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| A small edit of photographs from a recent shoot at Haroldston House - Photography ©siobhandoran.com - enquiries please contact siobhan@siobhandoran.com |
Nourishment
for the Body, Brain and Biosphere is offered by Art & Accommodation at
Haroldston House. This stylish new
B&B on Pembrokeshire’s St David’s Peninsula offers the best of local
produce, artwork and a carbon-neutral footprint – with electric car-charging
point and discounts for those arriving by public transport. The owners, architects Maria Jones and Ian
McDonald, hope that it is a B&B with a difference in this stunning corner
of west Wales.
Ian
explains: “We started from the point that we actually tend not to like
B&Bs: the rigid times for a no-choice ‘full English’ breakfast, basic tea
& coffee making facilities, polycotton bed linen ... so we decided to make ours
the kind of B&B we’d like to
stay in.”
As
well as putting guests up for the night, it also puts art on the walls: the
best of local work – in a county that prides itself on having more artists than
any other in Wales – and pieces collected from the owners’ work-related
sojourns in India and central Europe. The result is an eclectic mix of the local and
the international: from Brangwyn to Banksy; from Pembrokeshire photographer
Chris Neale, to conceptual artist Christo, whose wrapped Reichstag print is a memento
of Ian and Maria’s time working in newly reunified Berlin, where they met.
Haroldston
House, in the picturesque harbour village of Solva, also showcases Ian’s own
artwork: architecture-influenced black-and-white images, and brightly coloured Indian
influenced hand-printed screenprints of the Pembrokeshire coast. Both proprietors were instrumental in setting
up the website ARTists Pembrokeshire (www.artpembrokeshire.co.uk),
which shows the work of almost 100 local artists – many of whom do not have the
luxury of gallery outlets in this remote part of the UK.
Using
their Asian experience – as well as Maria’s background in designing luxury family
hotels – they have furnished the modest but well-proportioned Georgian house in
“contemporary Indo-Celtic” style, with simple, dark-wood bedroom furnishings, jalousie
shutters and floors in a mixture of original timber and golden seagrass in
deference to the traditional Japanese tatami
mat.
To
achieve all this, the house had first to be cleared of its inappropriate decor
and accretions – but not everything went the way of the 1970s’ wall-to-wall
carpeting and storage heaters. The Master Bedroom boasts an enormous en-suite
bathroom with retained, generous cast-iron bath and its glimpse of the harbour
mouth when you shower. The bedroom
itself is replete with south Indian tribal hangings and the Celtic tree-calendar
prints of northern Irish artist, Gail Kelly; its indulgent latex-topped sprung
mattress is adorned with a sparkling Gujarati antique-mirror throw.
The
other room – a through-suite – offers the best of both aspects of the original property:
the road frontage of this former merchant’s townhouse retains its large
Georgian windows (even for the “tropical” En-suite shower room), while the rear
of The Suite keeps its smaller, cottage-like sashes. This is doubly appropriate
to this south-facing garden elevation, which catches the strong
spring-to-autumn sunshine that characterises the St Davids Peninsula, even
amidst west Wales’ characteristic summer showers.
The
Suite offers a dark-wood East Asian fusion aesthetic, with futon-style beds –
handmade in Sheffield(!) – with memory-foam mattresses. There’s a king size in the bedroom, with an
adjoining lounge with banquettes that double as twin beds for families. Artwork here includes contemporary Japanese
prints and Vietnamese calligraphy – along with John Piper’s evocative sketches
of the Pembrokeshire coast, as a foil to the large, richly coloured Graham Sutherland
Firebird II print gracing the deep
pink walls of the entrance hall.
So
much for the Bed ... what about the Breakfast? Here again, the proprietors hope that their past
experience has produced results. Both
non-meat eaters, they unsurprisingly avoid the cooked British Breakfast – but
carnivores are well catered for at Haroldston House. Each day offers a selection of seasonal, imaginative
cooked options, as well as a choice of platters ranging from meat and cheese to
seafood, vegetarian and vegan. All aim
to showcase local produce – from west Wales’ coastal speciality, laverbread
(seaweed to the uninitiated) baked into muffins, to Carmarthenshire ‘Parma
ham’, a speciality that the natives of Pembrokeshire’s neighbouring county
swear the Romans pinched from them when they retreated from this westernmost
province of their Empire in the 5th century.
House
specialities such as Solva Lobster Benedict, with the main ingredient most
likely caught and dressed the day before, and Huevos Rancheros – ranch-style
Mexican eggs and salsa – feature when available (as do many actual breakfasts
and practice dishes on Twitter @HaroldstonHouse). Maria and Ian advertise “bespoke breakfasts”,
the aim being to offer any guest with special dietary requirements the same
amount of choice as the most carefree eater.
Maria’s signature flourless chocolate cake often features on the welcome
tea tray, whether you are vegetarian, gluten- and dairy-intolerant – or just
love chocolate cake.
Although
the proprietors encourage leisurely breakfasts until noon (a Berlin tradition),
the time naturally comes when all this needs to be walked off. Fortunately, Solva sits astride the
Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, which lies just a few minutes’ walk from the door
and leads in an easy stretch to historic St Davids in one direction and the
dramatic storm-beach of Newgale via a more strenuous trek in the other. If that isn’t challenging enough, then St
Davids Head boasts rock-climbing and coasteering as well as boat trips to the
nearby islands – havens for Pembrokeshire’s stunning collection of birdlife, as
well as seals and dolphins.
Haroldston
House doesn’t offer evening meals, but the St Davids Peninsula is well on its
way to reaching a critical mass of impressive eateries. For keeping it local, the hosts recommend Solva’s
harbourside No. 35 cafe for fish & chips on a Friday (the fish caught by
the same fisherman who catches HH’s lobster), and the village’s Cambrian Inn,
which often keeps guests out late with its generous portions as well as local
ales. The latter is a feature offered by
most local hostelries, with Lower Solva’s Ship Inn and the Royal George (conveniently
positioned up the hill) both boasting summer real ale festivals. Three miles away in St Davids, Katie at the Cafe
at Oriel y Parc (the new visitor centre/world-class gallery showcasing Graham
Sutherland’s renowned work) specialises in gluten-free and coeliac-friendly
cuisine, alongside fresh local produce and cakes; and award-winning cwtch* on
the High Street is the peninsula’s premier eatery.
To contact Ian and Maria, details are below. For information on Pembrokeshire’s art scene,
visit ARTists Pembrokeshire’s website: www.artpembrokeshire.co.uk
Ian McDonald &
Maria Jones
Haroldston House
29 High Street
Solva
Pembrokeshire SA62 6TE
01437 721404
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