There’s a cool vibe at ‘Trey Bay’, maybe to do with the hostel being at a dead end facing the sea, and you need to settle into this environment to appreciate the place. The big windows of the café bar and picnic benches in the garden are perfect for contemplating those gentle rollers. The music helps. The hostel welcomes musicians playing live, and they have a special ‘Sunset Sessions’ CD for sale of some of the music.
The building is a former 1930s summer residence of the Willis family, who donated it to YHA in lieu of death duties. The hostel has a cafe bar that is open to the public and does a good trade with dog-walkers, families, holidaymakers and locals dropping in. It’s a place to people-watch, and they don’t seem to mind you joining the crowd with your own food and drink, prepared in the hostel’s self-catering kitchen. After 9pm they stop serving meals from the catering kitchen and it’s more or less the hostellers’ domain. Plus campers in the big field beside the hostel, which has ready-made bell tents and land pods for hire. The campsite is nicely ringed by a sheltering hedge to protect it and give some privacy from walkers on the coast path.
It’s an easy, flat 10-minute walk north to Constantine Bay, a lovely sweep of sandy beach backed by dunes and an 18-hole golf course. Intrepid surfers brave the big waves and there’s an RNLI presence and surf-hire place right on the beach. There is also some surfing in Treyarnon Bay, though this is much smaller and less exciting.
Treyarnon Bay is not the place to come to if you like a quiet hostel, as it’s very public and busy, with no separate lounge for hostellers. But it has its own allure and is well positioned for sandy beaches and walking. Younger people will particularly love it.
Written by Julie Musk
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