St Davids

A pub, a city and its square

The Farmers Arms sits near the cathedral, and the building makes the most of that neighbour: from its south-facing patio you can see the cathedral. Inside, one room is more suited to dining while another is where locals gather. The kitchen draws on Pembrokeshire fish, meat and vegetables.

St Davids is officially a city, and a small one. In 1995, the Queen presented letters patent at the cathedral, settling a long-running question about its civic status. The cathedral lies below street level in the Alun valley, so it appears suddenly as you approach from the centre.

A medieval cross still stands in Cross Square. Nearby, The Bishops occupies an eighteenth-century building with a large garden and views towards Carn Llidi and the cathedral; its menu features Welsh dishes and fish specials. Across the square, the Cross Hotel welcomes dogs in its bar and garden, but not its restaurant.

Ambitious kitchens and local ingredients

The food climbs a long way above what a place this size has any right to sustain. On the edge of the city, inside a converted nineteenth-century windmill called Twr y Felin, is Blas, which is Welsh for taste. It holds three AA rosettes and a place in the Michelin Guide, and the kitchen — run by a duo, Dan Slipakiv and Gareth Evans — leans on local and foraged ingredients, particularly fish. Reviews name Solva crab, pan-roasted halibut, Welsh lamb, and a hen of the woods starter one diner called one of the best they had ever eaten. The windmill it occupies was built in 1806 to grind corn, lost its sails in 1904, and served as a U-boat lookout in the war before anyone thought of putting a restaurant in it.

On the High Street, the Really Wild Emporium offers foraging courses and sells soaps made in St Davids with foraged ingredients. Its guides explore hedgerows, old tracks and the shoreline, showing how wild ingredients can be used in food and skincare.

Pizza, provisions and ice cream

For something less formal, GRAIN pairs handmade pizza with local craft beer and welcomes dogs. At the Bug Farm near St Davids, Grub Kitchen serves nature-friendly food, including its Gourmet Bug Burger, now made with insect-and-plant mince. Chef Andy Holcroft founded the cafe.

For ice cream, head to The Bench on High Street, where a broad choice of homemade flavours makes a good finish to a walk around the city.

Coast paths, island waters and rainy days

The three-mile St Davids City walk links the cathedral valley with Clegyr Boia in about ninety minutes. Farther out, St Non's Chapel stands above St Non's Bay, with a holy well on the approach. At Whitesands, surfers use the northern break while the quieter south end has sheltered bays. The National Trust's St David's Head walk from the beach passes Coetan Arthur, a Neolithic burial chamber dated to about 4000 BC with an almost six-metre capstone.

Coasteering sessions run along the Pembrokeshire shoreline, including an option for mixed-age groups.

For a wet afternoon, try the exhibitions at Oriel y Parc. When the weather clears, return to the Bishop's Palace; Bishop Barlow may have stripped the palace roofs, starting a slow decline.

Cathedral stories and the railway that never came

The history begins in the cathedral valley. The present building was begun in 1181 on the site of St David's sixth-century community. That hollow would have made the site harder for Viking raiders to find, though its location was not necessarily chosen for that purpose. The Welsh oak ceiling of the 1530s carries twenty-two carved pendants, each about a metre and a half tall. A medieval papal privilege equated two pilgrimages to St Davids with one to Rome. The composer Thomas Tomkins was born here in 1572.

The railway never came. The St Davids and Heathfield Light Railway Company planned a line from Mathry Road station to a terminus near today's City Inn. The inn itself was built in anticipation as a railway hotel. For rail travel now, Fishguard and Haverfordwest are both options, listed by the city council at about fifteen and sixteen miles from St Davids respectively; the T11 bus connects both with the city.

On a warm afternoon, a homemade ice cream makes a fitting last stop before heading back through the city.