George Shakespeare

By the 18th century, Llansteffan was on the tourist trail, attracting the artist, the antiquary and the romantic in search of the picturesque. The vogue for sea-bathing added to its attractions and the village expanded to accommodate visitors, especially after 1852, when the railway reached Carmarthen and the ferry was kept busy bringing passengers arriving at Ferryside Railway Station across the Tywi. Whole terraces of houses went up on the Green, including Stratford Villas and Cottages, built by George Shakespear of Grove House.
A number of gentry houses were adding elegance to the village. Laques, which belonged to a cadet branch of the Lloyds, had been transformed in stages from the 17th century onwards into a fine mansion. The Plas was rebuilt in 1788 by Hugh Meares, who inherited it indirectly through a Lloyd heiress. Morris, the bankers, built the Cottage. Robert Parnall built Hill House and his brother Henry, Orchard House. Throughout the village, houses were up-graded after 1882, when the Laques estate was sold off in lots.