Three Blue Flag beach awards! - Parkdean: "Parkdean; voted Best UK Holiday Operator at the British Travel Awards for 2 years running, are proud to announce that Challaborough Bay; accessed directly from Challaborough Bay Holiday Park, Trecco Bay; just steps away from Trecco Bay Holiday Park and Pendine Beach; located minutes from Pendine Sands Holiday Park, have been awarded the internationally recognised Blue Flag Award for 2012.
Blue Flag is a prestigious award scheme which acts as a guarantee to tourists that the beach they are visiting is one of the best in the world. The Blue Flag is awarded to coastal destinations which have achieved the highest quality in water, facilities, safety, environmental education and management."
'via Blog this'
Tuesday 29 May 2012
3 bedroom for sale, Apartment 5 in Pendine, Carmarthenshire | Property for Sale | Gumtree.com
3 bedroom for sale, Apartment 5 in Pendine, Carmarthenshire | Property for Sale | Gumtree.com: "A superb second floor, sea front, fully furnished luxury apartment located within yards of the beach front in the popular village of Pendine, with uninterrupted views of the coastline of Carmarthen Bay through to the Gower peninsula. The accommodation briefly comprises: Entrance Hallway, Open Plan Living, Kitchen and Dining Area, Bathroom and three Bedrooms. The property benefits from dedicated covered parking, communal atrium with shower and washing area which is ideal after a day at the beach, access from the communal area, intercom system, self closing internal doors, full UPVc windows and doors.
The apartment is fully furnished to an exceptional standard and early viewing is highly recommended."
'via Blog this'
The apartment is fully furnished to an exceptional standard and early viewing is highly recommended."
'via Blog this'
2 bedroom for sale, Apartment in Pendine, Carmarthenshire | Property for Sale | Gumtree.com
2 bedroom for sale, Apartment in Pendine, Carmarthenshire | Property for Sale | Gumtree.com: "A superb first floor, sea front apartment located within yards of the beach front in the popular village of Pendine, with uninterrupted views of the coastline of Carmarthen Bay through to the Gower peninsula. The accommodation briefly comprises: Entrance Hallway, Open Plan Living, Kitchen and Dining Area, Bathroom and two Bedrooms. The property benefits from dedicated covered parking, communal atrium with shower and washing area which is ideal after a day at the beach, access from the communal area, intercom system, self closing internal doors, full UPVc windows and doors."
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Thursday 24 May 2012
cook / chef in Pendine, Carmarthenshire | Cooks Jobs | Gumtree.com
cook / chef in Pendine, Carmarthenshire | Cooks Jobs | Gumtree.com: "Our family run, restaurant, cafe and takeaway relies on a strong team in all areas, especially in our fast paced kitchen.
Our Head Chef Paul is looking for someone to train up to his standard and once the right candidate has settled in, they will be expected to cover his time off.
The kitchen has undergone a major refit over the winter, making sure that everything is in place, for what we expect to be a busy summer.
Paul is looking for someone who is able to produce breakfast, lunch, dinner and on occasions takeaway fare.
We will pay "Above" minimum wage + a full share of the tips for the right hard working, team player."
'via Blog this'
Our Head Chef Paul is looking for someone to train up to his standard and once the right candidate has settled in, they will be expected to cover his time off.
The kitchen has undergone a major refit over the winter, making sure that everything is in place, for what we expect to be a busy summer.
Paul is looking for someone who is able to produce breakfast, lunch, dinner and on occasions takeaway fare.
We will pay "Above" minimum wage + a full share of the tips for the right hard working, team player."
'via Blog this'
Wednesday 23 May 2012
20 events to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee - Parentdish
20 events to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee - Parentdish: "
Jubilee BBQ weekend
Where: Carmarthen and Pendine Sands, Discovercarmarthenshire.com
When: 2-4 June
Carmarthenshire is celebrating its first BBQ Week to celebrate and showcase the county’s top quality BBQ produce and locations. On the Saturday there will be local produce stalls and Britain’s champion BBQer Ben Bartlett cooking up a storm in Carmarthen town centre and on the Monday seaside cooking demos in Pendine, the jewel of Carmarthenshire’s coastline, local produce stalls, a hog roast on the beach, children’s entertainment and beach activities including go- karting, a climbing wall, sand castle building and canoeing, live music and comedy acts and in a grand finale, the lighting of the Jubilee Beacon and fireworks extravaganza."
