Beach huts

I'd love a beach hut now .
It's funny I just can't recall the name of the resort.
But I remember my beach friend.
She had long ginger hair in a pony tail and blond eyelashes .
I was envious of her gold earrings as she had different ones on every day .
We both had fair freckly skin .
We both had those strange ruched swimsuits .
Her's was green and mine was pink with big white polka dots .
I think that her name was Eve and just like me she wouldn't say boo to a goose !

What a lovely thread, HelterSkelter.

When I lived on the coast as a child, I used to long for one of those little houses. They were very rundown and not at all fashionable in those days and I bet they were virtually given away. But the first time I actually set foot in one was when we rented a very pretty candy striped beach hut in Scarborough for the week for a family holiday a few years back. Not only was it a godsend as a base for all the beach toys, towels, changes of clothing, but I just loved sitting in front of it in my deckchair, cup of tea in hand, watching the grandsons playing on the sand and running in and out of the sea. And reading my book there in solitary splendour, to the sound of the waves, when the rest of the family were at the water park. Heaven, and worth every penny. I know where some of my cash is going when my lottery numbers come up!

What a great memory Esmay. I can picture it so well.

My parents didn't have a beach hut , but we made friends with a family that did .
They were such fun .

I played on the beach all summer with their daughter , who had pierced ears ( I couldn't get over it ?! )
The adults spent most of their drinking tea heavily laced with brandy and smoking . The brandy was medicinal for their coughs !
They played cards and bet on them . If we joined them we bet with chocolates and sweets .
I recall the wonderful meals that we used to enjoy - all cooked on a little ring .
We drank Camp coffee made with evaporated milk , lots of tea and tomato soup when we weren't enjoying fish and chips and ice cream .
My friend and I asked for extra flakes in our ice creams .
I think that this family ( grandma and all) actually slept in the beach hut .
We stayed in a hotel .
I think that the best bit was at the end of the day when we felt tired , happy , but cold in our soggy swimsuits and we were rubbed dry and wrapped in huge towels as we enjoyed eating and drinking .
Sleep would come quickly .

We always had one for U.K. beach holidays when I was a child. All the beach paraphernalia could stay there (no car then) plus it was shelter from the odd shower, not that I remember many of those.
We had a little primus (?) stove for making cups of tea. I still remember really appreciating one after a very chilly swim!

Many years later we rented one for a week in Lyme Regis, when staying with dd, SiL, and two very little Gdcs. Again it was a godsend for all the paraphernalia - and during just one shower.
If we lived near the coast I’d love my own beach hut! And I love the look of a row of them, all in ice-cream pastels so close to the sand.

We had a beach hut when I was young. We used it most days in the summer holidays. We used to spend the whole day there until it was dark. Remember eating proper hot cooked meals on the 2 burner stove. When it was chilly Mum and Nan would say right all inside now and get warm. Such happy memories.

Tip not top

It was a fantastic pool silverlining48. And the beach cafe was built on stilts so you could see the incoming water through the wooden slats of the floor. There were beach huts at the base of the cliff going towards Palm Bay.
This was a wonderful place to stay with my aunt during the winter with dramatic seas and very powerful cold winds on that very east top of Kent which my grandmother said were straight from Russia.
I miss that weather in N Surrey!

I have a photo of me at the sea water pool in Cliftonville circa 1961.we used to go to a boarding house for 3 days. Every other year.
Those were the days eh.?

pascal30

Indigo8

What a lovely idea pascal30 it looks great.

It is Snowbells hut.. not mine.. but I agree it's a lovely idea

Senior moment, sorry. Lovely hut snowbell!

There is a fair amount of competition amongst beach hut owners here. They are painted and decorated beautifully.
They look lovely.

Imarocker. Is that Cliftonville in Kent? If yes did you swim in the sea water pool at Walpole Bay. I swam there in the 1950s. My aunt and uncle had a house beside the cafe at the
top of the cliff and we used to run down the cliff pathway to the sea very early every morning before anyone else was on
the beach.
The pool is now listed.
Wonderful Branksome Chine with the beach cafe run by the council. Long gone now. Replaced by a very upmarket restaurant and bar. I dont know if the shop is still there selling buçkets and spades etc. DH was brought up in Bournemouth and says the best part of the day is early evening when everyone has gone home.

Lizzie oh how I remember those seaside boarding houses… we had to go out straight after breakfast and not allowed back in until the evening, whatever the weather, rain or snow, ,made no difference to the landlady,

HelterSkelter I was reading a book in Southwold last week and yes, the bathing machines were the for runners of beach huts. It was in a shop on the pier but I can’t remember the name or author.

We had one in Frinton. Our border collie used to like looking out over the stable door. One day she went flying over the top of the door to chase a seagull. Bang bang bang down the laddered steps outside.

There’s something wonderfully British about our seaside beach huts, isn’t there?
Many happy childhood memories of loving the quirky little things which probably leave foreign visitors scratching their heads in bewilderment!!

Eye wateringly expensive now though, especially in desirable locations on the south coast.

Periodically they are featured in the newspaper with even fairly humble ones fetching hundreds of thousands of pounds.

My parents rented a beach hut at Cliftonville every year. We spent every day on the beach from early morning to the evening. The same families used to rent every year so we always saw the same people. All my parent’s friends knew they were there and would descend on us at the weekend. Poor mum was kept busy making cups of tea but we had enough people for a proper game of cricket.

flappergirl
Wow, Mudeford! Beach huts here now go for huge amounts of money!

Happy childhood memories of the beach hut my parents rented in Branksome, Bournemouth in the 1950s. It was very basic. A concrete floor, folding chairs and a little gas ring. It was magical - a little home close to the sands and sea. We stayed there all day before making the journey back to our boarding house (2 bus rides away). I love to see beach huts nowadays painted in wonderful colours and seemingly fitted with all mod coms. Recently back from a stay in Whitstable which was a colourful feast of beach huts.

She also gave mè "Piers and other Seaside Architecture" by Lynn F Pearson. She knows I miss the seaside. Luckily she lives very close to a Victorian pier and many stunning beaches in N Wales as she is a seaside lover as well.

Oh yes cockling. And cold concrete sandy floor with cold wet sand in the ruching of my swimsuit. The very cold wet floor in the public toilets and pulling up a damp sandy swimsuit. Such vivid memories. I can feel it now.

Hopefully more beach huts will be built over the years as more people holiday in the UK as the Mediterranean countries will be too hot in the summer. A couple of years ago my daughter bought me for a birthday a lovely book which I have dug out to re read. "Beach Huts and Bathing Machines" by Kathryn Ferry. I seem to remember that she said that bathing machines were the forerunner to beach huts. The first ones were bathing machines without wheels. Could be wrong...often am.

Indigo8

What a lovely idea pascal30 it looks great.

It is Snowbells hut.. not mine.. but I agree it's a lovely idea

What a lovely idea pascal30 it looks great.

Snowbell

Always loved beach huts. Never had one at the beach but converted my garden shed into one instead!

absolutely brilliant,,,,

Always loved beach huts. Never had one at the beach but converted my garden shed into one instead!