Carew Castle stands on the edge of a tidal millpond nine kilometres west of Tenby, and it is the most rewarding castle within easy reach of the town.
It is remarkably complete for a ruin, the ticket is reasonably priced — visitors say so consistently — and it includes a second site, the tidal mill, a walk round the water.
The Carew family have owned it for more than 900 years; it is leased to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, which runs it.
The Norman castle was begun around 1100 by Gerald of Windsor, and its great round towers and the Old Tower are the surviving military work.
The Elizabethan wing was driven through it in the later sixteenth century by Sir John Perrot — Lord Deputy of Ireland, widely believed to be an illegitimate son of Henry VIII, whom he strikingly resembled. He built a vast north range of mullioned windows turning a fortress into a show house.
He never finished it. Perrot was arrested for treason in 1591 and died in the Tower of London the following year, and the range stands exactly as work stopped.
The result is the view Carew is known for: drum towers on one side, a wall of Elizabethan glass on the other, in the same building.
At the entrance to the site, free to see and outside the ticketed area, stands the Carew Cross — an eleventh-century Celtic cross over four metres high, carved with interlace and inscribed to Maredudd ap Edwin, king of Deheubarth, who died in 1035.
It is one of the finest early medieval crosses in Wales and it costs nothing.
Ten minutes’ walk round the millpond is Carew French Mill, the only restored tidal mill in Wales.
A tidal mill traps the incoming tide behind a causeway and releases it through the wheels as the tide falls, so it works twice a day on a schedule set by the moon. The machinery is in place with an exhibition explaining it.
The millpond walk itself — about a kilometre and a half — is one of the best things here, with the castle reflected in the water and waders on the mud.
The mill is included in the castle ticket.
The National Park runs a substantial events programme: children’s activities and trails through the school holidays, outdoor theatre in the grounds on summer evenings, ghost tours and archaeology days.
Both the children’s activities and the evening plays get specific praise from visitors, and both are worth checking before choosing a date.
Admission charged, covering castle and mill; described as very reasonable.
Time: two to three hours with the millpond walk.
Facilities: tea room, shop, toilets.
Access: the castle grounds are largely level; the towers involve stairs. The millpond path is level but unsurfaced in places.
Season: castle and mill are seasonal — check opening. The Cross and the millpond walk are open year-round.
Parking: on site.
The Carew Inn opposite the cross is a good pub.
Carew, off the A477 west of Tenby, about fifteen minutes by road.
Pembroke Castle is a further fifteen minutes west and the two make a good day.
Yes, the admission covers both the castle and the tidal mill.
An eleventh-century Celtic cross over four metres high, outside the ticketed area and free to see.
Two to three hours, including the walk round the millpond.
Yes — there are activities and trails through the school holidays, and space to run.
Nine kilometres west, about fifteen minutes by road.