Haven in Pembrokeshire: Kiln Park, Lydstep Beach & Penally Court

Haven owns three parks in Pembrokeshire and — usefully for anyone choosing between them — they could hardly be more different. All three cluster around Tenby, the walled seaside town that anchors the county's south coast, but one is a full-scale resort, one curls around its own private beach, and one is a 48-home hideaway where the entertainment is birdsong. This is the local guide to all three: what each actually offers, what's within walking distance, and which kind of week each one builds.

Tenby's harbour and North Beach — the town all three parks orbit. Photo: Seth Whales, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Kiln Park Holiday Centre — the full resort, a walk from Tenby

Kiln Park is the big one: 220 mostly-flat acres on the Ritec marshes directly behind Tenby, and the reason "supermarket near Kiln Park" is one of the searches that brings people to this site. It holds Haven's flagship ratings here — AA 5-Star Holiday Park (2025), with Haven itself named Best UK Holiday Provider in The Sun Travel Awards 2025 — and the facilities list reads like a small town's.

In the water: heated indoor and outdoor pools with water slides, a seasonal Mini SplashZone for the smallest, and pool hoists available on request. On dry land: climbing wall, bungee trampoline, archery coaching, NERF camps, crazy golf, kart hire, tennis and a sports field, with the Marina Bar and Stage running the evening shows and a full kids' programme (Activitots through Football Fun Factory) filling the days. Feeding everyone: the Harbwr Lights restaurant, Marina Bar, Burger King, Costa, Papa Johns delivery, Cook's fish and chips, Millie's Cookies, Bertie's ice cream and an on-park mini-market — the rare park where a wet week never needs the car. Accessibility is properly done: lift in the main complex, Changing Places facility, Blue Badge parking and wheelchair hire.

The location is the quiet masterstroke. Tenby's train station is about a mile away — so this is a park you can reach by rail from anywhere in Britain — and the sands of Tenby South Beach, a Blue Flag mile of the county's best family bathing, are a short, flat walk through the dunes. Keep walking and you're inside Tenby's medieval walls: the harbour, the boats to Caldey Island, the Tudor Merchant's House, the museum on Castle Hill and more places to eat than any holiday needs. The dog end of South Beach — open all year towards Giltar — is the same direction (the beach-by-beach dog rules).

Tenby South Beach — the Blue Flag sands a flat stroll from Kiln Park. Photo: Lewis Clarke, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Best for: families who want maximum facilities, rail travellers, and anyone who wants Tenby on foot with a resort to come home to. Accommodation runs from Saver caravans to 800 sq ft Diamond Lodges, plus touring and camping pitches. Current prices and availability are on Haven's Kiln Park page.

Lydstep Beach Village — the park with its own bay

Some parks are near a beach. Lydstep owns its view: 97 acres sloping down to the private sands of Lydstep Haven, one of the most sheltered bays in south Pembrokeshire, with Caldey Island filling the horizon across the water. Guests walk from their accommodation straight onto the beach — no road, no car park queue, no comparison, honestly, anywhere else on this coast.

It wears its quality visibly: a TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice award (2025) and a 4.5-star Google rating from more than 800 reviews (Haven publishes both), and the reviews' recurring theme — the peace, the bay, the view — matches exactly what the geography promises. This is deliberately the quieter Haven: heated indoor pool, the Manor House restaurant and entertainment complex, an indoor climbing wall, arcade, summer aqua inflatables on the bay and a proper kids' activity roster — but also the Celtic Haven Spa with treatments, a terrace bar for watching the light change on Caldey, and designated dog-friendly areas of the beach. New for 2026, there's even Papa John's on park.

Walking from the gate: the Coast Path climbs straight over Lydstep Point — the limestone headland loop with the famous view back over the bay — and one bay east sit Skrinkle Haven and the Church Doors, the county's most theatrical rock architecture. Manorbier, with its Norman castle above a surfy, dog-friendly beach, is the next village west; Tenby is three miles east, with Penally's station two miles away for car-free days out. The Manorbier to Tenby coast stage runs right through — arguably the best half-day walk in the south county, starting from your own front step.

The coast at Lydstep — the village's caravans, cottages and lodges look onto a genuinely private bay. Photo: Paul Farmer, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Best for: couples and families who'd trade a second waterslide for a private beach and a spa; view-chasers; dog owners (the bay has year-round dog-friendly areas). Accommodation spans caravans, one-to-four-bedroom cottages and Diamond lodges. Lydstep is also bookable through our live partner Hoseasons — see our Lydstep Beach Village page — or direct via Haven's Lydstep page.

Penally Court — the quiet one

Penally Court is the park for people who read the other two entries and thought "lovely, but no". It's small — 48 holiday homes — secluded and deliberately peaceful: an outdoor pool for the July–August weeks, BBQ decks, a play area, walking paths, and no entertainment programme at all. That's the feature, not the gap. When you do want the shows, Kiln Park is less than a mile away and Haven runs a complimentary evening shuttle between the two — the cleverest arrangement in the county: silence at bedtime, resort on demand.

The location is a walker's quiet luxury. Penally's railway station is steps from the park gate (one stop to Tenby), Penally Beach and the year-round dog stretch of the sands are ten to fifteen minutes on foot, and the village above has a pub and one of the prettiest churches on the coast. Tenby is about two miles — walkable along the beach at low water, which is the nicest commute in Wales — and the Coast Path towards Giltar Point climbs straight out of the village into the National Park.

Penally's sands, dog-friendly all year — ten minutes' walk from Penally Court, with Tenby beyond. Photo: Humphrey Bolton, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Best for: couples, dog owners, light sleepers, and returners who know exactly what they want from Tenby and don't need a stage show attached. Bronze and Silver caravans; details on Haven's Penally Court page.

The area all three share

Whichever park you pick, the same extraordinary corner of Wales is on the doorstep. Beaches: Tenby's four plus Manorbier, Freshwater East, Skrinkle Haven and — twenty minutes west — Barafundle itself. Days out: the Caldey Island crossing from Tenby harbour, the Dinosaur Park and Great Wedlock's deer safaris, Heatherton, Manor Wildlife Park, Folly Farm and Carew Castle with its tidal mill — the full family arsenal is in Pembrokeshire with kids, and the rainy-day guide covers the weather question honestly. Eating beyond the parks: where to eat in Tenby and the county's best pubs.

Practicalities we keep current: Tenby's car parks, supermarkets and shops near the parks (yes — that's the answer to "supermarket near Kiln Park"), public toilets and the town's station. One date to plan around: Ironman Wales closes the roads one September Sunday — how to handle it.

Choosing in one line each

Kiln Park if the facilities are the holiday and Tenby should be walkable. Lydstep if a private bay, a spa and that Caldey view beat a bigger pool complex. Penally Court if peace, a dog, and a train station at the gate sound like the whole point. Prices, dates and availability change constantly — check each park on Haven's own pages, and for the wider where-to-stay picture, our Tenby guide covers the town itself.