Very fortunately, my mum has the use of a beach hut in Thorpe Bay over the summer. It is one of the smaller ones and is very tatty but we love it and have already had some great days down there.

Before I had my daughter I used to scoff at some of the prices that the beach huts seemed to sell for and thought it was a bit daft that people were paying 10’s of thousands of pounds for what is basically a garden shed on stilts.

Many years ago my company had instructions to sell one and as I was the office junior and nobody else was that interested in it , it fell to me to try and sell it. I remember having to go down there about 20 times, trudging across the sand in my shiny suit and best shoes, opening the doors to let people view, only for them to say no thank you.

It was a Saturday I remember and I had already carried out about 5 viewings there, had got a parking ticket for overstaying my time in the car park as someone was late and nobody wanted it! I got back to the office like a bear with a sore head and typically the first call was somebody else wanting to view the hut. I said that there was no chance of him viewing it today as quite frankly I had had my fill of beach huts for the day, he paused on the line slightly and eventually came back and said OK he will take it without seeing it and proceeded to buy it on his credit card.

Now, as I said this was a good few years ago and it was about £6,000 if I remember rightly, but I still thought it daft that people would pay so much.

One of the beach huts came on the market this week for £30,000 so it turned out that it was a decent investment for him, but I hope more so that he has got his full use out of it, as when they are used to their full potential it is very difficult to put a price on them.

Last Saturday I was working, it was particularly hot and got a call from my wife saying that they were down there with my mum and daughter. I left work about 5pm got fish and chips from Thorpe Bay Broadway and met them down there. We ate chips out of the paper at the end of the day, looking out over the beach whilst the weather got a bit cooler. It was absolutely fabulous and it made perfect sense why people love them so much.

The hut next to the one my mum is using is always busy. I believe the people have owned it for many, many years and the other week there was nearly 20 people there and 4 different generations of the family which was lovely to see. I don’t think that even if you offered them £50,000 they would consider selling it. They have had 100’s of family gatherings there and all enjoy the water and the beach, it seems to be an extension of their homes and the place to be for the family to get together.

My daughter is 2 and a half now and obviously when we go to the beach we have about 20 bags with changes of clothes, nappies, wipes, food, drinks, towels, everything including the kitchen sink it seems and just having somewhere that we can use as a base is worth its weight in gold. Changing her nappy is much easier and at the end of the day we can go in to the hut, hose her down, change her and even for ourselves getting changed and storing all of her toys for the beach is invaluable …… that is before you even mention the stove to make yourself a cup of tea.

So, going back to the single man with no children who bought the hut from me all those years ago.... I guess it seemed a bit silly at the time, but now with a small family the beach huts make perfect sense and I am furiously trying saving up to see if I can buy one. It is obvious now that my daughter couldn’t care less about jetting off to foreign climates and going to posh resorts, she is quite happy building sandcastles and paddling on Southend seafront and surprisingly so am I!