#FotoVorschlag: „Schlösser und Burgen“
Photo suggestion: 'Castles and palaces'

Carew Castle
#Pembrokeshire #Wales #Cymru

The Ice Cream from Pointz Castle Farm, on the road from Newgale to St David's in Pembrokeshire.

We had Mint Choc Chip and Salted Caramel double on a medium waffle cone 😋

https://www.pointzcastle.com/

#Wales #Pembrokeshire #PointzCastle #IceCream

Blodyn Llefrith (Milk Flower), Lady's Smock, in the rhos pasture field by the #HopeGarden in #Pembrokeshire #SirGar #Cymru

I love them, a member of the cabbage family (Cruciferae), the stem feels very much like a broccoli stem, and the flowers are classic cabbage flower shaped

#NativePlants #BloomScrolling

‘FINAL PUSH’: Pembrokeshire’s Paternoster Farm smashes £25k target — but race is on to shape next chapter

The team behind Paternoster Farm are now urging supporters to back a final funding push as they prepare for a dramatic new start at The Old Point House.

From crisis to comeback

The latest milestone marks a remarkable turnaround for a business that faced an uncertain future just weeks ago.

As previously reported, Paternoster Farm announced it would be closing its original site, blaming what it described as “exhausting uncertainty” linked to council policy — sparking a public backlash and even a petition calling for change.

Now, with the move to Angle underway, the team say they’re building something even bigger.

New target revealed

Having passed the £25k mark, the campaign has now set its sights on a stretch goal — funding a large polytunnel at the new site.

That would allow the team to grow their own produce on-site far sooner than planned, doubling down on the field-to-fork ethos that made the restaurant a hit in the first place.

Founder Michelle Evans said the support so far has been “amazing”, adding that every extra pledge will help shape the future from day one.

Work already underway

Behind the scenes, preparations are moving fast.

Work has already begun at The Old Point House, with plans to transform the coastal pub into a year-round destination ahead of a planned May opening.

The crowdfunding cash is being used to upgrade the space — making it warmer, improving seating and bar flow, and getting the kitchen ready for what could be a busy summer season.

New rewards — and some unusual offers

In a bid to keep momentum going, the team have launched a final wave of rewards — ranging from foodie experiences to something far more unusual.

Supporters can snap up everything from a summer sauna-and-brunch experience to an intimate private dining night.

But perhaps the most eye-catching offer is a 19th-century threshing sledge — a historic agricultural tool that has been a talking point at the restaurant — now up for grabs as a one-off reward.

End of an era — and a new beginning

Paternoster Farm’s journey began as a small lockdown farm shop before growing into one of Pembrokeshire’s standout destination restaurants.

Its closure marked the end of a chapter — but the move to Angle is being billed as a fresh start, one that could secure a more stable and permanent future.

A closing party is already planned for April — but all eyes are now on what comes next.

With the funding target smashed and the clock ticking, the message from the team is clear:

This story isn’t over yet.

Related stories from Swansea Bay News

Award-winning Paternoster Farm restaurant to close blaming council for ‘exhausting uncertainty’
The original closure story that sparked concern over the future of the popular Pembrokeshire restaurant.

Petition over Paternoster Farm eviction triggers council debate
How the restaurant’s eviction row escalated into a wider political debate.

600-year-old pub goes viral with behind-the-scenes YouTube series
Another Welsh hospitality story capturing attention with a fresh approach to survival.

Heartbreak for diners as popular Gorseinon restaurant closes
A reminder of the challenges facing independent restaurants across the region.

18.4°C outdoor shade temperature at the moment, on my ancient crusty digital thermo meter 🙂🤷‍♂️🌡️

#Wales #Pembrokeshire #UK #Weather

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus! Happy #StDavidsDay! Here's a #map I painted of my favourite Welsh county: #Pembrokeshire. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 😍 Have you been?

We try to visit every late Spring. So much history and nature, fab beaches and wildflowers... and also puffins and dolphins!

