Little Haven

A cove remade by every tide

The streets here drop to the beach at a gradient as steep as a ski run. Little Haven wraps around a shingle-backed cove at the south-east corner of St Bride's Bay, with sandstone cliffs to the north and south. At high tide the water comes to the pub doors; at low tide the cove opens into a wide expanse of sand. Walk north across the Settlands to Broad Haven as the tide falls, with rockpools and crabbing spots along the way.

There are three pubs in a village this small. The Swan Inn sits at the water's edge and is about 200 years old, serving real ales, wine and spirits, with outside seating overlooking St Bride's Bay. The pub was also a filming location for the S4C romantic comedy Cara Fi.

Three pubs, three village stories

The Castle, opened in 1871, sits back from the shore and serves pub food. A ghost story links the building to the former laying-out of drowned sailors washed ashore. St Bride's Inn has old settle seating by a stone fireplace, a specials board, crab and lobster from the bay, and an ancient well in the cellar.

If you want the seafood without the pub, Lobster and Mór is a café, deli and shellfish shop in the middle of the village. Most of the catch comes off the boat Wren and Rose, landed by their own lobster man Danny, and the lobster rolls and crab sandwiches use rolls baked by a local baker, Alice. There is a tea room too.

Coast paths and village walks

The Pembrokeshire Coast Path runs straight through the village, north to Broad Haven and south towards Talbenny and Marloes. For something shorter there's a 2.2-mile circular that mixes clifftop, quiet lanes and fields of livestock, the verges thick with red campion and foxgloves in early summer.

A church beyond Domesday

St Mary's church stands about 1.5 km southwest of Little Haven village centre in a straight line. Inside are a 15th-century bell and a square font recut in the 13th or 14th century; the 1893 chancel rebuild cost £350. Pembrokeshire lay beyond the Domesday survey, so Little Haven has no entry.

Coal seams and lifeboat crews

Little Haven was once a coal village: anthracite was cut nearby from the 15th century and loaded onto coasting vessels from the beach, while the Howelston Level ran south of the village. The lifeboat station dates from 1882; a shortage of crew caused a 1921–1967 hiatus before an inshore lifeboat returned in 1967. Today it sits tucked into the village car park.