Pembrokeshire
What a wonderful property! Secure for the dogs and heaps of space inside and out, at the bottom of a steep, narrow hill, not far to anywhere with a plethora of dog-friendly beaches within a few minutes’ drive. There was a strange but not unpleasant smell in the air and venturing out we found the culprit everywhere - wild garlic!
Broad Haven South beach was where we ventured first thing the next morning. With it being May there were very few people there so Coco, Dora and Pablo ran themselves ragged. Broad Haven, a wide sandy bay, is sat at the edge of Stackpole Estate and is backed by dunes that lead from National Trust owned Bosherston Lakes where we headed for our evening walk, right round the Lily Ponds, across the bridge, through woodland, what a beautiful place.
Sunday at Carew Castle & Tidal Mill was fairly quiet so plenty of opportunity to wander round, learning some of the history and enjoying the views before delicious coffee at the busy café. Following a relaxing afternoon, we headed down to West Angle Bay beach, located at the western end of Castlemartin peninsula. A great walk for us and the dogs loved tearing up and down the beach and splashing in the shallow water. You can’t go to the seaside and not have fish & chips! We found a cracking chippy in Tenby and sat on the front devouring our lunch, hungry after hours on the beach and wandering around the pretty town, sat on the clifftop enjoying the view. Then a bit more mooching around inside the town walls before crashing out back at The Last Barn, exhausted!
Several times we’d driven past a church that’s steeple was the only part visible from the road, so we decided to have a recce and found St Daniel’s Church, one of the oldest churches in the area, no longer in use, and just over half a mile from Pembroke Castle. The view from the lane down over Pembroke was amazing. The cemetery was completely overgrown and I can imagine it would be pretty spooky in the dark or fog! On the way back we also visited Stackpole Walled Gardens which is managed by the trustees of Pembrokeshire Mencap with impressive results.
Our penultimate full day saw us headed to the city of St Davids, Britain’s smallest city, with its stunning cathedral and ruined Bishop’s Palace. St Davids should be on everyone’s bucket list, it is truly amazing, chock full of history, some parts dating back over 1400 years, ancient relics and beauty everywhere you turn. We stayed far longer than originally planned and will definitely revisit next time we’re down that way. Just up the road at Abereiddi is the Blue Lagoon, formed after the flooding of a disused slate mine. A great place for kayaking and coasteering although with our 3 dogs we had to stick with dry land! Well worth the detour before heading back to base. And, as if we hadn’t been busy enough that day, we ended up on Freshwater West beach to give the dogs a run and visit Dobby’s grave.
Our final day in Pembrokeshire was spent back in Tenby and we’d booked a boat trip on Island Ranger taking in some of Pembrokeshire’s most dramatic offshore islands, cruising the famous pirate Paul Jones’s bay now frequented by the local seal colony before crossing to the protected bird reserve of St Margaret’s Island. The imposing Cathedral Caverns loomed in the distance, towering over the boat as she drew closer. At the base of these caverns are thousands of resident and visiting birds including puffins, razorbills, cormorants and gannets. Seeing Tenby from the water was a splendid end to the trip and, of course, we then headed straight back to the chippy, bagging the same clifftop seats to watch the world go by. We had a great time in Pembrokeshire and could have crammed in a lot more. We came back via the stunning Brecon Beacons in glorious sunshine – so that looks like a great place for a future holiday!