These are my holiday photos. Yep, this is a modern version of when granny comes back from Bournemouth and sits the family down to a slideshow of image after image of historical monuments and impressive architecture – the difference being this was shot on a 5D by a chap with an unhealthy interest in rocks. The destination of choice was my girlfriends mums house in Haverfordwest, Southwest Wales. It was a curious place surrounded by some of the most stunning coastlines I’ve seen in Wales, and possibly the UK. Other than nearly capsizing on a boat ride in rough seas and torrential rain, the weather treated us nicely and I came home feeling as if I had spent a few days relaxing and shooting on the paradisaical beaches of Bali (or at least that’s what I told myself).

First port of call was the Howells residence and meeting Kelly’s mum Carol for the first time. She was like a caring, Welsh version of Sarah Milikan.

After a cup of tea Kelly offered to give me a tour of her home town before we went on any epic adventures. This is Haverfordwest in a speedy nutshell.

From here Kelly took me (the very long way round) to Marloes where we visited a beautiful little bay with lots of jagged rocks sticking out of the ground. Considering its beauty I was astounded at the lack of people there, but in fairness it was a Monday and most people were still at work (unlucky if that was you).

Kelly was knackered from the early start and all the driving so she found a spot on a boulder to have a sunbath. I stole the opportunity and ventured off to do a bit of shooting. (You can see her below at the bottom of the picture if you squint)

Once we’d finished up here kelly took us to a place called Little Haven. It was home to the first pub she had ever got drunk in, and was a picture perfect seaside hamlet. I loved it there.

The next day we went to the smallest city in the UK, otherwise known as St Davids. It has a huge cathedral so we popped in for a visit and prayed for good weather for the rest of the holiday.

Next we moved to a place called the Blue Lagoon. It was a very blue, lagoon-like pit by the coast and was also being used by some sort of outdoor pursuit bunch who were doing lots of fun things that a particularly conservative couple behind us deemed “stupid and dangerous”. #getalife

For our third and final destination Kelly took us to the inviting sounding Whitesands. Here we found a nice set of rocks hidden away from the wind but not the sun and chilled out for the first time that day. I did, however, get a couple of shots for your delight.

As it turned out, God clearly had other plans that day, as the next day our visit to Tenby was similar to traveling through the far east during monsoon season. It appeared the weather had no effect on Kel’s sense of humour however, as she pointed out this shop and said in a dead-pan voice, “Inflation.”

Not one’s for having our spirits dampened by the weather, we soldiered on and thought that if we were going to get wet, we may as well do it in style, so we decided to jump on a boat to Caldey Island. It has a monestry on it so it seemed only right to continue our theistic travels. But the rain got thicker and heavier and the wind faster and harder so we pretty much found shelter, ate our packed lunches and left, but there were a couple of shots to be had.

So all that was left was to get back on the boat and go home. This was one boat trip I never want to repeat. Several times we banked so hard I thought we were going to capsize. The rain came down so hard and fast that when it hit you it felt like hail. I couldn’t get my camera out because it was so bad, but Kelly was braver with her iphone so to give you some idea the next couple of pictures are copyright Kelly Howells. She’s the one with a Tesco bag on her head. #waterprooffail

As we left to go back home I realised that it wasn’t that god wasn’t listening, he was just taking the piss.

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Copyright © Tom Ashmore (United Kingdom), All rights reserved.
This artwork can’t be used without written consent from its author.

beach beaches coast coastline haven haverfordwest landscape little little haven marloes pembrokeshire photography sea seascape seaside st davids tenby wales whitesands