Firstly, wow what an event. We laughed, we danced, we sang, and we had an absolutely amazing time!

Saundersfoot held their very own music festival, SaundersFEST, over the weekend of July 8th, 2023. It was a three-day event bringing the local community together and attracting visitors from all around the country. It was lovely to see everyone come together to support this charitable event and enjoy themselves thoroughly – we couldn’t have asked for better weather either. Puffin Cottage Holidays are proud to have been the main accommodation partner for the event, along with The Royal Oak as the main sponsor and Pure West Radio, the media partner.

The Line Up

It all kicked off on the harbour decking on Friday evening with ChoirFEST. The harbour was filled with the sounds of Haverfordwest Male Voice Choir, Choirs For Good, Cor Dysgu Cymraeg, and Footbridge who performed at Saundersfoot Sailing Club. It was a packed audience, and a delicious BBQ was served by the sailing club too.

Day two was the Saturday which started with the busking at Ocean Square. Spectators enjoyed music from Morgan Evans, Iestyn Gordon and Mark Perkins. It was so great to see people stopping and listening to these fantastic artists. The gates to the cricket field opened at 12.30 and was the perfect opportunity to grab your camping chairs and picnic blankets to get the best view of the main stage. Pure West Radio were there to warm the audience up and Daz Edwards got the party going as the first act on stage followed by, Honey Fungus, Josh Navidi, Ordio and headlining act Sorted Ska Band. The atmosphere was electric, they sold over 1500 tickets and the whole crowd were having a fantastic time.

Sunday was the third and final day of SaundersFEST and luckily the sun was still shining! Ocean Square opened the day with busking from Elliot Evans, Saltwater and Slipway Ukes. The gates to the cricket field opened at 1pm and media sponsors Pure West Radio were on hand to get the afternoon started, followed by Choirs For Good, Old Time Sailors, Tenby Male Choir, Victoria Joyce, Mark Evans and finishing the weekend with a bang was Wynne Evans BEM.

Festival treats

Not only were we treated to musical delights but there were plenty of food and drink stalls to be enjoyed too. The Copper Hog were serving burgers, wraps and more, amazing pizza from J&J’s Woodfired Pizza, the best crepes (and coffee!) around from Romy’s Pembrokeshire, fantastic cocktails and gin from Bitter’s and Twist, delicious doughnuts from The Doughnut Wagon and no festival is complete without pork rolls from The Rotary Club. There was something for everyone and we certainly didn’t go hungry!

What did Puffin Cottage Holidays do at SaundersFEST?

As the main accommodation sponsor, we had our very own Puffin Cottage Holidays stall where Andy, Vicki, Mai and Tyler were on hand to speak to customers old and new over the course of the weekend! One of our owners, Shane Williams, kindly donated a signed WRU rugby ball which we raffled off to make even more money for the SaundersFEST charities. The littlest puffin, Ava, went on stage to announce the lucky winner on the Sunday, we were pleased to raise £135. The puffin boys held a penalty shootout at the stall which was enjoyed by all ages and the puffin girls were very excited that Galdemglitz were the stall next door, they were able to get festival ready with face paint and glitter (glitter is an absolute must at a festival!). How lucky were we to do all of this whilst enjoying the fantastic line up and juggling a very busy check in day!

SaundersFEST 2023

SaundersFEST was held as a not-for-profit event raising money for some exceptional charities, here at Puffin Cottage Holidays we’re very proud to have played a part. The SaundersFEST charities were Velindre Cancer Centre, Ty Hafan, Greenacres Animal Rescue and Sandy Bear.

We would like to say a special thanks to Chris Williams, the main event organiser and county councillor, who helped to make SaundersFEST possible. Along with his team of volunteers giving their time for free to keep costs as low as possible and ensuring the fabulous charities benefited in the biggest possible way.

For a sneak peek into the weekend check out the amazing video Behind The Lens Media put together for us here.

We can’t wait for next year already!