THE
LOCATION:
Approximate
Distances:
Kidwelly
1½ miles south, Ferryside 5 miles west, Pembrey
5½ miles south, Burry Port 6½ miles southerly,
Carmarthen 8 miles north, Llanelli 9 miles south-east,
Cross Hands 13 miles north-east, Llandeilo 20 miles
north-east, Swansea 22 miles south-east, Aberystwyth
53 miles north, Cardiff 60 miles south-east.
Schools:
Primary
schools are available less than 2 miles away at Mynyddygarreg
and Kidwelly. Secondary education is available at Burry
Port,
at Johnstown-Carmarthen, and at Llanelli.
Universities
of Wales
are located at: Carmarthen,
Swansea,
Lampeter, Aberystwyth, Cardiff,
Newport,
and Bangor.
There is a College
of Further
Education
in Llanelli.
Railway
Stations
West
Wales
line with stations at Carmarthen,
Ferryside, Kidwelly, Pembrey/Burry Port, Llanelli, and
Swansea,
linking to Cardiff-Bristol-London. Trains services also
westwards into Pembrokeshire.
Roads:
Access to the A484 is a few minutes' drive away, connecting
to Carmarthen
and
to Kidwelly and Llanelli. The M4 Motorway is about 14
miles easterly.
Ferries:
Swansea's
ferry service to Cork in Ireland is about 22 miles south-east,
whilst ferry links to Rosslare in Ireland can be accessed
at Pembroke Dock, 40 miles south-west, and at Fishguard
Harbour, 43 miles north-west.
Cardiff
International Airport
is about 55 miles to the south-east.
General
Hospitals at
Glangwili north of Carmarthen
and
at Llanelli.
Golf:
Ashburnham 18-hole Golf Course (with sea views) is about
6½ miles southerly near Burry
Port
and
Carmarthen
18-hole
Golf Course is 12 miles or so miles north.
The
property
occupies a quiet, private situation in the Gwendraeth
Fach valley of southern Carmarthenshire, not far from
the little village
of Mynyddygarreg
and
the coastal settlement of Kidwelly a fertile agricultural
region accommodating small farms, pastureland and meadows,
with a red tinge to the soil and plenty of habitats
for a variety of flora and fauna.
The
Gwendraeth River
has two branches, the Gwendraeth Fach and the Gwendraeth
Fawr, which rise in the rolling Carmarthenshire hills
some 13 or so miles north-east of the property beyond
Porthyrhyd and Cross Hands. They follow an almost parallel
route (the Gwendraeth Fach being the more northerly)
down to their confluence in the Gwendraeth estuary at
Kidwelly, which widens and joins the estuaries of the
Towy and Taf rivers before entering the sea at Carmarthen
Bay.
Kidwelly
lies about 1½ miles south of the property with
a primary
school, doctor's surgery, post office, library, small
supermarket, newsagent, cafes, pubs, and a railway halt
on the West Wales line. This is a
small, historic town, believed to date back to c.1115,
and dominated
by an imposing,
well preserved early 12th Century Norman
castle,
built in the reign of King Henry I, overlooking the
tidal lower reaches of the Gwendraeth Fach river. (The
castle was notably depicted in a watercolour painting
by the great artist J.M.W. Turner.) The town also has
a fine Norman church. Several castles were built in
this general region during Henry I's reign at Laugharne
(where Dylan Thomas is buried), Llansteffan and Carmarthen.
On the northern outskirts of town is Kidwelly
Museum,
displaying machinery and tools used in the former tinplate
works (1737 to 1941) and former coal mining and brick
manufacturing industries important to the region in
bygone times. Kidwelly offers natural coves, woodland,
and a nature reserve, and there are public footpaths
and planned walks around the area and the town is connected
to the National Cycle Network.
Ferryside
is about 5 miles westerly near the mouth of the river
Towy, an old fishing village named after the ferry service
that once crossed the estuary to Llansteffan. The village
has sandy beaches nearby, a pub, cafe, hotel, and yachting
club, and also a railway station. This estuary area
has always been well known for its cockle beds, and
Ferryside was at the centre of the cockling industry
in past times. Nowadays commercial cockling is only
allowed occasionally.
