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I came here in the summer. I couldn’t park anywhere, and when I finally got onto the beach, I couldn’t sit anywhere.

This tiny Welsh village, with the sun beaming like it was trained on it and it alone, seemed to be the only place that mattered. The pubs and shops were full and the sand was nowhere to be seen, so covered was it with holidaymakers from the whole of Wales and beyond.

The sea, meanwhile, looked like the backdrop of a postcard. Full of laughter and nonsense.

Today, I’m back in Llangrannog, the Welsh village in Ceredigion of just a few hundred people.

This place is an icon of Welsh culture. Not only is it beautiful, welcoming and secluded all at the same time, it also strikes an emotional chord with thousands of former children. Many a formative step was made in Llangrannog, a mile up the road from the beach at the Urdd campus.

I made a friend here 23 years ago. Almost a quarter of a century on, he’s my best friend, and without Llangrannog we would never have made it. It’s that stranglehold over people that this place can have, and why it remains in our memories and in our hearts.

But, today, it’s different. The joy that splashed on the seafront two months ago is no longer to be seen. Summer’s gone.

(Image: Robert Melen) (Image: Robert Melen)

“It’s hugely important to us here, the busy season, of course it is,” says one local woman. “But, in a way, for those of us who live here, it’s nice to have our village back at the end of the summer."

There are still people here, of course. There are people walking their dogs and having coffee overlooking the gorgeous and tiny beach. But they all say hello to each other. Everybody here now seems to be from Llangrannog.

‘Morning.’ ‘Hiya.’ ‘Bore da.’ ‘Shwmae?’

(Image: Robert Melen) (Image: Robert Melen)

It’s like The Truman Show, but there’s nothing staged about this place. It’s real, with real people.

When you walk into the village, the first thing that strikes you are the signs on most of the houses and cottages. ‘For rent’. ‘Holiday cottage’. ‘Families welcome’.

It’s like walking into a big advert. So, how does the community stay so resolute, so close, if a lot of people don’t’ actually live here?

(Image: Robert Melen) (Image: Robert Melen)

West Wales Holiday Cottages, one of the companies that hires out holiday homes in Llangrannog, says that it sees a 50% drop in lettings over the winter, with all the properties it advertises being booked during the summer months and around half of that for the Christmas period.

So what happens to these houses when nobody wants to come? Do they contribute to the creation of a ghost town?

“It’s a concern moving forward because that is what is going to cripple the village if it gets too much,” says Helena Boyeson, who has lived in Llangrannog for 27 years.

“In parts of England, the council has a limit on the number of second homes people can purchase, and that should be the case here as well.

“There is no harm in having second homes but we need the balance to be right. If there is too much of it then the pubs and the shop will not survive. Up the road at Tresaith, it can be like a ghost town in winter. What we are trying to do is create a community that is so strong that people don’t just want to come here; they want to live here.”

(Image: Robert Melen) (Image: Robert Melen)

That particular plan seems to be in full swing. Everybody knows everybody here. On my last visit in the height of summer it was the other way around; strangers frolicking around in somebody else’s home. Today, as I sit outside the seafront cafe with two locals, every sentence of conversation is interrupted by a passer-by.

“I think people come here because they want to be cut off, but also because they want to be part of a community,” says Helena.

“There’s a lot of people here who own second homes and they all say that they want to move here permanently but can’t because of work. They’ve developed a strong affinity with the place, fallen in love with it.

"Conversely, some people who are from here have had to move away for work purposes but they still look for a house to buy here so that they can keep that connection.

“We have second homes which are owned by people who keep it for themselves and then there are some who rent them out to others.

"When my husband and I moved here 27 years ago there weren’t a lot of people here, but now there seems to be an increasing amount of people who actually live here, but as each year goes by there are fewer people here who were born here.

"Three or four years ago, a man in his 80s died. He was one of the last people to be born and bred in Llangrannog.”

On person who was born and bred in England but now calls Llangrannog home is Jill Scott, known locally as Spot.

(Image: Robert Melen)

Originally from London, she moved here 10 years ago, and runs Sea and Slate Holiday Cottages.

“It’s a different pace of life here. I moved because I just wanted to get away and be part of something - everyone pulls together here and everyone knows each other.

“Tourism is important but there is a strong community and the holiday lets provide local employment. Also, it’s not like they’re owned by people who never set foot here - a lot of them are owned by local people. I would say only around 15 or 20% are owned by people from outside.”

This explains why this village can retain its sense of togetherness, despite having a proportion of its properties empty once the sun goes into hibernation.

Spot said: “When something happens to one of us everyone rallies together. It’s like going back to the 1950s.”

Spot helped to set up a gallery in the village in June where local people can showcase their own work. It’s a small and charming building on the way into Llangrannog, and it feels like everyone who lives here has something on display.

