We don't have many beach huts on the Yorkshire coast. Consequently, the very idea of a beach hut is not embedded in the collective memory of Yorkshire families. However, in Southwold on the Suffolk coast there are lots of beach huts - owned I expect by people who live inland and come to the coast for leisurely days out.
Billy Bumpkin and Edward III
What is a beach hut? I know that visitors from foreign climes will be puzzled. Well, it's essentially a large and colourful garden shed that is situated close to the beach. Inside you will find seats, a table, beach items and perhaps a worktop with a camping stove. There is never any electricity or a water supply. The beach huts act as day bases for families or couples. They sit and read or run from the beach hut down to the shoreline. They laze their days away breathing in the sea air.
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| No. 156 - a beach hut called Doris |
Recently a Southwold beach hut exchanged hands for £120,000 - $154,000 US.
Yesterday we left Clint in the village of Walberswick and took a rowing boat ferry across the mouth of the River Blyth. Then we walked half a mile into Southwold. It is a splendid seaside resort with a long sandy beach, a pier, a beautiful parish church, an excellent little museum as well as the usual pubs and fish and chip shops. The town has a feeling of genteel affluence.
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| Beach huts north of Southwold Pier |
And there are beach huts. Lots of them. Each one looks a little different from the rest. They have been personalised and they often have quirky names. Being a shy sort of fellow, I was reluctant to take any pictures of people sitting in open beach huts. Besides, one doesn't wish to risk a fight while snapping seaside photographs.
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| Ma's Bar |
Down at The River Blyth, before we were rowed back to Walberswick, I noticed a different kind of beach hut on the riverside. Tarred working huts for fishermen. They did not have names or deliberate ornamentation but I liked them just the same. In the picture below you can just make out Southwold's white lighthouse in the distance.
Very cute. Are you allowed to sleep the night in them?
ReplyDeleteThat is strictly against the rules but I guess rules are meant to be broken!
DeleteI first saw beach huts on John Gray's blog and found them fascinating . . . and now I find them incredibly expensive . . . but there are only so many to go around, I suppose, making it a seller's market.
ReplyDeleteI think you were quite right not to risk a punch in the nose by photographing people in their beach huts.
Some families pass their beach huts on to younger family members and so it goes on through the generations.
DeleteBeach huts add colour and quirkiness to the Southwold beach. Here in Melbourne the best known are the Brighton beach boxes. Their origins date back to the 1800's and were then known as beach bathing boxes, places where ladies could change their clothes. The modern versions are very similar to those in your photos and when situated in wealthy areas they command high prices.
ReplyDeleteAlphie
A little bit of English eccentricity on the Melbourne shore.
DeleteSt. Kilda Beach and Brighton Beach Melbourne, Victoria have similar beach huts. There are also some at Mornington Beach, Victoria.
ReplyDeleteAll are very well-maintained and colourfully painted.
I looked for a beach hut called "Lee" but I did not see one. I guess it would have been gold and green with a cannon on the front deck.
DeleteYou picked it in one, Mr. Pud!
DeleteI've seen these in other British seaside towns. Is it still legal to build them? Or is that why they're so expensive -- new ones aren't permitted? Who owns the land? (So many questions!)
ReplyDeleteThere are certainly limits. Mostly the land is owned by local councils. I did not see a beach hut called "Steve" but I think a great photo project would be to snap every beach hut name plaque in Southwold. Perhaps there's a dilapidated "Steve" hidden among the rest.
DeleteThey're just little candy boxes of buildings, aren't they? I sort of love them. I wonder why it's such a universal thing to want to name structures at the beach. And boats, too, of course.
ReplyDeleteA Ms Moon beach hut would of course have a starry night painted upon it with a big full moon shining down. Neighbours would grumble, "Who's that sassy American lady in Number 69? Have you seen her raggedy dresses? And she eats leftovers all the time. The seagulls don't get a look in!"
DeleteIt's almost as if you knew me, Mr. P!
DeleteNot very common here but last summer we came across some on our holiday trip, at a sandy beach in Hjo, situated at Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern. And in some places along our more rocky coasts there are 'sea' huts serving similar purpose. (Originally probably for fishing gear rather than lazy holidays, but...)
ReplyDeletePerhaps Vikings brought the first beach huts to England!
DeleteThe beach hut idea is great but the price of one would surely frighten me away.
ReplyDeleteThere are much cheaper beach huts for sale but in less attractive seaside towns.
DeleteGood post. I've always wondered about the beach huts. They are so cute!
ReplyDeleteJust like you Bonnie!
DeleteThose are some very pricey garden sheds. What ever happened to just sitting on the beach?
ReplyDeleteThis may surprise you Red but occasionally it rains in England! The beach huts provide welcome shelter.
DeleteOkay that makes sense but it's still pricey.
DeleteThe beach huts in Southwold are particularly expensive as it has become a posh seaside resort with many second home owners helping to push up property prices. Hence it has been referred to as ‘Islington on Sea’. You might have seen the house where George Orwell lived for a few years, his parents having retired there.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see George Orwell's house but I did see his street art mural down by the pier. You seem to know a lot about Southwold Philip.
DeleteI have always found these to be so cute & so intriguing - and people really get very creative! I've never seen anything like them here in Canada (but I don't live near an ocean) but I did see something like them when I was on Cape Cod - they had been turned into tiny artists studios all along the dock area.
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe the cost of them though!
I guess it's the space that people buy and the right to have a beach hut there. And you re not even supposed to stay over night in the huts!
DeleteI loved Doris the Wind Goddess..who knew her name was Doris?? Or is this the British version. Seems a nice thought that not all goddesses are Greek. :)
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly the name Doris is a Greek baby name. In Greek the meaning of the name Doris is: Gift. In Greek mythology, she was the daughter of Oceanus and mother of the sea-nymph Nereids.
DeleteLove the photos. I notice that Doris is the Goddess of Wind and not 'the wind'. She definitely trumps the others!
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! You should do stand up Steve!
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