This is Pembrokeshire, and sometimes we do have an odd rainy day when you might not want to visit Freshwater East. Here's a few nearby suggestions of things to do.
Tenby
Even if you're not interested in Tenby's three vast, clean, sandy beaches the town itself is well worth a visit. Pastel-coloured buildings line a pretty harbour. Independent pubs, cafés, chip shops and restaurants are found throughout the town. You can find Ice cream vendors on the streets and even on the sand.
There is a traffic ban inside the walled town during the summer, but regardless of the time of year, my advice is to park outside the walled town in the council-run Tenby Multi-Storey Car Park in Upper Park Rd. The cost is reasonable (£1.50 for 24 hours), and it's just a couple of minutes walk to get into town. As a bonus, (a rather small) Sainsbury's is right next to this car park. There are several other car parks. If you do drive into Tenby beware of parking attendants. They don't seem to show any latitude, and will issue tickets rather than just move you on. They work up until 9pm at night.
Things to do in Tenby include visiting:
The Tudor Merchant's House. This is a 15th century merchant's house now looked after by the National Trust. It's a child-friendly experience, and takes about an hour. £5.25 adults, £2.60 children, family tickets are available.
Tenby Museum and Art Gallery I visited here with a nine year old; he enjoyed
the hands-on nature of the place. We went when he had a school inset day,
and we were the only visitors. It held our attention for about 20 minutes
- we enjoyed what was there, but just ran out of things to see and do. £4.95
for adults, free for children, and free re-entry for the rest of the year.
Tenby Lifeboat Station is worth a walk down to see. Look online to see if
there's going to be a planned launching - it's often at 6.30pm on a
Wednesday. Even if it isn't launching you get the chance
to get up close to a serious bit of kit. There are plenty of chip shops to choose from, but if you want something a
bit up market then consider The
Ocean Restaurant. A bit expensive, but some family members who have
been there have been impressed. They do breakfast and lunch, and have an
all day menu as well. If you don't want to drive to Tenby there is a train every two hours from
Lamphey to Tenby - the journey time is
17 minutes. Alternatively
there is a bus (349) every hour, but the journey time is 38 minutes. Tenby Boat Trips Several different boat trips are available from the harbour in Tenby, and
also from a landing walkway situated on the beach.. Possibly the best
trips are those around Caldey Island and St Margaret's Island. You'll hopefully
see cormorants , guillemots, razorbills, shags, kittiwakes, great black-backed
gulls, lesser black-backed gulls, herring gull sand gannets. As a
bonus, you may also see some puffins - a dozen or so pairs live on the crags
here in season - April, May and June. (If you want to see puffins up close then Skomer Island is really
the place for you!) My advice for a happy boat trip is to choose a calm day. Activity Parks
Folly Farm Adventure Park & Zoo
now
offers a wide range of experiences. It's partly a zoo, and partly a farm
experience. There are animals for you to feed and to pet. It's also got extensive play areas and a fairground fresh from
the fifties. At £15.50 per adult, and £13.50 per child it isn't cheap,
but it will fill a whole day and wear out the whole family so I think it's well
worth it. Personally, my favourite experience here has been getting the chance to milk a goat!
If you've got children with you then it's probably going to be their best day
out. My advice is to go early in your stay - they'll offer you the option
of cheap re-entry with your old tickets, and you're very likely to choose to
visit a second time. It's now got itself on lists of 'best zoos in the
UK', and so can be quite busy at peak periods. There is a café and a
restaurant inside - the food is decent and the prices are very acceptable. Manor House Wildlife Park.
Wallabies, tapirs and lemurs are my favourites, but there is now a wide range of
animals kept here, including tigers, white rhino, llamas, zebra, meerkats,
gibbons and more. This zoo was taken over by TV person Anna Ryder
Richardson and her husband over ten years ago. The
people who work here seem to genuinely like the animals, and have respect for
them; in return, the animals that you can walk amongst are calm and
friendly. Rather than stocking the place with just the usual meerkats, ducks and
zebra, they've chosen to look after endangered and critically endangered
species, taking part in breeding programs to help reintroduce animals into their
natural habitat. Locally, Manor House has a good reputation for the care it takes of its
animals. There are other activities such as a soft play area, and a range of other
animals. The food can be good but is expensive. Adult £13.95, Child £11.95 Heatherton World of Activities is different to the parks above, in that it doesn't charge for entry - instead you
pay for the activities you want to take part it. It means if you're just
going along to watch your kids then it's free for you.
There's
a huge 'family fun' section, including a maize maze in the summer, plus there
are more full on activities such as karting, paintballing and treetops trailing
- all the details are on their web site. Expect to pay £13 to £20 for a
child's day out. If you go and don't want to take part in activities then
there is no charge for you. There is a short (and, to be honest, relatively unchallenging) 18 hole golf
course.. It's not posh - you can turn up and they'll lend you clubs and
balls, and for only £6.50 you've got two hours of activity and a gentle,
pleasant walk. Well worth considering, especially if you have someone in
the family interested in starting to play the game. Other Activities Dr Beynon's Bug Farm
Some interesting people live in Pembrokeshire, and Sarah Beynon is one of
them. Her bug farm gives you and your children the chance to eat insects as food, as
well as seeing and handling a range of invertebrates. It seems a bit
extreme at first sight, but somehow I've now got a range of grandchildren happy to
eat insect burgers and locusts. If you're visiting St David's then you
could consider coming here.