Why ‘Y Goeden Eirin’?

As a former cowshed, the building obviously had no name, but there was a plum tree growing in the garden, and that reminded us of the fact that the writer from Groeslon, John Gwilym Jones, had published a remarkable volume of short stories with the title Y Goeden Eirin, and an English translation is now available from Seren, entitled The Plum Tree. John Gwilym Jones was alive at the time, and something of a hero as well as a personal friend, so we decided to name our house after his book. By now there are four plum trees growing here. To reinforce the connection we commissioned the artist Sir Kyffin Williams to paint an oil portrait of him, and that picture now hangs in the dining room.