A Slow Stay
The Grove began life in the fifteenth century as a Welsh longhouse and is now, improbably, the first five-star hotel in south-west Wales. Neil and Zoe Kedward found it derelict and brought it back over years rather than months — a food-led country house set in twenty-six acres of Pembrokeshire, with the Preseli Hills rising behind and the coast a short drive south.
It is the kind of place that does not perform its luxury. The welcome is warm and Welsh, dogs are as expected as people, and the pleasure of the place is in its quiet: woodland walks, long dinners, and the green pressing in at every window.
The restoration kept the bones — whitewashed render, slate roofs, the gabled fronts of a Welsh country house — and furnished within them with restraint and a sense of place. Rooms are individually designed: exposed stone where it was found, antique textiles, carved love spoons, lampshades in soft printed cottons. It is a modern take on a traditional Welsh house rather than a reinvention of it, and it is the better for that loyalty.
Twenty-five bedrooms, no two alike, spread between the main house, the restored stone longhouse and the cottages in the grounds. The main-house rooms look out over the hills or the gardens; the longhouse and cottage rooms trade grandeur for character — thick walls, beamed eaves, roll-top baths and private terraces. The hotel is genuinely pet-friendly, so a dog at the foot of the bed is part of the picture rather than an exception.
Twenty-six acres of Pembrokeshire to wander: woodland thick with wildflowers and cherry blossom in spring, rhododendrons in summer, and a glade you can climb for views across to the Preseli Hills. The kitchen garden supplies the restaurant, and the grounds are managed to be lived in slowly — a morning walk before breakfast, an afternoon with a book under a tree. Beyond the gate, the whole of west Wales opens up.
The Grove is, first and last, a place to eat. The Fernery — its walls hand-painted with ferns — is the fine-dining room, cooking tasting menus built almost entirely on Welsh produce: Pembrokeshire fish and shellfish, Carmarthenshire meat, vegetables and herbs from the kitchen garden. The more relaxed Artisan Rooms handle breakfast and lighter meals. The cooking is serious without being solemn, and the larder is, quite literally, the land outside.
Narberth, a few minutes away, is a colourful market town full of independent shops and good coffee. The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is on the doorstep — the beaches at Barafundle and Tenby, the cliff paths, and the harbour town of Saundersfoot all within easy reach. Inland, the Preseli Hills carry their bluestone history; St Davids, Britain’s smallest city, and its cathedral lie to the north-west.
Indicative rates — vary by season and availability. Breakfast typically included. Confirm directly with the hotel for current pricing.
Reserve at The Grove of Narberth
