Landal Gwel an Mor
Landal Gwel an Mor is a self-catering lodge resort on the hill above Portreath, on the north Cornwall coast, its name Cornish for "view of the sea". Families come for private hot tubs and sea views, an indoor pool, a three-storey soft play barn and the on-site Feadon Farm wildlife centre where rangers walk children round the owls, meerkats and reindeer, with a woodland path down to the beach.
On this page
Is it worth it?
Who Gwel an Mor suits, who it does not and the facts to skim before the detail.
Gwel an Mor is a self-catering lodge resort rather than a hotel or a caravan park: you rent a stand-alone lodge with its own kitchen, cook for yourselves or use the on-site restaurant and dip into the paid activities as you fancy. Its draw is the grown-up comforts around a family break, private hot tubs, sea views, a spa and quiet evenings, sitting alongside things young children take to, animal encounters at the wildlife centre, a big soft play barn for wet days and an indoor pool that comes with every stay. You will get the most from it if you want a lodge you would be happy in of an evening once the children are asleep, and you do not mind driving to the beach and the days out.
Best for
You want a comfortable self-catering lodge with a hot tub, an on-site pool, soft play and animal encounters for the children, a spa for you, and you are happy to self-drive.
Maybe not for
You want a kids’ club or crèche to leave a baby at, a big pool complex with a toddler pool, structured evening entertainment or step-free access straight onto the beach.
Best ages
Broad, from babies up. The animal sessions, sensory play and Base Camp suit young children well, but there is no crèche support for the very youngest.
What stands out
Private hot tubs, the Feadon Farm wildlife centre with its ranger-led animal encounters and Base Camp soft play for a rainy afternoon.
What to check
Most activities cost extra, a hot tub comes with some lodge types and not others, and it is not guaranteed ready at check-in.
Where is it?
On the hill above Portreath on the north Cornwall coast, about a mile from the village beach and 13 miles (21 km) from Truro.
Quick facts for families
What the resort is like
Where Gwel an Mor sits, how the lodges are laid out and how you get around with young children.
The full address is Feadon Lane, Portreath, TR16 4PE, on elevated ground above Portreath, between Redruth and Porthtowan on the north Cornwall coast, looking out to the sea. It is a stand-alone lodge park rather than a hotel, with 26 lodge types dotted across the site among trees and lawns; you park at or near your own lodge, with a central car park for overflow. Landal groups the lodges into four tiers on its booking pages, Classic, Luxe, Exclusive and Luxury, which broadly track how new and how well appointed the lodge is; the table further down lists every one. Gwel an Mor sits in Landal's Exclusive Collection grouping on the operator's own site, and it's one of four Landal parks in Cornwall, alongside Landal Clowance near Camborne and two parks near Bude; those three are separate resorts, not covered on this page.
Most of the park is walkable, and one family who stayed found it manageable on foot or with a pushchair across the resort itself. Check-in is from 4pm, though you can use the facilities before your lodge is ready, and check-out is by 10am, with the run of the site for the rest of that day. Wi-Fi is free across the whole park, though patchy in places by one family's account. Gwel an Mor is one of several Landal parks in Cornwall; for the wider county, its beaches and when to go, see our Cornwall guide.
The lodges
Every lodge type with its official size, and which ones suit a family with a baby or toddler.
All the lodges are self-catering and fully equipped, with a kitchen, a washing machine or washer-dryer and in most cases a fenced or enclosed garden or deck. They sleep between two and eight, and the codes on Landal’s booking pages pack a lot in: the number is how many it sleeps, and a P or J at the end marks a pet-friendly version. Here is the full line-up with the official sizes where they’re given.
