Things to do - south west wales?

[GlitteryFluff]

We're going to Wales next week for 5 days with a 4 year old and a 1 year old.

Does anyone have any recommendations of things to do?

Staying at a Haven in New Quay. Happy to travel around so anywhere south, anywhere west and anywhere mid wales.

Weather forecast looks rubbish at the mo so wet weather ideas would be handy if anyone has any?

Best beaches, country walks, little towns, castles, any rivers we can play in, hills we can climb? Don't really want to do farms/zoo/soft play etc though may have to if weather is absolutely dreadful.

Any specific areas of Brecon Beacons/Pembrokeshire National Park to visit?

Any ideas would be lovely.
Thanks.

[Llareggub]

If it isn't raining I love the beaches around New Quay. Tresaith and Llangrannog particularly. There is a nice little ice cream parlour in Llangrannog.

Aberaeron is nice to mooch around.

You will find plenty to do around New Quay. It takes ages to drive anywhere in Wales. It might not look far on the map but the roads are mainly single track.

[Heratnumber7]

Castell Henllys is good for kids. It's a working Iron Age Hill fort.

[Ricekrispie22]

Cei Bach is a lovely beach, popular for swimming and water sports. Dogs are allowed. Parking available a short walk from the beach.
New Quay Boat Trips have a choice of one hour or two hour cruises. Apart from seals and puffins, there’s a good chance of seeing bottle-nosed dolphins and porpoises. On the 2 hour cruise you will go further down the coast to the little bay of Ynys Lochtyn. Ynys Lochtyn is right by one of the main feeding areas for the dolphins.
Mwnt Beach is a sandy beach with a cafe and beachside toilets. There are cliff top walks available. Shallow swimming and paddling is safe, there is lifeguard cover. Take binoculars.
Cardigan Castle is a good trip. There is lots to do for the younger visitors: interactive games, including dress-up, adventure trails and an on-site play area.
The Vale of Rheidol Railway is an 11 mile line that will take you from Aberystwyth to the famous Devil’s Bridge Falls. It goes through valley with breath taking views.

[GlitteryFluff]

Ooh thanks so much.

Llareggub - will add those to my list. Thanks. We visited north wales last year so totally get the roads taking ages thing. We won't be too ambitious with plans.

Heratnumber7 - thanks will check that out. Sounds like our sort of thing.

Ricekrispie22 - thanks for all that info! Definitely want to do a boat trip.
Also like the sound of the train trip - will have a look at that online now.

[MyNameIsCharlesII]

Folly Farm near Tenby. We went there three times in one week on a very wet holiday once.

[feejee]

Folly farm is our favourite day out in Wales, rain or shine.

[Tiredmum100]

I live not too far from folly farm. Great day out for the kids, plenty to do indoors as well if it rains and there's an indoor picnic area which is handy. St.Davids is a nice place for a walk around the Cathedral etc if that appeals to you? There's also some lovely beaches along that coast and some nice places to eat in solva, however not sure if you'd be planning travelling that far down. My favourite place in that area is Saundersfoot.

[Tiredmum100]

Oh I forgot to say there's also the diansour park in tenby. My DC absolutely LOVE it there.

[FrenchyQ]

Cardigan bay is beautiful
cardiganisland.com/

[Howaboutthisone]

Folly farm definitely! It's amazing when nice weather but also lots to do and see in wet weather. I've heard that heatherton is lovely too but we've always done folly farm instead. Haven in Newquay is in a lovely location to walk into Newquay itself but wet weather wouldn't be fab for that. Brecon is a bit of a drive from where you are but I've heard that Cantref is great and depending on how active you are you could go for a pen y fan climb though I personally wouldn't with the littlest. There's an indoor play thiny near Carmarthen called play king if you're desperate but I'm sure if you ask at reception when you get there they'll have loads of suggestions for wet and dry.
Definitely folly farm though- it's our favourite place!

[HelloJackieYouLookNice]

Penbryn Beach near Cardigan is lovely, the cafe in the car park is nice too. Further south Broadhaven is nice and you can walk to Barafundle from there or walk around the lily ponds. It may be too far south though, it depends how far you want to travel.

Carreg Cennen Castle near Llandeilo has a tunnel underneath to explore - take a torch! You could combine it with Dynefwr Castle. Or Carew Castle is nice on a sunny day.

Aberaeron for honey ice cream, Llanechaeron is a NT property near there and worth a visit.

