The trumpet of truth reports

WORK has begun on upgrading the latest tranche of historic beach huts at Langland Bay on Gower.

The third phase of hut refurbishments follows continued interest from people willing to invest £10,000 for a 10-year beach hut lease to fund the reconstruction.

The 78 green and white huts have been in place since the 19th century and are a fixture on Langland, seen in thousands of postcards, paintings and photographs.

They also formed the backdrop for film star Catherine Zeta-Jones’ formative years as she spent much of her teenage summers on the beach at Langland Bay.

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Former shed judge and all round beach hut nuttess Kathryn Ferry gets some good coverage for her excellent beach hut  books over at Eadt

Kathryn Ferry is billed as our ‘national beach hut expert’ – and just happens to love East Anglia. She tells Steven Russell why she does like to be beside the seaside and why Felixstowe is a favourite

KATHRYN Ferry’s a girl who just loves to be beside the seaside – so much so that she writes and talks about it for a living. She’s also obsessed with beach huts – spending two months travelling around the coast to look at more than 20,000 of these quaint waterfront havens.

So she’ll naturally have one of her own, then, won’t she? “Noooooo,” comes the plaintiff reply – more an anguished wail, really. “It’s dreadful. I hate admitting that, because when I started out” – writing a book about beach huts – “my intention was to make enough to be able to buy one. I was a poor student when I started and there was no way I could afford one. But of course the price has been going up over the past decade. It’s going to have to be a best-seller – and there’s not much chance of that!”

In any case, there are huge waiting lists for huts around the country.

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Norfolk News reports

photo credit: Rev Stan

Beach hut owners on north Norfolk’s coast were left angry yesterday after councillors agreed a 10pc hike in rent for their seaside hideaways.

The 132 chalets and 230 hut sites in Cromer, Sheringham, Overstrand and Mundesley, managed by the district council, are costing the authority thousands of pounds to maintain each year.

At a cabinet meeting, councillors approve an increase in rent, along with a number of other changes, to help cover the deficit and fund a programme of improvements.

It means, beach-hut owners in Sheringham, Cromer and Overstrand face a £15 increase in the annual charge, taking it from £160 to £175, Mundesley sites will cost £165 instead of £155, while yearly rents for chalet owners will rise by between £55 and £62 pounds.

Mundesley’s beach hut owners will also have to pay their National Non-Domestic Rate separately, which was previously incorporated into their rents.

At this week’s meetings, where public speaking was allowed for the first time, villagers shouted their annoyance as they left the room.

They said hut owners, who fund their own repairs and maintenance, were being made to pay for a deficit created solely by chalets – although council figures show the hut sites cost the council £3,000 in 2008/09 – and that Mundesley people were being penalised twice.

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A great collection of beach huts and the like from our Flickr Group

If you see any good beachhuts around please do add them.

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I missed this last week but you can see pics here Daily mail so you may not want to click.

A millionaire businessman has been ordered to make amendments to his new £300,000 “beach hut” after he apparently built an upper-storey sun deck without planning permission.

West Dorset District Council has issued an enforcement notice against car designer Simon Saunders after he failed to keep to the terms of the permission granted for the new chalet at West Bexington overlooking Chesil Beach.

The property was controversial when originally approved as it was much larger than the neighbouring 13 chalets, which have stood in place for more than 70 years and which can sell for up to £340,000.

Planning permission was granted for the new chalet in April 2007 although it was only as building work developed that residents noticed its scale.

West Dorset District Council then asked for it to be painted in a sensitive colour to help it blend in with the neighbouring huts.

But the latest addition of a folding flap to reveal a second floor sun deck has prompted further complaints.

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