Rosebush

Rosebush is what is left of a Victorian slate venture that never quite worked. Quarries were opened in the hills above the village in the nineteenth century, a railway was built to carry the slate away, and an attempt was even made to turn the place into a spa resort for the visitors the railway would bring. The slate proved awkward, the resort never happened, and the quarries closed — leaving flooded workings, spoil terraces, ruined inclines and a village of quarrymen's houses at the foot of the hills.

The result is oddly compelling. The disused quarries hold deep, still, dark water beneath slate faces; the old tramway routes make good walking; and above them rise the Preselis, with Foel Cwmcerwyn, the highest point in Pembrokeshire at 536 metres, reachable in an hour or so from the forestry tracks at Pantmaenog. The village's other landmark is Tafarn Sinc, a large corrugated-iron pub painted maroon, built in the 1870s for the expected spa trade and now the best-known building for miles.

Practicalities matter here more than on the coast. There is no shop, no beach and no bus you should rely on; the weather comes in fast off the moor and the quarry water, however inviting it looks, is cold, deep and unsupervised. Narberth is twenty minutes for restaurants and shops, Newgale and the west coast thirty-five, Newport and the north coast thirty. Choose Rosebush for walking, cycling, dark skies and low prices, not for convenience.

Cottages and converted quarry houses in the village, plus farm conversions and cabins in the surrounding lanes and forest edge — often with wood burners, hot tubs and views onto the hills. Supply is small and mostly self-catering. A car is essential; there is nothing within walking distance except the pub and the quarries.

On the B4313 between Fishguard and Narberth, at the northern edge of the Preseli forestry. Clunderwen station on the West Wales line is about fifteen minutes away by car.