Solva (Solfach) is one of the prettiest villages on the Pembrokeshire coast. The river Solva runs out to St Brides Bay through a steep, narrow valley, and where the sea has flooded it there is a long, sheltered harbour, a classic ria. Lower Solva is a single street of painted houses, pubs and galleries running down to the water; Upper Solva sits on the cliff top to the west.
The rocks across the mouth made this one of the safest anchorages between Fishguard and Milford Haven, and in the Middle Ages Solva was the main trading port of St Brides Bay. A row of lime kilns still stands on the harbour edge. By the end of the eighteenth century about thirty ships were registered here. The trade faded in the nineteenth century, tourism took its place, and the harbour is now full of yachts and dinghies.
The best thing to do is climb the Gribin, the ridge on the east side of the harbour, for the view back over the village and out to sea. A mile inland at Middle Mill, Solva Woollen Mill has been weaving since 1907.
Solva is three miles from St Davids on the A487, with buses from Haverfordwest and St Davids. It makes a quieter base for the St Davids peninsula. The village has a strong music connection: the singer Meic Stevens was born here, and David Gray grew up here.