Book Review: '111 Places in Swansea That You Shouldn't Miss'
A new way to discover some out-of-the-way Welsh locations that deserve a much needed cwtch.
The 111 Places series is a fascinating collection that continues to expand the horizons of travel across the globe. Sailing into any one of the multitude of books that showcase a stopping-place is alarmingly colorful. From Europe, Asia, Africa, North America to places that are deemed ‘special’ (anyone up for VW bus stories?).
Therefore, it goes without saying that for this sub-series, Swansea is on the list.
111 Places in Swansea That You Shouldn’t Miss from author Julia Goodfellow-Smith is more than a road map for the area. The guide provides an alphabetized listing, a generous narrative, and directions on how to get there. One other aspect that I thoroughly enjoyed: photos by the author! I’m talking genuine takes, not some AI-generated replica or worse, something that has gone through so much re-touching that it doesn’t resemble the actual location.
Goodfellow-Smith as a storyteller is genuine and authentic with versatility embedded for every taste. Swansea and Gower (the peninsula that juts out into Bristol Channel) has a wide-ranging palate of offerings.
The Big Apple is an apple-shaped kiosk that’s withstood all weather elements (and even a car driving into it) since the 1930s. Located on Mumbles Road, it’s a delightful-looking stop for ice cream, where you can “head up onto Mumbles Point to enjoy the view over the lighthouse, pier, Swansea Bay, and the Bristol Channel.”
The delightful and quirky Chicken Corner is situated inside the King Arthur Hotel on the Gower Penisula. If you’re looking for a backstory, you’ve got it: Bird strikes. This unfortunate downside for aircraft can cost the lives of not only birds but people. An ingenious way to measure the damage came from hurling chicken carcasses at 200 knots into engine turbines.
Bear with me here. According to Goodfellow-Smith:
“One night, ‘Bomber Harris’, a regular in the King Arthur Hotel, told his friends about how frozen chickens were shot at aircraft windscreens to test them. It seemed like such an outlandish tale that they were incredulous. The idea captured their imagination, and a little later, one of the locals brought a chicken into the bar – and started a trend.”
This colorful corner is still a favorite watering hole with the locals. But perhaps, not with our domesticated fowl.
Quite rightly, Dylan Thomas’ Birthplace would have to be, at the least, one of the 111 stops on a trip to Swansea. The Welsh writer, known for works such as Do not go gentle into that good night and Under Milk Wood, spent the first 23 years of his life at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive. The house has been restored to that period (1914-1937) and you can take a tour or stay overnight using the entire house and rooms available for up to seven guests.
If you’re looking for a spot that offers golf, massage, fine dining, and a wildlife preserve, Machynys Monk’s Island is the place to go. Once an industrial brickworks hub, the area, overlooking the Loughor Estuary, has been replaced with homes, a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, and as the author observes, “Around half the course is designated as a habitat for wildlife and one of the clay pit lakes is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, protected because it provides a home to 13 different species of dragonfly.”
The view from Mumbles Pier evokes serene beauty and open skies as it juts out into Swansea Bay. But as with Welsh history, there is always a story worth telling. Goodfellow-Smith recounts the rescue of two men from a wreck below the Mumbles lighthouse. Sent to help the German barque Admiral Prinz Adalbert caught in a storm, the Wolverhampton lifeboat capsized and two sisters, daughters of the lighthouse keeper, Abraham Ace, jumped into action: “You tie your shawls together and risk your own lives to save two of the crew members by hauling them out of the water and onto the pier.”
The Ty’n-yr-Heol (House in the Road) Depot, part of the Neath Canal, was constructed to connect coal mines and foundries during the Industrial Revolution. The ‘navvies’ – Irish laborers – were at the center of this construction, especially the locks, which allowed boats to navigate water heights throughout their journey. Opened in 1795, the canal was in constant use for nearly 50 years, moving iron, bricks and even cannons headed for the Napoleonic War in 1812.
The author notes that while the canal declined to the point of being obsolete and closed in 1934, the 6.5 mile trail alongside provides a picturesque walk and home for wildlife.
111 Places in Swansea That You Shouldn’t Miss by Julia Goodfellow-Smith is available from ACC Art Books in the US and 111 Places in the US and UK.
