Whingey Williams from Gower and her Wonderful Wellington Boots
Can you see the pixie dust?
Whingey Williams and her Wonderful Wellington Boots Series
The enchanting stories about Whingey Williams including old legends from Gower and stories about the Gower Verry Volk(Fairy Folk).
Why don't you read the stories then do some of the adventures in the little land you call home or maybe visit Gower a do some of the adventures there too.
Hold your nose and press the red button
More stories of Verry Volk seen on Gower
From THE FAIRY-FAITH IN CELTIC COUNTRIES BY W. Y. EVANS-WENTZ written in 1911
Sarah Jenkins, postmistress of Llanmadoc, will enable us to do so:--
Fairy Money.--'An old woman, whom I knew, used to find money left by the fairies every time they visited her house. For a long time she observed their request, and told no one about the money; but at last she told, and so never found money afterwards.
Nature of Fairies.--'The fairies (verry volk) were believed to have plenty of music and dancing. Sometimes they appeared dressed in bright red. They could appear and disappear suddenly, and no one could tell how or where.'
Link to stories of Faery Folk from around the world, fairy tales but many about fairies and elves that can also be told by the fireside: World of Tales - Stories for children, folktales, fairy tales and fables from around the world!
Whingey's favourites are:
The Old Man and the Faeries
The Fairies of Merlin's Craig
The Elves and the Shoemaker
The Fairies Cup
The Faeries Mint
The Fairies Cup
About the books
Whingey Williams and her Wonderful Wellington Boots: Children’s Series Captivates with Tales from Gower
Meredith Jeffrey’s endearing new children’s series introduces Whingey (aka Winifred) and her best friend Meredith. Living in the heart of Wales’s beautiful Gower Peninsula, the inseparable duo (and Whingey’s wellies) can always be found embarking on an adventure – whether that’s a trip to Buckingham Palace, fruit picking or a visit to meet Father Christmas. The series also introduces Gower’s little known but very special fairies – the Verry Volk.
UNITED KINGDOM – Bringing to life the stories originally written over fifteen years ago and lost in a house move, Meredith Jeffrey delights with his children’s tales, all of which centre on Gower, the first area in the UK to be awarded ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’ status, and where the author grew up.
There are 3 initial books covering a school year and each booklet has four stories and there is a story for every month of the year, each volume centres around the adventures of the whingeing Winifred and her best buddy, Meredith (who is said to have penned the stories and drawings). Running concurrently alongside the adventures of the two friends the author also weaves in tales of the Verry Volk, fairies that are very much part of Gower folklore. The author has written four more books so there is one booklet for every colour of the rainbow covering the next school year as Whingey and Meredith grow up. There is also a follow up booklet in draft called the Gold Book at the end of the rainbow and a book of games, recipes and facts mentioned in the stories published on Whingey’s website: whingeywiliiams.com caked the multicolour book.
An engaging series of short intertwining stories that will be enjoyed by youngsters being read to at bedtime, as well as older children embarking on their independent reading journey, Whingey, her wellington boots and Meredith are destined to become literary favourites for those that live in the countryside as well as those who hail from the city from Gower, Wales, UK, and beyond.
Synopsis:
The stories are about Whingey Williams from Gower in Wales and her adventures with her best friend Meredith. Whingey whose real name is Winifred but everyone calls her Whingey as she likes to complain wears her wonderful Wellington boots everywhere as they stop her getting wet and dirty, stop her complaining and are so comfortable. Meredith finds it funny that she wears her Wellingtons even to visit Buckingham Palace, Father Christmas and the beach on a hot day in July but for some reason or other wearing her Wellingtons always turns out well. There is also a sub story about Verry Volk which is the real name given to fairies on Gower with a message that Whingey is asked to tell to the big people (humans) by the wisest fairy of them all in the fourth book.
The appearance of all the main characters in the stories are left to the reader’s and listener’s imagination but there is roughly a picture on every page of standard things mentioned at that point in the story to support the reader’s and listener’s imagination.
Most of the places where the adventures take place are real places or based on real places sometimes altered a little bit to fit in with the story and most of the legends and stories are true stories told on Gower but some are just down to the imagination of the author. None of the characters in the stories are real people or based on real people. The stories are said to be written by Meredith including the drawings. The stories are different to any other children's books because they are set in a real place although it is always shown in a positive light and none of the characters are based on real people. So readers and listeners can see pictures of the places online or even visit them. It has a theme about Wellington boots and in essence growing up and everyone likes Wellington boots and the theme also involves a girl complaining and being laughed at then turning out to be right. But it also tells everything about the Verry Volk as if they are real like butterflies and bats. And lots more besides. Over the 7 booklets there are stories of pirates, ghosts, witches, King Arthur and dragons most of which are also true stories told on Gower and information about different animals like the wild ponies, some old Gower words and Welsh words and general village life all seamlessly integrated with the story of Whingey’s wonderful Wellington Boots.
The first 3 booklets are:
Term 1 includes: Fruit Picking; Shopping; Buckingham Palace; Santa Claus
Term 2 includes: The Zoo; The Snowy Day’ The Pageant; The Woodland Walk
Term 3 includes: The Party; The Funfair; The Beach; The Wedding
​Gower (Welsh: Gŵyr) or the Gower Peninsula (Penrhyn Gŵyr) in southwest Wales, projects towards the Bristol Channel. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan. In 1956, the majority of Gower became the first area in the United Kingdom to be designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Geography
About 70 square miles (180 km2) in area, Gower is known for its coastline, popular with walkers and outdoor enthusiasts, especially surfers. Gower has many caves, including Paviland Cave and Minchin Hole Cave. The peninsula is bounded by the Loughor Estuary to the north and Swansea Bay to the east. Gower Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty covers 188 km2, including most of the peninsula west of Crofty, Three Crosses, Upper Killay, Blackpill and Bishopston. The highest point of Gower is The Beacon at Rhossili Down at 193 metres (633 ft) overlooking Rhossili Bay.