(Image: Robert Melen) (Image: Robert Melen) (Image: Robert Melen)

“We set it up because there was nowhere for local people to sell things from,” said Spot.

“There’s about seven or eight of us who chip in, and people can pay £5 to have their things on display, then when someone fancies it and buys it, the artist keeps all the money.

“It’s going really well. We don’t know yet if it will be as popular in winter as the tourists won’t be here, but we have all sorts of things planned.

“There’s not that many jobs in Llangrannog so a lot of young people tend to move away, so we wanted to offer local people, whatever age, the chance to showcase their work. I think that’s important.”

So who are the non-local locals - the people that own second homes in Llangrannog?

How do they ingratiate themselves with such a close-knit community if they’re not here very often, and do they become ostracised because they are ‘less local’ than others?

(Image: Robert Melen) (Image: Robert Melen)

“We don’t live here but we want to support the community as much as possible,” says Phil Thomas, who is originally from Kent.

Phil is sat outside his cottage in Llangrannog with his wife Sue. They live in Cheltenham, except, that is, when they get the chance to live in Llangrannog.

“My wife has the connection with west Wales. She’s from Cardigan originally so when she wanted to buy a place here. I just sort of went along with it really. We bought the cottage in 2008 and we come here every three weeks or so. We might not live here but we want to support the community as much as possible.

“It’s just a beautiful part of the world. At peak times everyone agrees that it becomes too crushed, and some people do say, when the summer finishes, that ‘we’ve got our village back’.”

Sue says Llangrannog drew her in and didn't let go.

“I used to come here on holiday and just fell in love with the place. We both spend more time here now than ever because we have more time. We’re lucky that we don’t have to rent out the cottage - friends stay here sometimes but we don’t rent it out.

“We do feel a part of it. This village means a great deal to us and everyone is very welcoming.”

Phil and Sue aren’t the only ones to have fallen in love with Llangrannog and made the village their home.

(Image: Robert Melen)

Penny Towers is from Leicestershire. She and husband Ian run the Ship Inn. They don’t yet know how business will measure up in the colder, winter months because they only took over the pub eight weeks ago.

But, there are no doubts about their decision to move here.

“It was my idea to come here,” says Penny.

“I’ve been coming down here on holiday here since I was little. Me and my family fell in love with the area. My grandfather tried to buy somewhere here years ago and then my mother also tried. But now I’ve finally done it. It’s been a family dream to move here.

“It’s the best decision I ever made; there’s a strong community feel. It’s really busy in the summer but we are expecting it to be different in the winter.

"For the first time in my life I can say that I don’t want to go anywhere else. We just feel a part of it straight away, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know anyone to start with.”

(Image: Robert Melen)

Penny’s only been here for a few weeks, but some business owners have been trading in Llangrannog for nearly four decades.

Julia Palframan has lived here for 38 years, and together with her husband Mervyn runs Caffi Patio which overlooks the beach. She says Llangrannog is now busier than ever.

“Our house in the village has been in the family since the 1930s and things have changed a lot. Sometimes it feels like we are never not busy. People come out now on such a regular basis.

“Airbnb has changed everything. It means there’s an unlimited amount of people that can go anywhere at any time.

"We’re very grateful that we're busy but the village now has access problems. It’s one road in and one road out. The increase in traffic has been enormous. There is a struggle here at the moment. We want the business but we don’t want to lose the identity of the village, because that is what makes it so strong.

“I would like more people to live here but that doesn’t mean to say that I don’t appreciate the business that we get from holiday home owners.

“But in terms of the community, if you have fewer people who actually live here, what do you have at the end of the day? Nothing.

(Image: Robert Melen)

Julia’s husband Mervyn says: “Traffic is destroying the village - it’s beautiful here but at times it’s like living a in a car park.”

So what about the locals who live here? Where do you park when it’s busy and you just want to go home?

“You don’t,” says Julia. “When you drive into the village you all just hope that you can get a parking space.

“But we need it to be busy, so what can you do? We’ve had 38 summers in Llangrannog and not one day on the beach.”

(Image: Robert Melen) (Image: Robert Melen)

Llangrannog is thriving. It’s busy enough in the summer so that it doesn’t have to be busy in the winter. Every beach side haven in Wales must face the same issues. You want to share it with other people, but you also want it for yourself.

It has its issues - parking, second homes, litter, traffic congestion - but it seems to strike the right balance, at least currently.

It means tourism feeds its community and allows it to breathe, but it doesn’t puncture it and render it feeble.

That community is stronger than ever, and the people won’t let that go. Not yet.

Spot takes a sip of her tea. “I won’t leave here until I’m taken out in a box. Why would you want to move anywhere else?”