Hiya!
“It’s not Barry’s Island. It doesn’t belong to a man called Barry.”
Most of you will be familiar with the comedian James Corden (The Late Late Show), but only a handful will probably know the fabulous Welsh actor, comedian, writer, and producer Ruth Jones (she just graced the cover of Good Housekeeping in November). Way back in 2007, James and Ruth co-wrote and co-acted in a sitcom about an English boy and a Welsh girl who meet and fall in love. Gavin & Stacey—with their friends Ruth as the incorrigible Nessa Jenkins and James as bumbling but lovable Smithy—was a massive success in the UK. The show launched Ruth’s career and she went on to write and star in the award-winning TV show Stella; she also had a recurring role as Myfanwy in the comedy show Little Britain. She is the author of three books: Untold Love, Never Greener, & Us Three (I really need to read these). Jones was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2014 for services to entertainment. Needless to say, we love Ruth and are huge fans of her work.
To appreciate the canon of Ruth’s work, a trip to South Wales was essential. Wales is also home to the small island town of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. (Look it up, it’s a real place…and if you want to know how to pronounce it, just ask Michelle or Megan—they can rattle it off flawlessly!) They’re a quirky bunch, the Welsh. If you’re not 100% sure where to find South Wales, here’s a map.
So, on a rainy (this is Wales we’re talking about after all) Saturday (May 11), we headed west across the Prince of Wales Bridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-5x2jxrnp8
Once over the bridge, we plunged headlong into the land of many consonants. Check out our Sat Nav screen.
Ferndale
As you look at the map of Ferndale (where Stella was filmed), note also Aberfan at the top right (more on that town later).
We drove to the furthest locations first, which took us to Stella’s home in the fictional Welsh town of Pontyberry. In fact, Stella Lucy Morris, student nurse, lived in this pink house on Elm Street in Ferndale. In the show, Michael Matthew Jackson moves to the house next door to Stella after an acrimonious divorce has caused him to downsize his lifestyle.
Directly across the street in the yellow house lived Stella’s Aunty Brenda. Marj and her husband Glen live with their donkey in the house on the right (remember, it’s a comedy). Here is a character list.
Why, there’s Marj and Glen’s donkey now!
Sadly, the bench were Stella so often sits and surveys the beautiful Valleys is on private property (not that we would have seen much more than low clods today). However, the small garden really is located just beyond the wall at the bottom of the street.
BTW, when next you’re in Ferndale and desiring to drive to Aberfan, and its a cold and rainy day—be careful when Apple Maps plots a course on Blaenllechau Road through the hamlet of Llanwonno, high up in the hills…and into the clouds…on narrow roads completely lacking in any form of safety guardrails. It was quite the drive! 😧
Aberfan
On Friday, October 21, 1966, a massive coal tip slid down a mountainside into the mining village of Aberfan in the South Wales Valleys. The disaster was depicted in Season 3, Episode 3 of The Crown. The slide engulfed a farm, around twenty houses, and part of the Pantglas Junior School before coming to rest. The disaster claimed the lives of 144 people, 116 of whom were school children. The horror felt around the world was made all the more poignant as news emerged of previous slides and brushed aside warnings.
Image from October 1966
As The Crown portrayed, the Queen waited a week to visit the town to offer solace to its people following the tragedy, and her failure to appear promptly on the scene was judged a mistake.
On October 29, 1966, eight days after the disaster, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Aberfan to pay their respects to those who had died, coinciding with the end of the main rescue phase.
In March 1973, the Queen would return and open this Memorial Garden, which is on the former site of Pantglas Junior School.
In May 1997, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh planted a commemorative tree in the garden, to mark the 50th anniversary of the disaster.
The Prince Of Wales (now King Charles III) also planted this tree in commemoration.
A few blocks away is the Aberfan Cemetery.
The cemetery is home to a memorial unique on its own, The Aberfan Disaster Cemetery, which marks the remains of the 144 people killed in the slide.
If the memorial built on the school site wasn’t somber enough, than reading the names of so many children, in this case brothers, who lost their lives in a moment of great sadness, will certainly get to you.
Despite the passing of 57 years, the pain of loss is remarkably palpable.
Ours prayers go out to the families who are still living with the loss.
And on a less somber note, we have one more stop for our Stella tour in the Valleys, and it is perhaps a bit apropos (I’m being cheeky).
