Aerial view of Dylan Thomas' writing shed (video)

You don't often see aerial shots of garden offices and this is a particularly interesting one to focus on, Dylan Thomas' writing shed in Wales which has famously fabulous views.

 

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Inside Dylan Thomas's writing shed (video)

One of the problems with visiting Dylan Thomas's writing shed in Wales is that the public is not normally allowed inside to have a proper look (although you can get a feel of it through the window), a gripe that is also applicable to George Bernard Shaw's writing hut in Hertfordshire. However, in the video below from around the 18.20 mark, you can enjoy an actual tour of the hallowed spot.

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Dylan Thomas's writing hut in new issue of Idler

The latest issue of the Idler magazine features my regular shed column, this time focusing the on the writing hut belonging to Dylan Thomas. Available from all over, especially Waterstones and WH Smith, but best via subscription direct via this special offer.

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Dylan Thomas's writing shed in Rooms of Their Own

Dylan Thomas died yesterday in 1953. Several of you got in touch to ask if we could mark his life and work and shedlife in some way, so here's the chapter in my recent book Rooms of Their Own on this very subject, with illustrations above from it by James Oses.

Dylan Thomas – the appeal of small rooms in Wales

Explaining how he had selected the poems of his he was about to recite for a BBC broadcast in 1949, Welsh poet and playwright Dylan Thomas said: "I decided not to choose those that strike me still as pretty peculiar, but to stick to a few of the ones that do move a little way towards the state and destination I imagine I intended to be theirs when, in small rooms in Wales, arrogantly and devotedly, I began them."

Thomas (1914 – 1953) certainly found inspiration in compact spaces. He wrote in a caravan at the end of the garden while living in a flat in Delancey Street in London; produced most of his Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog in a summerhouse in the grounds of Laugharne Castle in Wales; enjoyed the use of a summerhouse at Magdalen College in Oxford provided by his patron Margaret Taylor; and was pleased to write in the 'Apple House' outbuilding at Llanina Mansion near New Quay, Wales, owned by Lord Howard de Walden.

The most famous of his writing rooms was his last, a former garage in Laugharne built in the 1920s to house the local doctor’s green Wolseley, the first car in the town. It stands on cast iron stilts, cantilevered off the road and jutting out beyond the cliff where it overlooks the Tâf estuary below. In 1949 it was converted into a writing shed for Thomas while he and his wife Caitlin moved into their nearby home known as The Boathouse, paid for again by Margaret Taylor. “All I shall write in this water and tree room on the cliff, every word will be my thanks to you,” Thomas wrote in a letter to her.

The shed was very much Thomas’s personal sanctuary. He had windows and a stove installed, and decorated it with pictures of his favourite writers (Louis MacNeice, Lord Byron, Walt Whitman, WH Auden, and DH Lawrence), lists of words, and reproductions of art including Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Peasant Wedding. As well as piles of paper on his desk (its legs painted red), he also liked to keep his favourite boiled sweets close at hand. There were also shelves of books although Caitlin is said to have taken out the Raymond Chandlers and other thrillers to encourage him to concentrate rather than settle in for a comfy read. Here, he wrote out everything by hand, simply throwing unwanted drafts onto the floor.

"My study, atelier, or bard's bothy, roasts on a cliff-top," wrote Dylan Thomas in a letter to his friend Hector MacIver. From this peark, it certainly afforded him fine views across Carmarthen Bay and to the Llansteffan peninslar. Through the windows he could also see St John’s Hill which features in his eponymous poem (“Over Sir John's hill/The hawk on fire hangs still”). The shed itself features most dramatically in his ‘Poem On His Birthday’ to mark his 35^th which starts “In his house on stilts high among beaks/And palavers of birds” and goes on to describe the author as “the rhymer in the long tongued room”.

Thomas also wrote “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” and parts of Under Milk Wood here.

His normal writing routine was as simple as his shed. In the morning he would read, write letters, or complete crossword puzzles, go for for a drink around midday at the local Brown’s Hotel, return for lunch at 1pm, then work in the shed from 2pm until 7pm. And then return to Brown’s with Caitlin for the evening. To encourage him to work, Caitlin sometimes locked him in the shed.

