Pendine facts for kids
Pendine (called Pentywyn in Welsh, meaning "end of the dunes") is a small village in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It sits right on the northern coast of Carmarthen Bay. Pendine is known for its long, flat sandy beach, called Pendine Sands.
The village has two main parts. There's an older area on top of a hill, where the local church is. Then there's a newer part by the shore, which grew into a popular seaside resort in the 1900s.
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What's New in Pendine?
Pendine has been getting some exciting new updates to make it even better for visitors.
New Buildings and Attractions
In 2016, the local council finished building the Parry Thomas Centre on the promenade. This building has shops and public toilets for everyone to use.
More recently, in 2019, work started on a big project to create an "eco activity resort." This includes a special hostel designed to be very energy-efficient.
The old Museum of Speed was taken down in 2019. A brand new museum, called the Sands of Speed Museum, will replace it as part of the new development.
Pendine Sands: A Famous Beach
Pendine Sands is a very long, flat beach that has been used for many exciting events.
Land Speed Records
This beach became famous for land speed record attempts. Between 1924 and 1927, two brave drivers, Malcolm Campbell and J. G. Parry-Thomas, set the world record five times here.
Sadly, Parry-Thomas was killed during his last record attempt on Pendine Sands in 1927. His restored car, named Babs, is sometimes shown at the Pendine Museum of Speed.
Beach Activities
Today, the beach is still used for fun activities. The Carmarthenshire Land Sailing Club uses the sands for sports like land sailing, kite buggying, and kite landboarding. These activities use the wind to move across the sand.
Cars were not allowed on the beach for a few years (2005-2010), but now they are permitted again. The popular TV show Top Gear has even tested cars on Pendine Sands three times!
MOD Pendine: A Testing Area
Part of the Pendine area is used by the MOD (Ministry of Defence). This is a military range where a company called QinetiQ tests weapons and trains people.
The range is quite large, covering about 20.5 square kilometers (about 8 square miles) on land and 18 square kilometers (about 7 square miles) at sea. It also has three special test tracks.
Sometimes, parts of the beach are closed off to the public when the range is active for safety reasons.
See also
In Spanish: Pendine para niños
