West Hook Farm

Bumping along the country lanes leading to West Hook Farm you won't have seen a glimpse of sea, but suddenly your vision will be filled with an expanse of stunning blue ocean as you arrive and St Brides Bay looms into view. It's like the sky has suddenly doubled in size and wherever you go on the site, even in your tent at night, you'll feel its mass looming out there. The Pembrokeshire coastal path runs right along the bottom edge of the site allowing you to join it metres from your tent. It's said walking the 186 miles of the path is the equivalent of climbing Everest, with 35,000 feet of ascent and descent. If you're not feeling that lively there is a 5 mile circular route you can take from the site, looping back inland across Marloes Mere.

Just above the campsite from the Deer Park headland look westward to Skomer Island Nature Reserve, one of West Wales' most beautiful islands. You'll see guillemots, razorbills and puffins, with boats sailing daily from Martin's Haven, an easy walk from the site and the reason a lot of people pitch here in the first place.

Being situated in such a beautiful but exposed place can have its drawbacks, so the site provides a barn and wet room for campers to shelter from the elements; on a windy night the owners have been known to tuck people into their own garden for a bit of protection, which tells you plenty about the welcome. It's a simple, grown-up sort of place: grass pitches, no hookups, and the showers still run on 50p and £1 coins, so keep some change handy. Sitting back at the site after a day on the coastal path you'll watch the twinkling lights of the freight ships glide by, maybe catch the ice cream van doing its late afternoon rounds, suck in a lungful of coastal air and feel that unique contentment only camping can provide.