Castles in Wales

I’ve just got back from Pembrokeshire where the Gordon-Smiths disported themselves for the summer holiday.  Disported is about the right word, because the kids did hugely energetic things like jet-ski-ing (Jenny only fell off once) and I achieved a lifetime’s ambition; I bought a wetsuit.  For the last diddly-dum years I’ve stood on the edge of the various crusty bits of Britain while Peter, a hardy type, assures my from the briny blue that, “It’s all right once you get in!  It’s lovely!  Come on!”

And I, shivering by the sea, am forced, despite my better judgement, to plunge in.  And, d’you what?  It is cold and I do freeze.  Not this year though!  That layer of neoprene makes all the difference.  Within a day, the entire family, bar Peter, had also bought wetsuits.  Score:  one to me, I think! Here's Elspeth and Jenny being happy.

It wasn’t all swimming, though.  Pembrokeshire is home to loads of castles.  There were three within easy reach of where we stayed; Pembroke itself, Carew and my favourite, Manorbier.  It’s not very well know, but you might have seen it in the BBC TV adaptation of the Narnia Stories some years ago.  There’s proper rooms with enclosed passages so (because it isn’t very well known) you can get a proper Indiana Jones-y feeling of discovery.  Pembroke Castle also has proper rooms and passages but there’s far more visitors.  What Pembroke does have, though, is the Wogan Cave.  This is a big cave in the base of Pembroke Rock itself, which was lived in in pre-historic times.  There’s a huge gated entrance that overlooks the water, but you get to it by the 56 steps of the medieval spiral staircase.  Oddly enough, I’ve been spending a lot of time recently dreaming up a cave used in ancient times where Jack encounters some fairly dark doings. Admittedly my cave is beneath a neo-Classical temple but a Norman castle is sort of close enough for me to feel that this was the place I’d been imagining brought to life.

If you’ve seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one, you’ll know another place we visited.  The dunes and beach of Freshwater West on the Atlantic coast is where Bill and Fleur’s Shell Cottage was filmed and where poor Dobby meets his end.  It’s an amazing beach with a great sweep of sand.  Shell Cottage, unfortunately, had to be taken down after it was filmed, but the beach is unmistakable.  I can’t think of a better place for a house-elf to be buried!