'via Blog this'
Jubilee BBQ weekend
Where: Carmarthen and Pendine Sands, Discovercarmarthenshire.com
When: 2-4 June
Carmarthenshire is celebrating its first BBQ Week to celebrate and showcase the county’s top quality BBQ produce and locations. On the Saturday there will be local produce stalls and Britain’s champion BBQer Ben Bartlett cooking up a storm in Carmarthen town centre and on the Monday seaside cooking demos in Pendine, the jewel of Carmarthenshire’s coastline, local produce stalls, a hog roast on the beach, children’s entertainment and beach activities including go- karting, a climbing wall, sand castle building and canoeing, live music and comedy acts and in a grand finale, the lighting of the Jubilee Beacon and fireworks extravaganza."
'via Blog this'
Monday 21 May 2012
Wednesday 16 May 2012
Tuesday 15 May 2012
Sunday 13 May 2012
Saturday 12 May 2012
TENBY TODAY | SPORT | Pendine and District BC
TENBY TODAY | SPORT | Pendine and District BC: "Last Saturday, Pendine commenced its second year in the first division of the Pembrokeshire League, having surprisingly come fourth in the league last year, and now faced Pembroke Dock BC. "
'via Blog this'
'via Blog this'
Monday 7 May 2012
Matthew Dance's his way to muddy victory (From Milford Mercury)
Matthew Dance's his way to muddy victory (From Milford Mercury): "NOT even heavy rain could stop the South Wales Autograss League running their opening meeting of the season at the Castle Lloyd farm circuit above Pendine.
A total of 133 drivers signed on including 79 from the SWL and 46 from the neighbouring West Wales League.
With the two opening heats over, the finals would see the rain stop for some closely fought races including Matthew Dance TA30 who won class five after his engine fire the previous week at the Cwmdu meeting."
'via Blog this'
A total of 133 drivers signed on including 79 from the SWL and 46 from the neighbouring West Wales League.
With the two opening heats over, the finals would see the rain stop for some closely fought races including Matthew Dance TA30 who won class five after his engine fire the previous week at the Cwmdu meeting."
'via Blog this'
A Welsh wander: Tackle the 870 mile-long Wales Coast Path a little at a time - UK - Travel - The Independent
A Welsh wander: Tackle the 870 mile-long Wales Coast Path a little at a time - UK - Travel - The Independent: "The first coast path to outline an entire country officially opens today: the Wales Coast Path. This 870-mile trail runs from the Welsh border near Chester all the way to Chepstow in south-east Wales. It connects certain existing coastal paths, such as those on the Anglesey coast and Pembrokeshire. The resulting continuous route forms and joins up the 177-mile Offa's Dyke Path national trail along the Welsh-English border to create a complete circuit of Wales."
To be accurate, today's official opening does not mean it is complete: some sections are a work in progress with more waymarking needed on the Llyn Peninsula and detours because of access disputes on Anglesey. But the majority of the path will be complete for the grand opening, celebrated by three ceremonies in North, South and Mid Wales.
To test it ahead of the official opening, I opted for a weekend walking sections of the lesser-explored Carmarthenshire path. The 68 miles from Amroth to Llanelli connect the walkers' hubs of Gower and Pembrokeshire but, given sections of treacherous salt marsh, include some deviation inland.
Culturally it's a particularly rich walk, showcasing the landscape that inspired the writer Dylan Thomas to produce some of his best-known work. Based in Laugharne, where Thomas lived in the late 1940s, my plan was to walk out each day, returning each night for rest and recuperation.
I start walking at Pendine beach, the seven-mile sweep of sand opening up in widescreen on a blustery spring day. Tenby lurks round the headland and fishermen are digging for lugworms. The beach was the scene of successive world land speed records in the 1920s and the rivalry between Malcolm Campbell and John Parry-Thomas who was killed here in 1927. His car, Babs, was salvaged from a sand-gritted grave and is now exhibited in a small, wind-lashed museum just behind the beach.
The walk into Laugharne leads me inland around the Pendine Sands military base, following the road before veering back coastward and over Sir John's Hill into town. Georgian Laugharne inspired Llareggub, the fictional location for Thomas's 1954 radio play Under Milk Wood.