| Lodge | Tier | Size | Sleeps | Baths | Features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeside Studio (2L) | Exclusive | ~30 m² | 2 | 1 | Studio, hot tub, lake view |
| Lakeside Studio, pet (2LJ) | Exclusive | ~30 m² | 2 | 1 | Studio, hot tub, lake view, dogs welcome |
| Scandinavian Lodge (4C1) | Classic | 81 m² | 4 | 2 | Two bedrooms, fenced decking, washing machine |
| Kinder Lodge (4CK) | Luxe | ~30 m² | 4 | 1 | Two bedrooms, children’s play area, sea view |
| Scandinavian Lodge, pet (4CP1) | Classic | 81 m² | 4 | 2 | Two bedrooms, fenced decking, dogs welcome |
| Signature Lodge (4EL2) | Luxe | ~30 m² | 4 | 1 | Two bedrooms, hot tub, BBQ |
| Signature Lodge, pet (4ELP1) | Luxe | ~30 m² | 4 | 1 | Two bedrooms, hot tub, sea view, dogs welcome |
| Heligan Lodge (4LP) | Luxe | Not listed | 4 | 2 | Two bedrooms, dogs welcome |
| Scandinavian Lodge (5CP2) | Classic | 81 m² | 5 | 2 | Three bedrooms, sea view, enclosed decking, dogs welcome |
| Assisted Living Lodge (5LT) | Luxe | ~84 m² | 5 | 2 | Three bedrooms, hot tub, sea view, accessible |
| Assisted Living Lodge, pet (5LTP) | Luxe | ~84 m² | 5 | 2 | Three bedrooms, hot tub, accessible, dogs welcome |
| Classic lodge (6C2) | Classic | Not listed | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, two-storey |
| Scandinavian Hot Tub Lodge (6CE2) | Luxe | 98 m² | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, hot tub |
| Scandinavian Hot Tub Lodge, pet (6CEP2) | Luxe | 98 m² | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, hot tub, sea view, dogs welcome |
| Classic lodge, pet (6CP2) | Classic | Not listed | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, sea view, dogs welcome |
| Assisted Living Lodge (6CT) | Classic | Not listed | 6 | 3 | Three bedrooms, two-storey, accessible, dogs welcome |
| Assisted Living Lodge (6CT1) | Classic | ~110 m² | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, accessible |
| Assisted Living Lodge, pet (6CTP1) | Classic | ~110 m² | 6 | 3 | Three bedrooms, accessible, sea view, dogs welcome |
| Kinder 3.0 Spa Lodge (6ELKP) | Luxe | Not listed | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, hot tub, Kinder 3.0 Spa, dogs welcome |
| Signature Lodge (6L) | Exclusive | 82 m² | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, hot tub, sea view |
| Kinder 3.0 Lodge (6LK) | Luxury | Not listed | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, hot tub, sea view |
| Kinder 3.0 Lodge (6LKP) | Not tiered | 82 m² | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, BBQ, countryside setting, dogs welcome |
| Signature Lodge, pet (6LP1) | Luxe | ~82 m² | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, hot tub, sea view, dogs welcome |
| Senara Hot Tub Lodge (6LP2) | Luxe | ~98 m² | 6 | 2 | Three bedrooms, hot tub, dogs welcome |
| Signature Lodge (8L) | Exclusive | ~120 m² | 8 | 2 | Four bedrooms, hot tub, sea view |
| Signature Lodge, pet (8LP) | Exclusive | ~120 m² | 8 | 2 | Four bedrooms, hot tub, sea view, dogs welcome |
The workhorse is the Scandinavian Lodge, an 81 m² lodge sleeping four or five with two bathrooms, fenced decking and a washing machine. The six-person Scandinavian Hot Tub Lodge at 98 m² is a step up and the one a family who stayed described in detail: three ground-floor bedrooms (a master double with an en-suite and two more doubles or twins) and an open-plan living space upstairs with a wood-burning stove, a smart TV with DVD and HDMI, a full kitchen with a dishwasher and washer-dryer, a balcony with sea views and an enclosed garden with the hot tub. Having the bedrooms downstairs and the living room up is worth picturing with a baby, since bedtime and the evening happen on different floors.