The shed has remained popular long after Thomas’s death. It motivated Roald Dahl to build his own writing hut to exactly the same proportions following a family trip to Wales, a recreation featured in the 2011 Chelsea Flower Show, and a pop-up replica version of the writing shed went on the road in England and Wales to mark Thomas’s 100^th birthday. After falling into disrepair, it was renovated in 2003 at a cost of £20,000 (it had cost £5 to build) and the interior is a recreation of his working environment, alongside empty beer bottles, his blue and white striped mug (copies of which are now on sale by an enterprising Welsh pottery company), and a jacket over the back of the chair.

Visiting information

The Boathouse (www.dylanthomasboathouse.com) now contains a museum dedicated to Thomas. Visitors can peek into the shed but it is closed to the public. The shed’s original doors were rescued from a council rubbish tip in the 1970s and are on display with other Thomas memorabilia in the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea (www.dylanthomas.com).

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Dylan Thomas's writing hut postcard

Not easy to find, but worth hunting through postcards in secondhard shops just in case. A rather fine example of the garden office genre.

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Dylan Thomas's writing shed on Bargain Hunt

The venerable BBC daytime treat Bargain Hunt has headed to Carmarthenshire for its latest episode where presenter Christina Trevanion nipped off to Laugharne to vist the writing shed/garage of Dylan Thomas. You can watch the whole thing on the BBC's iplayer thingy here but the garden office action kicks off in earnest at the 26:50 mark or see the clip below.

Wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Such an interesting segment on Dylan Thomas’ writing shed in Carmarthenshire. Beautifully, eloquently and professionally presented by Christina Trevanion as usual.

— RDykes (@taffytopaz) October 19, 2022

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Dylan Thomas, his writing shed, and October

Dylan Thomas mentions his writing shed/garage (here depicted by James Oses in my recent book Rooms of Their Own) various times in his work. "My study, atelier, or bard's bothy, roasts on a cliff-top," he called it in a letter to his friend Hector MacIver and it features dramatically in his ‘Poem On His Birthday’ to mark his 35^th which starts “In his house on stilts high among beaks/And palavers of birds” and goes on to describe the author as “the rhymer in the long tongued room”.

 

He also mentions it in his poem Especially When The October Wind, describing it as his "tower of words".You can read it at Poemhunter.com but why not listen to the great man giving it his best shot in the video below.

Dylan Thomas's writing shed in Rooms of Their Own

The inside and outside of the famous writing shed belonging to Dylan Thomas as illustrated wonderfully by James Oses in my new book Rooms of Their Own. 

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Dylan Thomas's writing hut in coloured glass

The Shedworking staff have seen many depictions of Dylan Thomas's writing hut in Wales but this is quite unique. It's a panel in kiln formed glass with paint (45cm x 45cm), a lovely piece of work by glass artist Frances Arkle.

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Watercolours of writers' huts

Brighton-based illustrator and designer Melanie Smith has put together a lovely series of watercolour duotone illustrations of writers' and philosphers' huts. Here's what she says about them: 

"The idea came after some time spent in lockdown, and thinking about how creatives have self isolated over time, often within nature, to spend time contemplating life and their own lives. Many times writing down their thoughts and observations, so that they might share them with us, so we might all have a sense of what it can be like to be alone with our thoughts, and expansive in our thinking."

Above of course is George Bernard Shaw's writing hut, and the rest of the series include's Thoreau's hut at Walden Pond, Heidegger's in Germany, Dylan Thomas's in Wales, Virginia Woolf's at Monk House, and Wittgenstein's.

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Turtle Bunbury: shedworker

Inspired by Dylan Thomas's writing shed, writer and television broadcaster Turtle Bunbury became a shedworker in February last year, working now from a writing cabin built by Timber Living using 150-year-old Norway spruce grown in Siberia. It's black on the outside (very on trend) but classic white for the interior from where he has marvellous views. Here's how he described it to the Irish American Post:

I used to work in a windowless garret but everything changed in February, 2020, when the electrician flicked a switch and so powered up my new office – a timber studio in our garden, made out of Siberian pine, painted ash black, with a view straight onto the foothills of the Wicklow Mountains. The timing could not have been better. We were on lockdown within a few weeks and I think our family’s sanity was saved by the fact I had my man cave to flee to. Ally [his wife] has an astounding ability to be able to write a novel with a radio playing and the children and hamsters sitting on her head. I need complete tranquility to focus. 

