The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
20 of the best things to do in Pembrokeshire
Paul Bloomfield discovers a world of activities, from hiking, birdwatching and coasteering to foraging, wine-tasting and sampling local ales
SPOT SEABIRDS ON SKOMER With its candy-striped beak and oversized red feet, the puffin has the demeanour of an apologetic clown. And the antics: ungainly in the air, it’s positively calamitous when landing. Yet these avian entertainers, so comical individually, are mesmerising in numbers – and from April to July, you can encounter more than 20,000 of them in the breeding colony on Skomer. Visitors in early summer will also see hundreds of thousands of Manx shearwaters, plus guillemots, gannets and razorbills, and from August the fluffy white pups of grey seals. Visitor numbers are limited, and advance bookings essential.
Boat fare and landing fee £40; pembrokeshire-islands.co.uk
STROLL THE SHORE
The Pembrokeshire Coast Path – Wales’s first National Trail, which opened in 1970 – covers 186 miles around the entire seaboard between Amroth and St Dogmaels, revealing en route the region’s extraordinary natural beauty and diversity. Following this undulating path – completers conquer an Everest-worth of ascents – you’ll traverse bluebell woods, dunes and wildflowerfestooned sea cliffs. You’ll also encounter castles and prehistoric monuments, Britain’s smallest city and more than 100 beaches: broad sandy swathes, remote coves and surfer’s playgrounds such as Freshwater West and Newgale. Celtic Trails’ self-guided trips range from two-night tasters ( from £230pp) to the full trail ( from £1,320pp); celtictrailswalkingholidays.co.uk
STEP BACK IN
TIME – BAREFOOT
Before the Normans, before the Vikings and even before the Romans, this craggy corner of Britain was the homeland of the Celtic Demetae tribe. For a taste of daily life 2,000 years ago, explore the reconstructed Iron Age roundhouses at Castell Henllys hillfort, where costumed re-enactors explain the nitty (and very) gritty of ancient survival with demonstrations of spinning, dyeing, weaving, grinding grain and basket-making, plus singing, storytelling and weaponry. It’s all delightfully hands-on – and, from this year, feet-on, thanks to a new barefoot riverside trail. Pre-booked three-hour slots £4.50 adults, £3 children; castellhenllys.com
LEAP INTO COASTEERING The idea of “coastal mountaineering” is simple enough: clamber up lofty rocks, leap into foaming waves below, repeat until exhilarated and exhausted. Yet coasteering, which evolved on the cliffs around St Davids in the mid1980s, is a surprisingly varied experience, combining climbing, body-surfing, cave-exploring, rockpooling and wildlife-watching with a healthy dollop of self-confidence boosting. It’s best enjoyed in its birthplace along Pembrokeshire’s craggy shores with an experienced outfit such as Preseli Venture.
Half-day coasteering adventures start from £52; £235 for weekends including equipment, guides and ( for weekends) full-board accommodation; preseliventure.co.uk
FORAGE
FLAVOURS
Pembrokeshire’s shoreline is an ample al-fresco larder, yielding all the ingredients for a wild feast – if you know what to look for, and where. One man who does is Craig Evans; join him on a coastal foraging course and you’ll go to beaches and dunes, rocky coves, saltmarsh and estuary, harvesting the best of each ecosystem’s littoral bounty – clams and oysters, crabs and prawns, an aquarium’s worth of fish – and cooking it on his portable stove. The vegan menu is extensive, too, with samphire and sea spinach, purslane and pennywort. Work up your appetite first on a stroll peppered with local history, geology and marine biology.
From £80pp; coastalforaging.co.uk
PLAY KING OR QUEEN
OF THE CASTLE
Fortifications litter the coast and countryside of south-west Wales: Pembroke’s hulking bastion, the hilltop bishop’s palace of Llawhaden Castle, Cilgerran Castle’s romantic ruins and mighty Manorbier. The pick of the crop is Carew Castle, where activities lead young (and not-so young) historians on an entertaining canter through 20 centuries of battles and bloodshed. Explore the stronghold’s Norman, later medieval and Tudor structures – slighted during the Civil War – within the footprint of an Iron Age hillfort, and spare time for a spot of crabbing from the tidal mill causeway.
Entry £6.50 adults, £4.50 children; carewcastle.com
DIVE INTO WILD SWIMMING If you’re among Britain’s burgeoning legions of wild swimmers, the prospect of striking out from an isolated Pembrokeshire cove, past rock stacks and hauled-out seals, is a tempting one. But a dip in a placid local pool is one thing; taking the plunge into the Atlantic is a very different but hugely rewarding challenge. Learn to handle cold water, currents, waves and tides with experienced instructors in the sheltered waters of newly revamped Wild Lakes Wales near Narberth. Wild Swim Wales offers introductory courses and coaching, plus open-sea sessions in favourite coastal haunts.
