On the wild Welsh coast overlooking St George’s Channel, Traeth Llyfn beach is so remote you’ll be the sole person on it.
It’s only accessible from the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, a little over half a mile’s walk from Abereiddi to the south or a little further from Porthgain, and, because the beach sits in a secluded crook of soaring slate and shale cliffs, access is tricky.
You’ll need to descend via a small staircase set into the cliff edge, said to have been built by Italian prisoners-of-war, but beware — the steps are cut off at high tide and the undercurrent is strong.
The Blue Lagoon of Abereiddi is worth a visit, too, a sea-flooded old slate quarry that’s now a popular diving spot.
See more of Secret Britain
Carn Euny, Cornwall: The baffling ruin with a tunnel dating back to the Iron Age
Annie Elwes investigates the ruins of Carn Euny.
Grey Mare’s Tail waterfall, Dumfriesshire: 'Mesmerising even to the peregrine falcons that nest in the crags around'
Annie Elwes recommends the waterfall and surrounding wild countryside of the Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve.
-
‘Pope Paul V remains a popular effigy today, and gets blown up in Lewes most years’: A five minute guide to England’s wackiest Bonfire Night celebrationsThe market town of Lewes in East Sussex has not one, not two, but seven bonfire societies and its celebrations have been labelled the ‘only proper Guy Fawkes night left’.
-
A country house that was the set for one of the best-loved sitcoms of the 1980s is for sale, with 40,000sq ft of space, 39 bedrooms and almost endless potentialLynford Hall, a vast neo-Jacobean house that's been everything from a country hotel to an agricultural college, has come to the market. Toby Keel tells its story.
-
St Patrick’s Chapel ruins, Heysham: The mythical Lancashire ruins with a heavenly viewAnnunciata Elwes takes a look at St Patrick’s Chapel ruins, a Morecambe Bay landmark.
-
Suisnish, Isle of Skye: The atmospheric ruins of a Clearance villageBeauty now reigns in a tragic spot where hundreds of villagers suffered during the Clearance
-
Covehithe beach, Suffolk, where the cliffs crumble like cakeThe most eroded beach in Britain has a post-apocalyptic feel.
-
Clydach Ironworks, Monmouthshire: Ruins in the gorge that inspired ShakespeareAn oasis of quiet now stands where the steam hammers thudded at this Welsh ironworks, in a river valley that may have moved Shakespeare to write A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
-
Royston Cave, Hertfordshire: A mysterious site full of sacred energyOur Secret Britain series continues with a Hertofrdshire cave whose true nature remains unknown.
-
John Bunting War Memorial Chapel, Scotch Corner: The painstaking transformation of rubble to War MemorialAnnunciata Elwes celebrates the effort that turned a derelict house into a memorial.
-
The Garden of Cosmic Speculation: The surreal space where Lewis Carroll and Willy Wonka meet Capability BrownSurrealism, philosophy, nature and gardening come together at the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, as Annunciata Elwes explains.
-
The Airman’s Grave, Ashdown Forest: A touching and little-known memorial to victims of war and fateA wartime tragedy in East Sussex's Ashdown Forest is among our Secret Britain picks, as chosen by Annunciata Elwes.
