Pembrokeshire - Britain's Coastal National Park

  • The Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, a National Trail, is 186 miles long. It starts at Amroth and ends at Poppit or Poppit to Amroth depending on where you start!! There are three national trails in Wales, The Pembrokeshire Coast Path, Offas Dyke and Glyndwrs Way.
    The year round Coastal Bus Services are specially designed for walkers. Travel by bus a few miles down the coast and walk back at your own pace. For timetables, go to www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/coastbus (opens new window) There are also plenty of smaller circular walks. The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park list 130 of them on their web site. Go to www.pembrokeshirecoast.org.uk/walking (opens new window) 
  • Pembrokeshire environment is so unique and unspoilt that it was one of the first areas in Britain to be given National Park status in 1952. Since then tourism and other developments have been designed to sit harmoniously within that environment, both on land and at sea. The National Park covers a third of Pembrokeshire including most of the coastal strip.
  • No part of Pembrokeshire is further than 15 miles from the sea.
  • St David's is the smallest city in Britain and the spiritual capital of Wales.
  • The Bluestones at Stonehenge are thought to have come from the Preseli Hills.
  • Generations of artists and craftspeople have found inspiration within Pembrokeshire, and you can see this in the many galleries, potteries and other craft centres throughout the region.
  • Look out for the Pembrokeshire Produce sign in hotels, cafes and restaurants. It indicates that they use quality locally produced ingredients.
  • Castell Henllys, a reconstruction Iron Age hill fort near Newport, run by the National Park, provides an insight into the Celtic way of life.
  • In the Preseli Hills in North Pembrokeshire lies the entrance to the Celtic underworld, Annwn, or so legend has it.
  • The areas rich Celtic legacy later mingled with a strong early Christian influence - saints such as St Non, St David and St Justinian were drawn to the area and St David's Cathedral is their most enduring legacy.
  • The Landsker line from Amroth to Newgale was an invisible boundary joining a line of small castles, separating Norman and Welsh lands. The Landsker still marks a cultural divide between Welsh and English speaking people today.
  • Pembroke, Carew and Manorbier are all very different styles of Norman castle. Each has an absorbing tale to tell.
  • Llawhaden, Haverfordwest and Cilgerran castles are worth a visit too.
  • Tenby has its medieval town walls, Tudor Merchants House and a wealth of historic buildings.
  • The failed last invasion of mainland Britain, by a force of French conscripts, took place near Fishguard in 1797 and is commemorated in Fishguard by a skilfully-crafted tapestry.

Pembrokeshire has the best beaches in Britain. No other region has so many Blue Flag beaches, Green Coast Awards or Seaside Award beaches and they range from lively resort beaches to vast unspoilt stretches of sand in spectacular rural locations.

    

   

There's plenty to do! 

Pembrokeshire offers one of the best outdoor Leisure Centres in Europe where you'll find some of the best environments with fantastic scenery for a dozen or more adventurous activities, whether it's climbing or kayaking, windsurfing or scuba diving, sailing or surfing. 

For full details of attractions/activities go to www.visitpembrokeshire.com and click on places to visit or activities

Relax in the peace and tranquillity of Pembrokeshire

Be sure to visit at least one of Pembrokeshire islands. Caldey, just across the water from Rebleen, with its monastic charms, great beach, seabirds and seals.Skomer with puffins, Manx Shearwaters and profusion of spring flowers and Ramsey for seals, seabirds and, if you're lucky porpoises. Stay overnight on Skomer to witness one of the wonders of nature as thousands (150,000pairs) of Manx Shearwaters return to their burrows under the cover of darkness.

Come in May or early June for puffins and carpets of coastal flowers. Visit in September or October to see seal pups on isolated beaches. Plan a winter trip for cosy pubs, stormy seas and bracing beach walks. Christmas shopping for locally produced quality crafts can be a bonus too.