As someone who feels such a strong bond with nature and the folklore and ancient tales of woodland and water, I am extremely fortunate to live in the beautiful village of Cenarth, in Carmarthenshire.
Well, technically in Carmarthenshire. In fact, our house, which sits just before the iconic bridge over the River Teifi, is right on the edge of the county. Just before the bridge is the sign that welcomes you to Carmarthenshire on one side, or to put it correctly, 'Croeso i Sir Gaerfyrddin' and to Ceredigion on the other. And go a mile or so west, and you'll come to Pembrokeshire.
A note on that bridge - built in 1787 by William Edwards, it's known for a series of peculiar circular holes. The holes are not decorative but were added to reduce the weight of the span while maintaining its strength.
Carmarthenshire is the land of the myths of Merlin the magician and the poetry of Dylan Thomas. Pembrokeshire, with its rolling countryside and beautiful seaside towns has been called 'Little England past Wales' but it's much more Welsh than it's given credit for, if you know where to look. And breathtaking Ceredigion, with the wide sweep of Cardigan Bay, is the more rugged, wild, cousin of both.
Here in the village where these counties converge, a walk along the Teifi on a quiet morning can feel heavy with magic and mystery, like walking through the pages of the Mabinogion. You can almost feel the eyes of the Cambrian fairy-race, the Tylwyth Teg – the beautiful ones - watching your every move.
Cenarth is known for its waterfall - a rocky gorge carved out by the river, surrounded by ancient woodland. Walk along the new boardwalk, away from the bridge and the car park, and in a matter of minutes, at least out of tourist season, it can feel as though you're alone in the world, the only sound the water rushing past the mill, the far off bleating of sheep and the odd quack from a passing duck. You might be lucky enough to see the resident heron wing his way upriver.
It truly feels magical at these times. Stand for a moment, looking at the sunlight dappling the water, listening for the rustle of small birds in the undergrowth, and the occasional hammering of the woodpeckers and you become aware of that connection we all have with the earth, feet on the ground, air in our lungs, breathing in the ancient magic and mystery.
There's more to Cenarth than the Teifi, although the river and the falls are at its heart. We have the mill, from where the mill owner used a trap door door to illegally catch the salmon that are known to leap up the falls on their way to spawn. There is also St Llawdog's Well, said to be founded by the sixth century saint himself. The church is named for him - the current church was built in 1872 to replace an earlier medieval building.
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| St Llawdog's Well... |
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| ...and the beautiful church named for him |
And of course in this land of castles, (Wales boasts more than 600 castles, more per square mile than any other country in Europe) there are the traces of a motte here - next to and above St Llawddog’s church. It appears that the castle, when it was standing, guarded a ford immediately downstream from the falls. Cenarth's proximity to the town of Newcastle Emlyn suggests this castle preceded the new castle that was built there in the thirteenth or fourteenth century; this new castle is where the last dragon in Wales was killed (but that's another story).
It is said that Cenarth contains a gateway to the otherworld, a land of fairies and spirits, of magic and wonder. Walk by the river, in the sunshine, in the (all too frequent) rain, on windy autumnal days, or when the frost gives everything an even more otherworldly shimmer, and I swear you can hear those magical folk whispering. Because of course they would live in a place so lovely.