The Kinder Lodge is Landal’s child-focused four-person lodge, a smaller 30 m² with a children’s play area and a sea view. Unlike most of the other lodges it has no hot tub, so do not book it expecting one. At the top end, the eight-person Signature lodges run to about 120 m² with four bedrooms, a hot tub and sea views. Named lodges such as the Senara Hot Tub Lodge and the Heligan Lodge, after the Lost Gardens of Heligan, sit among these rather than forming a separate premium grade.
Several lodges are designated Assisted Living for accessibility, in five- and six-person sizes with up to three bathrooms, though the accessibility detail such as ramps, wet rooms and turning space isn’t spelled out, so check directly if a specific need has to be met. One reviewer found the décor tired in a couple of spots, set against lodges they otherwise rated for space and comfort.
Eating and drinking
The on-site restaurant and bars, and how the self-catering works for the rest.
This is a self-catering park, so most meals happen in the lodge, and every kitchen is set up for it. The main place to eat out on site is the Terrace Bar & Restaurant, an all-day restaurant and bar with sea views and a beer garden, open daily. Landal’s own copy stretches from "light bites" to "fine dining", but the family who ate there found a relaxed, pub-style restaurant: pizzas, burgers, steak frites and fish and chips made with Cornish ingredients. They rated the nachos and the loaded burgers and were less taken with the sticky toffee pudding and churros, and found the staff welcoming but the service slow when the room was busy. There’s no children’s menu listed online, so check when you book if that matters; the family who ate there did so with a toddler. Food and drink can also be delivered from the Terrace to your lodge, which is useful on a night no one wants to cook or go out.
The Tipsy Turtle Bar is a cocktail bar and café overlooking the coast, serving cocktails, Cornish spirits, coffees, pizzas and light bites; it may be seasonal or open evenings only, so don’t count on it off-peak. The Wild Kitchen is a private-chef experience, dining outdoors under a retractable canvas, booked separately at extra cost. There is also a Gin Experience, an adult activity tasting seven gins with the option to take a bottle home. For groceries, Portreath village a mile off has a couple of cafes and a pub, and Redruth and Camborne, roughly three to five miles away, have the supermarkets (Tesco, Lidl and Aldi among them); there’s no shop on site, so plan a supermarket run in.
The pool and hot tubs
The indoor heated pool comes with every stay at no extra charge, and it has sea views, with a jacuzzi, a steam room and a sauna alongside. The pool is not described as having a separate children’s pool, toddler splash area or splash pad, indoors or out, so plan on a baby swimming in the main pool with you rather than in a shallow toddler section. It is an ordinary indoor pool rather than a water-park pool, which is worth setting against parks built around flumes and lagoons.
The private hot tubs are one of the headline features, and they come with several lodge types rather than every one: the Lakeside Studio, the Signature-named lodges, the Scandinavian Hot Tub Lodge, the Kinder 3.0 Spa Lodge and the Senara Hot Tub Lodge all have a hot tub. The Classic Scandinavian Lodge does not, and nor do some other Classic variants, so check the specific lodge you are booking has one rather than assuming; the table above marks each one. Where a lodge has a hot tub, it is not guaranteed filled and ready at the 4pm check-in, because they are cleaned and maintained between guests, so treat the first evening as a maybe and ask at reception on arrival.
Base Camp and Feadon Farm
The two things families come for: a big indoor soft play and an on-site wildlife centre.
Base Camp is a three-storey indoor complex, more than pure soft play: ball pools, slides and a climbing wall, plus an indoor archery range and craft workshops (Make A Bear and Sand Art), with a separate area for the under-threes. It charges separately from the lodge rather than being included, so budget for it as a paid activity and check the price and opening hours when you book. It is the obvious indoor option for a wet afternoon, and wet afternoons happen here in any month.
Feadon Farm Wildlife Centre is on site and rescues and rehabilitates wildlife, with owls and other birds of prey, meerkats, reindeer, goats, snakes and foxes. Rangers run encounters, owl sessions, reindeer walks, meerkat encounters and a "Meet the Animals" session where children get close to the animals and can hold or feed them; the family who stayed described a session with a ranger meeting goats, reindeer, snakes and owls. You can also wander down to see the animals informally between booked sessions. The booked encounters cost extra on top of the lodge, so check prices when you book. One visitor described the centre as compact, a small on-site operation rather than a large wildlife park, so pitch expectations to that.
