Cresswell Quay

Cresswell Quay is little more than a bridge, a pub and a few houses at the head of a tidal creek, and it is one of the best-loved small places in Pembrokeshire. The Cresswell River comes up on the tide to fill the quay; at low water it is all mud, herons and wading birds, and at high water boats float where children were paddling that morning. The Cresselly Arms, on the bank, is a genuinely old-fashioned pub where the beer is still brought to the bar in jugs and, on a warm evening, half the county seems to be sitting outside watching the water.

Coal from the Daugleddau field was once loaded here into shallow-draught barges — the quay walls are the visible remains — and the lanes around still follow the old routes down to the water. Upstream the creek narrows through woodland; downstream it joins the Carew River and the wider Daugleddau at Lawrenny. Kayakers time trips to the tide from here, and the walk along the old railway track towards Carew is flat and easy.

It is a hamlet, not a village: no shop, no beach, no facilities, and lanes that are single-track with passing places. That is the point of it. As a base it is quiet and central — Carew Castle is ten minutes, Pembroke and Tenby around twenty, Narberth twenty — and it works particularly well in spring and autumn, when the birdlife on the creek is at its best and the pub garden is not three deep.

Supply here is tiny — a handful of cottages and converted outbuildings in the hamlet and along the lanes towards Cresselly and Jeffreyston. Anything within walking distance of the quay is worth booking early. Look further out towards Carew or Lawrenny for larger farmhouses with gardens and parking.

On minor roads off the A4075 between Canaston Bridge and Carew; lanes are narrow and the approach to the quay is steep. No station nearby; Kilgetty and Pembroke are about twenty minutes by car.