The Wild West

Famed for its coastal beauty, the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire is also steeped in history, from spectacular castles to the birthplace of the Tudor dynasty.

- Sally Hales

The sea dominates life in Pembrokeshire. This westerly outpost of Wales reaching out into the Celtic Sea is famed for its beauty: its beaches rank among the world’s best, while the renowned coast path allows unfettered access to its wild headlands, rocky peninsulas, fishing villages, quays, amazing wildlife and more. Yet while a third of the county is designated as Britain’s only coastal national park, that’s far from the whole story.

In fact, Pembrokeshire is a place packed with history every bit as spectacular as its scenery. It is home to more than 50 castles, mysterious prehistoric tombs and Celtic religious shrines – it’s even the birthplace of the Tudors. The county is also characterised by contrast, from the castle-dappled southern lowlands (known as “Little England Beyond Wales”), to the rocky Preseli Mountains in the Welsh-speaking highlands of the north.

With a population of just 2,000 and sitting at the most westerly point, St Davids – Britain’s smallest city – is not only an ideal place to get a taste of this contrast, but it’s also a cultural feast in itself. At its heart is a purple-stoned cathedral built on the site of St David’s 6th-century monastery. St David, the patron Saint of Wales, was buried here in 588 and his tomb can still be seen in the current 13th-century cathedral’s chapel of the Holy Trinity. It has been a hugely important religious site for centuries, as historically it was believed that two pilgrimages to St Davids was the equivalent of one to Rome.