Mathry

Mathry stands on a ridge above the A487, and because almost everything around it is lower, you can see the village church tower from a long way off in several directions. The reward for being up there is the view: on a clear day it takes in a great sweep of north Pembrokeshire farmland, the Preseli Hills to the east and the sea to the north and west. It is an old settlement — the churchyard holds early inscribed stones, and the surrounding fields are dotted with burial chambers and standing stones that show how long this ridge has been occupied.

The village itself is compact and workaday: a church at the top, a pub, houses around a small green, and farmland in every direction. It is not a tourist village and makes no attempt to be one, which is precisely its appeal to people who have had enough of car parks. Abercastle's little harbour is ten minutes down the lanes, Porthgain fifteen, and the Coast Path anywhere along that stretch is a short drive.

As a base, Mathry buys you space and quiet at prices generally below the coastal villages, with St Davids twenty minutes one way and Fishguard fifteen the other. The honest drawbacks are that there is no beach, no shop of consequence and no walking route to the sea, so a car is essential; and the lanes off the ridge are narrow and high-hedged. In exchange you get some of the darkest skies in the county and sunsets over the whole western horizon.

Most accommodation here is farm-based: converted barns and cottages with parking, gardens and often hot tubs, set in fields around the village. They suit families and groups who want space and a short drive to several different beaches rather than one on the doorstep. A few village properties put the pub within walking distance.

Just off the A487 between Fishguard and St Davids, signposted up the hill. Fishguard Harbour station at Goodwick is about fifteen minutes by car.