BEACH HUTS for Rent

See how two friends turned tiny shelters into great vacation retreats.

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ROWS OF COLORFUL BEACH HUTS dotting the coastline is a quintessential British seaside view and there are more than 450 of these huts lining this section of the Mersea Island coast. Local resident Jane Ashmore used to look at them longingly, thinking she would never be able to afford one. Her eventual purchase provided not only plenty of fun-filled days while her children were small, but now that they have flown the nest it has grown into an exciting business.

"The huts are quite an investment, but when a friend wanted to sell hers back in 1999, she gave me first refusal knowing how much I wanted one," Jane explains. "It really would have been out of my reach had my mum not stepped in to help share the cost," she adds.

The purchase of Betty, as the hut came to be known, was an instant hit. "We'd go down after school, with my husband joining us after work, and we'd have a fish and chips supper on the beach," Jane recalls. In summer, we'd take the kids down there in their pajamas and not come home until late, putting them straight to bed. It is just so beautiful there and it was such an idyllic time."