More info: https://janetomlinson.com/products/pembrokeshire-map-painting
(This painting is available as a poster,, tea towel and #jigsawpuzzle.)

#painting #art #cartography #visitPembrokeshire #wales #stdavids #standingstoneSunday

Award-winning Paternoster Farm restaurant to close, blaming council for ‘exhausting’ uncertainty

Award-winning Pembrokeshire restaurant Paternoster Farm is to close by the end of April, with owner Michelle Evans blaming “exhausting and emotionally draining” uncertainty over the farm’s tenancy with Pembrokeshire County Council.

The team will relocate their acclaimed hospitality operation to The Old Point House pub in Angle, just six miles away, and have launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the move.

Paternoster Farm, set in a former milking parlour in Hundleton, gained national recognition for its sustainable ethos and daily-changing set menu, earning praise from The Times and a place in the Good Food Guide for three consecutive years.

However, the future of the restaurant was thrown into doubt after Pembrokeshire County Council gave notice that it would not extend the farm tenancy. According to owner Michelle Evans, a former solicitor, the council’s subsequent actions have made staying impossible.

“Twelve months have elapsed since the Authority advised our tenancy would not be extended,” Evans said in a statement. “We were given hope when a full council meeting unanimously voted to uphold our petition and, in doing so, accepted that the County Farm Policy was not fit for purpose. An urgent policy review was agreed, yet almost eight months later that review has not begun. It has become apparent we are looking at years, not months, before a longer-term decision is made.”

She described the past year as “exhausting and emotionally draining for our whole family and our team.”

The opportunity to take over The Old Point House in Angle offered long-term security. The move is also a personal one for Evans, who grew up in the village. “This peninsula is home,” she said.

The new venue will feature a pub menu with handmade classics like pies and Scotch eggs, alongside an evening restaurant menu in the same style that won Paternoster Farm its loyal following. A new bakehouse will also be created.

The team has launched a public Kickstarter to help fund the move, offering rewards including opening night tickets and private hire packages. The last day of service at the current Paternoster Farm location will be Friday, 17th April, with a closing party planned for the 18th.

‘Chaos, heartbreak and toothbrushes’: RSPCA heroes look back 30 years after the Sea Empress disaster

It was just after 10.30pm on 15 February 1996 when the call came through: a tanker had hit rocks off Pembrokeshire and was leaking oil. Within hours, the Sea Empress spill would become one of the UK’s worst environmental disasters — and the RSPCA would find itself at the centre of a rescue mission unlike anything it had faced before.

The single‑hulled tanker had torn open on its approach to the Cleddau Estuary, releasing 130,000 tonnes of crude oil into the sea. As the slick spread, thousands of seabirds were engulfed. The RSPCA’s response would stretch from Tenby to the Gower, from makeshift industrial units to lifeboats scouring the islands.

And for the staff who lived it, the memories remain vivid.

‘I pulled over the van. I knew this was big.’

Richard Abbott, now an RSPCA Chief Inspector, was on duty that night.

“I recall speaking to a Brecon RCC tasker who said they’d had a call saying a tanker had run aground at Milford Haven and was leaking 30,000 gallons of oil,” he said. “I asked them to double‑check. Five minutes later they rang back and said the Coastguard had confirmed it.”

He pulled over his van on the roadside.

“I rang the Chief Inspector at home and started the response. I knew this was big.”

By the next morning, Abbott was in a room full of senior officials from across the UK — all waiting to see where the oil would land.

“We knew it was out there, but we didn’t know if it was coming down the estuary. Then we saw it starting to move. That’s when everything changed.”

‘They turned to the RSPCA and said: can you lead this?’

Romain de Kerckhove, now Chief Inspector for Mid and West Wales, had been part of a contingency planning group the year before.

“They turned to the RSPCA and asked if we could coordinate volunteers in the event of an oil spill — one we all hoped would never happen,” he said.

When the Sea Empress hit the rocks, that responsibility became real.

“We started putting a plan together to send people to beaches. Then the birds started coming in. We were only just setting up the makeshift hospital at Thornton Industrial Estate.”