The southern coast consists of a series of small, rocky or sandy bays, such as Langland and Three Cliffs, and larger beaches such as Port Eynon, Rhossili and Oxwich Bay. The north of the peninsula has fewer beaches, and is home to the cockle-beds of Penclawdd.
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The northern coast is mainly salt marsh, and is used for raising Gower salt marsh lamb which was awarded protected status in 2021. The interior is mainly farmland and common land. The population mainly resides in small villages and communities with some suburban development in eastern Gower; part of the Swansea Urban Area.
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History
Wales is known to have been inhabited since at least the Upper Paleolithic period, and the Gower Peninsula has been the scene of several important archaeological discoveries. In 1823, archaeologists discovered a fairly complete Upper Paleolithic human male skeleton in Paviland Cave. They named their find the Red Lady of Paviland because the skeleton is dyed in red ochre, though later investigators determined it was actually a male. This was the first human fossil to have been found anywhere in the world, and is still the oldest ceremonial burial anywhere in Western Europe. The most recent re-calibrated radiocarbon dating in 2009 indicates that the skeleton can be dated to around 33,000 Before Present (BP). In 1937 the Parc Cwm long cairn was identified as a Severn-Cotswold type of chambered long barrow. Also known as Parc le Breos burial chamber, it is a partly restored Neolithic chambered tomb. The megalithic burial chamber, or "cromlech", was built around 6,000 BP. In the 1950s, members of Cambridge University excavating in a cave on the peninsula found 300–400 pieces of flint related to toolmaking, and dated it to between 14,000 and 12,000 BC. In 2010, an instructor from Bristol University exploring Cathole Cave discovered a rock drawing of a red deer from the same period. This may be the oldest cave art found in Great Britain.
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Gower is also home to menhirs or standing stones from the Bronze Age. Of the nine stones, eight remain today. One of the most notable of the stones is Arthur's stone near Cefn Bryn. Its 25-ton capstone was most likely a glacial erratic (a piece of rock/conglomerate carried by glacial ice some distance from the rock outcrop from which it came): the builders dug under it and supported it with upright stones to create a burial chamber. The remains of Sweyne Howes on Rhossili Down, Penmaen Burrows Tomb (Pen-y-Crug) and Nicholaston Long Cairn are three other well-known Neolithic chambered tombs. During the Bronze Age, people continued to use local caves for shelter and for burying their dead. Bronze Age evidence, such as funeral urns, pottery and human remains, has been found in Tooth Cave at Llethryd, Culver Hole (Port Eynon) and Cathole Cave. With the transition into the Iron Age, hill forts (timber fortifications on hill tops and coastal promontories) and earthworks began to appear. The largest example of this type of Iron Age settlement in the Gower Peninsula is Cilifor Top near Llanrhidian.
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Roman occupation brought new settlement. The Romans built Leucarum, a rectangular or trapezoidal fort at the mouth of the River Loughor, in the late 1st century AD to house a regiment of Roman auxiliary troops. Its remains are located beneath the town of Loughor. Stone defences were added to the earthen ditch and rampart by AD 110 and the fort was occupied until the middle or end of that century. However, it was later abandoned for a time and in the early 3rd century the ditch naturally silted up. It appears to have been brought back into use during the reign of Carausius who was worried about Irish raids, but was abandoned again before the 4th century. A Norman castle was later built on the site.
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Following the Norman invasion of Wales the commote of Gŵyr passed into the hands of English-speaking barons, and its southern part soon became Anglicised. In 1203 King John (1199–1216) granted the Lordship of Gower to William III de Braose (died 1211) for the service of one knight's fee. It remained with the Braose family until the death of William de Braose, 2nd Baron Braose in 1326, when it passed from the family to the husband of one of his two daughters and co-heiresses, Aline and Joan. In 1215 a local lord, Rhys Gryg of Deheubarth, claimed control of the peninsula, but in 1220 he ceded control to the Anglo-Norman lords, perhaps on the orders of his overlord, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth.
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As an Anglo-Norman peninsula isolated from its Welsh hinterland but with coastal links to other parts of south Wales and southwest England, it developed its own Gower dialect of English.
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In 1535, the Act of Union resulted in the Lordship of Gower becoming part of the historic county of Glamorgan with the southwest part becoming the hundred of Swansea.
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Agriculture remains important to the area with tourism playing an ever-increasing role in the local economy. The peninsula has a Championship status golf course at Fairwood Park just off Fairwood Common, which twice hosted the Welsh PGA Championships in the 1990s. Meanwhile, the Gower Golf Club at Three Crosses hosts the West Wales Open, a two-day tournament on Wales' professional golf tour, the Dragon Tour. Gower is part of the Swansea travel to work area.
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There are six castles on the Gower Peninsula: Landimore Castle—also known as Bovehill Castle—Oystermouth Castle, Oxwich Castle, Pennard Castle, Penrice Castle, Weobley Castle and numerous cairns and standing stones.
Four beaches have Blue Flag beach and Seaside (2006) awards for their high standards: Bracelet Bay, Caswell Bay, Langland Bay and Port Eynon Bay. Five other beaches have been given the Green Coast Award 2005 for "natural, unspoiled environment": Rhossili Bay, Mewslade Bay, Tor Bay, Pwll Du Bay, and Limeslade Bay.[13]
Other beaches: