Chapter 2 of my personal history of Pembrokeshire

Sorry for the delay of this blog - my grandchildren are on half-term and we've taken advantage of the beautiful weather in Pembrokeshire and have been out and about. One place we visited was Manor House Leisure Park in St Florence, it's now run by Anna Ryder-Richardson who is turning it into a natural wild life refuge. It's a fabulous place to take children, with a walk through Lemur enclosure and of course, Steve the Gibbon and his mate Lisa amongst others. However to get back to the history of Pembrokeshire, Manor House started in the 17th century when land was bought in St Florence by a Robert Williams and the house was known by the name of Ivy Towers in around 1771. St Florence itself is famous for it's Flemish chimneys and was probably taken over by the Normans who encouraged the English to move there with a view to move out the Welsh. In the 12th century, St Florence was occupied by a mixture of Normans. Flemings, and Anglo Saxons, which is why, in common with most of Pembrokeshire, the place names and even family names are anglicised. St Florent was a Saint from the Loire Valley and gave his name to the village and church (parts of which date from the 11th century). Today, it's a lovely floral village and if you look closely you can still see the iron rings that were used to tie up the ships that sailed up the Ritec Valley at high tide. As well as Manor House, http://ping.fm/TNBrG, you can also find Heatherton http://ping.fm/wD2j8 where a variety of activities such as golfing, paintballing, archery and bumper boats to name but a few can be found. If you're looking for self-catering accommodation, FBM Holidays http://ping.fm/r0Xyz is your first choice for the best that West Wales can offer. See you next week.