Narberth & Cilgwyn

Following our visit to Amroth the plan was to travel across country, about one hour's drive, towards the other end of the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path at St Dogmaels but to turn off before reaching there and visit the Pembrokeshire Candle Centre at Cilgwyn later in the day when rain was forecast. After a mid morning coffee in Begelly, we stopped again just a few miles up the road in Narberth. Narberth's High Street, despite being one-way, has always been busy when we have passed through and this day was no exception with vehicles parked on both sides. There are also florists on either side of the street (as these images show), almost opposite each other but the dominating feature at the end of the street is the old Town Hall built in 1830. It is now an art gallery.

They were obviously expecting us in Narberth - they'd put the flags out! In truth I think they were there for the carnival celebrations where no doubt the crowds would enjoy a drink and perhaps a meal too in The Angel, one of several inns in the town. The Angel is at the other end of High Street to the old Town Hall.

Close by is The Queen's Hall, a community venue hosting many events throughout the year including weekly life drawing classes. On the top floor exhibitions are held in The Gallery which is funded by The Arts Council of Wales. This all seems a far cry from when High Street was known as Pig Market Street when the town held regular livestock markets but I suppose that's what we call progress.

The beautiful flower arrangements were one of the memories we took from Narberth but the last shop on High Street is called "Sweet Memories". Here, as the advertising says, you can "walk down memory lane", forget the calories and choose from rows of jars filled with all those old fashioned sweets. On this occasion though, we resisted the temptation and decided to follow the arrow pointing to the left to leave Narberth and head north over the Preseli Hills via Maenclochog to Cilgwyn.

At the high point of the hills, the view behind us to the south was not very promising with the forecast rain moving quickly towards us. As we dropped down from the hills and turned off towards Cilgwyn pausing briefly to take these two views above - the inset is from the same point but looking down into the valley to the right - the rain actually caught up with us and both pictures were taken during a short sharp shower.

Then following some of those infamous narrow Pembrokeshire lanes and avoiding a convoy of four sheep that most inconsiderately ignored a give way sign and walked out of a side road directly in front of us - I had visions of a damaged car and roast lamb and mint sauce for the rest of the week - we eventually arrived at the Pembrokeshire Candle Centre in relatively fine weather. The original idea had been to visit the centre when the poorer weather arrived but true to form it stayed fine all the time we were there.

From the small courtyard/car park (left) two doors lead into a small museum, reputed to be Britain's smallest, (see two images top right) and the candle workshop (middle right) where hand-dipped taper candles are made. It is also possible to purchase candles from all over the world including some in the shape of elephants (bottom right) as well as candle-sticks, lanterns, snuffers, local books and many other candle related artifacts. A flight of steps also leads from the courtyard to The Gallery.

In The Gallery is a further collection of candelabra, free-standing branched candle sticks, wall sconces and commissioned items from local craftsmen and artists and it is a fitting supplement to the museum below. The view from the upstairs window showing the approach to the Candle Centre is also worth the climb to the upper storey and the arched frame with coloured glass ornaments on the sill presents an almost church-like feel to The Gallery. As you can see we appeared to have outrun the rain so we continued our northerly journey and enjoyed a late picnic lunch in Newport Sands.