Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dreamscapes.ca/i/510262
At the family home at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, I sat at Dylan's desk, where a cigarette pack and beer bottle were crammed between poetry books. Geoff Haden, who restored the house with his wife, Anne, described that from an early age Thomas was driven to become a poet and he worked hard to achieve his goal. Although an indif- ferent student who left school at 16, he developed an ability to conjure the most amazing images from words. He wrote many poems while still a teenager and about two thirds of his published work was written here. Thomas was stimulated by the surrounding area, Haden explained, playing in the adjacent Cwmdonkin Park and fre- quently visiting "the rather nice village" of Mumbles and the Gower Peninsula, "one of the loveliest sea-coast stretches in the whole of Britain." Dylanites take note: you can rent the house and sleep where the ghost of the great poet creaks in every corner. Later, I walked the Dylan Thomas Trail SPRING/SUMMER 2015 DREAMSCAPES 23 OPPOSITE TOP: Stroll along the coastal path over- looking Whitesands Bay near St. David's. VisitBritain OPPOSITE BOTTOM: Fertile meadow land surrounds Weobley Castle located on the low-lying northern coast of the Gower Peninsula. VisitBritain BELOW TOP: In Swansea, a statue shows Thomas twisted round in a chair gazing over the docks. Hans Tammemagi BELOW BOTTOM: Bob Stevens, the mayor of Laugharne, led me along the Dylan Thomas Birthday Trail. Hans Tammemagi