Cold Knap Beach

Barry Island is somewhere most recently put back into people’s consciousness because of the brilliant Gavin and Stacey comedy series. Before this its hay-​day was many years ago as a holiday resort and fun fair. It is still used by many people in the Summer, but not on the same scale. The main beach on Barry Island is a sandy beach and attracts people who want to sunbathe and those that want to swim in the freezing Welsh waters alike. A short walk past Friar’s Point will bring you to Cold Knap Beach, a much quieter alternative to the hubbub of Barry Island on a hot Summer’s day. It is a pebble beach, however, so if your take on a beach is as somewhere to lie down for a few hours then it may not be the one for you, but if you like taking a wander or fancy a quieter swim then Cold Knap is a good place to head. It feels like more of an enclosed pebble bay and a good place to take a little wander after Friar’s Point.

This pebble beach in Barry is generally quieter than the sandy beach of Barry Island, just a few miles to the east, although it still gets busy on hot summer days.
It’s located in one of the wealthiest and most attractive areas of the town, near big houses and expensive flats. It was originally used by the Romans as a port, and now has a lake right next to it where people go to feed the swans and ducks. This — Cold Knap Lake — was the subject of a poem by Cardiff-​born poet Gillian Clarke. It’s most attractive on a really crisp, frosty day when the sun’s out but few people are about. A former outdoor swimming pool has been filled in and turned into part of a tourist trail. The area is also home to a skate park.

Cold Knap is the beach a few miles up the road from the sandy and more commonly used Barry island beach but Cold Knap has its charms.
First off, it’s a pebble beach so it’s best to bring sensible footwear and there’s not many amenities near by so bringing a picnic is always a good idea.
It’s gorgeous though and you can explore the beach and look across the fabulous coast line, It looks like a real traditional British beach.

Can’t add much to the last (excellent) review! A nice place to visit along with the other attractions of Barry and sit and admire the view out over the Bristol Channel (or Severn Sea as it has been called). The cliffs are marvellous to look at too, I agree.

Running from the edge of Porthkerry Park to the promontory known as ‘Cold Knap’, this is a popular beach for dog walking and with wind-​surfers. It’s very pebbly, but is used by intrepid bathers in the summer. There is good fishing from the rocks at the far end of the beach, on the promontory itself. At high tide, it’s quite steep, although there is a shingle/​sand stretch revealed at low tide.
Situated on the Bristol Channel, this stretch of coastline has the second highest tidal range in the world, at about 15m, so it really does go up and down. (It goes without saying, therefore, that you should be careful about not getting cut off under the cliff at very high tides).
There’s a large, free car-​park at the foot of the cliffs, a favourite place for showing off souped-​up Ford Escorts in the evenings. In summer, there’s an ice-​cream van as well. Porthkerry Park can be reached 0.5km along the beach if you are reasonably fit, and the tide is out, although it can be hard to walk on the larger pebbles and rocks.
The cliffs and rock formations on the beach offer a text-​book example of horizontal sedimentary geology, and are amazing to look at. In various places there are sea-​cut caves, although given the propensity of bits of cliff to tumble down from time to time, it is not recommended that you get too close to the foot of the cliff itself.
The beach also has some rock pools, although the tides and waves mean that they are not the most interesting — although you can find the odd hermit– and shore-​crab if you are persistent, and perhaps a small fish or two. It’s a favourite with beach-​combers, too.
Above the beach, the green by Marine Drive offers spectacular views across the Bristol Channel to the islands of Steep Holm and Flat Holm, and the Somerset coast, 15−20km beyond. There’s always plenty of shipping to watch too, heading up– or downstream, or simply waiting for the tide to take them to the docks at Bristol, Newport, Cardiff, Barry or Sharpness.