The fact that this former stables, sleeping two, is out on the fringes of the Preseli mountains is the only thing rustic about it. Deeply luxurious inside, the heart of the cottage is a lofty open-plan living room with a powerful logburner and underfloor heating... Photograph: PR
Its kitchen was built by local craftsmen, the huge bedroom in the eaves comes with a clawfoot bath and there's a wetroom with rain shower, if you like your downpours inside as well as out. Go for a hike, hunker down with a DVD or pack a picnic and head to the beach, around five miles away.
• 01865 764087, sheepskinlife.com. From £370 for three nights Photograph: PR
One for those who like to feel the grass between their toes, rather than sand, this 1920s corrugated iron cottage, sleeping four, is in the centre of the county. By the Cleddau estuary, it's only a couple of miles from the Cresselly Arms with its waterside tables and nostalgia-inducing jugs of beer... Photograph: PR
Surrounded by fields, around 10 miles from the shops and cafes of Narberth and 10 miles from the nearest beach, it's decorated with painted furniture, brightly checked rugs, a vintage enamelled stove and recycled oak floors.
• 0844 5005 101, underthethatch.co.uk. From £149 for two nights. Photograph: PR
If you're after a bolthole to escape a stormy British summer, this stylish, eco-minded barn conversion, sleeping six, is a good option. Solar panels heat the water, the boiler's fed by wood pellets, heating comes via a heat exchanger and triple glazing helps keeps the whole place cosy... Photograph: PR
It's also worth venturing outside, though. Freshwater West, a surfing hotspot, is close at hand, as is the unreconstructed Old Point House pub – try a pint of Felinfoel Double Dragon and the fish chowder.
• 01437 772764, coastalcottages.co.uk. From £562 per week plus £25 fuel charge from September to May Photograph: PR
A beachside location, on the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, plus the intrigue of being the site from which the first submarine telegraph cable was laid between Wales and Ireland – all this lifts this rustic cottage for two a little above the rest... Photograph: PR
There's an open-plan living and sleeping area, shower room, kitchen and south-facing patio. It's also close to the Melin Tregwynt mill and cafe (melintregwynt.co.uk) – great for picking up a stylish souvenir.
• 01437 772764, cablehutcottage.co.uk. From £356 per week, plus £27 electricity Photograph: PR
A welcome antidote to the rash of luxurious-but-bland holiday cottages that have spread across the UK in recent years (I'm looking at you, brown leather sofas, limestone-tiled bathrooms, and matching pine furniture), this former cow byre, sleeping five, is a proper one-off... Photograph: PR
Underfloor heating, iPod docks and a power shower are all here but so, too, are an antique four-poster, interesting collections of ceramics and textiles, gilt-framed paintings and a kitchen kitted out with store-cupboard essentials and well-thumbed cookery books.
• 01873 890190, cottage-holiday-wales.co.uk. From £258 for four nights Photograph: PR
