When Tracy Emin sold her Whitstable-based beach hut to Charles Saatchi for £75,000, the world suddenly looked afresh at beach huts, and wondered what all the fuss was about.
By Dave Amos
Once the reserve of grandparents, beach huts have officially become hip once more. Their origins lie with the functional and wheeled Victorian 'bathing machines' - there to protect the modesty of their occupants and hide them from the prying eyes of paddlers and seaside donkeys.
The slightly less uptight Edwardians, enjoying mixed bathing, had them de-wheeled and planted into the sand, merely as somewhere to change, and hang up their stiff collars and whalebone corsetry. It was about then that people recognised how pretty and picturesque a line of beach huts was. Their cute dimensions and candystripe colours somehow epitomised British seaside culture. It's hard to imagine any other country in the world where you could you sit - with no sense of irony whatsoever - outside a linoleum floored shed containing a kettle and a Gaz camping stove, and have a name plate boasting the word 'Shangri-La' or 'Dunroamin' above the door. There is definitely something quintessentially British about sitting outside what is essentially, a shed, with a flask of tea and sandy sandwiches, with a look on your face that says, 'we've arrived'.
Though there are a few beach huts in Scotland and Wales, the majority can be found lining the coasts of the south and east coasts of England.
Southwold in Suffolk is probably the most celebrated of 'beach hut towns', with prices ranging from £8,000 - £40,000. Ridiculous as those prices may seem for a dwelling, which you may well lose forever in a brisk wind, the record is currently held by a Mudeford hut.
Mudeford Spit is a sandbank, bordered by Christchurch Bay on one side, and Christchurch Harbour on the other.
There are about 300 beach huts situated on the sandbank, and they are unique because from March to November it is possible to sleep in them overnight. This goes some way to explaining the £100,000 price tag, though with no toilet, you'd still have to walk along the beach for a wee just like everyone else.
Ownership of some beach huts has been passed down through generations and is now, understandably, being held onto tenaciously. Huts can be hired, though renting one could mean a wait of anything up to six years.
In Whitstable, Kent, the Hotel Continental is making the most of beach hut fever, and has six beach hut guestrooms right on the beach. These converted fishermen's huts come with all mod cons, and with it being almost impossible to rent nearby, is perhaps the only answer to 'dipping into' beach hut culture without forking out a fortune.
As one would expect with any burgeoning market, there now exists a whole world of neighbourhood hut watchers, hut carers, and craftsmen specialising in bespoke beach hut building.
Perhaps as an island race, it's is only natural for us to want to sit and stare at the sea. However, sitting outside a beach hut, wearing socks with sandals and a knotted handkerchief on your head is not. Resist these urges.
For general information try:
www.beach-huts.co.uk
For East and West Sussex:
www.beachhutsuk.com
For information about Mudeford try:
www.msbnews.co.uk
Beach-Huts.com
Beach hut rental database site
www.beach-huts.com
For East and West Sussex:
www.beachhutsuk.com
For Southwold:
Dr. Slim Dinsdale, Chairman of Southwold Beach Hut Assoc
dinsdale@paston.co.uk
Hotel Continental
Whitstable
Kent
www.hotelcontinental.co.uk
The views represented in this article are those of the author and not of Channel 4. The purpose of the article is to provide general information only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal or other advice.You should not rely on any information provided in this article and you should always seek out independent professional advice relevant to your own particular circumstances.