The press put out a call for volunteers — and the response was overwhelming.

“Dozens and dozens — if not hundreds — turned up,” he said. “Everyone meant well, but if one bird was spotted, 50 people would charge down the beach trying to reach it first.”

Inspectors were each assigned a beach, armed with cardboard boxes and little else.

‘It was chaos. But it clicked into place.’

Transit vans were emptied and repurposed as bird ambulances. Crews went out in boats. Volunteers combed beaches. And the birds kept coming.

“At the height of it, we took in 760 birds in one day,” Abbott said.

By 5 March, the numbers were stark: 2,542 birds found dead. 3,142 rescued by the RSPCA. 757 died in care.

Most were common scoters, but guillemots, divers, gulls and swans also arrived in huge numbers.

‘We needed toothbrushes. We got 10,000.’

The public response was extraordinary.

“We used towels, washing‑up liquid, toothbrushes,” Romain said. “After it went on the news, carloads of donations turned up. Every day I’d open the mail and there’d be jiffy bags full of used toothbrushes.”

Then Procter & Gamble called.

“Before we knew it, we had mountains of Fairy Liquid. We probably needed 200 toothbrushes — we ended up with about 10,000.”

Some volunteers washed birds. Others cleaned floors. One man from Germany chopped fish all day, every day.

“He was amazing,” said Richard Thompson, now Wildlife Rehabilitation Team Manager at Mallydams.

‘Some days you just collected bodies.’

Neil Tysall, now an RSPCA Intelligence Officer, remembers the emotional toll.

“Those birds we found alive were literally caked in oil and sand — in their eyes, up their nostrils, in their beaks,” he said. “Some days it felt like you just collected bodies. Everything was covered in oil.”

His high‑vis jacket “always smelt slightly of crude oil for years to come”.

“What I would have given for my jacket to have been the worst casualty rather than all that unnecessary loss of life.”

‘We worked 14‑hour days. It was exhausting — and rewarding.’

At West Hatch Wildlife Centre in Somerset, staff were working around the clock.

“We were doing 12 to 14‑hour days,” said Wildlife Supervisor Paul Oaten. “You’d come in at 8am and stay until at least 10pm. Ten days on, one day off, then back again.”

Birds were washed in teams of two — one holding, one cleaning.

“It was vital to get the oil off their plumage. Not just for waterproofing, but to stop them ingesting it.”

Once cleaned, birds were moved to pools to test whether they were waterproof enough to survive at sea.

“We’d have officers on duty all night checking them,” Abbott said. “If they couldn’t get onto the little islands in the pools, they’d drown.”

Releases were delayed by bad weather and lingering oil. Eventually, many birds were taken to Borth in north Wales to be freed.

‘It was one of the most magnificent rescue operations in RSPCA history.’

RSPCA Chief Inspectorate Officer Steve Bennett said the anniversary is a moment to honour the staff and volunteers who turned “a scene of unnecessary loss of life” into “a story of hope and recovery”.

“Whether you were patrolling beaches in the dark, coordinating chaos in the control room, or spending 14‑hour shifts washing oil from delicate feathers with toothbrushes and Fairy Liquid — your commitment saved lives,” he said.

“This operation was far too large for any one entity to handle alone. The recovery of the 3,142 birds rescued was a testament to incredible collaboration.”

He said the lessons learned in 1996 shaped the RSPCA’s modern wildlife response.

“We are better, faster and more scientifically equipped today because of the trials we faced at Thornton Industrial Estate and our wildlife centres.”

A legacy that still matters

Large‑scale oil spills are now rare, but the RSPCA still treats hundreds of birds affected by smaller leaks each year.

Over the past five years, the charity has cared for 289 birds contaminated by oil or other pollutants.

For the staff who were there in 1996, the Sea Empress disaster remains a defining moment.

“It was full‑on, exhausting, chaotic,” Oaten said. “But it was also one of the most rewarding things we’ve ever done.”