I've been wallowing in nostalgia,flicking through Nita Sybil Evans'shandwritten cookery book. At one time, Nita lived in Llangendeirne, Carmarthenshire. Later, the familymoved a few miles toCarmarthen, where her fatherwas a chapel minister.

Llangendeirne lies cradled in the folds of the Gwendraeth Fach Valley. The 1676 Hearth Returns show there were one hundred and two households in the area.

Iolo Morgannwg, writing in 1796, called it: 'the best village that I have ever seen in this county'.

The 1851 Census Return shows that the rural population was heavily dependent on agriculture.

Three annual cattle and pig fairs enlivened the year, untilthey ceased during the nineteenth century.

Even into the twentieth century, Llangendeirne remained an isolated community. Cooks kept a well-stocked larderand relied on their skills to produce good food. Cookery recipes were highly prized.

Nita's Christmas cake recipes begin in 1927, enriched with butter and eggs and fortified with brandy or wine.

In 1946, the year following World War 11, she hasgleaned a recipe froma newspaper. Containingmore dried fruit than her previous cakes, it lacks alcohol. Such a shame!

I lived in Carmarthen in the late 1940's and we ordered our cake in the 'Cunliffe Bakery'in Water Street.

It was magicallookingat therows of pristine white cakes, decorated with fierce robin redbreasts, bottle-brush trees and silver bells, the cake boundand circled with scarlet ribbons. A gold foil 'Nadolig Llawen' gleamedfrom the centre of eachcake.

I lived three miles from Llangendeirne, at one time, and my mind often strays that way at Christmas time.

Llangendeirne Church has three bells dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth century. On Christmas morning they ring a joy-peal that floats across the valley.One of the bells has an inscription carrying the true message of Christmas-time: 'Peace and good neighbourhood'.