Far out on the tip of Western Wales, nestled between the siren call of the sea and the prosaic bleating of sheep, lies the tiny town of Pembroke Dock and its secret jewel.
The jewel takes the form of an unprepossessing-looking nineteenth century row house in a line of similar-looking houses, down an otherwise undistinguished side street in this largely blue collar town. But when you are invited inside, you step into a world of luxury and hospitality — the jewel that is Borders’ Bed & Breakfast.
Hiking the Pembrokeshire Coast Trail
Sue and Leigh Border run this small B&B out here in the country they love — the country that they love to share with their guests. We had the good fortune to stay there for three nights, when we came to Pembrokshire to hike the coastal path trail. We found their establishment more-or-less randomly through the power of Google, but we had not had time to do any extensive research on them. Of the small handful of results for B&Bs in Pembrokshire that we got, theirs looked nice enough and they seemed friendly and professional in email exchanges. But we were heading for a tiny, hard to reach community and their prices were surprisingly low, so we didn’t have terribly high expectations.
We were utterly overwhelmed.
A comfy bed and plush surroundings await you at the end of day.
For reference, I should say that Susan and I have had pretty extensive travel experience at this point. We’ve stayed at places all over the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. We’ve bedded at B&Bs with sunset beach views in Hawai’i and nested at a rennovated castle in Germany. We’ve slept in mesh-walled eco-cabins in the Virgin Islands jungles and stayed on the twentieth floor of sleek, modern chrome and glass masterpieces overlooking Melbourne harbor. Times Square, Banff, Santa Fe, Taos, San Francisco, Segovia, Paris, Pisa; youth hostels, corporate mega-hotels, and homey B&Bs. We’ve seen them all.
I don’t think we’ve ever been quite as impressed with accommodation as we were at the Borders’ B&B. And I can say for certain that we’ve spent easily three times as much for far inferior experiences.
The house itself is beautiful — well kept, elegantly decorated, with plush beds and a beauitiful garden. But we’ve been to places its equal in all of those respects. It’s really the people that make the place.
Leigh and Sue are delightful hosts. Staying with them is half being coddled with luxury and half being invited into the home of your long-lost family. (The good side of the family — not the crazy uncle side.) They are gregarious and delighted to chat about the beauties of Pembrokeshire. They are able guides to the area and provide excellent advice on places and history and hiking. They kept us pointed right the whole time, and were incredibly flexible about schedules — from what time we wanted breakfast in the morning to whether we wanted to have dinner at the B&B in the evenings. Dinner that they shared with us, while they regaled us with tales of their lives and sights to see in Pembrokeshire.
Susan enjoys the spring sunshine in the beautiful gardens.
And, being foodies ourselves, we were delighted to find that Sue is a top-notch chef. We ate dinner with them twice (for a quite reasonable additional fee), and Sue produced wonderful meals each time. Solid British fare, in some ways — shepherds’ pie and cabbage, grilled salmon with spring veggies and chips — but carried off with flair and excellence. On top of the luxurious breakfasts — granolas and cereals, fresh fruitus, jams and honeys, *plus* a full cooked-to-order egg and meat course — they kept hungry hikers well fed.
We could rhapsodize further, but the point is made. Suffice it to say that Pembrokeshire is beautiful country and the Coast Trail is fantastic and wonderful — an experience to savor if you ever have the chance. And if you do so, it is hard to imagine a finer or more hospitable place to stay than with the Borders.