On this page you will find information about RLS’s visit to Wales with his parents in September of 1874.
Barmouth
“How are you? I am pretty well. Papa is pretty well. Mama is pretty well. Here we are again. If you suppose that the above is written out of high spirits – you are WRONG. I have been hearing hymns sung in the sitting room (it is Sunday). O damn them, they have put my soul under great waters”
(Letter from RLS to Sidney Colvin, 13 September 1874, from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, ed. by Bradford A. Booth and Ernest Mehew, vol ii [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995], p. 52)
RLS and his parents visited Barmouth from 9 -16 September 1874. On the 16th, they visited Cors-y-Gedol, a mansion 6 miles away. Stevenson’s letters from this period (for example, see above) indicate that he was finding this holiday a little trying.
Llandudno
“A cold, bleak place of stucco villas with wide streets to let the wind in at you. A beautiful journey coming hither”
(Letter from RLS to Fanny Sitwell, 17 September 1874, from The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, ed. by Bradford A. Booth and Ernest Mehew, vol ii [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995], p. 53)
After leaving Barmouth, Stevenson and his parents visited Llandudno, a seaside resort. The Stevensons were in Llandudno from 17 – 23 September 1874.