Here at Yewdale cottage, Pembrokeshire – the best place to holiday in St Davids – we like to keep our customers updated and informed. So we’re letting you know that our self-catering holiday cottage in the centre of St Davids now have business cards!
These will contain a website address for our beautiful holiday cottage in St Davids and also ask our customers to add a google review, which are so very valuable to a small business like ours.
So when you come for a romantic getaway or an adventure packed family holiday or even a walking or hiking holiday, you can pick one of those up from our gorgeous living room.
We look forward to welcoming you on your next holiday to St Davids, Pembrokeshire!
We wanted to place something on the side of our holiday cottage in St Davids, Pembrokeshire that would allow people who are walking past to get a little information about the cottage.
The new sign is a lovely sky blue colour and really fits the ambience of this place of supreme natural beauty.
The sign has our website details on it so people can contact us or take a closer look at the property. But it also has a QR code on it that transports you straight to our website too.
We are very proud of our new sign and hope you like it too.
So please, if you are considering a holiday in St Davids, Pembrokeshire – a romantic getaway or family adventure – then please consider us.
The ecclesiastical settlement would become known as Tyddewi (House of David) and was a famous centre of pilgrimage early in its history, attracting both foreign pilgrims of status and numerous Viking attacks by the ninth century. Its scholastic community was also famous throughout the Celtic world and in Anglo-Saxon England. When Alfred the Great wanted to establish a centre of learning at his court, he requested Asserius Menevensis, (Asser of St Davids) to join them. At that time, Asser had lived all his life at St Davids, being raised, tonsured, trained and ordained there. Yet Alfred’s desire to secure his service was such that he acquiesced to a number of delays and requests before finally agreeing that Asser could split his time between Alfred’s court and St David’s.
The cult of Saint David was actively encouraged by the cathedral’s pre-Norman Bishops, especially Sulien and Rhigyfarch, who would write Vita sancti Davidis episcopi, the standard Vita of the saint.
As the Normans advanced into Pembrokeshire, the city became a marcher borough, and the new hundred was named “Dewisland”. The cathedral was rebuilt during the Norman era and much of the earliest sections that are still extant, date back to the twelfth century. However, it is thought that this cathedral would have followed the layout of medieval structure and it continued to host its many ancient relics, including the remains of David.
At its height, the city was visited by many pilgrims, including noblemen and kings such as William the Conqueror in 1077, Henry II in 1171, and Edward I and Queen Eleanor in 1284. Pope Calixtus II decreed that two pilgrimages to St Davids were equivalent to one to Rome (“Roma semel quantum dat bis Menevia tantum”). This allowed a vast income to be raised from visiting pilgrims in the Middle Ages.
8 miles / 13 kilometres for the whole route but there are a number of options to shorten the route during the tourist season by using the Celtic Coaster bus service as described.
It’s 7 miles/ 11 kilometres if looping back to St Davids by taking the inland route option from Porthclais,
6 miles / 10 kilometres if catching the bus from St Davids to St Justinian’s to start the walk or only 4 miles / 6 kilometres if using the bus service at both ends of the journey and only walking from St Justinian’s to Porthclais.
Along the way
This walk follows some fabulous clifftop sections and quiet country lanes in the footsteps of Dark Age saints who came here as pilgrims, and passes the turbulent and dangerous waters of Ramsey Sound. A wealth of wildlife can be seen, from dolphins and porpoise to peregrines and chough. And once on the coast, navigation is a dream – we just need to keep the sea on our right.
But we start in the UK’s smallest city, pretty St Davids and its quaint streets, cafes, boutiques and galleries. For such a small place, it really does pack a punch.
The 12th century St Davids Cathedral, built on the site of a much older religious buildings, is the reason for little St Davids’ outsize city status. Constructed from dusky purple sandstone, it’s one of Wales’ most iconic religious sites and sits tucked away in a sheltered vale beside the River Alun. Here you can learn about the history of St Davids, visit the impressive Treasury collection and enjoy home-cooked and locally-sourced food at The Refectory.
Oriel y Parc Gallery
Located in the National Park Information Centre, Oriel y Parc Gallery boasts a class A landscape gallery, exhibiting art and artefacts from the collection of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales. Using objects from the art, natural history and industry collections, visitors are able to view a regularly changing exhibition programme.
The Bishop’s Palace
The brooding Gothic ruins of the Bishop’s Palace lie on the opposite bank of the river from the cathedral and provide a suitably dramatic backdrop for open air theatre performances in the summer. Bishop Henry de Gower’s legacy consists of the simpler east range, his private domain, and the grander south range, built for banqueting in the great hall.
