The locations in The Nesting Place are all within an hour’s drive from Cardiff.
Below are links to these places and some basic information for anyone unfamiliar with the area. What should be kept in mind when reading The Nesting Place is that although the areas are real, the people and houses are fictional.
Known locally as The Vale this covers a wide area which is mainly rural with agriculture the main focus. It can be regarded as quite a prestigious place to live as there are many large houses in the Vale.
It varies from Penarth, with its pier and Victorian grandeur, to places like Barry, known for the amusement park and made famous by Gavin and Stacey, television sitcom.
Cardiff airport is based in the Vale of Glamorgan and there are many attractions for visitors including country parks, castles and attractive walks along the coast as well as inland.
You will not find Nythfa, the architect designed house in the story, as it was a complete work of imagination, although I have since discovered that there is a holiday home of that name – a beautiful holiday cottage in Llantwit Major near the beach.
www.visitthevale.com
Almost on the border with England, Chepstow is very close to the first Severn Bridge and you can walk across that bridge and view the murky waters below.
A small and quite attractive town, with several pubs and independent shops, Chepstow is built on a hill rising up from the castle at the bottom. It is built on the river Wye, famous for fishing, and a good base for exploring the Wye Valley.
Bulwark, the area mentioned in The Nesting Place is an estate on the right just before a steep curve in the road leading down the hill to the town. It is mainly residential with a mixture of housing including ex local authority properties.
www.visitwales.com
Once a mining town, Pontypridd is now a university town with students from the nearby University of South Wales mixing with the residents. The university sprang from the Miner’s Institute an educational and cultural focus for the society which built up around the mines.
Known simply as Ponty to many people in the area it was once a bustling town bursting at the seams on market days. When the mining dwindled there was factory work available in Treforest but this has also all but disappeared in recent years.
www.pontypriddmuseum.wales
