Gower Highlights of 2023 – 6 family favourites @Bayview
It’s almost the end of another year at Bayview Oxwich and December is always a good time to look back on some of the highlights of the year and look forward to the next.
It’s great that our luxury holiday rental properties at Bayview continue to be a huge hit with our guests and many (if not all) have already booked for next year. Many of our visiting families have kids and teenagers in tow, and with three girls of our own, this is sometimes never easy. There are always those questions: Just what exactly is there to do in Gower?
Our eldest daughter, Megan, (who will be fifteen on Christmas Day); our middle child, Florence, thirteen, and the youngest, Alice, 9, often get asked what they enjoy best about living here in Gower. So, to make things fair, and not cause any family squabbles, we asked each of them to give 2 highlights to sum up what they like best about living here that they thought would be useful to share with others of a similar age.
Megan
Like most teenagers, Megan sleeps a lot but when she’s up and about she’d recommend that people of her age cycle along the designated 3-mile cycle path that sweeps Swansea Bay from the Marina in SA1 to the lovely Mumbles in SA3. It’s worth the physical effort she says, when there’s the Croeso (Welcome) Lounge to chill out at the end right at the heart of the village www.thelounges.co.uk A great pit-stop for teenagers with parents in tow to cart the bikes and drop off and pick up. All day food menu and a mission statement that states that, “menus are about pleasure, indulgence and fun.”
To be fair, Megan is pretty active when the mood takes her and she’s often to be found on her pony, Josie, who resides in Bishopston (a 15-min drive from Bayview) and just a short, beautiful walk from the well-kept secret bay of Brandy Cove. Megan is smitten with going for a hack to this Gower beauty spot and would recommend seeing this Gower bay on 4-legs if you can (or 2-legs if you have to walk!). Clyne Farm www.clynefarm.com offers horse-riding packages to suit varying abilities which enable riders to see different perspectives on Gower.
Florence
Like Megan, Florence is a horse fan, and her pony, Freddie, is stabled along with Josie at Bishopston. Florence would recommend Caswell Bay for a good winter canter, followed by hot chocolate and cake in front of the wood burner at the Surfside Café right on the beach. It’s a great place to chill with her horse-riding friends or even her family! The Surfside brand also has wonderfully located cafes at Langland Bay and Rotherslade Bay open all year long and all equally great.
Florence loves to hang out with her friends and is sure that if you visit Bayview during between mid-November until early January, you would love the Winter Waterfront Wonderland that takes place in the grounds of Swansea’s Waterfront Museum in SA1. https://swanseawaterfrontwinterland.cymru/ It has an ice-rink, funfair attractions and the Alpine food and drink area – what more could 13-year-olds ask for?
Alice
Alice is an imaginative and sensitive 9-year-old and one of her favourite recommendations is to walk from Bayview to see the lovely old church of St Illtyd overlooking the bay at Oxwich. Set in woodland that runs down to the sea, she loves the history of the church – and to walk around the graveyard and hear some of the local legends. She likes nothing better than the spookiness of Calon Gaeaf (Halloweeen)
Alice is also a creature of the sun. Her favourite thing ‘in all the world’ is a summer swim in the calm sea at Oxwich with the family when the tide is in at evening time and the water has been warmed up by the day’s heat.
So whatever age the young people in your family are, Gower has something for everyone. We’d love to see you here at Bayview next year so please call Wanda and the Team for any advice you need about booking one of our rental properties or more information on Gower highlights.