FERRYSIDE
THE LOCATION !
AND LOCAL INTEREST !!
Ferryside (Welsh: Glan y Fferi) is a seaside village in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is situated 8½ miles (14 km) south of Carmarthen, near the mouth of the River Tywi and close to golden sandy beaches.
Originating as a landing-place on the ferry route to Llansteffan (the ferry was used by Giraldus Cambrensis in 1188), it developed further as a fishing village and is now a popular place for retirement. Much of the village developed from the mid-nineteenth century, when in 1852 the village was linked to both Carmarthen and Swansea by Isambard Kingdom Brunel's South Wales Railway.
Along with Laugharne, Ferryside was once at the heart of the cockling industry in Carmarthen Bay. [1] Cocklewomen from Llansaint could collect about 650 tons of cockles a year, and did so until around 1900. The cockle industry now experiences intermittent bursts of activity when the Ferryside cocklebeds are opened to commercial pickers: intensive 'strip-cockling' occurs and several hundred cockle-pickers work the estuary beds with tractors.
In 1993, Ferryside saw what are known locally as 'the cockle wars': fights between rival gangs on the beach, notably between gangs from the Gower Peninsula, Liverpool, the Dee estuary and Glasgow. In addition to gaining the village rare visibility on the front pages of national newspapers, the cockle wars led to a Parliamentary inquiry and calls for the beds to be licensed. The British cockling industry has surprisingly close links to gangland: the Ferryside cockle wars may be seen as a precedent to unsavoury incidents such as the 2004 Morecambe Bay drowning of Chinese immigrant cocklers and turf wars at Newbiggin. Today, though, gangsters-in-wellies are infrequent visitors, and mainly oystercatchers and herons harvest the estuary's famous bivalves. [2]
The village has a railway station which has regular rail connections to London Paddington,Pembrooke Dock, Milford Haven, Carmarthen, Swansea, Cardiff, Crewe and Manchester Picadilly, regular buses between Carmarthen and Llanelli, a post office, a pub which has a beer garden and pool table, a yacht club, a sports and social club (previously the rugby club), a general store, and a hotel and caravan park which has a restaurant, gym and spa. It is also the home of the Ferrycabin a family run restaurant which serves locally caught fish and chips made from potatoes grown on the owners land and beef from their herd of Hereford cattle - well worth a visit if you are in the area. Ferryside is also the home of Tim Bowen Antiques specialist dealers in Welsh oak and country furniture. Until recently (spring 2009) the village also had an old fasioned newsagent store which sold sweets from jars, other confectionery, and did the local newspaper round (delivering several hundred papers every day). However, the opening of the general store coupled with the economic recession made it impossible for the newsagent to stay in business.
Notable ex-residents of the village include the General Sir Thomas Picton (of Iscoed Mansion), a former governor of Trinidad who died at the Battle of Waterloo, Hugh Williams, the 19th century Chartist lawyer who played a prominent role in the Rebecca Riots and the portrait and landscape painter Gordon Stuart (five of whose portraits can be found at the National Portrait Gallery, including those of Kingsley Amis, Dylan Thomas and Huw Wheldon).
In 2006, the graveyard and grounds of the parish church, St. Ishmael's, was selected for an innovative project aimed at encouraging biodiversity in churchyards.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferryside
Ferryside Grid ref: SN350100
A selection of coastal walks with spectacular views over the Three Rivers Estuaries, rich in history and wildlife.
Look out for: There are plenty of woodland birds such as wrens, bluetits and chaffinches to see.Overlooking the Three Rivers estuaries (directly over the river is Llansteffan), the parish contains three main settlements today - one lost village below the sand dunes, one old village and one new village. There is a lost village partly exposed along the foreshore beneath the railway line at Salmon Scar. It is believed that the village was St Ishmael itself, with only the parish church remaining. The most likely culprit for its dissapearance is the colossal storms and floods of 1606. Shifting sand-dunes and changes to the foreshore flooded and buried the village, most of which must still lie beneath the stabilised sand-dunes now crossed by the railway. Then there is the old hilltop village of Llansaint. It probably grew up around an early Christian cemetery, within which a church was later built. And finally there is the present day village of Ferryside. This has grown up around an ancient route - and a new one. The old route is the Ferry across to Llansteffan, from which the settlement takes its name. The new one is the Great Western railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and opened in 1852. At first the rails were laid directly onto the shingle, to Brunel's broad gauge. A sea defence had to be constructed to protect the line and it was rebuilt upon an embankment. The fertile red soil which overlies the Old Red Sandstone rocks in this area gives rise to good grazing for dairy and beef cattle, and the hedgerows and woodlands are rich in wildlife. In early Spring the woods are full of bluebells and later in the year you may see the yellow-flowered herb bennett and enchanter's nightshade with its small white flowers and hooked seeds. Male fern, hart's tongue fern and buckler fern are abundant in the woods and hedgebanks, and you will see many woodland birds such as wrens, bluetits and chaffinches. On the saltmarshes and mudflats look out for birds such as shelduck and herons and in the winter months the numerous waders which migrate from colder climates to find plentiful food in the mud and sand here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southwest/nature/thingstodo/walks/allwalks/ferryside.shtml
FISHING
http://www.sportfish.co.uk/fly-fishing-tuition/sea-trout-fishing-golden-grove-river-towy
http://www.waterscape.com/canals-and-rivers/river-towy
OUR GOLF COURSE
http://www.glynabbey.co.uk/
NATIONAL BOTANIC GARDENS OF WALES
http://www.gardenofwales.org.uk/
LOCAL ANTIQUE SHOP
http://www.timbowenantiques.co.uk/home.asp?id=15
OUR RACE COURSE
http://www.ffoslasracecourse.com/
DYLAN THOMAS BOATHOUSE
http://www.dylanthomasboathouse.com/
Other Local Links
http://metagini.com/location/United%20Kingdom/Ferryside/222501/Web%20Links/
Fairytale Llanstaffan 
LINKYERS
