Beach walking and dune jumping at Oxwich Bay, Gower, south Wales

One of the Gower’s most popular beaches, Oxwich Bay is a great little place to spend a few hours by the sea in south Wales.

The beach was declared ‘the most beautiful in Britain’ by Travel Mag in 2007, who praised the 2.5 mile long stretch of sand for its  “magnificent and unspoilt” scenery and wonderful pale sand, with safe, shallow seas.

There’s a small shop selling beach stuff – so you can grab that all-important bucket and spade that you forgot to pack – as well as the essential ice creams.

The area features sand dunes, salt marshes and woodland and is a popular place for swimming and watersports including diving, sailing, water skiing and windsurfing.

There’s a great walk on offer across the vast expanse of sand towards Tor Bay and Three Cliffs Bay – and if you get there at low tide, you can walk across to Pobbles Bay.

Several submarine cables leave the mainland of Britain from Oxwich, including the SOLAS cable across the Irish Sea, and the TAT-11 and Gemini North transatlantic telephone cables

When I was a kid we used to camp around the Gower, and I loved jumping off the high sand dunes. It’s good to see the family tradition continues!

[More Oxwich Beach photos] [Map location]

(Note: this is an update to a feature originally posted in 2007)

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