We’re going to a pub. We’re going to set off from Dinas and drive along roads that are so narrow that you should pay attention to the passing places because sooner or later you’ll have to reverse to allow an on-coming vehicle to get by.

This house, designed by Christopher Day in 1972, was one of the first in the country with a turf roof. Built on the site of an old chapel, it has its own water supply and solar electricity.

Set off up the mountain, past Machpelah graveyard, winding uphill, across the cattle grid until you are out in open country. Go past Russia on the right, past the house with the sedum roof on the left and continue until you get to a T junction, where you turn right towards Pontfaen. Go steeply down (25% incline) until you reach the river Gwaen at the bottom of the valley. Follow the road, straight ahead, bearing left along a single track road with high hedges, until you join the main Fishguard Maenclochog road at Croes Ffordd. Follow signs to New Inn and then to Rosebush. You have arrived.

I grew up with the notion that pubs were a foreign country that our family chose not to visit so I never saw the inside of the Precelly hotel before its transformation into Tafarn Sinc. The outside, galvanised grey with net curtains in the windows, looked both bleak and seedy and, as a child,  I never questioned our curious ability to spurn inns in my father’s country while enjoying bars and cafes in my mother’s Italy.

Tafarn Sinc, a corrugated iron building, was constructed in 1876 for the benefit of travellers on the new railway line that had been extended from Clunderwen to Rosebush. But after the closure of the slate quarries and the railway line, trade declined and the hotel was closed. New owners bought the decaying building in 1992 and transformed it

into more than a pub where you can enjoy food and refreshment out in the sunshine or inside, warmed by wood-burning stoves, in winter. The interior is now a celebration of the area and its history with photos and artefacts as well as local food and a selection of interesting and local beers.

Rosebush is a wonderful base for walks in the Preseli mountains. The route to Preseli top can take you past Pantmawr Farm (stop at the shop for a wonderful selection of local cheeses) and the view from the summit is worth the climb. The countryside is stupendous and, with the right weather conditions, you’ll see the Irish Sea in one direction, Lundy island off the north Devon coast in the other and paragliders on adjacent hillsides.

Photo credit Martin Southwood and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.