Show me a city dweller of a certain age and I'll show you someone who daydreams about a beautiful, house in the sticks, surrounded by birdsong and trees and waves. For most of us the move remains a fantasy, precluded by work or fears of ending up with the kind of cultural life one recent city-ditching friend described as "like living in an episode of The Vicar of Dibley, without the jokes".
She should have moved to Cardigan. This small town close to the Pembrokeshire Coast path, may sound like a retirement village for knitwear-loving professors but its inhabitants include an impressive list of dynamic creatives. Among them are the founders of clothing brands Howies and Hiut Denim, contemporary Welsh crafts store Blodwen and local food restaurant The 25 Mile. And just down the road in pretty St Dogmaels, recent evacuees from Cardiff have opened a stylish B&B, Oreil Migli.
Arguably its most dynamic citizens, however, are Sian Tucker and James Lynch. Moving here from Shoreditch several years ago, the couple set up Fforest, one of the UK's first luxury, eco-friendly campsites, outside Cardigan before adding a second site, Manorafon, and several businesses around the quayside in Cardigan – a seasonal organic pizza outlet and bar called Fforestpizzatipi, an outdoor equipment shop and cafe, and an outdoor activities company, Cardigan Bay Active. Fforest also hosts the annual Do Lectures , four days of "Inspiring talks from people who are changing the world".
Continuing their campaign to boot the local tourist industry into the 21st century, Lynch and Tucker are also planning a local produce shop, brewery and bakery, and an arts-based workshop, events and exhibition facility on the quayside.
But as well as all this, they have just launched a collection of six self-catering apartments on that quayside. A mix of one- and two-bedroom flats named after local islands, the Granary Lofts are in a restored 18th-century warehouse. Three of the apartments are now available to rent through Under The Thatch and,the most romantic is open-plan Llofft Skokholm.
I may be biased because I spent my wedding night there: still in our finery, we kayaked to the cosy, open-plan apartment at midnight from our reception at Fforest.
Nevertheless, I challenge anyone not to fall for the stone, wood and white-tiled walls, simple Ercol furniture and local influences (the colourful Welsh blankets and cushions are by Sian, a textile designer). If you can't get by without coasters, a Nespresso machine or a TV, this isn't the place for you. If you can, you'll appreciate basics (a wet room and compact kitchen) done with care and a few welcome frills – plump towels and fresh flowers in an enamel teapot.
