Bournemouth, England–The humble beach hut is making a splashy comeback on Britain's shores, transforming itself into a must-have slice of seaside chic.s
The retro garden shed-cum-cabana is gripping the imagination of British designers and vacationers who are once again being drawn to the charming yet often neglected beaches in their own backyard.
While beach huts of varying size and design have dotted many of Britain's coastal communities for more than a century, in Boscombe on the southern Dorset coast, a rundown, vandalized row of 1960s lowrise buildings is in the process of being refitted into a surf centre with 58 new designer beach huts.
Amid the buzz being generated by the artificial surf reef being created offshore this summer, the new huts – dubbed "surf pods" – have captivated both locals and visitors.
"It's been such a great mood created by the new huts, even just at the design stage," says Jo Mountain of Bournemouth tourism, which includes Boscombe and its historic pier (undergoing a facelift to resurrect some of its Victorian charms).
"The beach hut is such a part of the seaside here, such a trademark," Mountain says of the project, which will be a mix of long-term leased huts and short-term rentals for visitors to the area.
The new beach huts' high profile comes in part from the design duo behind the look.
Wayne and Geraldine Hemingway are the creators of the über-cool Red or Dead fashion label that dominated British fashion in the late 1990s. They have since turned to urban design with a focus on regeneration projects with an eco and social component.
In Boscombe, they are creating bright cabanas that salute the style of the late 1950 and early '60s, complete with funky larger-than-life beach scene murals.
These upscale versions of a beach hut will include electricity and hot and cold running water – luxury digs compared to most wooden huts on the boardwalks.
The new surf pods come as demand for beach huts on some of England's best beaches has soared.
While many huts – which typically measure no more than 2.5 square metres – are rented from the local municipality either for the season or for the week, privately owned huts are red-hot real estate.
In 2006, a hut in Poole, just down the coast from Boscombe, sold for more than $200,000 in a bidding frenzy. While it was slightly larger than average, it had no electricity or running water, no bathroom and the new owners are not allowed to stay in their hut overnight.
For visitors to Britain's shores who come from farther afield, the rental of a prime location beach hut can serve as a true introduction to the traditional British seaside holiday.
"It's great to be able to leave our bits and pieces there and to have your nice wine glasses and your cup of tea," explains Debbie Bramley, a third-generation beach hut tenant.
Ah yes, the tea.
A stroll along the wide promenade that lines Bournemouth's waterfront – regardless of season – reveals hundreds of kettles on the boil on little gas camp stoves and tea being sipped out of "proper china mugs" as beach hut tenants sit in lawn chairs and take in the view.
Bramley has rented her bright blue hut – which she shares with friends and extended family including her six children and two grandchildren – for 15 years.
Unlike most tenants, she rents her hut year-round rather than just for the summer, taking advantage of the south coast's moderate climate.
She said the beach hut community, including neighbours she has known for years, has played a wonderful role in her life.
"It's such a restful place, calming and relaxing, it's been a great place for me," said Bramley, who was widowed three years ago. "I'll come down on a cold but bright winter's day and sit and have a cup of tea and watch the water."
A haven from the weather – "changeable" is the favourite word to describe the coastal climate – and a home for all those water wings, body boards, beach balls, buckets and spades and folding deck chairs that personify beach life, the hut is all things to many people each summer.
"I think our record is squeezing 20 people in ours during a downpour, but it was standing room only," Bramley says.
British seaside historian Kathryn Ferry says the story of the quirky, multi-coloured huts and all they represent goes back for centuries.
The earliest pleasure beach huts – rather than fishermen's sheds – were called "bathing machines."
"People would use them for getting changed in the prudish Victorian idea of not wanting to show off any flesh," Ferry says.
Horses were used to pull the huts on wheels down to the shore and straight into the sea.
Then, at the end of the 19th century, with the railway came a mass vacation movement that brought working-class people to the beach for the first time. Resort-type towns with arcades, ice-cream vendors and a carnival atmosphere soon followed and the beach hut became a family must-have.
During Edwardian times, Ferry says the delights of the beach hut became fodder for poets, who extolled the virtues of china cups, lace tablecloths and doilies by the sea.
"They took this British ritual and transferred it to the beach; being able to brew a pot of tea was essential — it still is."
Today, many of Britain's prettiest seaside towns are undergoing a renaissance after years of decline.
"I think people are starting to rediscover the coast on their doorstep," she said of the money being spent to spruce up waterfronts, modernize hotels and save aging piers.
Such is the love affair with the beach hut, that some owners have told Ferry the beach hut community is the one constant in their lives.
"People have told me they would give up their house before their hut," says Ferry. "The reality is that houses aren't handed down in a family anymore, but beach huts still are." I don't know of any other building type that gets away with being that colourful," Ferry says. "Seaside architecture has always been more playful."
Bramley sums up the feel of a row of brightly painted beach huts on a summer's day:
"It's like sunshine and ice cream."
She says a beach hut is the best place to mingle with the locals and really get a feel for the place you are visiting.
"Drop by and see me when you are down next and say hello," she instructs me. "I'll pop the kettle on."
Caroline Mallan is a London-based freelance writer.
