Palette

Over 40 years ago, MrsM was employed milking a herd of Jersey cows in Plwmp, about 25km north east of Cardigan. An escape from her daily routine was a trip to Aberaeron - a further 15km up the coast - and a fondly-remembered, integral part of the treat was indulgence in a honey ice cream. She has done her research and thinks the business was already 10 years old at that time. What a fillip to find that it is still thriving after half a century of production. This is now only half the range of flavours - many more than she remembers - and I admit I chose the more lurid end of the display, which are probably modern tastes

The spirit of enterprise is strong there. The town only exists because of the entrepreneurial enthusiasm of one man - a local aristocrat and cleric - who steered an act through parliament to obtain permission to levy tolls on trade through a harbour that he proposed to construct there, early in the 19th century. The project attracted artisans, who stayed on after its completion to build houses for traders, sea captains, shipbuilders and developers who came to live there as the commerce through the port rapidly grew, and ancillary businesses developed 

Unlike the organic, piecemeal growth of all the other settlements we have seen along the coast, the town layout and architecture was planned and prescribed from the outset. Streets are in a grid pattern - closer to an American city than an English town - and almost all the buildings are in the Regency-Georgian style that was then (early 19th century) fashionable. The result is a 'model village' feel and an atmosphere that is quite unlike anything else I have seen in south west Wales. I think it has also helped maintain its contemporary appeal as a holiday destination - it certainly isn't the pebble and shingle beach, on which the guide suggests "walking, fishing and birdwatching" 

I don't think the ice cream flavours are designed to harmonise with the colour-washed houses, but I couldn't help picking up the resemblance