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Beach huts have become seaside icons. They may be small structures with basic facilities but we still love them. They feel quintessentially British, combining a shelter from our changeable weather with a place to brew a mug of tea. They're nostalgic and trendy at the same time, a phenomenon which has turned into surprisingly hot property. Behind these colourful buildings is a history stretching back to the invention of the seaside and the first wheeled bathing machines of the mid-eighteenth century. "Sheds on the Seashore" is based on two journeys: one into the past, and the other a contemporary tour around the English coast. Together they tell the story of how beach huts came into being and why they remain so beloved by their twenty-first century owners. This title is presented with a forward by Wayne Hemingway.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Educational and entertaining!,
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This review is from: Sheds on the Seashore: A Tour Through Beach Hut History (Paperback)
Sheds on a Seashore documents the history of the iconic beach hut. Alongside informative, historical detail regarding the origins of the modern day beach hut, the author takes her reader on an expressive and enlightening journey around the British coast visiting as many different beach huts (and their owners) as possible. This book is a brilliant mix of education and entertainment written with flair and wit in abundance - an absolute must for any seaside enthusiast!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling reading,
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This review is from: Sheds on the Seashore: A Tour Through Beach Hut History (Paperback)
A delightful book. The author combines a serious history of sea bathing, bathing machines and beach huts with a travelogue describing her coastal tour visiting several thousand beach huts. The great variety of huts is matched by the fascinating people she met who own or rent the huts. Sea bathing has changed from its original purely medicinal purpose (see the draconian 'dippers') to the present day pleasure for young and old. But beach huts have become quite a cult with prices to match. Compelling reading and brilliantly written.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Here comes the sun,
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This review is from: Sheds on the Seashore: A Tour Through Beach Hut History (Paperback)
Published a few months after Beach Huts and Bathing Machines (Shire Library), Kathryn Ferry's two month trip around the English coast has been turned into a travelogue that begins on the windswept shore of Seaton Carew, Co. Durham, where a passing local asks if she is there to demolish the few remaining beach huts yet to be vandalised, and ends on the North Devon coast at Westward Ho! Each chapter that concerns her journey (most by public transport) is separated by another that delves into the history of beach huts, why they came about, what it meant to the user and why people visited the seaside. (It also successfully debunks the myth that the Victorians were very prudish regarding all things sexual.)
Not only is the subject matter descriptive, but so are her observations regarding the surroundings. Ferry also manages to interview a variety of sometimes weather beaten people making use of the huts she visits. Those on their weekly holiday don't use them all; I wasn't aware that many have been handed down through the generations, and didn't realise that some can command a six-figure price when sold. Though these are brief snippets, she does manage to wrack her brain when chatting to a woman trying to remember why her face was familiar. (It was former newsreader Sue Lawley.) It's a sad indictment of today's society that, whereas some of these beach huts and bathing machines have survived for more than a century, and others are Art Deco architecture at its finest, a depressing theme runs through this book; that of the aforementioned vandalism, and not just by bored youths. Strangely, though this book was published as recently as July 2009, her travels started in 2002 and of the 20,000 or so visited, some have disappeared with the help of nature, arson and legalised local council assistance. The fine chalet block at St Leonard's in East Sussex, built in 1933, was demolished despite offers to restore it and so went the only example of beach huts with built-in garages, whilst a similar building (without the garages) in Weymouth was going to be wrecked to make way for the sailing discipline at the 2012 Olympics. Yes, council short sightedness is also depressingly widespread. The black and white photos within the text show not only beach huts, tents and bathing machines, but also the people that used to occupy such things, and believe me, some of them look quite scary - they obviously weren't; they just had that appearance. Though there is a photograph showing a `dipper' holding a young lady who has had the unfortunate experience of being held under the water too long resulting in her untimely death by drowning, `Sheds on the Seashore' does make the reader ponder whether time spent at the seaside was far more enjoyable in times gone by than it is today.
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