Waiting for me at Laugharne's ruined castle on the main square, the Grist, is a smiling Bob Stevens of Salt House Farm. Stevens has devised a two-mile, linear Dylan Thomas Birthday Walk around the estuary, overlapping with the coast path, with each of five new benches carved with a line from Thomas's "Poem in October". Complete the walk on your birthday and present your birth certificate or driving licence at a local pub, and you can claim a free birthday pint.
"The trail follows the walk Dylan documented in his poem," explains Bob as we stand on a hilltop outside Laugharne, views across the salt marsh and ringed plover wading below. "I don't like much of poetry but I really feel the essence of the man by walking this trail each year on my own birthday."
That night, before supper, I take a look around the Tin Shed Experience, an offbeat anti-war museum/ performance space on the town's pastel-painted main drag. The venue recently hosted events for the annual Laugharne Weekend arts festival, including Howard Marks and John Cooper Clarke.
"Laugharne is a time slip in the best possible sense," says co-founder Seimon Pugh-Jones, as a life-size fibreglass figure of Captain Cat from Under Milk Wood stands guard at the door. "The quirky, bohemian atmosphere of Laugharne has inspired people since Thomas's time," he adds.
The next day, I transfer ahead by taxi from Laugharne, avoiding tricky twin estuary crossings across the Taf at St Clears and the Tywi at Carmarthen. Instead, I pick up the trail at Kidwelly, making good progress along the muddy path to the town's 13th-century stone castle, before joining the coastal path towards Llanelli.
The final leg of the walk joins the Millennium Coastal Park trail, a 10-mile man-made path through a former industrial area on the outskirts of Llanelli. It's a flat, straight stretch, ideal for biking, with views west towards Pembrey Country Park and east towards the Gower peninsula.
I finish my walk with a slight detour to the National Wetland Centre Wales. A stampede of wading birds, red-crested pochards and endangered marbled teal greet my arrival, all determined to claim a share of the birdseed I'm clutching in a tiny paper bag. Spring is in the air, with dragonflies and butterflies surveying the grounds of the Millennium Wetlands, while the flamingos are perfecting their wing salute for breeding. Families are cooing over fluffy-bundle hatchlings parading in the late-afternoon sun as part of Duckling Day events.
Before leaving Laugharne, I take one last walk, a circular loop past the writing shed where Dylan Thomas worked, and past the Boat House where the family lived before Thomas's departure on an American lecture tour in 1953, during which he died.
I find refurbishment work at an advanced stage at Brown's Hotel, the watering hole where Thomas ran up a bar tab as sizeable as his talent in those most productive final years. (The hotel reopens in late June with 14 period-styled rooms and a literary-themed lounge.) Across the road, George Tremlett, the owner of Corran Books and biographer of Dylan's wife, Caitlin Macnamara, is making plans for the centenary of Thomas' birth in 2014.
"Dylan was a keen walker," says George, blowing dust off a first edition of 18 Poems valued at £600. "He described the tides, the estuary and the view from the Boat House in the poem "Prologue" with its 102-line wave formation" (This day winding down now/At God speeded summer's end/In the torrent salmon sun/In my seashaken house.)
The path leads me to St Martin's Church, where both Dylan and Caitlin are buried in the graveyard. The graves are marked with a simple white cross, which looks out across the rolling hills of Carmarthenshire. In the cold stone interior of the church itself, a plaque to Thomas bears an inscription from one of his most evocative poems, "Fern Hill".
"Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea."
Travel essentials
Getting there
The nearest station is Carmarthen, served by Arriva Trains Wales ( 0845 606 1660 ; arrivatrainswales.co.uk)
Staying there
Seaview, Laugharne ( 01994 427030 ; www.seaview-laugharne.co.uk). B&B from £115.
More information
Discover Carmarthenshire has plotted eight walks each between three and 13km distance with attractions, food and accommodation along the way so that all levels of walkers can experience the villages, wildlife and coastal views along the way (discovercarmarthenshire.com/wales-coast-path. See also OS Explorer map 177 and visitwales.com
Walk around Wales
The opening, today, of the final section of the 870-mile path from Chester in the north to Chepstow in the south officially carves the longest continuous route around any country in the world.