Things to do
Beyond Base Camp and the wildlife centre, the resort has tennis courts, a nine-hole golf course, croquet on the lawn and coarse fishing at Clover Lake, plus the indoor archery range inside Base Camp. Mountain bikes can be hired on site, and the woodland path links to Portreath and the South West Coast Path for walking and cycling. There is a Wellbeing Spa for the grown-ups, doing facials, massages and beauty treatments at extra cost, with a gym too. For younger children there is an outdoor sensory play area, wheelchair-accessible and singled out for praise by one family. Most of these carry a charge on top of the lodge, so ask about prices when you book if a particular one matters to your week.
Down to the sandThe beach
The nearest beach is at Portreath, about a mile (1.6 km) from the resort down the woodland path into the village. It is a sand-and-shingle beach with high cliffs on one side and a historic harbour on the other, popular with families, surfers and dog walkers, with a seasonal lifeguard service. The bathing water is rated Excellent on Environment Agency data; it held a Blue Flag in 2022 but does not carry one now. The village has a café and restaurant, toilets (including disabled ones), a first-aid point, a lost-child centre, a shop and a paid car park of about 100 spaces. A hollow wave breaks off the pier that is for experienced surfers and bodyboarders only, and there are surf schools in the village; there is also a tidal pool for a sheltered dip. The path is the difficulty for the youngest, better walked with a baby carrier than a pushchair, so with a pushchair many families drive down and use the village car park instead.
If you want a change of sand, Godrevy is five miles (8 km) off, with seals and gentle water for learner surfers, and Porthtowan and Chapel Porth are both around three miles (5 km) away. Gwithian and Hayle Towans are a little further, about five to seven miles (8 to 11 km).
Babies and toddlers
What the park does and does not lay on for the youngest, and where the days out are.
Gwel an Mor works for babies and toddlers on the day-to-day rather than through organised childcare. A travel cot and a highchair come on request, and the two-storey lodges have a stair gate at the bottom of the stairs, though not, by one family’s account, at the top, so a mobile toddler needs watching on the upstairs living floor. The park provides no cot linen and does not hire it out, so pack bedding for the travel cot. There’s no shop on site either, so bring any baby food or formula you need, or buy it in Redruth or Camborne on the way.
No kids’ club or crèche is advertised, and neither is babysitting, so this is not a park to leave a baby at while you have an evening out. What does suit young children is the run of the place: the animal encounters at Feadon Farm, the wheelchair-accessible sensory play area and the under-threes corner of Base Camp all landed well with the family who stayed.
Off the parkThe area and days out
Portreath village is a mile away with its beach, cafes, pubs, a surf school and an amusement arcade. Redruth is the nearest sizeable town at about three miles (5 km), with the supermarkets, and Truro, Cornwall’s only city, is 13 miles (21 km) off for the main shops and the cathedral. From there Cornwall opens up, and with the beaches and attractions spread out, the days out want a car. The table gives the official distances from the resort.
| Place | Distance | What's there |
|---|---|---|
| Portreath village | 1 mile (1.6 km) | The beach, cafes, pubs, a surf school and an amusement arcade, down the resort’s woodland path |
| Tehidy Country Park | 3 miles (5 km) | 250 acres of woodland with nine miles of paths, lakes and a café |
| Godrevy | 5 miles (8 km) | A sandy beach with seal spotting and gentle water for learner surfers |
| Truro | 13 miles (21 km) | Cornwall’s only city: the main shops and the cathedral |
| St Michael’s Mount | 15 miles (24 km) | A tidal island with a castle, reached on foot or by boat depending on the tide |
| St Ives | 16 miles (26 km) | Seven beaches, Tate St Ives and seafood |
| Newquay | 20 miles (32 km) | A surf town with Newquay Zoo and the Blue Reef Aquarium |
| Minack Theatre | 26 miles (42 km) | An open-air theatre cut into the cliff, running roughly May to September |
| Lost Gardens of Heligan | 28 miles (45 km) | A 200-acre estate with a jungle valley |
| Eden Project | 36 miles (58 km) | A huge indoor rainforest under giant domes; a long drive, better with older children |
The Eden Project is a long drive at 36 miles (58 km) and reads better for children old enough to take in the giant biomes. For everything the county holds, see our Cornwall guide.
