Colby Woodland Garden (National Trust)

Colby fills a sheltered valley a mile behind Amroth: a National Trust woodland garden grown over an old anthracite estate, with a walled garden at its heart, streams and stepping stones through the meadow, and a deliberately untidy, rope-swings-and-den-building attitude to children that makes it one of the easiest family stops in the south county.

Spring is the show — camellias, magnolias, then bluebells through the woods — but the wild-play valley floor works any dry day, and the estate walks climb to views over Carmarthen Bay. Café and the usual Trust facilities on site; entry charges apply (free to NT members), current details on the Trust's page.

The clever version of the day: morning at Colby, afternoon on Amroth beach — whose eastern end welcomes dogs all year — or a stroll along to Wisemans Bridge the way the Amroth to Tenby coast stage goes.