Visit to the palace, wet & windy in Whitesands and Scrabble & Pool at The Farmers! (St. Davids Pembrokeshire PART 2)

View from bathroom at Cwtch Cottages

So part 2 of my visit to St. Davids Pembrokeshire is a little late but felt an urge to update you lovely folk on this beautiful part of the country.  Now many of you maybe thinking this time of the year a little 'holiday' should only be in the sun drinking sangria and San Miguels but you really do need to consider the beauty of this country.
Our little trip to St. Davids most certainly took us out of our comfort zone and made us do things we certainly wouldn't consider doing at home and not typical of a holiday abroad.

Here is what the rest of our weekend entailed:

• Educated trip to St. David's Cathedral & Bishop's Palace
• Watching Wales in the six nations in a proper welsh pub (Farmers Arms)
• 2 extremely windy visits to Whitesands (one of Wales' most popular beaches)
• Traditional pub grub at The Bishops
• Diversion on way home to the popular Melin Treggwynt Woolen Mill to pick up a couple of goodies!

St. David's Cathedral & Bishop's Palace

A spectacular place that really needs to be visited if going to St. Davids.  It was recommended by a few people including the owner of Cwtch Cottages where we stayed - a little reluctant at first as I'm not the most cultured of people but we were so pleased that we did.  We discovered a whole load of history about Wales' Patron Saint of Wales St. David - the story that fascinated me the most was whether or not his relics were actually at this Cathedral.  The gentleman who greeted us with a guide at the entrance spent about 10 minutes explaining some of history of  how the shrine/relics had been removed/replaced/stolen over the years... it was an intriguing story.  Part of the visit that fascinated my partner was that the grandfather of King Henry VIII - apparently the reason King Henry protected the site (apologies for my lack of knowledge on history - again, not one of my strong points!)  Entry to the Cathedral is FREE however it is asked that a donation is made per adult (which of course we did and added extra as we took some photos in the cathedral too).

Bishop's Palace was interesting and great for the kids as they were given a challenge to complete - therefore encouraging them to find things in the Palace.  In comparison to the Cathedral, there was a charge on entry to the palace (£10.50 for a family of four).  It took us a good hour to get around and it was fascinating to discover what used to be there!

Farmers Arms

Again, another recommendation from Rachael, Owner of Cwtch Cottages as this was a stone throw away from the cottage.  Family friendly and more importantly (for my partner) that they were showing the six nations matches!  Much to our delight, they served food at half time for FREE for everyone!  And I have to say, it was delicious!   The pub doesn't offer a menu during the winter (and direct customers to the Bishops up the road) however if they did, we would have most certainly had Sunday Lunch with them!  The roast potatoes were to die for!!!

Great little pool room, which conveniently no-one was using due to the rugby being on so we took full advantage - but be prepared to pay £1 a game!  Not so great when you're being genuinely beaten by a 7yr old!!!

We visited the pub again later that night after our evening meal at the Bishops - again, a friendly welcome from the locals (who were now a little more merry than they had been a few hours previous)!  A lovely touch was the board games they had available for us to play.  We challenged ourselves to a game of scrabble... and again, I lost miserably!  I think we gave up when we were 100 points behind!!

Whitesands Beach & Cafe

As  some of you will know, the weekend we visited St. Davids the weather was the worse they'd seen in a long time!  Little did we know that after passing through New Gale on the Friday night, the following day the whole area became flooded, therefore having us to take a de-tour a bit further north (but conveniently passing the popular Melin Tregwynt Woolen Mill!!)

Nevertheless we jumped in the car on the Saturday morning (armed with waterproofs and wellies) to see what Whitesands had to offer.  Considering the weather was awful, I was pleasantly surprised at the number of cars in the car park! We spent a grand total of 2 minutes admiring the view and promptly decided to take refuge in the Whitesands Beach Cafe and of course, like any normal thirty something would do, opted for a cuppa tea and waffles & ice cream!

That's 'normal' right?!!! And  being that the internet was limited in the area, we resorted to looking through some leaflets of attractions in the area.  Much to our disappointment it seemed many of them had limited opening hours during the winter, weren't suitable during the bad weather or were closed on the Sunday, but it certainly gave us food for thought for our next family visit in February!   One attraction that really did catch my eye was the Creative Cafe (based in St. Davids, Haverfordwest & Narbeth) apparently where you can "Come and create your own masterpiece in one of our 3 paint-your-own pottery studios" - should be interesting!  Of course, we'd be going there for the kids ;-)

The following day we ventured back down as the weather was a teeny bit milder!  This time we were armed with a football and we made it onto the beach - after walking through tonnes of stones and rocks that had been hurled into the car park the previous day!  It was fascinating!  Nothing like a bit of fresh air and footy!

Here is my favourite pic from the weekend:

Melin Tregwyn Woolen Mill

And last but not least from our trip to the Westest of Wales was the convenient diversion we had to take (approx 25 mins drive North from St. Davids) to Melin Tregwynt Woolen Mill.   I'd only discovered the mill itself about 1 week before our trip but had been aware of their work from the interiors at Giltar Hotel, Tenby for quite some time.  Through the power of Facebook I found their website, Facebook page & Instagram photos from other customers and was just amazed by their work and was determined to head up to the mill for a little nose and retail therapy!   Unfortunately we had to visit on the Sunday which meant we couldn't see the mill in action as it's only operational during the week - but we still managed a little peep!  Great to know that the products really are made on site! 

The shop was fantastic - was a little concerned that our journey would have ended with us seeing a limited range of their products, but to my delight the place was packed with a huge variety of bags, cushions, throws and accessories!  I limited my spending on this occasion and stuck to a teddy and new journal but I will most certainly be saving for one of their most amazing bags!!!  Maybe they'll see this blog and out of the goodness of their heart send me one... seeing as it is my birthday next week too!!! LOL  (PS.  My fave material/design is the Mondo Aubergine! ;-)

VISIT PEMBROKESHIRE!!!

After the journey to the mill, our trip to St.Davids came to an end! :-( But what a fantastic weekend we had!  It has proven to me that you don't need constant sunshine or infact even a smidgen of sunshine to have fun - and more to the point, there is so much to be discovered in Pembrokeshire!   For those of you that haven't ventured West or even to Wales, please consider this beautiful place AND choose an accommodation provider, like Cwtch Cottages who know their stuff about the area as they will help you discover the beauty!

Massive thanks to Rachael for making our trip a memorable one!  Here is an extract from their visitors book left by Jaiden, Aged 7!

What's next...

My next trip is planned for this coming weekend as we're off to Manorbier Bed & Breakfast for a romantic night without the kids and the dogs - albeit just for the 1 night but again, this is slightly away from the comfort zone as we've previously opted for central Tenby - so here goes!  Already Katherine at the B&B has booked us in for some pub grub at the Castle Inn!