I know you said no to zoos but Folly Farm really is a good day out for little ones, or Manor House near Tenby is lovely. Colby Woodland Garden has a lovely walk to Amroth beach.

Solva and Dale are on my list to visit this summer and both look stunning.

[HelloJackieYouLookNice]

And I would avoid Play King - it’s like Lord of the Flies in there

[MatthewBramble]

There's a Honey Farm near New Quay which is great fun (& the honey beer is lovely).

[Howaboutthisone]

@HelloJackieYouLookNice 🤣 I did say if desperate!

[Ireallyneedtonamechangeforthis]

Another vote for Tresaith and Llangrannog. Tresaith has a nice pub with an terrace overlooking the beach, although it can get quite busy on sunny evenings, so you might want to get there early. Poppit Sands, just outside St Dogmaels, is definitely worth a visit too.

My kids love Cilgerran Country Park. There's a very good cafe upstairs in the wildlife centre (it doesn't look very special, but the food is good) and an adventure playground and you can cycle alongside the river into Cardigan for a mooch around. There's also a nice, if small, castle in Cilgerran. When my eldest was 4, it was just about the right size for her to explore before she got bored. Not always much in the way of railings, though, so keep the little one on reins, maybe!

This doesn't sound particularly exciting, but we have spent a surprisingly entertaining morning at the Dyfed shire horse centre out near New Quay when DD was about 2. There were tractor rides and a small playground and we took a picnic.

[Bipbopbee]

Following!

[SimulationTheorist]

Folly Farm and the Dinosaur Park are fantastic. Avoid Oakwood like the plague. Bluestone is nice for a swim if it's raining.

Aberaeron is awful, I never understand why people actually choose to go there.

Narbeth is nice for a mooch.

Newquay is lovely though, there are things to do. Dolphin spotting is great on a boat.

Please, please don't go to PlayKing ffs 😂 It's absolutely atrocious.

[SimulationTheorist]

Oh yes, St. David's is lovely. Saundersfoot is....how to say it nicely... Similar to Tenby in that it's a cheap, busy, touristy destination where people who don't know the local area go. Not the best places.

[LucidDream]

New Quay itself is lovely, you can walk there from Quay West. It has the best ice-cream place ever (Creme pen cei), lovely fish and chip place (lime crab), fantastic pasties (opposite the lime crab), boat trips, crabbing on the habour, beach, gift shops etc.

If it's really wet Blue lagoon at bluestone (nr narberth) is good for swimming, wave machine, slides, toddler play area. Narberth itself has lovely shops.

Penbryn beach is great, caves, rock pools, amazing beach, cafe. It's where they filmed a james bond film apparently.

[MyNameIsCharlesII]

We walked along the coast path from Aberporth to Tresaith and it was my favourite day of our holiday. Easy walk - just bit of a steep section at the Tresaith end and amazing views.

And yes I also thought Aberaeron wasn’t all that. Although we did have a nice lunch there.

Swimming at Blue Lagoon isn’t cheap but it is good fun. Also we bought return tickets for a reduced price and went back again later in the week.

We love Wales but have had some very wet weeks to fill!!

[GlitteryFluff]

Just wanted to come back to thank you all for your ideas - I managed to read them before we went but didn't get a chance to reply. If anyone wondered, this is what we did..

It rained virtually all week so most of the holiday we were in waterproofs/wellies and then DS came down with chicken pox .. so we didn't get to do very much at all. No boat trip, no folly farm () etc.

Mwnt Beach was beautiful. Climbed to the top of the hill. Amazing views even in drizzle.

Went to Penbryn beach. Got caught in a downpour without our waterproofs as it was sunny when we left the car park!. Miserable walking up the hill back to the car. But fab beach.

Went to the lily ponds. Gorgeous. Walked down to Broadhaven beach - the most stunning beach we have ever seen. & Sunny weather!

On the way there we stopped at Blackpill splashpark/mumble beach just as it was a good point to stop after so many hours of driving. Lovely few hours.

Evenings we just spent on new quay beach.

And then we came home early and spent nearly 7hrs driving/stuck in traffic in more torrential rain.

Thank you again for your ideas. Hopefully we can go back one day and do a bit more in sunnier weather and less spotty! It's not put us off for some reason!

[MyNameIsCharlesII]

Sounds like a nice enough week given the weather! We had a week in Wales last year after weeks and weeks of that hot weather. The day we went the weather broke and it was grey and 18 degrees. I mean we still love Wales and had a nice hol but come on