Brexit has provided a huge boost for both the holiday and the property market in Pembrokeshire with investment in the area coming from a number of different sources.

Concerns about travel to the Continent immediately after Brexit has resulted in a large increase in the number of bookings made for holiday cottages and other holiday accommodations. On a dreary Sunday in January, Sykes Cottages, a holiday rentals company that lists more than 4,000 homes, took 2,519 bookings - that’s 10,000 holidaymakers in total - representing a 36 per cent increase on bookings on the same Sunday year on year.

Latest figures from the Land Registry, which documents actual sold prices, report house prices in Wales rose more than anywhere else in the UK in the year to January 2019 with detached houses rising 5.4 per cent from an average of £231,777 in January 2018 to £244,321 in January 2019. Terraced houses rose 4.6 per cent and semi-detached and flats and maisonettes rising four per cent.

Carol Peett, managing director of West Wales Property Finders, said: “I have worked in property here in West Wales for over 15 years and I have never known the market to be this busy.

The introduction of the Land Transaction Tax by the Welsh Government last April has hit the top end of the market, but properties under £500,000 are flying off the shelf at a rate of knots and prices for these are rising rapidly due to a shortage of stock.

“What is good,” she continued, “is that we are seeing a lot of young couples and families moving to the area and starting businesses which will employ local people. This younger generation are all keen on reducing food miles, buying locally and supporting their local communities, so are a real asset to the area.

“We also have an increasing number of people who have connections to Pembrokeshire, but who are working away, buying coastal properties to not only use as second homes and buy to holiday lets in the short term, but to move to permanently once they retire in a few years’ time.

“This is ideal as it brings visitors to the area who spend a good deal of money in local shops and with companies providing services for holiday makers, but as the owners will then move there full time, it prevents the problems seen in many holiday areas like Cornwall where coastal villages are deserted out of season.”