Wales
St Davids is the smallest city in Britain, set at the western tip of Pembrokeshire inside a national park, and its economy turns on pilgrims, walkers, surfers, wildlife watchers and the farms around it. We build websites, booking systems and web apps for St Davids businesses, and handle every project remotely so distance from the big cities makes no difference.
Local context
St Davids takes its name from the patron saint of Wales, who lived and founded a monastery here. Its cathedral dates from the twelfth century, built on a site where earlier churches had stood, and the ruined Bishop's Palace beside it is maintained by Cadw and open to the public. With some 210 listed buildings, the city prospered again in the later twentieth century as better transport and tourism brought walkers, tourists and modern pilgrims.
The city sits within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, which its authority calls the UK's only truly coastal national park; designated in 1952, it is one of three national parks in Wales, and the park authority made St Davids a conservation area in 1972. The authority's discovery centre and gallery in the city welcomes visitors with exhibitions, a shop and a café. Boat trips run from near St Davids to Ramsey Island, an RSPB reserve where grey seals pup on the beaches in late summer and autumn and choughs and peregrines breed on the cliffs.
Away from the cathedral close, the landscape is largely farmland with scattered homes and campsites. Whitesands Bay, a short distance west of the city, is known as one of the best surfing beaches in Pembrokeshire, the city has a number of art galleries, and the lifeboat station at St Justinian has served this stretch of coast since 1869. For small and seasonal firms of the kind found across the peninsula, software that takes admin off the owner's plate is especially valuable.
Sectors
Accommodation owners want a booking calendar on their own website with deposits, minimum stays and automatic confirmations, so fewer bookings go through commission-charging platforms and guest details stay with them.
Operators running sea trips and surf lessons need timed departures, capacity limits, waivers and quick rescheduling when tide or weather changes, with messages sent to every booked customer.
Artists and shops in the city sell to visitors who want to buy again once they are home. An online shop with careful shipping for prints, ceramics and framed work keeps those customers coming back all year.
Farms on the peninsula selling meat, dairy or vegetables direct need order forms, collection slots and delivery rounds that are simple to run between other jobs.
Food and drink businesses serving walkers and day visitors want table booking, pre-orders for busy periods and menus that are easy to update from a phone.
Common requests
Small, owner-run and seasonal, businesses in and around the city tend to need tools that save time rather than add to it.
Availability, payments and reminders handled online overnight, so the owner is not answering calls and emails during a busy service.
One action to move or cancel a trip and notify everyone booked on it, with refunds or credit applied automatically.
An online shop and mailing list that turn one visit to a gallery or farm shop into repeat orders through the winter.
Parking, accessibility, dogs, opening times and directions set out clearly, so fewer people need to phone before they arrive.
Shift planning and availability for summer staff that can be checked on a phone, rather than a sheet pinned in the kitchen.
Services
Many visitors research a trip to St Davids on their phones before they travel, so we build light, fast sites with good photography, clear practical information and booking or enquiry buttons that are always in reach.
When a seasonal business has outgrown a paper diary, we build a straightforward web application for bookings, staff, suppliers or stock that the owner can run without technical help.
Skippers on the quay, instructors on the beach and staff in the café can use one installable web app on a phone or tablet, with check-in lists that still work where coverage is thin.
If you have built a way of running a visitor business that others along the coast would pay for, we can turn it into a subscription product with separate accounts and billing for each customer.
For galleries, makers and farms we build online shops with shipping rules for fragile or chilled items, collection options and gift vouchers that visitors can buy after they have gone home.
We connect booking calendars, payment providers, accounting packages and channel managers so a reservation taken anywhere updates availability everywhere else.
How we work
St Davids is a long way from any large city, and that does not matter to how we work. Projects run over video calls, email and our client panel, so you can review a design between guests or after the last boat has come in, and every decision is written down where you can find it again.
Before we build anything you receive a proposal with the scope, milestones and price. We schedule the busiest work and reviews for the quieter months where we can, so a new booking system or website is ready and tested before the season starts.
A video call to understand the business, the people who will use the software and what has to change.
Scope, milestones and price in writing. Nothing starts until you accept it.
Each milestone is reviewed with you; progress, files and decisions stay in your client panel.
Go-live when you are ready, then maintenance and hosting if you want them.
Nearby
Sources
FAQ
Prefer to give the full picture? The quote wizard asks about your business, your current systems and what should change, and we reply with a clear, competitive proposal.