Saturday, July 18, 2009

what we did on our holidays

A few brief highlights from our week in Pembrokeshire with Hazel's family, photographic accompaniment to which can be found here.
  • We stayed (10 of us) in a converted farmhouse in Upper Haroldston, just a couple of miles south of Haverfordwest. Which is a coincidence, because I have a Ford, and went west in it to get there, hahahahaha. Please yourselves. Anyway, handy location, plenty of room, nice patio and garden out the back, and a games room with dart board and snooker table, plus a kitchen with a table big enough to get 12 people round, plus wi-fi internet access, so thumbs up all round.
  • There is a 9-hole golf course down the road - mainly par 3's, and fairly basic facilities, but at four quid a head no-one's going to be complaining.
  • We visited Newgale beach which I last went to on family holidays when I was about 2 years old. The big shingle bank at the back of the beach rang some bells, but that's about it.
  • We also climbed up Foel Cwmcerwyn, which is the highest point in Pembrokeshire at 536 metres (1759 feet), and thus qualifies as another entry on my list of county tops. You'll remember I alluded to someone having already written a book on the subject - well, it seems people are queueing up to mock my pitiful achievements in this area. But, anyway, Foel Cwmcerwyn is quite nice, though not particularly demanding. There is a trig point at the top, too, which is nice. There is also a place called Beddarthur nearby which is one of many places which claims to be the burial place of King Arthur. I think we found it while we were up there, though one pile of rocks looks very much like another, to be honest. We parked up in the village of Rosebush, which slightly oddly despite being absolutely tiny appears to have two post offices, and even more oddly one of them appears to double up as a bistro while the other doubles up as a cheese shop.
  • We visited St. David's, whose claim to fame is being the smallest city in the UK. And sure enough apart from the cathedral, the ruined Bishop's Palace next to it and various tea shops there isn't much else there, so as it was a nice day we went over to the beach at Whitesands Bay for the obligatory beach cricket and ice cream consumption.
  • Finally we visited Pemberton's Chocolate Farm, where we had various edifying lectures on the history and manufacture of chocolate before cutting to the chase and getting to eat some. And very nice too.

2 comments:

Emma said...

Ray and I drove through Newgale village some years ago. We had a cup of builders' tea in a caff. I can't remember whether I was able to pinpoint the cottage we used to stay in - probably not.

electrichalibut said...

Might see if Mum & Dad know - my vague recollection is that it was up on a hill somewhere with a view of the coast, but it may have been bulldozed by now for all I know.