Caldey Island
Caldey Island lies approximately three kilometres off the coast of Pembrokeshire near the resort town of Tenby and is home to a small community of Cistercian monks who maintain a working monastery on the island that has been a place of religious life since at least the sixth century. The island is accessible by boat from Tenby harbour during the summer season and provides visitors with an experience of unusual peace and simplicity: a working monastic community, an island farm, a lighthouse, sandy beaches and the quiet of an island from which the sound and complexity of the mainland world is absent.
The monastery was founded in its current form in 1929 when a community of Belgian Reformed Cistercian monks took over the island, restoring the earlier monastic buildings and establishing the agricultural and commercial operations that sustain the community today. The monks produce a range of products including perfumes made from the island's wild flowers, chocolate and shortbread that are sold in the island shop and provide significant income. The monastery church is open to visitors during the hours when the monks are not engaged in the Divine Office, and the atmosphere of the working religious community gives the island an authenticity quite different from a purely heritage or tourist attraction.
The island's earlier religious history extends back to the Celtic Christian period when St Illtud and subsequently St Samson established monastic communities here, and the ruins of the medieval priory church bear witness to centuries of religious occupation before the Protestant Reformation ended monastic life in Britain. The remains of the old priory are the most visible evidence of this earlier history and can be explored on foot.
The beaches on the southern side of the island, sheltered from the prevailing winds and blessed with the unusually clear water of this section of the Pembrokeshire coast, provide excellent bathing and a tranquil contrast to the religious and heritage dimensions of the island.