St Dogmaels Abbey (Abaty Llandudoch)

Every walker who does the Pembrokeshire Coast Path north-to-south starts within yards of this abbey and most of them, focused on the 179 miles ahead, walk straight past. Slow down: the ruins of the twelfth-century Tironian abbey — the only one of its order in Wales — are free and open access, with carved stonework, a vaulted infirmary and the parish church beside it holding the Sagranus Stone, whose ogham inscription helped crack that ancient alphabet in the nineteenth century.

The Coach House visitor centre serves café-and-exhibition duty, and Y Felin, a working water mill still grinding flour, stands next door. Down the lane the Teifi opens out towards Poppit Sands, where the first stage of the Coast Path begins.

Check the Coach House's hours on Cadw's page; the abbey itself doesn't close.