The Big Retreat Festival
Wellness, music and food on the oak-lined Cleddau estuary each late May — the festival for people who don't really do festivals.
- When
- the late-May bank holiday weekend
- Kind
- Festivals
- Where
- Lawrenny
- Cost
- Ticketed — day and weekend camping tickets, sold in advance by the festival.
The Big Retreat takes over the Lawrenny estate for the late-May bank holiday: a wellness festival where the programme runs from yoga at dawn and estuary swims to comedy, bands and long communal suppers, camped in one of the prettiest corners of the county — the oak woods above the Cleddau, with the Cresselly Arms a walk away for deserters.
It's deliberately gentle — families, first-timers and people who want a festival that includes sleep are the crowd — and it books out along with every bed in the Lawrenny–Cresswell corner, so if you're planning an ordinary quiet stay in that pocket of the county, check the festival dates first.
Dates and tickets are on the festival's own site each year. For the inland, tidal-creek side of Pembrokeshire it shows off, see Lawrenny and the Daugleddau's quiet pubs.
Every year
A wellness-and-music festival on the Lawrenny estate above the Cleddau — yoga, wild swimming, talks, food and bands, pitched at families and the gently curious rather than festival veterans.
Getting in
Sells in advance; accommodation in the Lawrenny–Cresswell corner of the county goes with it. Check the festival's site for this year's dates and line-up.
Before you plan around this
Dates change every year — check with the organiser before you travel
We don't sell tickets and take no commission on any of these — links go straight to whoever runs it.
Staying nearby
Lawrenny is the obvious base.
Also in May
St Davids Cathedral Festival
A week of classical music in the nave of St Davids Cathedral. The building does at least half the work.
late May into early June, around the spring bank holiday · Music
Fishguard Folk Festival
A weekend of folk music in Fishguard: ticketed concerts, free pub sessions and musicians playing in corners of Lower Town.
a weekend in late May · Festivals
Coast Path Wildflower Season
FreeFor about a month the cliff edge turns pink and white with thrift and sea campion. It is the best walking of the year.
May into early June · Walking