Llys-y-frân Lake & Activity Centre

The county's big freshwater playground — a reservoir under the Preselis with bike trails, watersports hire, fishing and a lakeside café.

Llys-y-frân is Pembrokeshire's largest reservoir, curled under the southern edge of the Preseli Hills and reinvented by Welsh Water as an outdoor centre: mountain-bike trails and a skills area, bike hire, open-water swimming sessions, kayak and paddleboard hire, trout fishing and a café above the dam. The shoreline path makes a fine easy walk or ride of around seven miles — our circuit of it is here.

Its quiet superpower is being tide-proof and swell-proof: when the coast is blown out or the tide times don't fit small children, the lake simply works. Activity sessions and hire are seasonal and bookable — check the centre's site for what's running.

The Preselis rise directly behind for the Foel Cwmcerwyn summit walk and the bluestone country of the ridge.