19 October 2026
By Neil, Great Escape Coffee Co.
If you spent any time in Pembrokeshire this summer, you might already have spotted Dory.
Perhaps you were heading to Freshwater East with the dog, meeting friends for a morning by the sea or walking a stretch of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path. Maybe you saw her keeping supporters caffeinated during IRONMAN Wales, serving coffee at a local surf competition or driving along a Pembrokeshire road looking rather difficult to miss.
Dory is our old-school Land Rover Defender turned mobile coffee bar. I’m Neil, usually found beneath her enormous awning, beside the coffee machine.
Together, we’re Great Escape Coffee Co.
This summer, our spot at Freshwater East became something of a meeting place for early-morning dog walkers, beachgoers laden with towels and buckets, Coast Path hikers, locals, holidaymakers and an impressive variety of dogs.
Some stopped for five minutes. Some stayed considerably longer. Quite a few, dogs included, became regulars.
Dory changes from blue to purple depending on the light. Her name was inspired by the famously forgetful blue character from Finding Nemo, although there’s very little chance of overlooking this particular Dory.
On a glorious morning, I can be making a flat white with blue skies overhead, dogs at my feet and the sea sparkling nearby. On a wilder one, I’m making the same flat white while preventing cups, napkins and anything not physically attached to Dory from making its own Great Escape down the coast.
My wife thinks it adds to the character. My opinion varies with the wind speed.
From corporate travel to coffee by the coast
Great Escape didn’t really begin with coffee. It began with a decision to change our lives.
I’m originally from Manchester and spent more than 30 years in corporate life. Work took me around the world, and there were periods when airports and hotel rooms felt more familiar than home.
My wife spent over 15 years working in corporate PR and communications. Six years ago, we moved to Pembrokeshire looking for a different pace of life, around the time she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
A chronic illness changes your relationship with the words “one day”: the things you’ll do, the places you’ll visit and the life you’ll eventually get around to living.
We’d already made our escape to Pembrokeshire. Eventually, I decided it was time to make mine from corporate life too.
I swapped airports, meetings and living out of a suitcase for an old Defender, a coffee machine and mornings beside the sea. Great Escape Coffee Co. was born.
I take the coffee part seriously. There’s been plenty of learning, tweaking, tasting and practising to make sure every flat white, cappuccino or Americano leaving Dory is one I’m happy with.
We wanted what we served to feel rooted here too, so our coffee is locally roasted, with Welsh cakes to go alongside it. A coffee beside the Pembrokeshire coast deserves a little taste of Wales.
Great Escape is very much my day-to-day responsibility, but my wife supplies a steady stream of ideas, including signs, new drinks and things I’m assured are essential for Gen Z.
Then there are Ralph and Rolo, our cockapoo and cocker spaniel, who would probably argue that the whole operation belongs to them.
Pembrokeshire on four legs
Living here with Ralph and Rolo has made us appreciate just how wonderful Pembrokeshire can be with a dog.
Some of our best days need very little planning: a beach, a stretch of Coast Path, a couple of leads, decent shoes and no particular urgency to be anywhere else.
Freshwater East is made for that sort of day, which is one reason being based here feels so natural.
We always wanted Dory to offer a proper welcome to dogs and their people. There’s fresh water, treats for visiting pups and somewhere to pause after a walk. There’s certainly no requirement to arrive freshly groomed.
Sand, wet paws and questionable hairstyles are entirely acceptable. That goes for the humans too.
Ralph and Rolo regularly join me at Dory. Rolo takes customer relations fairly seriously. Ralph has been photographed half asleep beside me while I dealt with a queue, which tells you most of what you need to know about our division of labour.
Dogs have a useful habit of introducing people to one another, too.
Ralph & Rolo
Someone stops for a coffee. Their dog spots another dog. Leads become entangled, names are exchanged and, ten minutes later, two complete strangers are discussing walks, beaches and somewhere good for lunch.
Our visitors haven’t all been dogs, either. Horses and their riders have stopped by, although I’m yet to take an order directly from a horse.
Walk, stop, sit, stay
Our spot at Freshwater East is beside the Pembrokeshire Coast Path, making Dory a handy stop during a walk.
Those covering serious miles can refuel and continue on their way. Those taking a more relaxed approach can admire the coastline, turn around whenever it feels right and reward their efforts with coffee.
If you’re exploring with a dog, my advice is to leave a little room in the day. Give them time to sniff. Take the detour. Stop to enjoy the view.
Check local signs and seasonal beach restrictions wherever you explore, keep dogs close and under control around livestock and cliff edges, and always clear up after them.
Back at Dory, you can perch on the wall beside us, which has rather grandly become known as “The Great Escape Wall”.
I put out a few cushions and people started settling in. The cushions are currently hibernating from the Pembrokeshire rain, but the wall remains in action, if a little damper at this time of year.
That’s been one of the loveliest surprises of starting the business: seeing how a simple coffee stop can bring people together.
Dog walkers pause on their regular route. Holidaymakers ask locals for their favourite places. Old friends arrange to meet, and new conversations begin because the dogs have already introduced themselves.
Some people grab a takeaway and carry on walking. Others stay for a morning natter.
You don’t need a dog, either. Come over, order a coffee and say hello. I’ll happily chat, quite possibly for longer than you anticipated.
A different kind of Great Escape
Somewhere along the way, our coffee Landy has become a little seaside meeting place for locals, visitors, friends and their pets.
It feels closely connected to the reason we came to Pembrokeshire in the first place.
My wife’s illness and my years of corporate travel have taught us, in different ways, to appreciate the good bits while they’re happening. A walk with the dogs, a conversation with someone new or ten minutes watching the sea can be a very good use of a morning.
Ralph and Rolo would add: always accept the treat.
Their philosophy may be the most sensible.
At the moment, you’ll usually find Dory and me at Freshwater East four mornings a week, between 7.30am and 11.30am, with more days planned when summer returns. Our hours change with the seasons and our event commitments, so check @GreatEscapeCoffeeCo on Instagram and Facebook before making a special trip.
Dory was built to travel, and this year she’s joined sporting and community events around Pembrokeshire, from IRONMAN Wales to a local surf competition. If you’re organising an event, celebration or gathering that could use an old Land Rover serving locally roasted coffee, we’d love to hear from you.
And if you arrive looking for a purple Land Rover and find a blue one instead, you haven’t had too much sea air.
That’s just Dory.
Six years after moving to Pembrokeshire, this isn’t quite where I expected my career to take me. But that’s rather the point of a Great Escape.
In our case, it brought us to the Pembrokeshire coast, surrounded by dogs, walkers, old friends, new faces and the smell of freshly made coffee.
We wouldn’t have it any other way.
Dory - is it purple or is it blue?
