Coast House

If you are going to do a weekend in South Wales, you should try to stay in a B&B on the bay… somewhere, it doesn’t matter where, but it is always lovely to walk out of where you are staying to see the water’s edge. There were quite a few B&Bs in the running for my weekend, but I chose this one because while it wasn’t in Swansea, it was close, and if I just took the main road, I could get to my surfing lesson in about 30 – 45 minutes.
The room was lovely, the bed was nice, although the duvet was a bit thin. There was a flat screen t.v. with plenty of channels, tea making facilities with coffee, tea and some nice biscuits. And there was soap, shampoo, conditioner, cotton balls, and cotton swabs in the bathroom. There was also a hair dryer. They have free wifi… the code is posted at the bottom of the stairs, so make sure you write it down before you head to your room. I didn’t have a problem getting wifi in my room (on the top floor). The pictures on the website are spot on… no clever angles or that they were taken ages ago… what you see is what you get. Check in isn’t until 3 p.m., which was not a problem for me, but I didn’t like check out at 10 a.m. I wanted to be able to relax, not have to be in a hurry to get out the door.
Parking is a bit of a nightmare… there are plenty of pay and display car parks along the road through Mumbles. Free after 7 p.m. until 9 a.m. If you can find a spot on the street, it is free. On the website or in the email, they also do not say that there is a 3% fee for paying by card. While it is posted all over the B&B, it would have been nice to know beforehand. The room that I was in was so small that I couldn’t leave my suitcase open on the floor (a small weekend one), even with shoes on the side of the bed or a small bag, it is a tight squeeze. Even when my friend came over to pick me up and came in to see what the room was like, we couldn’t move around the room at the same time… how two people can share this room is beyond me. The bathroom, however, is roomier. The water pressure in the shower could use a bit of work. I’m not sure what it is like in the other rooms, but I could definitely hear people taking showers and using the taps and I could hear talking, but I am not sure where it was coming from.
I did like the modern feel of the B&B and the location… across the street from the walk around the bay, a pub next door, a café just down the street and the walk to Mumbles is not a very long one (probably between 5 or 10 minutes… depending on how fast you are walking/​running). In Mumbles there are a number of restaurants, a few cash points, various stores, and a grocery store. Having breakfast in the dining room was nice as it faces the bay. The breakfast was nice… you can have a Full English, a vegetarian breakfast, salmon and scrambled eggs… or you can order bits and pieces of the breakfast to make it your own.
Overall, I enjoyed it and if you are looking for a nice, convenient place to stay, this is a good place. The prices range between £35 to £50 pp… which is nice for the Mumbles, but I did think that £45 pppn for a windowless (there was a skylight), very small room was a little much, but there is also a £15 supplement for having the room as a single.