Loves and gripes
What comes through as the strengths and the snags, how it sits against other Cornwall parks, the journey and the weather.
We haven’t stayed at Gwel an Mor. What follows leans on the fullest family account we found, a Mother and Baby review from a family with a toddler and a dog, alongside the resort’s own information. Take the themes below as one family’s experience rather than a settled view across many guests.
What that family rated
- The private hot tub, an evening highlight.
- Feadon Farm and the animal encounters, especially for the toddler.
- Base Camp soft play as a wet-weather standby.
- The space and comfort of the lodge, and the secure fenced garden for a toddler and a dog.
- The sea views and the setting.
- The spa, and warm, attentive staff.
What they flagged
- Base Camp charging on top rather than being included.
- No stair gate at the top of the stairs in the two-storey lodge.
- Wi-Fi that was patchy in places.
- Décor tired in a couple of spots.
- No kids’ club or crèche.
- The beach path being awkward with a pushchair, and the Terrace understaffed at a busy time.
How it compares
Gwel an Mor sits at the quieter, more upmarket end of Cornwall’s family parks. Against a Haven park such as Perran Sands or Riviere Sands, it is calmer and more self-directed, with better lodges and no holiday-camp entertainment team or kids’ clubs, so it trades built-in structure for grown-up comfort. Hendra has a larger pool complex with flumes and a toddler pool, which Gwel an Mor’s single indoor pool does not match, though Hendra is caravan-park in style. Retallack runs a Jelly Tots crèche from three months and a FlowRider surf machine, so a family who needs wrap-around care for a baby is better served there, while Gwel an Mor has the wildlife centre and the lodges. Bosinver, a farm-cottage complex, makes the baby logistics easier with equipment loan and included animal feeding, while Gwel an Mor has the pool, spa and wider range of activities. Pentewan Sands has a private beach and two included indoor pools against one here and a beach you walk to. Landal Clowance, Landal’s other Cornwall park about four miles inland, trades the sea views for parkland, a boating lake and its own indoor pool.
The journey downGetting there and when to go
Gwel an Mor is a self-drive resort: there are no transfers, and a car makes the beach, the towns and the days out workable. By road the A30 is the main approach across Cornwall, with Redruth the nearest junction town, and it is roughly five hours from London, two and a half to three hours from Bristol and about an hour and a quarter from Exeter. By train, Redruth is on the main line from London Paddington to Penzance, a few miles from the resort with a taxi to finish; there is no resort shuttle. The nearest airport is Newquay Cornwall Airport at St Mawgan, an estimated 18 to 22 miles (29 to 35 km) away, with Exeter about 75 miles (121 km) and Bristol about 130 miles (209 km) further afield. There are electric-car charging points on site, and the nearest A&E is at the Royal Cornwall Hospital (Treliske) in Truro, about 14 miles (23 km) away.
On timing, mid-July to August is the warmest, busiest and most expensive stretch, in the school holidays. May and June are quieter and cheaper for anyone who can travel outside term, with long days, and the indoor pool and Base Camp make a wet-weather or off-season stay workable in a way a purely outdoor park is not. The resort does not publish a closing season, so lodges are generally available across the year, but confirm your dates when you book.
