Trefin

Trefin — sometimes written Trevine — is the largest village on this stretch of the north-west coast, which in local terms means a couple of hundred people, a pub, a church, a hostel and a strong Welsh-speaking community. It sits on high ground a few hundred metres back from the cliffs, so it has none of the tourist-honeypot pressure of Porthgain two miles east, but it does have the same coastline within a five-minute walk.

Below the village, at Aberfelin, are the ruins of a water-powered corn mill that ground grain until the early twentieth century and was made permanently famous in Wales by a poem about its silenced wheel. The little cove there is rocky rather than sandy, but the Coast Path either side is superb: east to Abercastle, a slim natural harbour with the Carreg Samson burial chamber on the headland above, west to Porthgain and on to Abereiddi's Blue Lagoon.

Practically, Trefin is one of the better bases on this coast because it functions as a village year-round rather than shutting in October. What it does not have is a beach of its own or much in the way of shopping — St Davids is fifteen minutes for provisions and restaurants, Fishguard twenty. Lanes are narrow, and parking in the village itself is on-street. For walkers doing the northern Coast Path in sections, it is close to ideal.

Village cottages and terraced houses give a pub and the Coast Path within walking distance, which is the main reason to choose Trefin over the surrounding farmland. Converted barns in the fields between here, Llanrhian and Croesgoch suit families and groups wanting parking, gardens and space, with several beaches and Porthgain a short drive away.

Signposted off the A487 between St Davids and Fishguard via Croesgoch or Square and Compass. Fishguard Harbour station is about twenty-five minutes by car.