DAY 1

20th July 2026

Caswell Bay, Gower

DYDD 1

20th Gorffennaf 2026

Bae Cas-welt, Gwyr

GWYL CERFLUNIAU TRAETH 2026

Scroll down to view the 2026 festival feature and link to the next festival day at the bottom of each page

Artists /Artistiaid:

SARA HOLDEN,

TINA-MARIE CUNNINGHAM,

AND JENNY CHISHOLM

Photographer / Ffotograffydd Prosiect:

PHIL HOLDEN

The first day of the 22nd annual Beach Sculpture Festival was held at Caswell, a large sandy beach on Gower. Caswell Bay or Bae Cas-wellt, a Blue Flag beach, is popular with families, holiday makers and surfers alike. Festival displays and flags were positioned on the golden sandy shore as people began to arrive at the beach eager to make some exciting sculptures with the artists. There was real beach fever as the weather continued to be hot and sunny whilst we were in the midst of another heatwave.The beach was soon buzzing with both water sport activity as well as lots of eager young (and older) budding artists wanting to create their favourite marine animals from sand, shells and pebbles. The Gower coastline is a great place to spot local sealife such as seals, starfish, harbour porposies /dolphins and rock pool creatures so there was plenty of marine life to inspire the beach sculptures at Caswell. The High Tide at midday was a welcome opportunity for everyone to cool off with a paddle or swim as the sun continued to shine for the duration of the day. It was a hot but creative day!

We made a seahorse which we were very happy with. Our creativity was enhanced through the workshop. The artist gave us lots of ideas to use the available resources on the beach.

Thank you for such a fabulous workshop - we thoroughly enjoyed it!

My brother and I loved making the Ray sculpture - it was super cool!

We were delighted with the stingray. It was a lovely wholesome activity to do together which we all enjoyed. We love this festival - so glad it is still runing. What a difference it makes to have a fun-free family activity like this festival. Thank you!

Sculpting on the beach promotes conversation about marine and shoreline biodiversity - participants shared their knowledge and gained further knowledge through open conversations with the artists.

The artists introduced us to lots of natural materials around us that we could use for our sculpture! They taught us things we didn't know - events like this raise awareness and promote the environment and sea life. We all had a fab time - the kids absolutely loved it and learnt new skills. Thank you!

The NaB Team were on hand to help with information about marine animals they protect including Strandline Beetles, as sculpted here.

Great fun!

The Festival takes place at different beaches during a week in July at the height of summer holidays, beginning at Caswell Beach. The Festival workshops are a creative activity that focuses on both art and nature.

A Hammerhead Shark is crafted from the golden sand at Caswell with small stones and pebbles used as decoration.

The festival is great for involving children and adults together for the love of art and nature.

The workshop was an excellent use of observation to improve our creativity. We found out lots of environmental aspects while at the festival too!

We found out about different marine life and the event combined creativity with being outdoors - and it's free!

We were so happy with our sculpture and our creativity and wellbeing was enhanced by working with nature using sand, seaweed, pebbles, driftwood and shells.

What a lovely activity!

It was just wonderful! So easy to particpate in and good fun!

Participants worked in family groups responding to each others narratives and goals. They liked having a choice of creatures to build with different sculpting techniques.

We love this activity each year at the festival!

The artists gave us lots of ideas for creativity and how to appreciate nature!

A cheeky seal popping out of the sand complete with shell eyes and feather whiskers was great fun to make with these two youngsters.

It was great fun!

What a fab experience! Thank you for taking the time for the girls!

The Festival gives all ages an opportunity to access different natural resources, express themselves creatively, using their imagination and learning about marine animals while having fun.

What a wonderful event to hold for children (and adults). The artists were so helpful and creative! We really enjoyed it. Thank you! Diolch!

THANK YOU TO OUR KIND SPONSORS BELOW:
Diolch i bawb am wneud ein gwyl cerflunwaith flynyddol mor llwyddiant unwaith eto.

DIOLCH I'N EIN HYRWYDDION SY'N GWYBODAETH BOD:

So inspiring

A large scale Strandline Beetle is sculpted out of the golden sand - the species is a vital part of the biodiversity of the Welsh coastline. The sculptures invited conversations about the environment.

We made a turtle and loved doing the textures especially. We learnt about art and sealife whilst at the festival. I found it really fun! What an amazing beach day activity x

Beautiful art - so impressive!

We found out about different endangered marine life while making our mackerel sculpture which was really fun to make!

The Festival created curiosity.

Lovely, imaginative experience for the children. Thank you!

We enjoyed the festival - it was relaxing and thought-provoking!

It was a wonderful day interacting with and supporting families to learn about local sea life and to explore the natural resources whilst creating beach sculptures. It was perfect for hands on experiences for all ages. At the end of the day the beach was adorned with so many beautiful, interesting and thought provoking sculptures such as seahorses, sting rays and skates, turtles, sand lizards, fishes, star fishes and dolphins to name a few! The festival had increased people's confidence to make art on the beach and given them a deeper connection to the location and the wild creatures living around it in the marine environment. It was amazing to see how everyone responded to the Festival with enthusiasm, both children and adults alike. There was a beautiful array of sand sculptures on the beach at the end of the day for an evening audience!

Participants were able to forage and make choices to develop their art works; taking time to experiment with the sensory properties of the natural materials on the beach. People loved the spirit of the whole festival combining art and nature. The sculptures were made with imagination, ingenuity, resourcefulness, curiosity, enormous fun and lots of artistic flair. The photos here and comments from participants and the artists tell the story of their experiences at the festival and their thoughts on nature and art.

The first day of the festival was a brilliant success and the artists folded away the flags and banners ready to take to Oxwich Bay the next day.

To see page 2 of 2026 Festival at Oxwich Bay - click the link at the bottom of this page.
I weld tudalen 2 o 2026 Gwyl Traeth Bae Oxwich - cliciwch ar y ddolen ar waelod y dudalen hon