Mill Haven Place

Just a 20 minute walk from Mill Haven beach, a secluded cove backed by the Pembrokeshire coast path, Mill Haven Place offers a state of quiet calm in campsite form. Its setting, tucked away down a leafy drive, past two yurt fields and down by a cluster of traditional, whitewashed, stone cottages, is the very definition of rural. If you like the company of just a handful of campers and the flickering of open campfires, you’ve come to the right place. Surrounded by trees, it feels both sheltered and wonderfully spacious and for children it’s a blissful sanctuary – littl’uns will have a whale of a time rushing about playing rounders, cricket or hide and seek. It’s a good spot for wearing them out for a deep night’s sleep too.

While the ambiance here is all about traditional, back-to-basis camping, it still lends itself perfectly to families. The showers are excellent, with water sourced from a borehole, and a composting toilet is accompanied by two proper flushing toilets in the main ablutions block. Campervans, meanwhile, are also welcome, provided they’re happy to go without electricity and muck in with the self-sufficient ethos, while caravans occasionally turn up too on the same basis.

For those who really want to take it easy, though, more pampered parents can leave the camping gear at home and pluck for one of the fully decorated abodes in the yurt field – think floral bunting, tin ceramics and solar-powered fairy lights. The previous campsite owners planted some 1,500 young trees when they first opened in 2009 and, set among them, the yurts will one day be almost hidden in the woods. Today they offer a well spread community in a sapling dotted meadow. Each sleeps up to four, with two single futons either side of a beautiful cast iron king-size bed. One of the best things about the yurts is how they smell – a delicate tinge of wood smoke from the tiny stoves that sit inside each one. They also all have their own accompanying camp kitchens with a twin gas hob and grill for toast, cool box, and all the cooking paraphernalia you could ever want – tin-enamel dinner set anyone?

While potential visitors may hum and har over the difficult choices – back to basics camping or bunting spangled glamping? – it’s ultimately the location that sets Mill Haven Place apart. Between the sheltered village of Dale and the quaint fishing village of Little Haven (and its neighbour Broad Haven), Mill Haven Place certainly isn’t a campsite that leaves you short of things to do. There are beaches in abundance and activities for all, ranging from fishing, swimming and walking to kayaking, sailing or taking out a surf-board to test yourself on the waves. And all offer a good excuse for ‘refuelling’ in one of the campsite’s five local pubs when you’re done. It all shows that it takes more than just bunting to make a top notch campsite. Mill Haven Place is a place that has it all.