The series makes the most of the location of the title, with many of the town’s sights and landmarks putting in an appearance. 

In the opening episode, in which a body is found in an adrift boat, a strange, otherworldly sight comes into view on the horizon.  These are the Maunsell Forts, built during the Second World War for defence purposes.  Another classic Whitstable landmark seen in the episode as well as subsequent episodes is the Old Neptune, or Neppy, as it is fondly referred to by locals, a white clapboard pub perched on the edge of Whitstable’s shingle beach.

 

Maunsell Army Fort. Photo by Hywel Williams, via Wikimedia Commons.

Whitstable’s harbour, with its distinctive black clapboard sheds and huts and other assorted buildings, some of which form the harbour market, makes a regular appearance in the series, as do the beach huts stretching along the slopes towards Tankerton.  We also get glimpses of the row of beachfront houses backing onto Whitstable’s shingle beach, and of its shopping streets with an assortment of independent shops and galleries.

Harbourside market.

Whitstable is a quirky seaside town with bags of character, best known for its oysters, which are celebrated every year in the form of the Oyster Festival.  The Old Neptune is an unmistakable landmark on the town’s beach, and is probably the best place in town for sitting and admiring the sunsets, which can be seen clearly from here due to the town's west-facing position on the north coast of Kent.  The town’s back streets are full of the handsome clapboard buildings seen in many of the scenes in Whitstable Pearl.  For those who are curious about the Maunsell Forts, there are boat trips which take visitors out to these unique landmarks.

Map of the area.

OIL MAN VERSUS BEACH MAN: LOCAL HERO: PENNAN, ABERDEENSHIRE

If you are looking for a feel-good film in these depressing times, I can recommend Local Hero, made in 1983 and directed by Bill Forsyth.  In the film a rich American oil magnate (played by Burt Lancaster) has his eye on a beautiful stretch of Scottish coastline which has potential as the site for an oil refinery, so he sends a company rep over to check it out.  The locals are keen, seeing the opportunity to make a lot of money, but an eccentric old man living on the beach is refusing to budge.  As well as being a heart-warming story with plenty of gentle humour, the scenery is stunning, helped along by a score written by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.

The village targeted by the oil company in the film is called Ferness, but in real life it is the village of Pennan, Aberdeenshire.  Nestling at the foot of cliffs, and consisting of a row of squat whitewashed buildings, the village looks vulnerable to the often angry seas off this coast.  Much of the action centres around the local pub, where the oil company’s rep is staying.  Although Pennan has a pub, this was not used in the film; an ordinary house was used for the exterior scenes instead.

Pennan - geograph.org.uk - 684955. Photo by John Allan, via Wikimedia Commons.

The film was made in the days before mobile phones rendered the old red British telephone boxes obsolete, and there are some comical scenes in which the company rep frantically tries to gather together enough coins to go out to the telephone box to call his boss back home.  The production team used a mockup for the film instead of the existing village phone box, but the original one is still there, and over the years has had many fans of the film turning up to have their picture taken next to it.

Phone Booth Pennan. Photo by Blik, via Wikimedia Commons.

The most striking location used in the film is the beautiful beach with a church which featured in an amusing scene in which the locals gather in the church to hold a meeting, while the oil men stand on the beach oblivious to the line of people filing into the church.  Anyone visiting Pennan on a Local Hero pilgrimage will be disappointed if they are hoping to see the beach, as the real one, Camusdarach Beach, is on the other side of Scotland between Morar and Arisaig on the west coast of the Highland region. The exterior of the church was a mockup covering a house, but the church was based on Our Lady of the Braes near Lochailort a few miles east of Arisaig, which was used for the interior scenes.  A few years ago it was reported that the church was to be converted into a family home.

Camusdarach Beach - geograph.org.uk - 60994. Photo by Lynne Kirton, via Wikimedia Commons.

Pennan lies on the north-facing part of the Aberdeenshire coast, around 10 miles west of Fraserburgh.  Arisaig and Lochailort both lie very close to the route of the Jacobite, or “Harry Potter train”, so film buffs can kill two birds with one stone by visiting the area.  The famous beach is near the Mallaig end of the route, which runs between there and Fort William.

Map of Pennan. 

Map of  Camusdarach Beach.

LITERARY PUBS: THE LEATHER BOTTLE, COBHAM, KENT

 Fans of Charles Dickens will be aware that there are a number of pubs around London which were frequented by the famous writer.  However, Dickens did not confine his imbibing to our capital city.  He got about the country a fair bit, and no doubt found suitable watering holes wherever he went.

One particular part of the country with strong Dickens associations is the county of Kent, since he spent part of his life living there, first as a child, then later, following his separation from his wife Catherine, buying a house in Higham, between Rochester and Gravesend.  Near Gravesend is the village of Cobham, with the picturesque Leather Bottle inn, dating from around 1629.  Dickens used to enjoy rambles in the Kentish countryside, and he often stopped by here for liquid refreshment.