From £12 (discounts for block-bookings); wildswim.wales
DISCOVER BRITAIN’S SMALLEST CITY
Tucked into a secluded dimple on its namesake peninsula, St Davids Cathedral (stdavidscathedral. org.uk) is deliberately low-rise; its recessive location chosen by that eponymous 6th-century founder to conceal it from Saxon raiders. But while this purplish sandstone edifice may lack stature, it’s certainly not short of beauty or charisma: the Norman Romanesque arches, choir and exquisite 16th-century oak ceiling are simply luminous. Elsewhere in this diminutive but captivating city, discover the Gothic ruins of the Bishop’s Palace, the outstanding Oriel y Parc Gallery (pembrokeshirecoast.wales/oriel-y-parc) and a handful of streets lined with tempting cafés, pubs and craft shops.
PICNIC AND PADDLE
WITH WILDLIFE
Meet Pembrokeshire’s diverse and delightful animal inhabitants at the Welsh Wildlife Centre, which offers a family-friendly introduction to the region’s habitats and creatures. Follow flat walking trails and new boardwalks through Teifi Marshes Nature Reserve, pausing at hides to spot hunting peregrines, kingfishers, dragonflies and lithe otters fishing and frolicking in the waterways. Settle in with a picnic to watch grazing water buffalo and native wildlife, or join a guided paddle along the Teifi gorge with Heritage Canoes (£35 adults, £25 children; heritagecanoes.squarespace.com).
Wildlife Centre open Wednesday to Sunday, free; welshwildlife.org
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PLAY UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS
Whispers of past lives echo along the corridors of Scolton Manor, a neoclassical country pile furnished as if the Higgon family – whose home this was for nearly a century and a half – just stepped out for a moment. For glimpses of Victorian life above and below stairs, visit the nursery, study and dining room, where the table is set ready for the meal being prepared in the kitchen beneath. Make time to explore the surrounding estate’s 60 acres of wildliferich parkland and bluebell woods, admire the Victorian walled garden and exhibitions on traditional rural life, and visit the Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre.
Museum entry £3.50 adults, £2.35 children; visitpembrokeshire.com 11
TASTE TRADITIONAL LAVERBREAD
You might think, after the tsunami of breadmaking unleashed by lockdown, that you know all there is to know on the topic. Think again: the famed laverbread of west Wales isn’t a baked delight but seaweed, boiled for hours, chopped and dried or rolled in oatmeal and fried. Harvest your own algae at Freshwater West beach, beloved of families, surfers and film location scouts – look for something akin to shredded black plastic clinging to rocks. Or simply order a laver-laden treat (with a dollop of “kelp-chup”) at Café Môr, a solar-powered seaweedkitchen food truck housed in a converted fishing boat. beachfood.co.uk
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SNIFF HEAVEN’S SCENT
Not all spiritual journeys are long and arduous: the sea crossing from Tenby to Caldey, Pembrokeshire’s holy island, takes just 20 minutes. Stroll around this compact isle to discover the remains of the medieval priory, including St Illtyd’s Church and its Ogham stone dating from the 6th century and the foundation of Caldey’s first Celtic monastery. You can also encounter the small community of Cistercian monks who continue the order’s traditional lifestyle of prayer, study and work, growing flowers with which they produce internationally famed perfume. Boats make the crossing frequently Monday to Saturday.
Open Easter to October; £14 adults, £8 children; caldeyislandwales.com
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CATCH THE BUG
Dr Sarah Beynon is a woman on a mission: to show that all creatures small are great. Her Bug Farm near St Davids is a childcharming showcase for insects and other invertebrates, featuring a museum, tropical bug zoo and British bug house, plus insights into conservation farming projects. More engaging still are the many immersive elements. Follow trails through the site’s wetland, wildflower meadow and bug farm to learn about these important insect habitats, then grab lunch at the Grub Kitchen, where squeamish eaters are eased into sustainable, eco-friendly entomophagy – cricket falafel, anyone? Events and bug-handling sessions should resume soon. Entry £7 adult, £4.50 children; thebugfarm.co.uk
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GET A SENSE OF PORPOISE The nutrient-rich seas around St Bride’s Bay and St Davids Head attract a wealth of marine and avian life, from peregrines, choughs and seabirds nesting on Ramsey Island’s 120m-high cliffs to seals and cetaceans that throng surrounding waters. Board a boat from St Davids and head through Ramsey Sound – home to a resident population of harbour porpoises – to Grassholm, a rocky outcrop hosting thousands of breeding gannets, and on to the Celtic Deep to watch for dol