Belhaven House Hotel

About Pembrokeshire and the Hotel

Belhaven is at the centre of Milford Haven (town) which itself lies on the North shore of the Milford Haven Waterway.
This deep river estuary was the means of access for the Norwegian Vikings who annexed all the valuable land, easily reached from river and coast, and drove the Welsh (north European term for foreigners) into the hill country.
The Vikings may have been enticed by reports of deposits of gold, silver, lead, copper, iron and coal in the county and a history of metal smelting. Bronze was produced at Walesland Rath near Haverfordwest 2000 years earlier.
After the American War of Independence, half of the Nantucket, Mass. Whaling fleet settled in Calais, to supply Paris with their finest of white candles.

Lord Hamilton, who had obtained a charter to build a town on the north bank of the Waterway here, induced the second half of the fleet to come here and he would build the town specifically for them. This became Milford Haven, a major whaling station and ensured a supply of ultra white candles for London. This period is considered the first oil age.
Early in the 1800s Lord Nelson came, on request to Milford with Lord & Lady Hamilton (Emma Hart) and made a promotional speech, at the Lord Nelson hotel, just down the street. He was so impressed with the Waterway that he stationed the fleet here, for ease of access to the Western approaches. Later the Royal Dockyard was moved up-river to Pembroke Dock.

The second oil age was when four refineries were built here in the 1950’s & 60’s for shipments of crude incoming by ship from the Middle East, South America and later the North Sea. By the Millennium, two of these refineries had ceased operations.
But, 2002 saw the start of the gas age. And now in 2008 should see the first of two LNG re-gasification terminals come on stream, and feed through the new 4 foot diameter pipeline, into the main gas network near Gloucester, in England 200 miles away. The contract is for 9.4 million tons/year of liquid gas from Qartar, for 25 years.

When we arrived here in 1977 almost no Welsh was spoken south of the Vikings county (Landsker) line, but Welsh (the language of the Britons) was still the first language north of that line, which is demarcated by Norman French castles.
This was much the case in the last 30 years of the 20th century but is much diluted in recent years by the influx of people from England, in search of the better life-style that is enjoyed in Pembrokeshire. And many of the shops in that former Welsh stronghold, neighboring Cardigan town, are run by people from the Midlands or Home Counties.  

But Pembrokeshire has its own, strong identity, their own flag and are very proud to be Welsh.
Visitors, coming by road from the M4, must take care to turn left (westward) at the new Tesco Extra store, on the junction of the A48 and A40 at Carmarthen. It is only sign-posted for St. Clears, the little town which marks the end of the dual carriageway.

At St. Clears the road divides, and one can take the A40 which runs north of the river Cleddau (pronounced Cle Thy) to Haverfordwest, and then down on the A4076 to Milford.

Or one can take the A477, which runs south of the river to Pembroke Dock and then over the toll bridge to join the A4076 on the outskirts of Milford at the Horse & Jockey pub, next to the Steynton Church and the National Express coach stop.
From there it is only a couple of miles into Milford or Aberdaucleddau in Welsh. And that is ABER (the mouth of) DAU (two) CLEDDAU (sword) – The Mouth of the two Swords. And if you look, on the map, upstream the river divides at Picton Castle. So we have the Eastern Cleddau which goes under the A40 at Canaston Bridge and the Western Cleddau which is navigable for a small craft right up to Haverfordwest.

Hamilton Terrace is part of the A4076 that runs along the north river bank, and overlooks the Milford 2000 Marina and the Waterway.

Visitors from London should allow 5 to 6 hours for a comfortable journey.

Milford Haven is THE touring centre for the whole of Pembrokeshire. Any venue can be reached by car or motorbike within 35 minutes.

There are Puffin / Shuttle buses for those who do not wish to use their own transport. And Pembrokeshire, like the rest of South Wales is well served with cycle paths.

Milford is also an excellent base from which Walkers tackle the 180 miles of the famous Coastal Path, within the National park, which boasts breath-taking scenery, and many of Nature’s wonders to observe: big furry caterpillars, birds both native and migrant, butterflies, bats, dragonflies, wild flowers every month of the year, seal pups, dolphins, porpoise, orcas, whales and sunfish.

