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Retracing Elaine Morgan's Footsteps around The Birches
Saturday, 8th June - Saturday 15th June
Summary: Staying a week at The Birches (where Elaine Morgan started her writing career) was always going to be one of my priorities for this trip (perhaps not quite as much, Leb's!), and it didn't disappoint.
It has now been converted into a holiday home and it is extremely isolated. We enjoyed the lovely walks, the proximity to Hay-on-Wye, famous for its books, the lovely local pubs, the gorgeous glowing wood burner in the living room and some great meals made by Leb's family. We even watched the start of the Euros here, which was great for me the football fan, if a bit disappointing for me the gambler, as I'd bet on Scotland to win!
Most of all though, it was the constant thought that one of my all-time heroines actually lived here.
It was just wonderful.
Arriving at The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. (Saturday 8th June)
Day 92. From Hereford, Leb and I had quite a short journey towards, but not quite crossing, the Welsh border. I had booked a week long stay at a lovely country house called The Birches.
Why here, you may well ask. Well, at one time it was the home of my all time heroine, Elaine Morgan. In fact it was here, in this very remote part of the UK, that she started her writing career - less than 350m from her native Wales.
When I interviewed her in 1999 she told me about this place where she lived, mostly alone looking after her two young children. Her husband, Morien worked as a teacher at Pontypridd and it was too far away to commute, so that was their arrangement. Elaine said that at the time, the farmhouse had no gas or electricity. It was a long walk to the nearest bus stop and the only communication she got from the outside world was when the postman delivered letters to her.
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| A Young Elaine Morgan |
I have a lovely photo of her two little boys playing in the snow in the field behind the cottage. As Elaine said, it was pretty much at the top of the Black Mountains.
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| Elaine's sons, Hugh and Gareth at the Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. |
When I came to the UK in 2022 I popped across to Cardiff to watch a football match at their relatively stadium and it occurred to me that I might try to find where this house actually was on my way north. After a few failed attempts trying to ask the locals, I has the brainwave of trying to find "The Birches" on Google Maps - and there it was.
I found the house and knocked on the door. A man appeared and told me he was a writer (very appropriate) and he was using the house that was now a holiday home, as a quiet getaway. He gave me the details of how he rented the place and when I got back to Perth I suggested to Leb that we might spend a week there some time. She agreed and so here we were.
I booked through a company called Sykes Holiday Homes who were, shall we say, not exactly first class. We had a big scare with them a couple of weeks earlier, whilst staying in Lyme Regis, I think. Somehow, I'd missed an email reminding me to pay the balance of the fee for the accommodation, causing them to cancel my booking. I couldn't find any trace of this email in the spam or deleted folders - but it was definitely my bad for not remembering to pay the balance on time. Anyway, once they had cancelled the booking it proved impossible to get in touch with them. They are one of these organisations that operate pretty much totally on-line and it was impossible to call them and talk to an actual human being about what had happened. Luckily there is actually a Facebook Group dedicated to disgruntled Sykes customers and through that we somehow managed to get a message through to them. The dates we wanted were still free so we were able to pay the balance in the end and secure the booking.
The Birches,where Elaine Morgan started her writing career, is quite near the famous town of Hay-on-Wye and we'd visit the town several times in the next few days. It really is a beautiful and most peaceful spot.
First full day at The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. (Sunday 9th June)
Day 93 ~ This was our first full day of six in the gorgeous borderlands. I woke up at 3:15 am to see an already bright sky. It's amazing to remember how far north the UK is. But despite the brightness I think I still saw the rising Saturn.
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| Is that Saturn rising over Wales? |
After a nice big cooked breakfast we set of for the first of several walks. The first was just around some of the local lanes and woodland.
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| Hiking along the England-Wales border |
We then had our first shopping trip to Hay on Wye (thanks Lucy Vincent for her genrosity again) and back for a fabulous Sunday roast, a few big glasses of rioja and then we spent a relaxing evening watching TV in front of a lovely wood fire.
Hiking up Hay Bluff (Monday 10th June)
Day 94 ~ We spent the morning in Hay-on-Wye. The girls had a look at the castle whilse I sought out pork pies and book shops.
After our aborted attempt yesterday we finally made it up to Hay Bluff. It nearly killed me but Leb and Lucy could have done it twice more without a break. Magnificent views from the peak, supping hot tea before the northerlies brought the edge of a shower of hail down on us. The journey to the bottom was much easier than the way up!
Before that, we"d explored Hay on Wye a bit. Definitely more to see there... especially the pubs! Back at The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career, we had a relaxing afternoon, me snoozing and catching up on duolingo, Leb & Lucy catching up on bits of gossip that they'd somehow missed in the days before. Then Lucy made most delicious ravioli and salad. Finally chilled out watching TV. Hilarious to see Cunk on Britain for the first time.
Chilling on the English-Welsh Border (Tuesday 11th June)
Day 95 ~ Chill day at The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. We started with another shopping trip to Hay-on-Wye including a pint in The Three Tunns - the oldest pub in Hay, maybe.
