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Post by tillystar on Sept 27, 2009 12:27:59 GMT
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Post by bazfaz on Sept 27, 2009 14:28:35 GMT
I find those huts lined up almost claustrophobic. I read somewhere that they are sold for quite large sums of money (at least on some beaches) even though people are not allowed to sleep the night in them.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2009 15:01:48 GMT
Not the sort of promiscuity that I would like either, but since they are for day use, I suppose they are just fine for changing clothes and keeping the picnic items. The pictures are lovely, though, and I am smiling to myself just imagining all of the conversations of the occupants, probably about whose cabin needs a new paint job or who chose the wrong colour.
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 27, 2009 15:26:30 GMT
Wow! I have read about this and have seen a couple of photos of huts all tricked out during the summer. But I had no idea of the magnitude, nor that they were so close together.
They are rather adorable in their way, and that third-to-the-last shot looks like a Munchkin village by the sea. Is this the only beach where they are so prevalent?
Another thing that surprised me is the Thames barge. It has sails and it's out in the open water! Is that just the name for a certain type of boat, then, rather than its being a barge on the river? The antique cars and the Thames barge are perfect beginning and ending pictures for this trip to the English seashore. Thanks!
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Post by lola on Sept 27, 2009 15:55:05 GMT
Nice. I'd like such a hut. I wonder how (and why) they enforce the "no sleeping" rule?
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Post by auntieannie on Sept 27, 2009 16:34:44 GMT
Well, they are really TINY. Even though in thought-after places, they are worth a decent flat in other parts of the world....
One reason for the no overnight stay might be the powerful tides prevalent in the Channel area and its dependents.
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Post by bazfaz on Sept 27, 2009 16:46:36 GMT
I think it is to stop too many cabin-swapping parties.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2009 17:00:45 GMT
Indeed, I would imagine that security concerns (and maybe hygiene) would be the official reason, but that the real reason would have more to do with excessive nighttime sleaze.
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Post by imec on Sept 27, 2009 17:04:58 GMT
Oh, this is beautiful tilly! I love those little huts - and the pics just evoked a vivid memory of being in one on a beach in Anglesey when I was very young - I can smell the wood it was made of and the sea and everything!
And I've only ever seen a Thames barge in the St. Catherine dock - what a treat to see one in full sail.
Thanks for this fabulous post!
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Post by spindrift on Sept 28, 2009 9:17:13 GMT
That was very refreshing, Tilly, and I could amost feel the sea breezes. From your pics the east coast looks very similar to the south coast. I expect the wind might be colder though, coming from Russia!
Those huts command high prices now - I've seen some for sale for £50,000! (can't remember but perhaps near Sandbanks).
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Post by tillystar on Sept 28, 2009 9:20:45 GMT
Thames Barges are working barges that were used on the Thames in the 18th and 19th centuries. They are quite unique as they can be sailed by only 2 people and were designed for the Thames shallow waters. I have a soft spot for them as when I was a kid we knew a family who lived on one in the Medway (a river in Kent) and loved running around on it. There used to be thousands of them working up and down the river but I think only a 100 or so still exist. Each year they have a Thames Barge race down the Thames and it is a magnificent sight seeing them all flying down the river with their sails open. Here is what wiki says about them (although it says they don’t race any more but this isn’t true as I have definitely seen them a good few times): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_sailing_barge |
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Post by spindrift on Sept 28, 2009 9:23:59 GMT
Thanks for that Tilly. I had never heard of a Thames Barge.
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Post by imec on Sept 28, 2009 13:27:06 GMT
Thanks for that Tilly. I had never heard of a Thames Barge. If you want to see one close up, I just posted a pic in Image bank. |
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Post by lola on Sept 28, 2009 13:57:35 GMT
Fifty? Thousand? For a place to store your beach umbrella and change clothes? Never mind. I like Mr. Bean's method better:
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Post by bixaorellana on Sept 28, 2009 14:48:24 GMT
Thanks for that explanation, Tilly. Thames barges appear in historical novels, but I always imagined something flat that was poled or pushed by another vessel.
There is a manhole cover in picture #2, in the bottom right corner. I wonder if it's for fresh water, or for a sewer. Either way, it suggests there might be some sanitation facilities in the huts.
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Post by patricklondon on Sept 28, 2009 19:20:42 GMT
There are about half a dozen Thames barges in central London that still do corporate party hires and that sort of thing (I knew some people who hired one as part of their wedding transport): in the summer, Tower Bridge opens several times a week for them.
I too have a soft spot for them - an odd sort of mixture of grace under sail and a rather homely hull shape, perhaps: hard to think now that in their day they were the waterborne equivalent of a white van or the kind of rattling lorry that things fall of the back of. Plus, there's a nostalgic memory of radio talks in my childhood by the captain of one of the last working barges.
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