Savills Portugal

St David’s Day has been an annual day of celebration in Wales on 1 March since the 12th century. Traditionally known as the ‘feast day of Saint David’, over the centuries it has grown into a wider celebration of national pride.

Wales’s patron saint was a Welsh Bishop of Mynyw (St Davids) during the 6th century. Legend has it that he was born on a cliffside in north Pembrokeshire during a fierce storm, a location marked by a small chapel, now in ruins but still a place of pilgrimage today. He founded a Celtic monastic community at Glyn Rhosyn (The Vale of Roses) at the spot where St David’s Cathedral – his final resting place – now stands. He became known for his religious teachings, establishing a number of monasteries in his lifetime, as well as for performing miracles.

St David is understood to have ordered his soldiers to wear leeks on their helmets during a battle against the Saxons, igniting a link to the vegetable that has endured, with the leek being a national symbol, along with the daffodil. Perhaps the most poignant part of his legacy is his final words ‘Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things that you have heard and see me do’ which remains a popular Welsh adage.

St David’s Day is celebrated with gusto across Wales, with school children often wearing traditional Welsh costume, and many sporting a leek or daffodil, occasionally both. The flag of St David can be seen flying at a multitude of celebratory parades and events in villages, towns and cities.

As we look forward to a weekend filled with celebration of all things Welsh, we have rounded up some of the best homes currently on the market in Wales. Starting in St David’s, and travelling west to east, our selection includes a Grade II listed coastal property and luxury holiday complex, a stylishly renovated period townhouse, a small development of contemporary eco-homes overlooking Aberporth beach, and a unique forest hideaway comprising a character cottage and barn conversion. Also featured are a collection of apartments in an iconic art deco building on Barry Island’s seafront, along with not one but two best-in-class family houses in Cardiff.