.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Abeach hut (also known as abeach cabin,beach box orbathing box) is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the hightide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, changing into and out of swimming attire and for the safe storing of some personal belongings. Some beach huts incorporate simple facilities for preparing food and hot drinks by eitherbottled gas or occasionallymains electricity.[1]
At manyseaside resorts, beach huts are arranged in one or more ranks along the top of the beach. Depending upon the location, beach huts may be owned privately or may be owned by the local council or similar administrative body. On popular beaches, privately owned beach huts can command substantial prices due to their convenient location, out of all proportion to their size and amenity. A pre-war wooden beach chalet atWest Bexington, Dorset sold at auction for £216,000 in 2006,[2] and a beach hut onMudeford Spit sold for £170,000 in 2012, where prices have risen above £270,000 by 2017.[3] However these were exceptional as in both cases overnight stays were possible.[4] Prices in 2009 for typical huts around the UK started from £6,000 inWalton on the Naze and typically up to £35,000.[5] In January 2016, a beach hut was sold in Brighton, Victoria, Australia for a record $285,000.
An April 2021 report provided an update on this category: "the average asking price for a beach hut in Britain has shot up from £25,578 to £36,034" in a single 12-month period.[6]
Today there are believed to be around 20,000 beach huts in the U.K. Locations where beach huts can be seen includeLowestoft,Southwold,Walton-on-the-Naze,Frinton-on-Sea,Abersoch,Langland Bay,Rotherslade,Rustington,St Helens, Isle of Wight,Tankerton Slopes andMersea Island. Locations in other countries includeWimereux, France, spectacular colorful picturesque inCape Town,South Africa,Nesodden, Norway andBrighton and elsewhere aroundPort Phillip, Australia.
Holhuashi are smallMaldivian resting places usually found only in theMaldives. These small beach huts can be found near beaches or harbours.[7]
The notedbathing boxes atBrighton in Australia are known to have existed as far back as 1862.[8] The bathing boxes are thought to have been constructed and used largely as a response to theVictorian morality of the age, and are known to have existed not only inAustralia but also on the beaches ofEngland,France andItaly and Cape Town at around the same time.[9]
They had evolved from the wheeledbathing machines used by Victorians to preserve their modesty.George III gave royal approval to the new fashion when he took a medicinal bath at Weymouth to the musical accompaniment of 'God Save the King', whileQueen Victoria installed one atOsborne House on theIsle of Wight in the 1840s.
Felixstowe in Suffolk is believed to have had beach huts from at least 1891.[10]
In the early 20th century, beach huts were regarded as "holiday homes for the toiling classes", but in the 1930s their image revived,George V andQueen Mary spent the day at a beach hut inSussex, and other owners have included the Spencer family andLaurence Olivier.[4] DuringWorld War II all UK beaches were closed, the reopening in the late 1940s and 1950s led to resurgence of the British beach holiday and the heyday of the Beach Hut.
While many beach huts were former fishermen's huts, boat-sheds or converted bathing machines, some of the earliest purpose built beach huts in the UK were erected atBournemouth, either side of Bournemouth Pier in 1909[citation needed]. Designed by F. P. Dolamore, Bournemouth's Borough Engineer, they were offered for hire for £12 10s[clarification needed] per year. BeforeWorld War I, 160 huts styled like bungalows were initially built. Today, Bournemouth features around 520 Council-owned and 1200 privately-owned huts. Their style varies from traditional, wooden, shed-like constructions to ultra-modern concrete terrace huts such as the 1950s Overstrand beach huts atBoscombe. These redesigned by Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway, founders of theRed or Dead label, as Beach Pods for theSurf Reef opened in Autumn 2009.
The Queen's beach hut inNorfolk, England, had been owned by the Royal Family for 70 years and was known to be much loved by the Queen before its destruction in a fire in 2003.
ArtistTracey Emin sold her Whitstable beach hut to collectorCharles Saatchi for £75,000.[4] This hut was also destroyed by fire when the warehouse where it was stored burnt down.[11]
In April 2011,Bournemouth Council obtained planning permission to site a beach hut "chapel" on the sand to hostwedding andcivil partnership ceremonies. The "super beach hut" is located on Bournemouth's beach under the West Cliff lift.[12]
TheTruck Surf Hotel is a five-roombed-and-breakfast built onto atruck, which serves thesurfing community by moving from beach to beach along the coasts ofPortugal andMorocco in a weekly cycle.[13][14][15]
Media related toBeach huts at Wikimedia Commons
