Beach huts

Oh ….and we would spend hours ‘cockling’ when the tide went out …..then mum would boil them and make us cockle sandwiches with a cup of tea! They were magical times at Mersea !

My mum and dad bought a beach hut in West Mersea when I was in my late teens. They absolutely loved it and went frequently for two or three days at a time, even though you weren’t supposed to stay overnight! Theirs was one row up from the beach in an elevated position so you had a great view of the sea and a sort of patio just in front where dad would sit in his deckchair reading the morning paper! When we married and the children were babies and then toddlers we would visit them for the day ……it was a cosy happy little hut and will always hold special family memories in my heart. On a recent visit to England my cousin took me down to Mersea and we actually found the beach hut they owned for at least 10 years in the 1960’s……but long since sold when my parents died in the mid 70’s. Wish we had kept it! I think they paid about £400 when they originally bought it!

My parents used to rent a chalet when we had our 2 weeks in Mablethorpe each year.
The smell of the damp concrete, sand and the gas smell when making cups of tea in the huts
And making friends with other children from the East Midlands and South Yorkshire.

Thank you for all your memories. It has cheered up a grey day.

I've been struck down with extreme beach hut envy It's probably contagious.

Oh how wonderful BlueBelle. I have beach hut envy .😎

My dad always rented a beach hut when we went on camping holidays. He always boiled the water for tea on his trusty (usually) Primus while my mum filled rolls. Happy memories of reading and playing Battleships and Cruisers while it poured outside.
Our beach huts were never like these posh ones in Southwold 🤣

My cousins in laws have had a Beach hut for years on Hayling Island, still well used by the family.
The Hospital I work at also has a Staff Beach hut which we can book out for free, just need to book in advance.

We certainly have new modern ones as well as the original ones and they are much more expensive and no one wants to hire them so they stand empty 🤣
I live about 1 minute (if that) away from the sea Silverlining 😀

I have a much loved beach hut and have many memories from the 24 years since I bought it. Family birthdays usually take place there and I love to entertain friends to 'tea with a view'. My hut holds several folding chairs, a small unit with a gas stove on top, a table and a large chest filled with games, spare clothes, buckets and spades, towels and much else (this is covered with a bright knitted blanket of squares with beach themes and a knitted cushion in the shape of an ice cream cone!). The inside is painted white with shelves for bits and bobs and hooks for mugs and binoculars and a beach hut pattered shower curtain gives privacy for changing. I had wanted a hut since childhood and it is a very happy place which I enjoy sharing with others and also just sitting outside with a book and a cuppa.

Of course it was summer holidays so more expensive than out of season, but they sell fir over £200,000 so I was told. .

A long wait but what a bargain, especially if you don’t live too far away and can get there easily BlueBelle.
Yes £90 a day, in a popular coastal town in Suffolk. Enjoy your beach hut 🛖 I really wish I had one.

BlueBelle

I have a lovely wooden beach hut right now I share it with my daughter it’s rented and we waited 13 years on the waiting list for it I love it we can sit outside it and leave all our stuff in there Chairs, table, cups, windbreaks any beach toys kites surfboards etc Towels sea shoes (to stop the weaver fish getting you) there’s a bench a table and hooks on the walls
Wow £90 a day is a lot Silverlining We pay £750 for 12 months I think weekly they are about £80

absolute bargain.. lucky you.. I'd like to be there in the winter too..

I have a lovely wooden beach hut right now I share it with my daughter it’s rented and we waited 13 years on the waiting list for it I love it we can sit outside it and leave all our stuff in there Chairs, table, cups, windbreaks any beach toys kites surfboards etc Towels sea shoes (to stop the weaver fish getting you) there’s a bench a table and hooks on the walls
Wow £90 a day is a lot Silverlining We pay £750 for 12 months I think weekly they are about £80

A friend bought a beach hut near Whitstable about 20 years ago for £300. What a bargain, even if she was on the second row.

pascal30

I absolutely love those design competitions where contestants renovate beach huts.. Here in Brighton people decorate their beach huts in Hove and open them to the Public for an Advent Event at Christmas ... magical.. We only did caravans and tents for holidays as children but I've always liked living for a while in small spaces..

On BBC iplayer Interior Design Masters Series 2 Episode 5 is about beach huts in Essex. Also feature about Beach Huts in Walton on the Naze from 2021.

When I moved to Hove in the late 1970s, I could have bought a beach hut for about £800 but I couldn't afford it.

We rented one last week. It was old, built in the 50 s nearly as old as me, but it had charm, did the job and had all we needed. £90 per day. Expensive treat but hope the gc will remember the magic of having a mini house with a view of the sea and the sand to play in.

I’ve always been so jealous of people with beach huts. As a child my dream was to live in one!

We discussed buying one a while back but they are sooo expensive!

I absolutely love those design competitions where contestants renovate beach huts

Yes there was a series of Interior Design Masters where they did beach huts and it must have been quite a challenge. We never hired one as we always went in a caravan for our family holidays in the 1950s. However I have always been intrigued by those cute little buildings.

My in laws moved to Oulton Broad and for a few years we rented a beach hut for a week at Lowestoft. We took a camping stove and pans, so could make drinks or a sausage sandwich! Our children made friends with another two in the same situation and we were in nearby huts for a couple of years.
Happy Days!

I will just have to rent one. One week in the summer. I think Bournemouth council still rent theirs out. I must google.

I have had a hankering for a Beach Hut since childhood, many happy memories.

One has come up for sale near one of our AC (Thorpe Bay, Essex) it is on the market for £120,000!!

Cannot justify that amount, especially as it takes less than five minutes to walk to our AC’s home from the beach 😡

We visit Mudeford quite often, love it there, yes my God what those beach huts go for now Unbelievable!

My dear friend has a fabulous beach hut in Frinton. She’s done it up over the years, it seats 4 very comfortably, she’s erected a round shower curtain hanging from the ceiling as a changing room, and has a wonderful little kitchen area. I’ve spent many a summer’s day there over the years and it’s such a happy place!

I’ve known this lady since we were 11, and remember her granny’s beach hut, on Shoeburyness beach, many happy memories, including one very naughty night when we were mid teens when we slept overnight there, each telling our parents we were staying with each other for the night, we sneaked our two boyfriends with us, set up those awful “sunbeds” and bedded in! We were awoken in the night by the sea underneath, it was absolutely freezing, slightly damp and very very dark!

Yes I agree henetha. Being able to be cosy in the dry with the doors open looking at a wide beach and the sèa is my idea of heaven. Or shade from the hot sun once you have had a swim and dried off.