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| The ex-pub where I was told Richard Booth started the Hay Book Fare |
Then we went back to the cottage to welcome Tina & Jan. Jan had picked up a nasty back injury so had to use great care when settling in to her room. Lucy and Leb went for another walk to a local heritage site but I stayed inside. I had a database query to try to sort out.
Lucy & Leb made a most delicious roast pork dinner. Then it was just slobbing by the telly all evening. It was all looking too blady easy! What could possibly go wrong? Well, it turns out that this was the day that Leb did some innocent-enough exercises in the morning but ended up damaging her ilio-sacral joint. At the time we had no idea how serious this would turn out to be but as we went to bed, Leb joked when Jan said she'd got a back problem, she wanted to say "Yes, and I think I've got one out of sympathy for you." More on this in the days and weeks to follow.
BBC at The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. (Wednesday 12th June)
Day 96 ~ Even chiller day at The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. Bizarrely, a BBC film crew popped around to suss out the place for next week when they'll be filming scenes for an episode of the BBC4 series "The Read" about Wuthering Heights to be shown in January. Of course, I didn't hesitate to tell the director, Julie, about the Elaine Morgan connection to the place. She was not familiar with her.
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| "The Read" team - sussing out The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. |
Meanwhile Leb and Lucy went off for another walk. Very impressive!
After that I gathered more bits of branches for the wood burner from the woodland on the hill... comprising largely of birch trees. So maybe this is where the cottage gets its name.
Then it was snooze time for me. When I woke up I watched the interview I did with Elaine 25 years ago, almost to the day, to jog my memory about what she said about The Birches.
Then, we welcomed our final family member, Felicity Vincent and had baked potatoes before watching the film About Time. Even Bambi makes me cry so I had no chance with this one.
Hay-on-Wye Pub Crawl (Thursday 13th June)
Day 97 ~ Hay-on-Wye pub crawl (The Blue Boar, The Kilvert Inn and my favourite, The Old Black Lion) followed by relaxing evening watching the film Family Stone.
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Luckily we had WiFi problems toward the end of the day, saving me the embarrassment of crying in front of everyone two nights running.)
I ended by watching Elaine on tely in the room that she used to live in.
Euros Opener at The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. (Friday 14th June)
Day 98 ~ Last night at the home where, if you haven't been reading carefully... Elaine Morgan started her writing career.
We walked to the Bull's Head for two great pints and an even greater steak dinner.
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| The Birches - Where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. |
Back at The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career, we indulged in a bit of nostalgia looking at some of Uncle Barry's wedding photos, Leb had been given back in Looe.
Final team pictures...
Before Tina and Jan made got on their way...
The house suddenly got a bit quieter as the sad realisation started to dawn that this phase of the journey was coming to an end. This was a recurriung theme: Arrive at a new place, all excited. Explore. Fall in the love with it. Start grieving when leaving... repeat.
Au Revoir to The Birches, where Elaine Morgan started her writing career. (Saturday 15th June)
Day 99 ~ Let us not say "Goodbye" but as the French have it "Au Revoir!"
The Birches (where Elaine Morgan started her writing career) started to feel like home after seven nights but all good things must come to an end and after a quick final spin around the premises and some heart felt goodbyes, Leb and I headed north...
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| What Elaine must have seen every day. |
Birches Financial Summary
Because the holiday home was all paid for up front, with a significant deposit on booking and the balance a few weeks earlier, there was no accomodation fee this week. Plus, the very isolation of the place meant we did very little driving and a lot of walking.
Consequently, this was the second cheapest stay of the holiday so far. Even if one added the $1,800 or so the place cost to book as an expense this week, it would still only rank 8th out of 13 places stayed so far.
Half of the expenses were on staples - shopping for groceries, basically, with less than 20% spent on "luxuries" (booze, remember).
Birches Mood Summary
The week was very pleasant indeed but not, shall we say, the most thrill-packed part of our journey so far. The best day for me was (I am almost ashamed to admit) the day of our Hay-on-Wye pub crawl, which provided a solid 12-0 mood score. I did have one or two grumps, I guess, mostly related to no-one taking much interest in Elaine Morgan or my book that I left in the cottage for future guests.
Birches Booze Summary
This was a pretty boozy week with the wine flowing at the cottage along with a few trips to the pub for some good local ales. The last two days, pub crawl and pub meal, were the booziest of all, with over a skinful consumed on both occasions.
Trip So Far Summary
So with 99, out of what would turn out to be 243, days of travel (about 41%) done, The Birches gets added to the summary table. I must admit the emotional and historic significance of this week was always going to be greater than the reality and I guess it would have been better if we could have just booked three or four days rather than a whole week, but we didn't have the option to do that and I am so glad that we spent a week there. It was a thoroughly relaxing time spent in the middle of some wonderful countryside.
The big negative, as it turned out, was not yet really apparent. On the third full day there, Lesley had injured herself - quite badly as it would turn out - and this would mar the rest of the holiday. As we drove north from The Birches, though, this wasn't quite apparent, not yet.
Next... Staying Chez Julie in Liverpool after a stop off in Chester.
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