Split into eight parts, it moves from North Wales and the Dee estuary, around the Isle of Anglesey offshore, then passes the Llyn peninsula where it kisses the western edge of Snowdonia. Next, it courses south down a majestic sweep of Ceredigion Bay, on to the rugged cliffs of Pembrokeshire, and then strides past Carmarthenshire where it hops over the Tywi and Taf estuaries.
Here, the route curves around the Gower, where some of Wales's most stunning and isolated coast is laid out in long stretches of seamless sand, before rounding into Swansea Bay.
The route loops towards the seaside resort of Barry Island, tips its hat at the Welsh capital, and races towards the final flashes of this constantly changing coastline, where a stone marker in Chepstow – carved with the Welsh dragon – denotes the path's end.
Obviously, this route can be done in reverse, but it's probably best to rest weary limbs at the Coach & Horses Inn first, before attempting the 870-mile walk once again (walescoastpath.gov.uk).
Laura Holt
To be accurate, today's official opening does not mean it is complete: some sections are a work in progress with more waymarking needed on the Llyn Peninsula and detours because of access disputes on Anglesey. But the majority of the path will be complete for the grand opening, celebrated by three ceremonies in North, South and Mid Wales.
To test it ahead of the official opening, I opted for a weekend walking sections of the lesser-explored Carmarthenshire path. The 68 miles from Amroth to Llanelli connect the walkers' hubs of Gower and Pembrokeshire but, given sections of treacherous salt marsh, include some deviation inland.
Culturally it's a particularly rich walk, showcasing the landscape that inspired the writer Dylan Thomas to produce some of his best-known work. Based in Laugharne, where Thomas lived in the late 1940s, my plan was to walk out each day, returning each night for rest and recuperation.
I start walking at Pendine beach, the seven-mile sweep of sand opening up in widescreen on a blustery spring day. Tenby lurks round the headland and fishermen are digging for lugworms. The beach was the scene of successive world land speed records in the 1920s and the rivalry between Malcolm Campbell and John Parry-Thomas who was killed here in 1927. His car, Babs, was salvaged from a sand-gritted grave and is now exhibited in a small, wind-lashed museum just behind the beach.
The walk into Laugharne leads me inland around the Pendine Sands military base, following the road before veering back coastward and over Sir John's Hill into town. Georgian Laugharne inspired Llareggub, the fictional location for Thomas's 1954 radio play Under Milk Wood.
Waiting for me at Laugharne's ruined castle on the main square, the Grist, is a smiling Bob Stevens of Salt House Farm. Stevens has devised a two-mile, linear Dylan Thomas Birthday Walk around the estuary, overlapping with the coast path, with each of five new benches carved with a line from Thomas's "Poem in October". Complete the walk on your birthday and present your birth certificate or driving licence at a local pub, and you can claim a free birthday pint.
"The trail follows the walk Dylan documented in his poem," explains Bob as we stand on a hilltop outside Laugharne, views across the salt marsh and ringed plover wading below. "I don't like much of poetry but I really feel the essence of the man by walking this trail each year on my own birthday."
That night, before supper, I take a look around the Tin Shed Experience, an offbeat anti-war museum/ performance space on the town's pastel-painted main drag. The venue recently hosted events for the annual Laugharne Weekend arts festival, including Howard Marks and John Cooper Clarke.
"Laugharne is a time slip in the best possible sense," says co-founder Seimon Pugh-Jones, as a life-size fibreglass figure of Captain Cat from Under Milk Wood stands guard at the door. "The quirky, bohemian atmosphere of Laugharne has inspired people since Thomas's time," he adds.
The next day, I transfer ahead by taxi from Laugharne, avoiding tricky twin estuary crossings across the Taf at St Clears and the Tywi at Carmarthen. Instead, I pick up the trail at Kidwelly, making good progress along the muddy path to the town's 13th-century stone castle, before joining the coastal path towards Llanelli.
The final leg of the walk joins the Millennium Coastal Park trail, a 10-mile man-made path through a former industrial area on the outskirts of Llanelli. It's a flat, straight stretch, ideal for biking, with views west towards Pembrey Country Park and east towards the Gower peninsula.
I finish my walk with a slight detour to the National Wetland Centre Wales. A stampede of wading birds, red-crested pochards and endangered marbled teal greet my arrival, all determined to claim a share of the birdseed I'm clutching in a tiny paper bag. Spring is in the air, with dragonflies and butterflies surveying the grounds of the Millennium Wetlands, while the flamingos are perfecting their wing salute for breeding. Families are cooing over fluffy-bundle hatchlings parading in the late-afternoon sun as part of Duckling Day events.
