Black, red, green: Whitstable fisherman’s huts
Oh, it’s been one helluva year. The best cure? Always a trip to the seaside. This time it was Whitstable, and a stay in a converted fisherman’s hut. Wow. First, the colour combinations. I wouldn’t have associated red, black and green with the seaside, but it was everywhere.
Right on the beach, these huts are just gorgeous. Recently done up inside, the first floor bedroom was, we both agreed, the nicest room we’d ever been in. It was the light, and the view of the sea, like sleeping in a boat. You can hear the clanging of the beached boats and the swish of the sea all night.
Of course, the inevitable happened, and talk turned to how to get our hands on one of these beach-front beauties for ourselves (no chance, btw). Just next door is this. Run down, ramshakle and empty. Stag Cottage is subject to ongoing ownership confusion I think. Why else would it stand empty on this otherwise chi-chi seafront? Still, imagine it.
All that (broken) glass. Imagine the light…
looks fab, can you share the details as would be interested in booking a weekend there!
Thanks
Hi, I put a link in the post but didn’t make it very clear. They can be booked via the Hotel Continental:
http://www.hotelcontinental.co.uk/view/fisherhuts
We stayed in Hut 5, which for 2 people is the nicest one I think. They also have ones for up to 4 or 5 people. And… we went on a weeknight when they are much cheaper – £75 [er hut per night. Bargain. Yes, it was lovely. Can’t recommend enough x
Amazing (and lovely photos too). I’d love to stay here and adopt the tumbledown one next door. Maybe we could start some sort of design blogger’s timeshare arrangement and all chip in a few quid to rescue it?
Oh God Bethan I can’t tell you – it was so wonderful. Wish I’d thought to buy one ten years ago… story of my life. A timeshare would be great… The situation with Stag Cottage is google-able and fascinating. It was divided in two over an ownership dispute. Check it out. If it was buyable it would have been snapped up by now. Squatting? x
If it does come up for sale, I’d like to jump in on the timeshare. I’ve got enough investment to stay for about 15 minutes, once a decade. I will add this to my ever-growing list of houses I’m going to buy to, as I like to refer to it, “save them from themselves”…
What a lovely weekend hideaway. It must be lovely to lie in bed and hear and see the sea without having to actually be on a boat!
It was. Still didn’t get any oysters though, even though the lovely hut with the lobster sign is just 10 paces away…
The huts are green as they are all owned by the Green family, who own lots of prperty in Whittas. The refurbished Marine Hotel, in Tankerton is worth a look too, but only from a seaview room
The story of the tragic fate inflicted on Stag Cottage by the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company is told here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3601742.stm
http://www.stagcottage.co.uk/
Perhaps before renting one of the fisherman’s huts, it may be worth pausing to reflect upon whether the Green family (owners of the WOFC and the huts) are deserving of your hard-earned cash…
Thanks Mark. I had indeed read about the vexed history of Stag Cottage on the Stag Cottage site before posting, and I do not disagree with you. However coming from a tiny Cornish costal area myself, I also know that families owning a majority of desirable buildings in a place, often to the detriment of others locally, is not a story original to Whitstable. As in Cornwall, the trade-offs between gentrification and authenticity are also complex in any community relying on tourist money for the local economy. Having read the history I certainly feel for the cottage’s owners, and indeed the gorgeous, decaying cottage itself.