Tenby is a beautiful seaside town. It’s pretty much perfect in my view. It’s not as brash as some; it has a gentler appeal, but it’s lively and bustling on a sunny day. The pretty ice cream colours of the buildings create a pretty canvas and its contained by its fine old town walls. There’s an attractive harbour and a couple of beaches too. There’s some decent shopping with a good mix of high street chains (including a few of the more upmarket ones) as well as plenty of individual shops. It’s well catered for too with plenty of restaurants, cafes and pubs.
Within the town you can take in a little of Tenby’s trading history with the Tudor Merchant’s House. It’s a great way to get an insight into life in the town back in tudor times. From the harbour there are a number of little huts that sell tickets on the various boat trips available. You can go on various wildlife spotting trips like a seal safari, where you are likely to see not just seals, but many sea birds too.
Another great indoor place to visit is Tenby Museum, which is the oldest independent Museum in Wales. Founded in 1878, Tenby Museum and Art Gallery is situated in part of the medieval castle, overlooking Castle Beach and Caldey Island. Permanent displays include archaeology, geology, the natural, maritime and social history of the town and South Pembrokeshire. The art collection contains works by some of Wales’ top artists including Augustus John and Kyffin Williams.
Many make the trip to Caldey Island and there are frequent departures through the day during the holiday season (except Sundays). On Caldey Island you can wander around and visit some picturesque, old churches and walk to the lighthouse to enjoy the views and do a little seal or bird spotting along the way. Also look out for the Chocolate Factory and Abbey Gift Shop selling perfume and shortbread baked in the Monastery.
If you don’t fancy a boat trip, you can still visit an island if you are lucky with the tides (you need to visit at low tide). It’s not really a trip for those with mobility issues or with tiny tots in buggies as it is a bit of a climb. St Catherine’s island is home to a Palmerston fort and a WW2 Anti aircraft gun placement.
In the area around Tenby there are a number of interesting and beautiful castles to visit. Manobier is a small, but very pretty medieval castle. We visited in the spring and the mound (that the castle is built on) was carpeted with primroses and looked so cheerful. It overlooks the sea and it’s worth a visit to the nearby sandy cover which is popular with surfers. If you are a fan of castles, Pembroke Castle is a must visit. It’s a fairly complete castle, so it’s quite easy to understand how the castle functioned in its heyday. The castle was the birthplace if Henry VII so there is definitely a tudor focus to the exhibits and information displays.
Fiona jk42 says
I’ll bookmark this as somewhere to take my granddaughter next time she comes to visit