Back in October, my family and I took a much need break and went on holiday to Pembrokeshire. We’d stayed in this particular place before so we knew what to expect and had some idea of the things we’d like to do and places we’d like to go. For my eldest son, this was soft play, which he remembered fondly from two years previous. This was the first day’s activity as we needed to do a food shop anyway. One thing my husband and I have realised since having children is that holidays are not quite the same as before we had our wonderful, energetic little boys – they need to be more planned out, you go places you definitely wouldn’t without children (ie. soft play), there’s less time for relaxing in peace and quiet and evenings are spent in our accommodation, rather than a restaurant or pub. Nevertheless, it is lovely to get away from the hustle and bustle of home life.

Anyway, there are two trips we did that were a firm favourite amongst every family member and can be done with or without children. The first was simply a walk through some fields (my eldest son absolutely loves talking about the time we walked through the field with all the cow poop) from the lodge where we were staying to the nearest village, Porthgain. We had a wander round, and headed to the pub for a drink before heading back home for tea.

The second trip was a day out to Picton Castle where there is so much to see and do. Some of our favourite parts was the Welsh Owl Garden and the boardwalk through a ‘jungle’.
We visited the owl garden first in which, our eldest boy discovered his favourite owl (the great grey owl) and still talks about them today. He liked the way they moved their heads around.

We then headed to the cafe for some lunch before finding a play area for the boys, which included the boardwalk. After this, we went for a little walk before going back to the owl garden to watch the flying show, which was just incredible. Just be prepared for owls to fly within inches of your head!

It was a great day, that ended with fish and chips in Porthgain. We visited Picton Castle on our first holiday in Pembrokeshire as a family of 4 and I imagine it will be somewhere we will visit time and time again.