Wales
St Davids
Britain's smallest city, a purple cathedral sunk beside a river, two visits worth one to Rome.
You do not see the cathedral until you are almost on it. St Davids, the smallest city in Britain, on the far western tip of Wales, keeps its great church of dusky purple sandstone in a hollow beside the River Alun, so the tower appears below you as you walk down from the square, and the whole building is revealed only from the gate.
The city exists because David died and was buried here, and after his canonisation in 1120 two pilgrimages to his shrine were decreed the equal of one to Rome, which brought the medieval world down this lane. Across the river stands the Bishop's Palace, made immense by Henry de Gower between 1328 and 1347 and later stripped, possibly of its own roof lead by William Barlow, the first Protestant bishop; jackdaws hold it now. Walk up the little crag of Clegyr Boia, ancient volcanic rock with an early settlement on top, and the coast opens out over Ramsey Island and St Brides Bay, with the coast path leading on to St Non's chapel the saint's reputed birthplace. Back in the city, Mamgu bakes Welsh cakes in the ruins of St Mary's College inside the close, The Bench makes ice cream, and Oriel y Parc holds the national park's gallery. It is a cathedral city you can cross in five minutes, on the edge of one of the finest stretches of coast in Wales.
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Solo
Evensong in the cathedral, a Welsh cake in the college ruins, and the coast path to St Non's with the sea on your left the whole way.
Couple
A room in the city, the palace ruins at closing time when the jackdaws take over, and the sunset from Clegyr Boia over Ramsey Island.
Family
Ice cream from The Bench, jackdaws to count in the palace, and a coast path that small legs can manage with rock pools at the end.
Friends
Make the city your base for the peninsula: cathedral in the morning, coast path or a boat round Ramsey in the afternoon, supper in the square.
- St Davids is the smallest city in Britain, and its cathedral of dusky purple sandstone sits in a sheltered vale beside the River Alun rather than on a hill.
- David was canonised in 1120, when it was decreed that two pilgrimages to his shrine equalled one to Rome.
- Across the river the Bishop's Palace, turned into an immense residence by Henry de Gower between 1328 and 1347, is a ruin now occupied by a colony of jackdaws.
- Above the valley the crag of Clegyr Boia is ancient volcanic rock and an early settlement site, with views over Ramsey Island and St Brides Bay from the coast path.
Welsh cakes in a dozen flavours from Mamgu Welshcakes, a café set in the ruins of St Mary's College, a fourteenth-century part of the cathedral close.
Homemade ice cream from The Bench in the city's few streets, carried down the lane to the cathedral or out to the coast path.
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