Tenby is one of those places I absolutely
adore and never get tired of visiting, even on the most rainy days! It’s
absolutely packed in the summer months due it being a highly regarded holiday
destination and the economy is mainly based around tourism. It’s also a mecca
for artists and painters alike. It’s not surprising really, as the chocolate
box view of the harbour is extremely beautiful with the buildings differing in
pastel hues creating a colourful tapestry. Tenby’s North beach (where the
harbour is situated) is a great spot for sunbathing and building sand castles
in the summer, but in my opinion Tenby’s other beach, ‘South beach’ is a world
apart. The golden sand spans over two kilometers from St. Catherine’s Island to
Giltar point and is backed by stunning sand dunes and grasses. From here,
you’ll get a great view of Caldey Island, best known for its offshore monastery
and the monks who reside there. You can experience island life for yourself via
regular boat trips from Tenby Harbour.
This
time from a little sheltered cove called Shrinkle Haven.
Moving along the South coast you pass
through more coastal locations, secluded coves and seaside villages. Laystep
and Manorbier provider great bases for your holiday; positioned with stunning
beaches on your doorstep and straight on the coast path for access to some
lesser known views of this dramatic coastline. Lydstep has some great views
across to Caldey and moving along to just before Manorbier, there’s a small
cove at Shrinkle Haven with a natural square shaped arch which can be made a
nice feature of. The weather plays a big part in improving your scenes along
the coast and it’s also a great destination to catch sunrise and sunset. Being
surrounded by the sea on three sides of the county, you can shoot sunrise and
sunset at the seaside all in the same day without traveling too far. Whilst the
aforementioned locations favour a sunrise session, more northern and western
locations favour a sunset image, so account for this when planning your shoots.
Continuing on through the beaches arrive in the area called Stackpole.
The
Green Bridge of Wales is a spectacular natural arch, which has been carved by
the sea into the cliffs of the Pembrokeshire coast
You could spend a week around just this
part of Pembrokeshire and not see it all. There’s quaint little quay, a smaller
cove around to the East with fantastic colourful rock formations and within a
short walk from the car park over the headland, you’ll reach Barafundle Bay.
This beach has been voted many, many times as one of the best in Britain and
even the world. The pristine golden sands are backed by dunes and pine trees
and it is very isolated, which means everything you take with you has to come
back up the hundred or so steps. If you continue through Barafundle Bay and
carry on over the headland, you’ll descend down into the Southern end of the
Bosherston Lily ponds. The sight of the iconic ‘church Rock’ sea stack will be
first to greet you, standing prominently offshore and then the swathe of sand
dunes, which back up the beach will be your next sight on the journey. Heading
inland slightly from here will take you into the criss-cross paths that circle
all of the three lakes, which make up Bosherston Lily ponds. As you can imagine
by its name, the Western most lake is carpeted with beautiful Lilypads and
flowers in the summer months, not to mention a whole mixture of flora and
fauna. Jumping further West, you’ll start to see the coast turning a bit more
rough and rugged, with massive sea stacks and a very well known natural arch
called ‘The Green Bridge’. On the way try not to miss out St. Govan’s Head
revealing the famous St. Govan’s chapel, which is nestled between a fissure in
the cliffs. When you’re in those locations don’t be alarmed if you hear machine-gun
fire and tank activity. Whilst the army training base at nearby Castlemartin
doesn’t have much scope for photography subjects, it’s always worth a look if
the range is live, especially at night! Heading further West you come to a real
gem of a location at Freshwater West. Now famous for being on the big screen in
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and also Robin Hood, there’s plenty to
make the most of with your camera with a wide array of photographic subjects on
offer. You’ve got rock pools, sand formations, ‘The Seaweed Hut’, a massive
sand dune landscape with stunning grasses, not to mention a fantastic place for
sunsets all year round. It’s also known as one of the best places in Wales for
surfing, so you can imagine that he sea here can turn pretty rough in a short
space of time. Most people exit Freshwater West via the road to the north and
turn right, back towards Pembroke. But if you turn left you’ll discover another
hidden small village with a great sandy beach at Angle. From here you’ll spot
the fact you’re not far away from land across the sea – that’s due to
Pembrokeshire being split across the middle by the Milford Haven waterway. The
sand you can see opposite is the seaside village of Dale.
A
stunning little beach at Westdale Bay will reveal views to the offshore island
of Skokholm
Heading out at the rear of Dale village
will take you down to the relatively unknown location of Westdale Bay. This
place is beyond beautiful and has some great colourful rocks for foreground
interest, not to mention a fabulous view out to sea with the island of Skokholm
in the distance. Moving up from here, you enter what is called the Marloes
Peninsular. Encompassing the beautiful large beach of Marloes, circular cliff
top walk at Deer Park and the rocky cove of Martin’s Haven, will give you a lot
of subjects to shoot. Views from all these places will al reveal the magical
sight of the offshore island of Skomer. Being the biggest and most well-known
Pembrokeshire island, it come alive in the summer season with beautiful
Bluebells and Pink Campion carpeting the island, and also the arrival of many
bird species including the Puffin and Manx Shearwater, to name but a few.
Skomer holds over ten thousand breeding pairs of Puffin over the summer months
and is the world’s largest breeding site for Manx Shearwater; siting over one
hundred and twenty thousand pairs. Regular boat trips over to Skomer embark
from Martin’s Haven for visits to this enigmatic island. Moving further up the
coast path passing through the beaches which inhabit St. Brides Bay, you’ll
eventually reach Newgale. Here the beach literally goes on for miles with a
unique pebble bank that borders between the beach and the main road. Travelling
further North you’ll drop into a beautiful little harbour called Solva. There’s
fantastic scope here for photography with lime kiln relics revealing themselves
at low tide, then ascending up onto the ‘Gribin’ will give you great elevated
views back to the harbour, village and, out to sea, some impressive mini offshore
islands which could feature in your sunset images. The next main stop off North
will be the smallest city in Britain, St. Davids.
The
summit of Garn Fawr yields great views of the coastline leading back towards
St. David’s Head
