The Gower Legend That Became a Picture Book 🧚🏻

Back in March, I shared the story of the Verry Folk, Gower fairies said to have buried Pennard Castle in sand after its lord drove them out of his wedding feast with swords drawn.

That same morning, a reader replied - Michelle Burridge, headteacher at Ynystawe Primary School, had been turning that same legend into a beautiful children’s picture book.

Seven months on, A Legend of Fae, Sand & Fire, written under her pen name Rhian Gwen and illustrated by Pembrokeshire artist Rhiannon Thomas, is finished.

This week, Michelle tells us about how the book came to be, finding an illustrator through a dragon painting, and why she wants Swansea's children to become "Keepers of the Legends."

Catch you on Sunday!

Andrew.

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Michelle spent years leading literacy in schools, and writing her own children's books had always been a dream. Four years ago, a discovery finally pushed her to start.

Writing became "an important part of my healing," she says, alongside time spent in nature. Her first books were written to help children and families talk about grief, and she raised enough money to give away hundreds of free copies through local charities.

Michelle’s walks often led her to the clifftops above Three Cliffs Bay, and to the story she'd always wanted to tell.

Michelle lives in Pennard, and the castle has always pulled at her. "There's something about Pennard Castle clinging to the edge above Three Cliffs Bay that makes you stop and wonder," she says. "It's breathtakingly beautiful, but it also feels mysterious."

She has taught children about their local myths and legends in every school she's worked in, and wanted the book to do the same for the castle.

Regular readers will know the traditional tale: a wedding feast at the castle, the Tylwyth Teg found dancing to tiny harps, a lord who rushes at them with his sword, and a storm that buries the castle in sand carried over from Ireland in a single night.

Michelle has kept the bones of the story, but turned it into "a rhyming adventure about a broken promise, betrayal, revenge and dragon fire."

She's also brought in some new characters: a dragon, the mysterious Lady of the Water, and one of her favourites, the Gwrach y Rhibyn, said to haunt the castle. The Gwrach y Rhibyn, or Hag of the Mist, is a winged witch from Welsh folklore, said to attack anyone who dares to spend the night inside the castle walls, while the Lady of the Water comes from the Gwragedd Annwn, the water maidens of Welsh folklore said to live beneath lakes.

Michelle grew up in the Llynfi Valley near Maesteg, where she was fascinated by the Mari Lwyd and "stories of the bwganod said to haunt local farms."

The Mari Lwyd, usually translated as "grey mare", is an old Welsh midwinter tradition that's especially strong in this part of south Wales. A horse's skull, decorated with ribbons and draped in a white sheet, is carried door to door on a pole around Christmas and New Year, its jaw snapping at anyone who gets too close. At each house, the party carrying it trades rhyming insults with those inside, and if the householders run out of replies, the Mari is let in for food and drink. Llangynwyd, just outside Maesteg, is one of the places that has kept the custom going.

Bwganod, meanwhile, are the bogeymen and spooks that turn up in old Welsh farmhouse tales.

While researching the book, Michelle found that Gower is just as rich in them. There's the Ceffyl Dŵr, a water horse linked to Oxwich Bay, said to lure travellers onto its back before vanishing into the water. And there are the Tylwyth Teg, who could be mischievous as well as vengeful.

Stories like these gave her "the freedom to combine local folklore with my own imagination," and she's included some of the real history in the book so families can explore the legends and landscape alongside her story.

A picture book depends on its illustrations, and Michelle found hers by chance when she came across Rhiannon Thomas's dragon paintings on Instagram. "I sent her a message, and the rest is history," she says.

Michelle wanted illustrations "with texture, atmosphere and a strong connection to the natural landscape." Rhiannon, a Pembrokeshire fine artist with a love of ancient stones, mythology and the Fae, understood straight away. Michelle has been sharing videos of the illustrations taking shape on her Instagram.

She hopes the detail will keep families coming back to the book, "noticing something different on every reading."

In the classroom, Michelle has seen how one story can change the way a child sees a place. A castle, a beach or an old tree suddenly "becomes somewhere to explore and imagine," she explains. Spoken stories can bring generations together too, encouraging children to talk to older relatives and discover tales that might otherwise go unheard. They also give families a reason to get outdoors and away from screens.

To help, Michelle is putting together a teaching pack and lesson plans for schools, so children can dig up the stories of their own area and use them to create art, characters and new legends. As she puts it, "I want this book to be the beginning of their wondering."

Getting the book this far meant a lot of learning. Michelle taught herself InDesign and got to grips with bleed, trim sizes, paper choices and dust jackets. Then she had to find a printer good enough to do justice to Rhiannon's artwork.

To print it as a proper hardback with a dust jacket, she's launched a Kickstarter with a £2,500 target. If it's exceeded, she plans to fund a Welsh-language edition and donate copies to local schools and libraries.

Rewards include signed hardbacks, stickers, lesson plans, a folklore trail map and a booklet that teaches children to draw like Rhiannon. You can also donate a copy to a child or a school, or have your name printed in the first print run as a "Keeper of the Legends". Six families will get a folklore walk and storytelling session with Michelle at Pennard Castle.

You can back the book on Kickstarter, and follow Michelle at lovinglightspublishing.com and @lovinglightstoriesandhealing on Instagram. Her next book, Earth School, is out before Christmas. You can see more of Rhiannon's work at rhiannonthomas.com.

Big thanks to Michelle for sharing her story!

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