Pembrey
Forest Country Park
is about 5 miles south of the property, providing hundreds
of acres of parkland and forestry with walks, nature
trails and picnic areas, pony trekking, cycling, and
a dry ski slope. The Park adjoins the peaceful, sand-duned,
7 mile expanse of Cefn Sidan Beach
stretching across the Pembrey peninsula south of the
Gwendraeth estuary. Just north of Pembrey is a circuit
for motor sports, autocross, go-karting, and 4x4. The
Millennium Coastal Path can be accessed
here, providing a stunning traffic-free, hard-surfaced
track for cyclists and walkers that runs between the
Country Park and the National Wetland Centre beyond
Llanelli, with glorious views en route.
Burry
Port
is about 6½ miles south-easterly, situated along
the estuary of the river Loughor (the Burry Inlet) on
the sweeping coastline of Carmarthen
Bay,
with Pembrey
Mountain
gently rising behind the town. Burry Port boasts an
attractive harbour and picturesque lighthouse, together
with good local amenities including a selection of individual
shops and businesses, banks, post office, convenience
stores, schools, library, sports centre, police station,
doctor's and dentist's practices, optician, chemist,
pubs, restaurants and eateries, and railway station.
The
large harbour was originally built to replace the old
Pembrey harbour (a short way down the coast) in times
when coal from the Gwendraeth Valley was exported here.
Nowadays the harbour offers an attractive leisure marina,
ideal for sailing and fishing, and a lovely place to
take the sea air. Burry
Port
was headline news back in 1928 when Amelia Earhart became
the first woman to fly across the Atlantic
she was a passenger in the first seaplane to cross
the ocean non-stop, travelling from Newfoundland
and landing on the Burry Estuary.
Carmarthen
centre is about 8 miles north of the property, an
ancient town and commercial centre combining an old
world charm of quaint narrow streets and traditional
shops with bustling markets and modern shopping amenities
including high street stores such as Marks & Spencer,
Woolworths, Next, Monsoon, Currys, Tesco, Argos, etc.,
as well as doctors' and dental surgeries, schools, Trinity
college university, leisure centre with swimming pool,
art galleries, library, and heritage centre, plenty
of pubs, clubs, hotels, restaurants, theatre/cinema,
showground, and general hospital on the outskirts. The
town is served by good rail links, and main roads radiate
out to all regions, including the A40, A48, A484 and
A485. Carmarthen
stands on the meandering Towy river just before it begins
its 12 mile estuary down to the bay recognised as
a fine strategic site by the Romans, who built a fort
here around AD77 and founded the town of Moridunum (situated
in the eastern part of Carmarthen). Signs of the Roman
occupation still survive and the remains of an amphitheatre
are an attraction. The Normans built a castle here,
circa 1094, and an impressive tower still remains overlooking
the town and river. In the 16th and 17th Centuries Carmarthen
was dependent mainly on the wool trade and agriculture.
The town expanded in the 18th Century when the iron
and coal industries became important, and the imposing
Guildhall designed by John Nash dates back to those
times. The grand County Hall is an early 20th Century
building with the air of a French chateau, designed
by Percy Thomas. In the summertime, the ancient art
of coracle fishing can still be observed on the waterfront.
The County Museum is on the outskirts of the town at
Abergwili, housed in the medieval Bishop's Palace of
St. David.
Llanelli
is 9 miles or so south-east of the property, an attractive
town
on the Burry Inlet, and well known for its proud rugby
tradition. This is the largest town in Carmarthenshire,
and has a number of satellite villages collectively
known as Llanelli Rural. The town provides good shopping
amenities with various supermarkets including Iceland,
Asda, and Tesco, and a large covered market (the origins
of the marketplace date back to the 13th Century), schools,
F.E. college, theatre/cinema, pubs and restaurants,
railway station, medical and dental services, and general
hospital.
There
is a leisure
centre with swimming pool, spa and sauna facilities,
sports hall, squash courts, gymnasium, etc., and also
an indoor
bowls centre. The
town largely developed during the 18th and 19th Centuries
around the coal mining, tinplate and steel industries,
but these were in decline by the 1970s. There are several
buildings of architectural interest, including the impressive
19th Century Town Hall with its parapets and clock tower,
and Llanelli House, a Georgian building dating back
to c.1714. Parc Howard Mansion, built in 1885 and bestowed
to the town in 1912, is home to a Museum and Art Gallery,
in a parkland setting with botanical gardens. The town
has a railway station on the West Wales line, and is
linked to the M4 via the A4138 road.
The
Millennium Coastal Park
is at Llanelli's shoreline, opened in 2002, offering
extensive beaches, dunes, salt marshes, water sports
centre, fishing lakes, woodlands, public art, visitor
centre, superb views, and a long connecting footpath
and cycle track (the Millennium Coastal Path and Cycle
Route). Some 2,000 acres of neglected wasteland was
reclaimed along about 13 miles of coastline to bring
back the natural seashore environment for people and
wildlife to enjoy. The National Wetlands Centre
is a few miles east of Llanelli, run by the
Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust a nature conservation
reserve at the edge of the Loughor Estuary (Burry Inlet),
with marshes, lakes and reed beds where the little egret,
ducks, swans, geese, and a variety of other wild birds
can be seen. The River Loughor forms part of the boundary
between Swansea County and Carmarthenshire, and the
Estuary is well known for its cockles and salt marshes.
Cross
Hands
is about 13 miles north-easterly, comprising a bustling
old village with a large, established Business &
Retail Park on its outskirts, all providing a wide range
of amenities including retail shops and commercial businesses,
post office, bank, medical and dental centres, chemists,
health & fitness club, cinema, and well known superstores.
Swansea,
the second largest city in Wales, is about 22 miles
to the south-east, with plenty of shopping and leisure
amenities, a large indoor market, schools and university,
general district hospital, the Wales National Swimming
Pool (Olympic-size), theatres, concert halls and museums,
bus and railway stations, and a good night life with
numerous clubs, bars, cafes and restaurants. Beautifully
set on the sweeping Swansea Bay shoreline, the city
has sandy beaches with safe bathing, an excellent Yachting
Marina and Maritime Quarter, waterfront bars and eateries,
museums, art galleries, the National Literature Centre
(dedicated to Dylan Thomas, who was born in Swansea),
and an observatory. Swansea has a number of fine public
parks, including the extensive Clyne Gardens & Country
Park with follies, streams, bridges, and a castle, as
well as superb views across the bay, and Singleton Park
which has a Swiss cottage, boating lake, and botanical
and herb gardens.
The
Gower Peninsula
juts out to sea between Llanelli and Swansea, the first
designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Britain
(in 1956), a region rich in history, nature reserves,
glorious landscapes and vistas, with a magnificent coastline
that includes wildlife estuary seashores, sweeping sandy
bays, secluded coves, and dramatic limestone cliffs.
The popular Gower resort of The Mumbles
is about 24 miles south-east of the property and Worms
Head is 32 miles near Rhossili.
The
National Botanic Garden of Wales,
set in the former 18th Century park of Middleton Hall,
is about 12 miles north-east of the property, boasting
the renowned Great Glass House designed by Norman Foster,
with its own Mediterranean climate. This is a famous
centre for botanic science, helping to conserve some
of the world's rare plants, with a variety of gardens
and nature attractions to see and superb country views
to enjoy. The perimeter of the Brecon Beacons
National Park lies about 22 miles to the north-east,
covering some 520 square miles, with spectacular scenery
including high mountain peaks, gorges, waterfalls, lakes,
open hills and moorland, wooded valleys and lowlands
with soft rolling farmland and clear meandering rivers,
as well as romantic castles.
Pembrokeshire
lies to the west with beautiful countryside and a glorious
coastline Amroth is 25½ miles by road westerly
where the famous Pembrokeshire Coastal Trail begins,
running up to St. Dogmell's near Cardigan, covering
a distance of about 186 miles. Saundersfoot
and Tenby in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park are
some 32 miles south-westerly, and Oakwood
Leisure Park, one of the UK's top theme parks, is about
30 miles west with the CC2000 Crystal Maze and Bowling
Alley nearby. |
