Laugharne Castle, Dylan Thomas's Boathouse and Roche Castle

Despite its colourful history and intrinsic beauty, Laugharne is better known today as the place where the poet Dylan Thomas spent the last four years of his life. Thomas, whose rich, dense imagery, won him early acclaim, is perhaps best remembered for his prose work, the radio play 'Under Milk Wood'. It is tempting to see echoes of Llareggub, the play's fictional setting in Laugharne, though many scholars believe the work was based on Newquay in Cardiganshire.

The walk begins at Laugharne Castle, a fairy tale ruin with ivy clad walls studded with blue periwinkles. The site was originally fortified by the Romans and later by Rhys ap Gruffydd, who was the last Prince of South Wales. The castle was captured twice by the Welsh in the 13th century, and was remodelled with Tudor embellishments at the close of the 16th century by Sir John Perrot, High Admiral and reputed half brother of Queen Elizabeth I. In the Civil War, the Royalist Castle was destroyed by Cromwell's forces.

Just beyond the castle, looking out across the broad estuary, is an inconspicuous wooden shed. This belongs to the Boat House and was built out over the cliff edge on stilts in the early 1900's. The shack was the garage of the first ever motor vehicle to be seen in Laugharne. The car terrorised the local draught horses and convinced at least one inhabitant that Satan himself had come. Undeterred, she armed herself with a pitchfork and charged off in pursuit of the green Wolseley.

In the late spring of 1949, Mrs Margaret Taylor, Dylan Thomas's generous patroness, purchased the house and the poet turned the garage into his workshack. A damp, draughty, overgrown place, it was hardly comfortable, but it was peaceful. "You have given me life", wrote Thomas to Mrs Taylor, "and now I am going to live it".

The path leads down to the boathouse, which Thomas called "my sea shaken house on a breakneck of rocks". A three storey cottage, tucked into the base of red standstone cliffs. After Thomas's premature death, the house stood empty for many years, until 1975 when it was opened as a memorial to him.

The route continues along Dylan's Walk. Originally known as Cliff Walk, it was renamed in 1958, the year Under Milk Wood was first performed in Laugharne. Across the bay to your right, are the fertile checkerboard hills of Carmarthenshire. The ivy choked remains of cottages are scattered through the wood along the side of the path. Near the shoreline stands a more ominous ruin, known as Burned House. According to local legend, it was deliberately destroyed after a murder was committed there.

The walk through the shady graveyard of St Martin's Church winds beneath the canopy of venerable yews, through a tangle of vegetation, crumbling gravestones and fallen angels. The beautiful church which dates back from the 14th century is one of the earliest in the area. It was probably built by Sir Guy de Brien, Edward III's Lord High Admiral. The path crosses a bridge to a modern burial ground, the final resting place of Dylan Thomas. His simple white wooden cross contrasts sharply with the grander headstones made of carved marble surround it.

As you return through the town, the route passes Sea View, a simplistic doll's house of a building, it's three storeys of rooms piled neatly on top of one another. Thomas lived here for some time, with his wife, Caitlin, and their children.

As you cross King Street, the Town Hall and jail is on your right, a building of considerable antiquity. It was rebuilt in 1745. Its white clock tower features in Under Milk Wood, when Myfanwy Price dreams of 'her lover, tall as the town clock tower'.

Further on, the narrow lane that winds along the banks of the murmuring stream has the curious name, 'the Lacques', which means a moist or splashy place. At one time, there were several wells here, rising from springs beneath the tree lined banks. These springs were much frequented during the Victorian era, when the water was credited with remarkable restorative powers.

Trees and overgrown hedgerows give way to open farmland and the site of Roche Castle, which, according to local stories, has a subterranean tunnel connected it with Langharne Castle. It fell into disrepair, and masonry was taken to build new houses at Broadway. The ancient stones can be seen in buildings near the road. The local inhabitants of Langharne used to gather among the ruins of Roche Castle, which was once owned by the Perrot family, to play bowls, dance and watch cock fights.

The walk continues up through sloping fields, then passes through mature woods. Afterwards, the return track leaves St Johns Hill, where Sir John Perrot planned to build a house to watch the activities of the pirates. This hill can be seen from Dylan Thomas's own window, and it inspired him to write his first poem from the workshack, a musing on mortality that begins "Over St John's Hill, the Hawk on fire hangs still".