a week by the sea

A few days after R’s birthday we headed down to Pembrokeshire for a week. It's become a bit of a habit to go there around this time of year, just as the seasons are changing, and the signs of spring are appearing. 

We’ve been going for so many years now, but it never fails to surprise me how beautiful it is there, I think it might be one of the most beautiful places in the world.

We are incredibly lucky in that mum and dad have a little cottage near St David's and so we can go there whenever we're in need of some time away from London life. 

The house doesn't have internet and we can't get phone signal down there, so we are totally cut off, which for the first day of two is a bit disconcerting, but after that, is absolutely amazing. 

We got out every day, rambling along the coastal path, stopping for regular cups of coffee and cake, taking naps out in the open, sun on our faces, visiting all our favourite spots. 









We walked to St Justinians, a tiny inlet near St Davids where there is a lifeboat station and you can look at out Ramsey Island in the distance.

Ramsey Island in the setting sun. 

This time we also drove up the coast to the interesting little town of Aberaeron. The houses there are really unusual, they were built in a regency style which looks a bit out of place in the middle of rural Wales! They are painted in beautiful bright colours, little blocks of colour against a rather grey sky. 

We had lunch at the lovely Harbourmaster, the big purple building in the picture above. It's quite a famous place, with beautiful rooms and really good food. 

After a (rather big) lunch we had a wander along the pebbly shingle. It was a bit grey and bleak (in quite a nice way). 

The weather was lovely pretty much all week - blue skies, hazy sunshine, cold wind coming off the sea, filling our lungs, putting a spring in our step and colour in our cheeks.

We managed to climb a little mountain with a beautiful view. 












And found an equally lovely view for a picnic (and nap). 





I continued my mission of trying to identify more flowers, with the help of this little book that I picked up on our travels. I love these Observer guides, they've got just the right amount of detail, and the sweetest illustrations. 







We came across some wild ponies on our way back. This one was happily munching on some gorse. He must have had a mouth full of thorns! 

And of course we took a trip to our favourite beach, Abermawr. 





You have to drive past this amazing cottage to get to it. Oh what I wouldn't give to live there.

And then you have to walk to it through bluebell woods and marshland. And eventually you come to a shingly beach where you can sometimes sea seals bobbing in the early evening. It's a lovely place to watch the sun go down. 

And it happens to be a very special place for us as it was in this very spot that we decided to get married!

This time we were accompanied on our walk by Storm the dog who lives in a house nearby and likes to make friends.

He had a passion for chasing stones and getting his feet wet. 



Apart from the walking, beaching and eating, I did some sewing (I took my machine with me) and we also watched an inordinate amount of Game of Thrones. The best of times.