The 'Leather Bottle', Cobham - geograph.org.uk - 2209048. Photo by Roger Smith, via Wikimedia Commons.

Not only was the pub visited by Dickens himself, but it featured in one of his most famous works, The Pickwick Papers.  There is a scene in which Pickwick enters the pub with his companions Winkle and Snodgrass, to find another character Tracy Tupman, recently dumped by Rachel Wardle, sitting there with a magnificent feast before him.

In 2012, the BBC website carried a story about a single hair from Dickens’ head which had taken pride of place in the pub.  The hair was raffled to raise money for the restoration of the ‘chalet’ in Rochester where Dickens wrote many of his works.

Map of the area.

A BONNIE BIRTHPLACE FOR A POET: ALLOWAY, SOUTH AYRSHIRE

 

One of the most famous poems by the Scottish poet Robert Burns is Tam O’ Shanter, written in 1791.  The poem was written by Burns while he was living in Dumfries and it features Ayr and the village of Alloway on the town’s southern outskirts, an area familiar to the poet since Alloway was where he was born.

Tam O’Shanter charts the progress of the Tam of the title as he makes his way home from a visit to the market which extends to a protracted stay in the pub.  The action takes place in Ayr and Alloway, Ayr being described as “Auld Ayr, wham ne’er a town surpasses//For honest men and bonie lasses”.  Incidentally, the nickname given to the Ayr United football team is “The Honest Men”. 

As for Alloway, it is the Auld Kirk (old church) that plays a central role in the poem, described as “Alloway’s ault haunted kirk...whare ghaists and houlets nightly cry”.  Riding past the church, Tam takes a look through the window and sees witches and warlocks dancing a ceilikh, with the Devil playing the bagpipes.

Auld Kirk Alloway - geograph.org.uk - 1213335. Photo by Mary and Angus Hogg, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

Alloway makes the most of its Burns connection, with Burns Cottage, a museum with self-guided tours, and with displays which include the bed in which Burns was born.  Admission also allows entrance to the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, displaying original manuscripts and offering audio of songs and poems.  The Poet’s Path has a number of sculptures, and there is a Burns Monument and Gardens.

Burns Cottage - Alloway. Photo by DeFacto, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

The remains of the Alloway Auld Kirk lie near the River Doon at the south-western end of the village.  Burns’ father and sister are buried in the graveyard.  The church was already a ruin by the time Burns was born, which must have given it a spooky appearance.  Small wonder, then, that Burns made it the scene of supernatural shenanigans.

Map of the area.

HERO OF ERYRI: MR BATES VERSUS THE POST OFFICE

 

I am not an emotional person, and I do not tear up easily.  This is especially true when watching TV dramas and films (one notable exception being Titanic).  However, the ITV drama Mr Bates Versus the Post Office had me blubbing like a baby, partly out of rage at the sight of ordinary, decent, blameless people being wrongly convicted, bankrupted and in some cases driven to suicide following what was described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, and partly out of joy at the end, when the Court of Appeal overturned the convictions of some of the subpostmasters (those still alive to see justice) and the ensuing scenes of jubilation outside the Court, all as the result of the tireless efforts of Alan Bates to get justice not just for himself, but for all his fellow subpostmasters..

The horror brought on by this shocking story is offset by the beauty of some of the locations used in the series, particularly the scenes filmed around North Wales.  The seaside resort of Llandudno, where the real life Alan Bates was a subpostmaster, puts in an appearance at the start.  The shop containing the post office was in the Craig-y-Don part of town, and St David’s Hospice on Queens Road was used as the location for it. 

 

Llandudno, looking towards the Great Orme.

After the Post Office terminates Bates’ contract when he is wrongly accused of accounting errors, he and his partner Suzanne move to a house in an idyllic location in Snowdonia.  The real life house which serves as their home is in the Nant Ffrancon valley in Eryri National Park. 

There is a pub in a beautiful riverside location which features in several of the scenes.  This is the Saracen’s Head in the Snowdonia village of Beddgelert, reachable both by road and via the Welsh Highland Railway, which runs between Caernarfon and Porthmadog.

Bridge at Beddgelert, Gwynedd - geograph.org.uk - 2630855. Photo by Peter Trimming, via Wikimedia Commons.

Llandudno is a typical seaside resort with a long promenade and a pier, but what sets it apart from other resorts is its magnificent setting, dominated by the Great Orme, which can be ascended on foot, via the Great Orme Tramway or via cable car.  The mountainous area surrounding it is a National Park, formerly known as Snowdonia, but now with its Welsh name Eryri.  Beddgelert is in the heart of the National Park and is very popular with walkers and other outdoor enthusiasts. 

Map of Gwynedd.