The sign may say Sadies, but we all know that this is really Simpsons Funeral Services, known locally as Daddy’s.
Daddy’s was run by his daughter Paula and Undertaker's Assistant Bobby. So great to see this building in person.
Pronounced just like it looks!
We realize this entire post probably only makes sense to the Holst family and Dan Brockett, so this final stop is dedicated especially for you—Barry Island!
Despite being set in Billericay (which is east of London), Smithy’s Local was actually filmed at the Colcot Arms in Barry.
After a drunken quiz night in the second episode, Smithy and the family go into the parking lot. Even seeing a stupid parking lot can be really fun to see in person when it has some meaning attached to it.
The wood porch is new, but the entrance is still very recognizable.
Then it was just down the road to Trinity Street. Halfway down this steep hill of terraces, we found the homes of Gwen & Stacey, Uncle Bryn, and Gwen’s cheeky next door neighbor Doris O'Neil (such a funny character!).
The flat where Stacey lived with her mother Gwen.
Oi, give us a cwtch! (pronounced like “cutch” and rhymes with butch.)
The meaning of the Welsh word cwtch is to cuddle/hug but has a much more affectionate connotations and loving undertones when you cwtch a loved one. It’s a unique Welsh term of endearment. Everyone needs a cwtch from their mum, deserves one after a hard-day’s work, and can’t wait to cwtch a newborn baby. Especially Neil the Baby.
The flat is fairly easy to spot! I guess the older woman who lives there (and did so during the filming) will invite you in and talk all about the show. It was late and we weren’t sure what we’d be walking into, so we chickened out!
Doris’ flat on the left.
The house as seen from Bryn’s side of the street.
Looking across the street to Uncle Bryn’s flat (I’d have to watch the show again to remember which is his).
This is where Uncle Bryn discovered the web and its “one golden rule” to begin every search with “w-w-w-dot.”
To remember the rule, Bryn came up with several very clever pneumonics including “whisky with water” and “women wearing wings.” He also liked Gavin’s suggestion of “World Wide Web.” “I like it, like a spider. Hey, that’s the ticket, that’s brilliant, you’ve got it. First class, that is!”
And we never did find out what happened on that fishing trip.
Looking down Trinity Street toward Barry Island.
OK, so this was absolutely amazing! We pull up to the beachfront of Barry Island and are looking for a place to park when we see this bus stopped at the curb. And it’s not just any bus, it’s actually labeled Dave’s Coaches, just like from the show. (Somehow the Live setting got turned off, so I couldn’t fix Amanda’s closed eyes 😔)
I tell Amanda to jump out and take a photo before it drives away, but the owners walk up and invite us to go inside. Turns out this was the actual bus used in the filming and they still use it to give tours. “Thanks, Drive”! (What the Welsh typically say to a driver.)
Tidy!
As soon as we were done taking pictures, they drove away. It was incrediblly good timing to have seen the bus!
What's occurrin'?
Stacey has a job at Marco’s Café (building on the left) during Season 3. According to the “Whisky With Water,” during filming, the owner of Marco’s actually taught James Corden how to make a decent coffee and he even served the customers on one occasion—how fun would that would have been?!
As with Marco’s café, Nessa’s Slots was also closed (not exactly beach weather!).
Funny side note: when Amanda ordered this proper lush tea, the person at the counter greeted her with the typical Welsh greeting of “Alri’” (pronounced “or-i.”), which means “Alright?”. Before Amanda could recall where she was, she responded with a typically Californian “Yeah” rather than the expected “Alri’.” A typical Welsh conversation may begin something like:
Alri’ babes
Alri’
Alri’
How’s it going
Alri’?
Ye, alri’?
That’s lush that is.
To say they have embraced the show in Barry would be an understatement.
We both agreed it really would be a very nice beach when the weather warms up! Neil the Baby would have a crackin’ good time playing in the sand.
In the show, Gavin's parents live in England. In reality, the filming location for Pam & Mick’s house is on a quiet street (Laburnum Way) in nearby Dinas Powys.
As you can see, it was nearly proper dark by the time we arrived at Pam and Mick’s house. Overall it was a miserably cold and rainy day, but we had the best time visiting so many sites from Stella and Gavin & Stacey. Whether you’ve never heard of the the shows or love them as much as we do, we hope you had fun visiting South Wales.
