Plan B Forum

It is little more than a glorified shed, but whoever snaps up this beach chalet will be taking advantage of a rare opportunity to create memories for generations to come. On the face of it, the new owner won't get much for the guide price of £65,000, but families hold the seaside huts so dear that they rarely come on to the market.

The Teignmouth beach hut is the first to be sold in the town for three years. The last fetched a staggering £90,000, according to estate agent Nick Wood, who will auction off the property on May 18. He said the chalet had been in the vendor's family for well over 40 years.

"The present owners are reluctant sellers," he said. "But the family dynamic has shifted. It's now owned by three siblings, and they rarely use it, so they want somebody else to have the opportunity." The trio no doubt harbour happy memories of family days at the beach, licking on ice creams, playing in the sand and admiring the stunning view.

Mr Wood, of Woods Estate Agents and Auctioneers, said the property, is particularly unusual because it is being sold as a freehold. "Normally, they are owned by councils and rented on a lease of between 20 and 60 years, but in this case, you get to own the little bit of Devon beach that it sits on," he said.

The row of huts sit on the edge of the Teign Estuary, and some have historically been used by fishermen for storing gear. They also offer stunning westerly sunset views. Mr Wood does not believe that the current financial climate will have any impact on the sale. "It's not the sort of thing you buy out of borrowed money, so it shouldn't make any difference," he said.

http://www.thisisdevon.co.uk/news/Treas ... ticle.html

The Hen wrote:These have no power and you are unable to live in them, correct?

So the only reason for having a shed down at the edge of the Teign Estuary would be to sit in and have a cuppa cause the weather was to crappy to actually go outside.

I don't think they are a good purchase really.

The trio no doubt harbour happy memories of family days at the beach, licking on ice creams, playing in the sand and admiring the stunning view.

Beach huts in Scarborough are fetching £35,000, the same price as some one-bedroom flats in the town. So what do you get for your money, and why is the market for beach huts so buoyant?

"It was one of the most exciting moments in my life, having finally got a beach hut."

Margot Charlton's eyes gleamed. She has travelled the world and she loves to ski, but her Mablethorpe hut in Lincolnshire, with its saucy seaside characters painted on the outside, has been a lifelong ambition. And she is not alone.

The housing market may still be struggling, but the beach hut is one property that seems to be holding its own in the downturn.

In Scarborough, more than a hundred new "luxury" beach chalets have just been built. A number are on the market for £35,000, in a town in which you can buy a one-bedroom flat for around the same price.

"These are local families who have been renting for years and years, paying £900 a year," says Rachel Dean of Scarborough estate agent Escape 2 The Sands.

"They see it as good value because of the location and the freedom of being down there, with the children running about in the sea. Even in the cold depth of winter, we have people in their chalets, with the tomato soup out, and the kids in their wetsuits."

Demand in Scarborough is strong as the town has undergone a renaissance, she adds, last year being named the most enterprising town in Europe.

Luxury, though, means a small wooden room, four chairs, a table, a plug, a kettle and a single cold water tap. You are not allowed to sleep in it - indeed, you have to leave it by 10.30 each evening. Neither is there hot water nor a toilet. Yet so far this year, 15 have been sold and most are fully let.

Scarborough claims to be the town that gave us the bathing hut. In the 18th Century, it was a mobile hut hauled down the beach to protect nervous bathers while they "took the waters" to improve their health.

The chalets on the North Yorkshire town's south side are now listed. But only a few years ago, many of the chalets were weather beaten and dilapidated. Today, the new brightly-coloured frontages gaze across the bay.

Eileen Prentice and Eileen Pidd are both in their 70s and have for more than 30 years rented a chalet. On the day I visited, there were 16 friends and family squeezed in and around. Next door was Beryl Johnson, another veteran who was seriously considering splashing out on buying one of the new chalets.


Down the coast, Mablethorpe is also having a "beach hut moment". The long seafront now hosts an annual beach hut festival in September. The old rule that the huts must be only one colour plus white has been abandoned.

Many of the frontages are now highly decorated and there are prizes for the most beautiful. The town has even commissioned avant-garde beach huts.

The cloud hut is designed to observe clouds, the gin and tonic hut is designed to look like a gin and tonic and the canoodling hut is a good place to restore body heat lost after a quick dip in the North Sea.

The private huts, though, are basic. There is not even an indoor tap but the "hutters" are passionate about their community. They can paint whatever they like on the frontages and, for the duration of their stay, enjoy a world without technology or gadgets.

It is a summer of chit-chat, reading and endless beach cricket. And therein lies much of the appeal. Each year the children return a year older, free to roam and wander in and out of one another's little wooden houses. Barbecues are fired up. On chilly days the sweaters and anoraks come out. When the sun shines neighbours exchange sun cream and ointment.

There are around 20,000 beach huts in Britain, and in Dorset, Suffolk and Norfolk prices regularly make headlines.

But the downturn and the current vogue for 1950s "retro" charm seem to have brought a new affection for the humble hut.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-10837742