A north-coast climateWeather
Cornwall is one of the milder, sunnier corners of the UK, but rain is possible in any month and summers are warm rather than hot. There's no Met Office weather station at Camborne, the nearest town, so the figures below use Plymouth as the reference station, about 50 miles east on the south coast, with Scilly (roughly 35 miles southwest) as a second data point. Neither is a reading at the resort: Plymouth tends to run slightly sunnier and slightly drier than north Cornwall's more Atlantic-facing coast, so treat the rainfall figures as a floor rather than a ceiling, and Scilly typically runs a little milder through winter than the mainland. The sea peaks at around 17°C in August on this data and is broadly swimmable from July to September, with a wetsuit stretching that a little, so high summer is the time for a beach-and-sea holiday and the pool, hot tub and Base Camp are what you fall back on in the shoulder months.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9° | 4.5° | 106 mm | 16 | 10° |
| February | 9.5° | 4.5° | 89 mm | 14 | 9° |
| March | 10.5° | 5.5° | 68 mm | 13 | 9° |
| April | 12° | 6.5° | 68 mm | 12 | 10° |
| May | 15° | 9° | 70 mm | 11 | 12° |
| June | 17.5° | 11.5° | 60 mm | 10 | 15° |
| July | 19° | 13.5° | 65 mm | 11 | 17° |
| August | 19.5° | 14° | 68 mm | 11 | 17° |
| September | 17.5° | 12° | 70 mm | 11 | 16° |
| October | 14.5° | 10° | 111 mm | 16 | 15° |
| November | 11.5° | 7.5° | 125 mm | 18 | 13° |
| December | 9.5° | 5° | 113 mm | 16 | 11° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer. Scilly, a second proxy about 35 miles southwest, runs a little milder in winter; north Cornwall's Atlantic coast can be wetter and cloudier than Plymouth's figures suggest.
Questions
The things families ask most, the links worth a bookmark and when this guide was last refreshed.
Is there a kids’ club or crèche?
None is advertised. Base Camp soft play and the Feadon Farm animal sessions are paid activities you take part in with your children, not childcare you can leave them with. If you need wrap-around care for a baby so you get time to yourselves, this is not the park for it; a Cornwall resort with a crèche, such as Retallack, would suit that better.
Do we need to bring cot bedding?
Yes. A travel cot and a highchair come on request, but the park provides no cot linen and does not hire it out, so pack sheets and a blanket sized for a travel cot before you leave home.
Does Base Camp cost extra?
Yes, it is charged on top of the lodge, so treat it as a paid day out rather than assuming it is included. It is the obvious wet-weather option, so it is worth checking the price before a rainy afternoon makes the decision for you.
Is there a children’s menu at the Terrace?
There’s no children’s menu listed online, so check when you book if that matters. With a full kitchen in every lodge, many families cook for younger children and keep the Terrace, or its delivery to the lodge, for the grown-ups or an easy night off.
Will the hot tub be ready when we check in?
Not necessarily. Check-in is from 4pm and the hot tubs are not guaranteed filled and ready by then because they are cleaned between guests, so plan the first evening without banking on it and ask at reception when you arrive.
Can we get to the beach with a pushchair?
You can get around most of the park on foot or with a pushchair, but the woodland path down to Portreath beach is uneven and works better with a baby carrier for the full mile. With a pushchair you may prefer to drive down and use the village car park.
Can we bring the dog?
Yes. Dogs are welcome throughout on a lead and many lodge types have a pet-friendly version, so book one of those rather than a standard lodge. A dog bed comes from reception on request rather than being in the lodge, so ask on arrival or bring your own.
Do we need a car?
In practice, yes. There are no resort transfers, the beach and the towns are a walk or a drive away and the days out are spread across Cornwall, so most families self-drive or hire a car. Redruth station is a few miles off if you come by train, with a taxi to finish the journey.
Is it open all year?
The resort does not publish a closing season, so lodges are generally available across the year, but check your exact dates when you book. The indoor pool and Base Camp make a winter or half-term stay workable when the weather keeps you indoors.
See more Landal Gwel an Mor photos
Open the Landal Gwel an Mor photo gallery →Useful links
- Landal Gwel an Mor: the resort’s own site for lodges, activities and what is included.
- Cornwall with little ones: our guide to the county, its beaches and when to go.
- Portreath Beach: facilities, lifeguard cover and bathing-water quality.
Last updated 16 July 2026.
