Carew Castle, Scenic Pembrokeshire Coast, and a Sunday Roast

Sunday March 9, 2025

Today began grey but turned into an absolute belter of an early spring day. The sort of afternoon when the sky is so blue that all the colours pop. The sort of day when it seems as though everyone has come out to enjoy the sunshine and talk about spring, dusting off the barbecue and jet washing the pavement/deck/conservatory.

It’s Sunday, and Sundays are all about the roast, but first, some sightseeing – after managing to get the car back out of that ridiculously tight carpark.

We began the day at Carew Castle.

The Norman castle stands on the remains of an Iron Age hillfort and has its origins in a stone keep built by Gerald de Windsor around 1100. His son, William, took the name de Carew. Much of the castle was built in around 1270.

The de Carews fell on hard times and the castle was mortgaged heavily, falling into the hands of Rhys ap Thomas, who made his fortune by backing the future VII at the right time and was awarded with lands and a knighthood. The castle was extended at this time and more lavishly decorated. Rhys’ grandson, however, fell out of favour and was executed by Henry VIII for treason.

The castle reverted to the crown and, in 1558 was bought by Sir John Perrot who completed the final modifications to it.

Now, John Perrot was an interesting character. Born a few miles away in Haverford West, for most of his life it was speculated that he was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII. (While modern historians have rejected this theory, it is a good story). Anyways, illegitimate half-brother or not, Perrot held heaps of influence at Elizabeth I’s court – that is, until he didn’t. Perrot, you see, didn’t make many friends in his pursuit of power, and these enemies had him falsely accused of treason. Perrot died (most probably by poison) in London Tower before he could enjoy his rebuilding efforts. The castle subsequently reverted to the Crown and was repurchased by the de Carew family.

It was abandoned and allowed to decay in the late 1600s, with the structure looted for building stone.

At the tidal mill beyond the castle we got talking to a couple of birders packing massive lenses (no euphemism, no puns). One told me how, on the previous day, he’d given up waiting for the kingfisher he often sees and was about to put his lens away when the swans began a courtship dance.

‘What was that?’ enquired the other guy.

‘A courtship dance,’ Birder One repeated.

When Birder Two still looked confused, I said, ‘Well, it’s like this. You go to the pub and you see someone you fancy, so you take your pint, puff out your chest and head over there to impress them.’

Too funny.

Managed to get the last table for lunch at Carew Inn, so with an hour or so to fill in, went for a drive – down to Pembroke, past the castle and then to Stackpole and along the coast.

The Pembroke coast really is scenic. I’m wishing we’d scheduled another day here so we could have walked some of it.

Lunch was great (£15.95 for the roast pork) and the veggies were the star of the show. Especially the mashed swedes, cabbage and creamed leeks. Oh, the creamed leeks.

Came home via Saundersfoot and called in at the farm shop near New Hedges on the way back and bought a slice of Gala Pie (essentially a terrine enclosed in pastry) to have with our cheese for dinner. I pointed out the corned beef and potato pie they had to Grant. Oh, the memories of Stockton… NOT!

One of the rules we made for ourselves is that we have to do a decent walk after having Sunday roast, so that’s what we did when we got back to Tenby.

No self-respecting walk after Sunday lunch is complete without a hill, so we walked up Castle Hill to the castle remains for some remarkable views.

In other news, there was a massive rainstorm at home in the early hours of Monday morning – over 200mm in just a few hours. It’s all part of the Cyclone Alfred thing, but fortunately, there was no damage to our house.

Teacakes and Creamed Leeks… not together, of course …

I was spoilt for choice in the which recipe to choose stakes last time, so here’s the link to Paul Hollywood’s teacakes. I used currants instead of sultanas in mine and didn’t use mixed peel as the ones we had in Tenby didn’t have mixed peel in them.

As for the creamed leeks, Jamie Oliver’s recipe decadently includes brie, but these are the ones I made to go with roast chicken.

The stats…

Temperature: 9-12

Miles travelled: about 38 miles*

*Even though we work in kms in Australia, all signage in the UK is in miles, so that’s what I’m going with.

These posts are taken directly from my travel journal … you can find the series here.