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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Despite such astronomical prices, the huts are basic: most lack mains water or electricity, and staying the night is prohibited.
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Inhabitants read books and newspapers, snooze or chat, often in multi-generational groups.
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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.
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Most renters are women in their 20s and 30s with family in tow, and 70 percent of bookings come via Instagram.
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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.
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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.
Image Credit: AFP
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