If you’re welsh, you know what it is. If you have a welsh friend, you know what it is. Probably even if you’ve watched Gavin and Stacey, you know what it is. You’ve probably heard that there’s no English equivalent to the word. Apparently, the nearest you can get to it is ‘safe place’. I know what they mean, but that’s not it. It is kind of a hug, but not really (for a start, I am of the opinion that you can never have a rude cwtch but a hug might lead to something…). I asked my mum (mammy if there’s no-one else listening) how she would describe it and she said, “Like when I used to get you out of the bath when you were little and the towel was all warm and I wrapped you in it and you snuggled up in my neck. That’s a cwtch.” Mums always nail it (ta mammy).
Cwtch is a perfect word for those of us all caught up in weddings, all that implied warmth and love. The rambling reason I’m talking about it today is because I saw these beautiful little hideaways when I was supposed to be writing a communications plan yesterday. I’ve got a soft spot for hidey-holes far where you can hunker down from the madding crowd, and the name swung it. I want one…
http://www.cwtchcamping.co.uk/about-cwtch.html