This will forever be remembered as the last place we went before lockdown. It was Mother's Day and as everybody else had already started socially distancing, we were in serious denial about what was about to happen!
Where is it?
Manorbier beach can be found by following the road from Tenby and through Lydstep. It's also close to Skrinkle Haven, another gem of a beach.
Why Visit Manorbier?
This is a small beach that doesn't attract masses of tourists, so if you're looking for somewhere a little quieter, this is a lovely beach to try.
There's a small car park close to the beach (you have to pay to park here). £2 for two hours or £4 for 4 hours. However, if you drive past the car park and up the hill, there's a smaller car park where you don't have to pay. There’s no machines anymore so you have to have the Pay by Phone app to pay!
In the free car park up the hill, there's three designated disabled spaces and this would be a lovely place to pull up with a picnic or some chips as the views are lovely.
There are toilets in the main car park and somewhere to wash down your wet suits and beach toys before going back to the car.
On your way to the beach you will pass through the village. They have a very small shop there, a nice looking pub and a cafe if you didn't get round to packing your picnic! You’ll find an ice cream van in the car park in the summer.
You can see a castle from the beach and there’s more about that below! They filmed part of the Narnia films here apparently.
We like this beach because it has a river there too. Cooper will spend hours throwing stones so Manorbier gives you the best of both worlds.
As well as the river and the sand there are also a lot of rock pools to explore and climb when the tide is out.
Any negatives?
This is more of a pebbled beach than a sandy one. It's the type of place we'd visit on a cooler day to explore rather than a boiling day to sun bathe. You have to walk a few minutes from the car park to the beach but the path, although not paved, is one that you could push a pram or wheelchair over. When the tide is out there's a big beach to walk. We took Cooper's bike with us once but the sea had made big grooves in the sand so it was too bumpy for him and would have been quite a ride for someone in a pram or wheelchair! Cooper enjoyed the waves here but due to the large rocks on the floor it wasn't the most relaxing thing to watch thinking he was going to fall and hurt himself!! You definitely need beach shoes for this beach.
So, if you're looking for somewhere quiet, with lovely views and rock pools to explore, make a stop at Manorbier next time you're staying close to Tenby.
The Castle
Fast forward a few years and I’m updating this blog as we’ve finally been to the castle. Why has it taken me so long? What an absolutely lovely place to visit. If you enjoy a castle visit, definitely put this one on your list!
It was £6.95 for adults and £4.50 for children over 4 and senior citizens (over 65). It’s quite a pull up from the beach car park, which is where you have to park really, but it’s short so totally doable!
As soon as you enter the castle you can see how well kept and pretty it is. Over the summer they have a lot of children’s activities laid out on the lawn on the middle and they can take part in all of them for £2.
This also includes a great treasure hunt where they can look for treasure pictures on a map and search for bugs on a bug hunt too. They get a prize at the end, three little gold coins. I could see Coops struggling to open them for a while so offered to help, they’re not chocolate, just pretend coins. It was Cooper’s one disappointment of the day because in all other ways he absolutely loved it here and placed it in his top 3 days of the summer holidays so far!
You can explore quite a lot of the castle and there’s great views from all the rooms. Most of them have something to entertain the children as well in them, such as traditional games, mannequins or dress up boxes.
The grounds themselves are really pretty, probably one of the nicest kept castles I’ve been to anyway, probably helped by the fact that we visited on such a lovely day.
We didn’t eat at the cafe but there was a small cafe selling hot and cold drinks, lovely looking cakes and snacks.
We will 100% return here and will be keeping an eye out for the various events that they hold during the holidays.
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