Naturist Holidays
Gower
Strictly speaking, as we've now split our Wales page into counties, this page should be labelled "Swansea", but as Gower is such a beautiful part of Wales we've given it its own page. It has the distinction of being the first place in Great Britain to be designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, back in 1956.
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Gower is a popular holiday spot with several static caravan sites, several touring caravan sites and many holiday cottages available. We holidayed there about once a year from 1990 to 2018, in a cottage owned by a friend. Although we usually visit in the autumn, we have visited at other times of the year including the summer.
There are no official naturist beaches on Gower, but we have happily sunbathed in our skins several times on Whiteford Sands and there have been reports of sunbathers using Nicholaston Burrows for their all-over tan, although we have never used it as it seems to be too overlooked. We did once see a lone naturist there while we were walking along the beach.
Whiteford Sands - 1990-2018, 2023
Whiteford (pronounced wit-ford) Sands is about a mile and a half long backed by sand dunes and woodland. It is very little used and on many visits from 1990 to 2018 we have often been the only people there.
The best place to park is in the field at Llanmadoc at N51.6186° W4.2552°, where there is an honesty box asking for a modest amount per day. Leave the field and turn right. Follow the road until you come to a locked vehicle gate with a pedestrian gate beside it. Go through the gate and follow the path until another path turns off to the right through the woods. Here you can either continue to the beach and then turn right, or turn into the woods and follow that path to the beach*. The further north you go, the less chance there is of meeting anyone else.
*See below
During our 2023 holiday nearby in August we again visited Whiteford Sands and were pleased to see that the field car park was still in use. We decided to take the path through the woods to the beach. However, there seemed to be a new fence between the path and the beach, making access difficult. Once on the beach, where we stripped off, one of us walked northwards and around the end of the dunes and back. On the way he met a group of three people, two of whom gave him a cheery wave, and a pair who ignored him. Perhaps public nudity is becoming more acceptable to the general public. We certainly hope so.
When it was time to leave there were so few people on the beach that we were able to postpone our dressing until we had walked along the beach and were almost back at the road back to the car park. On our next visit we'll certainly walk along the beach rather than through the woods.
Nicholaston Burrows - 1990-2018
Nicholaston (pronounced nickel-ston) Burrows is a area of sand dunes backed by woodland about one and a half miles north east of Oxwich. It is not so easy to get to as Whiteford Sands. There are two free parking areas: one, the nearest, at N51.5756° W4.1279° and the other, on the opposite side of the road, at N51.5761° W4.1271°. From the first area, take the footpath that runs along the side of and then behind the row of houses and then bear left to walk down across fields and through woodland to the dunes, where you should be able to find yourself a quiet spot.
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Another way is to park at Oxwich Beach - expensive - at N51.5578° W4.1636° and walk along the beach to the left until crossing Nicholaston Pill, a walk of just over a mile. There is a bridge over the pill, but the waters spread out so far across the sands that it is easy to stay on the beach. The dunes are then ahead of you to the left.