If you are looking for a location for a family seaside holiday, Pembrokeshire should be on your radar. Its magnificent coastline – nearly 200 miles, under national park protection and fringed by a coastal path – has everything from surf-pounded beaches to dramatic, craggy cliffs and offshore island nature reserves.
In this regard, Pembrokeshire's appeal is much the same as that of Cornwall. But it is less expensive and far less gentrified than the West Country; fancy hotels and gastro pubs, for example, are very thin on the ground in this south-west corner of Wales. It also feels significantly less crowded: at the last count, Pembrokeshire's resident population was a mere 114,000 and it receives only a quarter the number of holidaymakers that pile down to Cornwall.
Here is my selection of some of the best places for families to stay. I have visited all the accommodation in the past few weeks, and have stayed at each of the recommended hotels.
The lie of the land
Pembrokeshire's coast can be divided into three distinct parts. By far the busiest is the south, where the focal point is Tenby. With excellent beaches, pastel-coloured Georgian houses surrounding its harbour and an old town within medieval walls, it is one of Britain's most picturesque seaside resorts, though it can get a bit raucous on weekend nights.
There are plenty of family-orientated attractions nearby if the weather cuts up rough and some superb, rural beaches west of Tenby – notably at Manorbier (with the backdrop of a ruined Norman castle) and in the National Trust's Stackpole Estate (see right).
The western extremity of Pembrokeshire is much wilder and less populated. St David's – Britain's smallest city, with a stunning cathedral and a good selection of cafés and delis – is a first-rate base, particularly with vast Whitesands beach just down the road and wildlife-spotting boat trips to and around RSPB Ramsey Island (though the sea can often be too choppy for young children).
The wide sweep of St Brides Bay has several village-sized resorts: Newgale, best for surfers; bucket-and-spade Broad Haven; and Little Haven, one of the county's most attractive harbours. The highlight of the backwater peninsula to the south is Marloes Sands, a stunning sand and rock-studded strand accessible only on foot.
North Pembrokeshire is the most tranquil and least discovered, with more cliffs than beaches. Fishguard is nothing special, but up-and-coming Newport has several good restaurants and cafés and a civilised let's-escape-the-rat-race feel to it. Newport Sands is a great big, breezy beach that you can drive your car on to; farther up the coast, at the mouth of Cardigan's estuary, lies massive, dune-backed Poppit Sands.
