In this chapter of R.D. Blackmore’s The Maid of Sker, the shifting sands of the Glamorgan coast become both setting and symbol. What once seemed solid ground gives way to treacherous sand-holes, reflecting the uncertainty and danger that life by the sea could bring. The narrator’s experiences here capture both the beauty and the peril of the South Wales shoreline — a landscape that could nurture, but just as easily betray.

Blackmore’s vivid descriptions root the story firmly in Kenfig and Porthcawl, where dunes, sands, and sea have shaped centuries of local history.

For listeners in Porthcawl, Kenfig, and the surrounding area, this episode is another chance to hear your own landscape immortalised in a Victorian novel long out of print, now brought back to life.