Is it traditional to paint beach huts using really bright colours?
A. There is definitely evidence that bathing machines were painted, often using more than one colour and even in stripes. For example, the bright red and yellow vertical stripes of the bathing machine restored by the Langham Hotel at Eastbourne in East Sussex are based on paint scrapings of the original colour scheme. Beach huts followed in this tradition and owners have always personalised their seaside residences by using different colours and their own choice of decoration. In some places where there were hundreds and hundreds of huts the colour was also a good way of identifying which hut was yours! Q. Where are your favourite beach huts? A. As you might expect, I have lots of favourites for different reasons. The 1950s huts with pagoda-style roofs in Lincolnshire are unique and were a wonderful surprise the first time I saw them. The huts on stilts at Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk are quirky and colourful; they look really picturesque against the backdrop of a pine forest too. At