Here he is talking from the shed during the lockdowned West Cork Literary Festival last August.

 And here's a link to another article about the garden office.

A self-confessed hoarder, Historian and author @turtlebunbury keeps an eclectic collection of curios in his Co Carlow garden studio https://t.co/q8QrVUxvEE

— The Sunday Times Ireland (@SunTimesIreland) July 11, 2021

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Dylan Thomas’s writing shed by Ed Isaacs

Ed Isaacs is a Midlands-based urban sketch artist and member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. Although he specialises in views of urban Wolverhampton, here is his recent lovely sketch of Dylan Thomas's writing shed in Wales.

You can find his excellent work on Twitter, instagram, and a great interview with art critic Ruth Millington on her site here.

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Lovely painting of Dylan Thomas's writing shed

A lovely piece of work by artist Liam O'Farrell. Click the link for more details about his trip to the famous writing hut in Wales and for other examples of his art. 

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Dylan Thomas Writing Shed aerial view video

A lovely short video of one of the most famous writing sheds in history (and with lovely music to accompany it). ---------------------------------------

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Garden office funerary urn

Designed and built by West Yorkshire-based carpenter Alan Lyons, and inspired by Dylan Thomas's writing shed, this was commissioned as a casket for ashes.

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Free entry to Dylan Thomas's writing shed this weekend

The Cadw Open Doors programme is up and running this year and one of the most iconic garden offices in the world is available to view for free. The Dylan Thomas Boathouse and Writing Shed, the poet's last home and shedworking atmosphere, is throwing open its doors and throwing in an interactive sound sculpture installation by artist in residence, Laura Garrett for good measure. Doors are open 10am to 5pm today and tomorrow at the location in Laugharne Carmarthenshire SA33 4SD. -----------------------------------

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Roald Dahl's writing hut

It's Roald Dahl Day today so there's all sorts of Dahl-related events around the country. Naturally, it's his writing hut and garden office that we've been most interested in here on Shedworking over the years so here's a quick guide to some of the most interesting posts about him and his shedworking lifestyle:

Roald Dahl shows how to procrastinate in your garden office

 

Up close and personal inside Roald Dahl's shed

 

Roald Dahl on his writing shed (plus sausages and snooker)

 

Moving the writing hut

 

Conservation work in Roald Dahl's writing hut

 

Roald Dahl's writing shed was inspired by Dylan Thomas's writing shed

 

Roald Dahl's writing hut by Quentin Blake

 

There was a lot of fuss about moving the shed in 2011 which caused a huge rumpus and our reporting of it was noted in the Guardian by Mark Lawson. Here it is day-by-day if you want to follow it:

Controversy rages over restoration of Roald Dahl's writing shed: UPDATED

 

Dahl's shed: Day 2

 

Dahl's shed: Day 3

 

Dahl's Shed: Day 4

 

Dahl's Shed: the media U-turn 

 

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International Dylan Thomas Day

It's the annual celebrations today of one of the most famous modern shedworkers, Dylan Thomas, the view from his writing hut captured here beautifully by Uncle Wilco of readersheds.co.uk fame. Over the years we've written a huge amount about Thomas and his hut, here are some of our favourite stories:

The writing shed's doors

The mug of the writing shed

How his writing shed inspired Roald Dahl's writing shed

Inside Dylan's writing shed (video)

and you can find the entire collection by clicking here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Inside Dylan Thomas's writing shed (video)

A lovely five minute video of designer William Hardie exploring the writing shed which belonged to Dylan Thomas. Although there are lots of photos of it around, there are very few videos of what it's like to be inside, so this is a treat.

DYLANTHOMAS SHED from Richard Carr on Vimeo. ------------------------------------

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Dylan Thomas's Boat House writing shed

My Favorite View Of Dylan Thomas's Boat House, top left his writing Shed. Overlooking The Estuary In Laugharne, West Wales, UK. pic.twitter.com/K2QuvL9PWT

— Sue Hurst (@460_SleepyRobot) June 16, 2018

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