Freshwater West

Freshwater West is a wide sandy beach on the Angle Peninsula in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. It lies along the B4319 road near Castlemartin and is backed by red sandstone cliffs up to 63 metres high. The beach stretches for nearly a mile and is flanked by extensive sand dunes and rock pools. To the south the headland drops to Linney Head, while to the north lie smaller bays such as Gravel Bay and Black Cave. The area forms part of the Pembrokeshire Marine SAC and the Angle Peninsula Coast SSSI. The beach is one of Wales’ top surfing spots thanks to consistent swells and strong waves. It regularly hosts surfing tournaments including the Welsh National Surfing Championships. In 1921 about fifty fossils were discovered here, and the cliffs expose Lower Palaeozoic mudstone and Old Red Sandstone. Nearby is the Devil’s Quoit, an Iron Age burial chamber, and a thatched seaweed-drying hut stands on the clifftop at Little Furznip. The MOD firing range operates nearby and can be heard within a 19-kilometre radius during exercises. Visitors find wide sands backed by dunes with fens, grassland and reedbeds. Wildlife includes chough, lapwing and grey seal, and fossils can be found in the cliffs. The beach has a tidal range of 6.5 metres and strong currents make swimming unsafe. The sand dunes shelter the site of Shell Cottage, built for the final Harry Potter films and later removed. Dobby’s grave remains under National Trust guardianship, and the beach has appeared in films such as Robin Hood and The Thief of Bagdad.