Witness: Welsh Election Campaign - The only black candidate in Wales

THERE'S A feeling that Monmouth, a county of rolling hills, workaday farms and tidy market towns, is on a see-saw. Part of Wales, yes. But so close to the border that some pupils at local schools live in England, while people in Chepstow and Monmouth town commute to work in Gloucester and Bristol.

Like any no man's land, Monmouth has long been fought over - bloodily in days gone by and more recently by warring political parties. One of the crucial battles in next month's election to the National Assembly for Wales is being played there with added brio.

Cherry Short, the Labour standard bearer, is the only black or Asian candidate competing for one of the 40 first-past-the-post seats in the 60-member body: the only black candidate, indeed, with a chance in any of the elections in either Wales or Scotland. Two others in Wales, an Iraqi-born academic and a former black student leader, who came through the vetting procedure, are on the party lists for the other 20 "top up" seats, too low down to have a chance of winning.

A tall, handsome woman, Cherry Short is at ease pounding the pavements to press Labour's case. It's a long way from Jamaica, where she was born 46 years ago. But the Caribbean town of Manchester that she swapped for Wales in 1962, is not too unlike Abergavenny, Monmouth and Chepstow, she says. Agriculture - sheep rather than sugar cane - is the link.

Ms Short has Welsh connections. "My father comes from Anglesey Quaker stock. He met my mother when he was living in the USA. I came to Wales at an early age and lived with friends and went to school here. I am decidedly not a one-issue politician."

In other words she is pure New Labour. The mother of sons aged 25 and 10 ("I have experienced the personal difficulties of combining a working life with that of being a mother"), she holds an MSc in women's studies and a BSc in social administration. A member of the Government's task force for the "Welfare to Work" and "New Deal" programmes in Wales, she sits on industrial tribunals and has been chair of the standing conference on race in Europe (Wales) for the past five years.She is married to Christopher Short, the former chairman of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Wales.

Monmouth is the birthplace of Henry V. A statue of the victor of Agincourt overlooks a square named after the victor of the 1415 battle in which Welsh longbow men demonstrated the awesome power of a weapon capable of delivering the 15th century equivalent of a cruise missile.

It has swung hither and thither since a parliamentary by-election in 1991 when Huw Edwards snatched the seat from the Tories. It reverted to blue in 1992. On 1 May 1997, Edwards was back with a majority of 4,178. That cushion is not sufficiently plump for Labour to feel complacent.

In the 1997 referendum Monmouth voted against devolution by 2-1. That makes the contenders' task all the harder. However as polling day approaches scepticism is tinged with a "let's make the best of it" attitude.

Howard Hancocks a third generation master butcher is blunt: "We didn't want an assembly. But now we have got one I expect I'll vote on 6 May. Who for? I'm still making up my mind." His shop promotes British, not Welsh, meat.

Monmouth's ethnic population is minute. Irma Fingal-Rock, born in Dominica 50 years ago, came to Wales in 1970. She runs a delicatessen with her partner Tom Innes and is enthusiastic: "It's wonderful to find a black woman candidate here."

Happiness is not uppermost in Bill Williams's mind. A party member for more than half a century, he is upset. "A lot of things about the Government worry me. Especially the war in Yugoslavia. But I'll still vote Labour next month," he says.

When she lived in Finchley, Wendy Vijendran voted for Margaret Thatcher. Now her home is in Penrhose, a hamlet buried in the countryside, and she has undergone a change of heart. "I must be the only person in my tiny community who voted for Glenys Kinnock in the European Elections and I'm going to vote Labour next month," she says.

In the spring sunshine, Monmouth wears a jaunty air. A statue of one of its famous sons, Charles Rolls, the co-founder of Rolls-Royce, looks down on the passing scene. Antique shops and a cavernous second-hand books emporium jostle with cafes, run-of-the-mill retailers and an upmarket jeweller.

Charity shops appear vaguely upmarket. Estate agents, digesting the latest interest rate cut, have few properties on offer for less than pounds 60,000 and a number at more than pounds 250,000.

Country juxtaposes with town in the columns of the weekly Monmouthshire Beacon (established October 1837). Cesspit emptiers advertise for custom, and the front page carries a story trailing a meeting to discuss the low rate of salmon spawning on the Wye which is said to threaten the species' survival.

The sheer size of the constituency adds intrigue. The southern boundary touches the M4, with London less than two hour's drive away.

Thirty-odd miles north, a network of minor roads criss-cross between Wales and England. Only dyed-in-the-wool local drivers know whether they are in Herefordshire or the county of Monmouth. Three ancient fortifications - White Castle, Skenfrith Castle and Grosmont Castle - dating from the 12th century dominate the terrain. The Normans knew a thing or two about defence in depth. They built the strong points in a strategic triangle so that any one under threat could be supported by the others.

The assembly battle is a straight joust, not a triangular or quadrilateral contest. The head-to-head is between Ms Short and the Tory, David Davies, who works for the family tea importing business and campaigned hard for a no vote in the referendum.

Nationalism is almost dead in Monmouth. Plaid Cymru was bottom of the poll two years ago, and in the 1991 by-election the party collected fewer votes than Screaming Lord Sutch. With only 1 in 50 speaking Welsh that is not surprising, but nationalists are quick to point out that in the north-west of Wales, where the ancient tongue is the first language of two-thirds of the people, Plaid is making waves.

Like her Westminster namesake, Clare, Ms Short speaks plainly: "Wales has to recognise its diversity. As well as black and Asian communities there are small but significant numbers of Italians who opened cafes in the valleys when coal mining was at its peak earlier this century. Spaniards fleeing from Franco settled here. Poles came to work in the pits and if you look hard enough there's an Irish flavour to Holyhead, a couple of hours from Dublin."

She says she has a dual mandate and can represent both Monmouth and the wider mixed ethnic communities.

The area has its own diversities. Monmouth town mayor Maureen Roach wears her chain of office as proudly as she speaks of attractions that lure tourists by the thousand. All tastes she says are catered for - hang-gliding, angling, the castles, the 13th century bridge over the Monnow, the deer farm near Raglan where Desmond McElney's vineyard produces wine to complement the venison.

Food buffs, not to mention London-based restaurant critics, are spoilt for choice. The Walnut Tree, outside Abergavenny, rates highly across the world. The Black Bear, near Usk, and The Crown, at Whitebrook in the Wye Valley, are also among the top tastes.

But the next few weeks will provide food for thought rather than local dishes such as poached Usk salmon and Llanover salt duck. And behind the gentle image of an area that to the casual observer is just another bucolic heaven, something stirs. With Cherry Short on the campaign trail and a close fight in prospect, Monmouth is heading to become more than an everyday story of country folk.