Georgie screws up her face in disgust. ‘It tastes like blood!’ she cries.
We’re standing in a rockpool on Pendine Beach, Carmarthen, learning how to de-husk limpets for a seaside snack, with the help of foraging expert Craig Evans.
Clad in waterproofs, we are about to go in search of razor clams and seaweed in between spatterings of rain. This is not the most glamorous of getaways.
Once upon a time, not so long ago, our girls’ holidays revolved around a few key ingredients: cheap vodka, badly rolled cigarettes and European basement clubs.
So how, then, have I convinced four of my oldest friends to forego the likes of Ibiza and Mykonos and head down the M4 for a weekend in rural Carmarthenshire?
The answer is that these days, booze plays less of a role in our lives, and we’re keen to get something more ‘real’ from our trips than clubbing.
We’re not alone. According to the Flight Centre Travel Group’s ‘State of Student and Youth Travel’ report, around 83 per cent of Gen Z-ers are prioritising cultural exploration and sightseeing when travelling, shunning debauched ways.
Welsh wonder: Seven-mile long Pendine beach on the south coast of Carmarthenshire
Foraged seafood cooked up on the shoreline: Genie Harrison, second from left, and friends joined expert forager Craig Evans on a mission to find their lunch
Characterful Cors Country House sleeps ten and comes in at just £97pppn for a three-night stay
And with two of our clan of five having recently lost grandparents, the opportunity to spend some restorative quality time together feels much needed.
Our base is Cors Country House, a grand home in the heart of the small town of Laugharne. With Storm Chandra wailing outside, we assess our new surroundings.
Megan has made a beeline for a freestanding roll-top bath. Olivia and Zoe are googling ‘how to use an Aga’. We have five bedrooms, a cinema room and a bar (we will not be going teetotal just yet).
A famous former resident of Laugharne was not shy of a drop or two, either. Perched by a cliff on the Wales Coastal Path, the Dylan Thomas Boathouse was the poet’s final residence.
Five go to Wales, Genie, right, and her friends swapped their previous party island haunts for a salubrious weekend in Carmarthenshire
Left: The foraged food included razor clams, cockles and mussels. Right: A feast of bara brith, Welsh cakes and butter
Today, the top two floors of the boathouse serve as a museum to Thomas, while the basement is a tearoom. From the confines of his living room, we immerse ourselves in the Welshman’s fabled career.
Downstairs, further cultural discoveries await. ‘I’ve never ordered rarebit,’ says Megan as we sit down for tea, ‘because I always thought it was something to do with rabbit.’
There are murmurs of agreement from our group – and then delight as hot plates of the Welsh delicacy arrive, along with slices of bara brith and steaming teapots. We tuck in as the rain continues, happy to be cosy inside.
Welsh poet Dylan Thomas’ boathouse with a view in Laugharne
TRAVEL FACTS
Three nights at Cors Country House from £97pp, based on 10 sharing five bedrooms (thecors.co.uk).
Coastal foraging sessions with Craig Evans from £90pp (coastalforaging.co.uk).
Visit Discover Carmarthenshire’s website for inspiration planning your own ‘Sisterhood’ break, including places to stay, eat and a variety of activities (discovercarmarthenshire.com).
Thankfully, the weather calms down the following morning and we bundle into the car to join Craig for our coastal foraging session.
Out on Pendine Beach, with the help of Craig and his golden retriever, Llel, we quickly determine which seaweeds are tastiest, and which are best avoided.
By the time lunch rolls around, we’re cooking up a veritable feast, stewing foraged cockles, mussels and razor clams over an open fire, with wild garlic and Carmarthenshire butter.
Afterwards, we strip off our waterproofs and tear into the sea for a celebratory, albeit rather chilly, dip.
It might not be the Med, but I feel triumphant. There’s something uplifting about sea swimming beneath stormy skies.
That afternoon, it’s time for yet another form of nourishment – but now in a more spiritual capacity.
Pavlina, a yoga practitioner and massage therapist, has joined us to lead a yoga/acoustic sound therapy session.
The afternoon slips by, and as the vibrations of Pav’s Tibetan singing bowl reverberate around my body, I realise how relaxed I feel – a far cry from the mania that defined our previous girls’ holidays.
After a dinner of wholesome vegetable pie and soup (from nearby Wrights’ Food Emporium) and a full Welsh breakfast at Inn At The Sticks the next morning, we brave the rain for a final drizzly stroll along the beach.
It is, all five agree, one of the best trips we’ve done for a long time – no sore heads required.
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