Druidstone Hotel

The Druidstone is a national treasure: a weather-beaten Georgian house, with a walled garden, poised on the cliff-edge above one of Pembrokeshire’s loveliest beaches. But it is the people who make a hotel great and Druidstone excels in this: it’s family run, the staff are delightful, and the residents aren’t bad, either. It has everything you need in a hotel – fabulous breakfasts, good bar meals, proper kids’ teas, a bar that stays open as late as the last customer, and fabulous views out to sea. The only drawback is that in summer it gets booked up months ahead – though you might just strike lucky with a cancellation. The hotel proper has just 11 rooms but there are also five cottages around the gardens, including a tiny eco-hut, powered by wind and solar.

Dogs are allowed everywhere except in the main dining room, which means you’ll need to eat in the bar, or outside if the weather is good, watching the sunset down over St Brides Bay. And dogs are allowed on Druidstone’s fabulous beach, too, reached down a 10-minute cliff path from the hotel – though be aware that this is also used by the local pony-rides, so if your dog snaps at horses, you’ll need to put it on a lead when they appear. That aside, it’s blissful. And the Dru (as everyone knows it) is bang on the Pembrokeshire coastal path – one of the best walks anywhere in Britain. You can do it in stages and get back to the hotel by the local Puffin Bus. Easy local walks will take you to Little Haven (with a fine dog-friendly pub, The Swan) to the south, or north to the surfers’ beach of Newgale. Best of all is Marloes beach, where there is a brilliant café called Runawayskiln, which does brilliant lunches and teas, and allows dogs at its sea-view tables.