Splash of colour: UK beach huts brighten pandemic gloom

In her yellow-and-white striped beach hut, Melanie Whitehead boils the kettle for a cup of tea and sits gazing out over the North Sea.

Brightly painted wooden huts like hers line England's coastline and have enjoyed a boom during the pandemic, as people rediscover seaside breaks close to home.

In the resort of Walton-on-the-Naze in Essex, eastern England, beach huts run along the shore for miles, in some places rising up in five tiers.

Huts in the area have sold for over #80,000 ($111,000), said Barry Hayes of Boydens estate agent, based in the adjoining resort of Frinton-on-Sea. That amounts to nearly a third of the #255,000 average house price in the UK, but it's far from a record: a hut in Dorset on the Channel coast sold for #330,000 this month.

Despite such astronomical prices, the huts are basic: most lack mains water or electricity, and staying the night is prohibited.

Inhabitants read books and newspapers, snooze or chat, often in multi-generational groups.

Sarah Stimson, who runs a rental business called Walton-on-the-Naze Beach Huts, says this has been her best year yet. All her huts are fully booked until September.

Most renters are women in their 20s and 30s with family in tow, and 70 percent of bookings come via Instagram.

The pandemic-related surge in prices means Stimson's family has no current plans to buy more, though. Prices have roughly doubled locally in a year.

Brightly painted wooden beach huts line England's coastline and have enjoyed a boom during the pandemic, as people rediscover seaside breaks close to home.