At the Oxwich Bay Hotel, we’re lucky enough to be within easy reach of beautiful woodland, charming villages and the incredible coastal path.
Take a look at this selection of circular walks from our hotel…
1. Hotel – beach – stream – dunes – hotel
Enjoy this easy stroll after dinner, or perhaps before breakfast!
Distance: 2 miles
Head along the beach from the hotel until you meet the small stream – Nicholaston Pill. Turn left, inland, and return via the back of the dune system, following pathways heading in the general direction of Oxwich.
This area is rich in flora and fauna, especially butterflies during the summer. The route through the dunes will take rather longer than the beach walk, but you can easily return to the beach by heading left, over the dune ridge and onto the beach itself.
2. Hotel – village – Oxwich Green – Oxwich Castle – hotel
This pleasant walk is along quiet but narrow country lanes – please be aware of occasional approaching traffic.
Distance: Just under 2 miles
Return to the cross roads in the village and continue straight ahead, through the village, passing thatched cottages (including “The Nook” where the preacher, John Wesley stayed in 1769).
Continue up the lane to the T junction (house called Badger’s Hole on left). Turn left up the steep lane which soon levels out. At the junction (with Greenways caravan and camp site on the right) in Oxwich Green, turn left down the hill to return to the cross roads in Oxwich village, passing Oxwich Castle (worth a visit) on the right hand side.
If you have time, you can add twenty minutes to your return journey. Nearing the bottom of the hill, turn right through the wooden gate into the woods and follow the path gently up hill. At a junction, follow the sign left to Oxwich Church, which brings you down via steep steps to the church at the end of the lane beyond the hotel.
3. Hotel – church – steps – woods – hotel
Distance: Less than a mile
Leave the hotel car park and turn right along the lane towards St Illtyd’s church, an intriguing structure with a 14th century tower, almost hidden in the trees. The church’s ancient font is said to have been personally brought by the Celtic saint St Illtyd, to whom the church is dedicated.
Continue on the path between the church and the rocks above the beach and soon turn right up a long flight of steps.
At the top of the steps, bear right and right again to follow a gently sloping path down through the woods to join the road. Turn right on the road and return to the cross roads in Oxwich village. Turn right to return to the hotel.
4. Hotel – village – Penrice Green & church – woods – fields – Oxwich village – hotel
Distance: About 3 miles
Return to the cross roads in the village and continue straight ahead, through the village, passing thatched cottages (including “The Nook” where the preacher, John Wesley stayed in 1769). Continue up the lane to the T junction (house called Badger’s Hole on left).
At the junction, turn right along the lane to Penrice, passing Pitt Farm, Bysouth and Pittsogs Cottage. At Penrice Green, with its pretty church and old estate workers’ cottages, turn right along the track before the church and follow the way-marked route down and across the fields towards the stile in the fence around the woodland at the bottom (just to the right of the pond). (Mud warning from this point on!) Cross the stile and bear left down through the woods.
At the T-junction at the bottom of the wood, turn right and leave the wood over a stile into open fields. Continue through the fields, keeping the fence (and the marsh) to your left.
Eventually, after several gates/stiles and a narrow path between two properties you will find yourself back on the road in Oxwich village. Turn left to return to the hotel.
5. Hotel – village – sunken lane – Hangman’s Cross – Penrice – woods – fields – Oxwich village – hotel
Distance: About 4 miles
Return to the cross roads in the village and continue straight ahead, through the village, passing thatched cottages (including “The Nook” where the preacher, John Wesley stayed in 1769).
Continue up the lane to the T junction with “Badger’s Hole” on the left, go straight ahead up a narrow, sunken bridleway that eventually comes out on the lane to Horton at Hangman’s Cross (site of village gibbet). Turn right here along the lane to Penrice Green, with its pretty church and old estate workers’ cottages, turn right along the track before the church and follow the way-marked route down and across the fields towards the stile in the fence around the woodland at the bottom (just to the right of the pond). (Mud warning from this point on!) Cross the stile and bear left down through the woods.
At the T-junction at the bottom of the wood, turn right and leave the wood over a stile into open fields. Continue through the fields, keeping the fence (and the marsh) to your left. Eventually, after several gates/stiles and a narrow path between two properties you will find yourself back on the road in Oxwich village. Turn left to return to the hotel.
6. Hotel – church – steps – Oxwich Point – Coast – Slade – Oxwich Green – village – Hotel
Distance: About 4.5 miles
Leave the hotel car park and turn right along the lane towards St Illtyd’s church. Continue on the path between the church and the rocks above the beach and soon turn right up a long flight of steps. Just before the top, turn left and follow the main path through woodland to Oxwich Point which is eventually reached soon after emerging from the trees.
Walk along the path along the low cliffs heading west towards Horton and Port Eynon. Shortly before you reach Port Eynon Bay, at the horse-shoe of sand at Slade, turn right up a narrow path between fields. Turn left at the top of the fields and follow the track up the narrow Slade valley. Turn right after the kissing gate onto a metalled road with a few houses/cottages on either side.
Continue uphill and turn right at the T junction; continue on the lane, passing Eastern Slade Farm to reach Oxwich Green. Return to the hotel down the hill past Oxwich castle.