Before leaving Laugharne, I take one last walk, a circular loop past the writing shed where Dylan Thomas worked, and past the Boat House where the family lived before Thomas's departure on an American lecture tour in 1953, during which he died.
I find refurbishment work at an advanced stage at Brown's Hotel, the watering hole where Thomas ran up a bar tab as sizeable as his talent in those most productive final years. (The hotel reopens in late June with 14 period-styled rooms and a literary-themed lounge.) Across the road, George Tremlett, the owner of Corran Books and biographer of Dylan's wife, Caitlin Macnamara, is making plans for the centenary of Thomas' birth in 2014.
"Dylan was a keen walker," says George, blowing dust off a first edition of 18 Poems valued at £600. "He described the tides, the estuary and the view from the Boat House in the poem "Prologue" with its 102-line wave formation" (This day winding down now/At God speeded summer's end/In the torrent salmon sun/In my seashaken house.)
The path leads me to St Martin's Church, where both Dylan and Caitlin are buried in the graveyard. The graves are marked with a simple white cross, which looks out across the rolling hills of Carmarthenshire. In the cold stone interior of the church itself, a plaque to Thomas bears an inscription from one of his most evocative poems, "Fern Hill".
"Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea."
Travel essentials
Getting there
The nearest station is Carmarthen, served by Arriva Trains Wales ( 0845 606 1660 ; arrivatrainswales.co.uk)
Staying there
Seaview, Laugharne ( 01994 427030 ; www.seaview-laugharne.co.uk). B&B from £115.
More information
Discover Carmarthenshire has plotted eight walks each between three and 13km distance with attractions, food and accommodation along the way so that all levels of walkers can experience the villages, wildlife and coastal views along the way (discovercarmarthenshire.com/wales-coast-path. See also OS Explorer map 177 and visitwales.com
Walk around Wales
The opening, today, of the final section of the 870-mile path from Chester in the north to Chepstow in the south officially carves the longest continuous route around any country in the world.
Split into eight parts, it moves from North Wales and the Dee estuary, around the Isle of Anglesey offshore, then passes the Llyn peninsula where it kisses the western edge of Snowdonia. Next, it courses south down a majestic sweep of Ceredigion Bay, on to the rugged cliffs of Pembrokeshire, and then strides past Carmarthenshire where it hops over the Tywi and Taf estuaries.
Here, the route curves around the Gower, where some of Wales's most stunning and isolated coast is laid out in long stretches of seamless sand, before rounding into Swansea Bay.
The route loops towards the seaside resort of Barry Island, tips its hat at the Welsh capital, and races towards the final flashes of this constantly changing coastline, where a stone marker in Chepstow – carved with the Welsh dragon – denotes the path's end.
Obviously, this route can be done in reverse, but it's probably best to rest weary limbs at the Coach & Horses Inn first, before attempting the 870-mile walk once again (walescoastpath.gov.uk).
Laura Holt
Tuesday 1 May 2012
Wales: exploring the new coastal path in Dylan Thomas country - Telegraph
Wales: exploring the new coastal path in Dylan Thomas country - Telegraph: "One of the joys of walking a coastal path is the simplicity of its navigation. Keep the sea on your left or keep the sea on your right, and walk. As a consequence of such simplicity the environment is often one of dramatic visual contrast.
I was reminded of this over the Easter weekend when my girlfriend and I paused half way along a 10-mile stretch of the newly opened Wales Coast Path between Laugharne and Amroth. As we caught our breaths above a deserted Marros Bay a turn of our heads was all that was required to take us from the minimalism of polished sand, sea and sky before us to an explosion of pointillist colour at our backs; white blackthorn blossom and yellow gorse flowers punctuating the deep greens of hedged and undulating fields."
'via Blog this'
I was reminded of this over the Easter weekend when my girlfriend and I paused half way along a 10-mile stretch of the newly opened Wales Coast Path between Laugharne and Amroth. As we caught our breaths above a deserted Marros Bay a turn of our heads was all that was required to take us from the minimalism of polished sand, sea and sky before us to an explosion of pointillist colour at our backs; white blackthorn blossom and yellow gorse flowers punctuating the deep greens of hedged and undulating fields."
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