For the more energetic, many beaches are accessible for scuba diving, wind surfing and some of the best surf in the UK.

For Yachtsmen, this Waterway is ideal, in fair weather, one heads downstream, in blue water towards the harbour mouth 9 miles away, and the offshore islands of Skomer, Skokholm & Grassholm.

In foul weather, there are still 15 miles upstream, with broad reaches right into the old Cambrian forest and numerous riverside pubs. See “Cumberlidge on Cruising” Motor Boat & Yachting, July 1998.

“We were anchored over a dozen miles from the sea, in the far south west of Wales, enjoying the peaceful upper reaches of Milford Haven. This grand expanse of water somehow manages to remain one of the best kept boating secrets around our coast.

Those who don’t know Milford Haven, sometimes have a slightly industrial picture in their minds, perhaps from association with the oil business. But although you pass long jetties and complex refineries in the middle reaches, the overall atmosphere in the Haven is one of unspoilt country and clean sheltered water. The Haven, after all, lies within Pembrokeshire National Park, one of the most protected areas in Britain.

If you’ve never pottered about here before, it’s well worth calling for a few days. Neither the Haven nor the spectacular Pembrokeshire coast will disappoint. You can find secluded anchorages, room to breath and a warm Celtic welcome”.

Golfers have a good 28 hole course, which is rated by many enthusiasts for excellent greens and stunning views of the estuary. For the children, there is a variety of theme parks, Oakwood for thrills, Folly Farm for animals, Heatherton for fun, Manor Park for wildlife, Tenby for dinosaurs, not forgetting the Chocolate Farm (Pemberton’s)

Horse riding is popular on beaches and bridle paths, and there are even Golden Palominos at the Western riding school.

There are guided walks on the northern hills viz. The Pembrokeshire Wizard.

Cliff-Climbing is done on the south coasts near St. Govan’s Head, and many mountain ascents begin with preparatory practice on this 10 mile section.

St. David’s peninsular is the centre for coasteering – as seen on Blue Peter.

Pembrokeshire is also King Arthur country, for nearby Graasholm Island has been identified as “The Enchanted Isle” and the burial site of Gawain, the Green Knight is only three miles away (called Walwyn’s castle”.

The whole county is enchanting.

The Hotel

The hotel was built in 1797, as the home to the surgeon to the whaling fleet. As a family run hotel of 9 bedrooms, since 1978, we have a very considerable base of repeat business, mainly commercial, but quite a few leisure, and even some of the commercial clients return during their holidays with wife and family to show them this pretty place, they have only heard about, where the food is so scrumptious.

The theme of the bar/restaurant is nautical and all but one of the pictures or prints has been provided by the guests. Likewise the vast range of music, from all around the world, has been supplied by guests, and they know a change of music often denotes a new arrival.

The theme of this terraced building is white, picked out in red, and weather permitting we usually have a Pembrokeshire flag flying. Swedish people have asked us why we have one of their flags with a Tudor rose in the centre.
Formerly we had a red canopy over our two front doors, both as a shelter and as a marker in this long street of many flat fronted buildings. But in these days of SATNAVs and postcodes, they suffice.

Bar/dining room are on the ground floor, with a good view of the passing ships and yachts. There are also three ground floor bedrooms (No’s 1, 7 & 8) handy for those who have difficulty with stairs.
At the rear of the building, off the east side of Fulke Street (SA73 2HH) is a car park for eight vehicles. There is rear access to the hotel, but on arrival, it is best to offload heavy/bulky luggage at the front door first and collect your key which will operate your bedroom, front & back door and the car park gates.

All of the rooms are en-suite with TV, tea/coffee etc.
On the first floor there is one family suite (room 10) and one double room (No. 9) and the residents Lounge which both overlook the Waterway and Marina, useful vantage points for night photography of the kaleidoscope of multi-colored lights reflected in the often mirror flat estuary.

The lounge on the first floor has widescreen TV/Video & DVD. There is small range DVDs and stacks of books.

On the second floor there is one single en-suite (No. 12), two double en-suites (No’s 5 & 11) both with river views and one double (No. 6) to the rear (very quiet).

Come and see us and have fun at the “unique” BELHAVEN.