But now the bottom could be about to fall out of their world after the North Sea took another large bite out of the East Coast.

Mrs Harrison and her painter-decorator husband, who have a three-year-old son Thomas, believed they had at least 20 years before coastal erosion would claim their bungalow.

But two violent storms this year have seen chunks of cliff fall into the North Sea and last week East Riding Council blocked off their access road on safety grounds.

They can no longer get supplies of fuel oil delivered, the binmen do not visit and they have to park their car more than 150 yards away – outside what was the home of another couple, which has already been lost to the sea.

And what used to be open views across Bridlington Bay are marred by a 4ft safety fence.

The couple lived briefly in Bridlington – where they bought a four-bedroom Victorian terrace house for £79,000 in May 2004 – before moving to their £83,000 home on Southfield Way a few months later.

An estate agent has told them the house is now worthless – they will have to pay to get it demolished when the time comes – and they are now facing the prospect of living in a caravan at the bottom of their garden.

Mrs Harrison said they checked out the erosion rates before deciding to buy. She added: "The lady and gentleman we bought the bungalow off had been here five years and had lost half a foot a year.

"We spoke to another man who's been here 18 years and he said categorically it is half a foot a year. I would say we've lost pushing 90ft.

"The high tides we found worst were (in September) around two or three in the morning. The bungalow was just shaking.

"The sea was just hitting the cliff that hard and we ended up with flooding because the waves were coming over the top of the bungalow."

Mrs Harrison said that from being a "really calm" woman she had become increasingly nervous – especially when high tides were predicted combining with a northerly or north-easterly wind, creating powerful waves.

She said: "I am absolutely petrified. My husband tells me not to be so daft but when you see how huge the waves are – they go up 20 to 30ft in the air – that is how horrendous they get."

While East Riding Council has helped residents on nearby Green Lane by agreeing to pay for a new access, it has told the Harrisons it is up to them to fork out for a new road across an adjacent caravan site.

But Mrs Harrison said their savings had been exhausted by paying solicitors to resolve the access issue. She said the owner of the caravan park had agreed to allow them to go over the park – as long as the road was built to proper standards.

She said: "The council has totally blocked us in. All I am asking for is a couple of lorry loads of hardcore for a road over the caravan site.

"The council has helped the majority but left us. I've tried to debate it with them, but I just can't get through to them.

"I know it was our choice to move down here, but when you have a three-year-old son you expect a little more understanding."

A council spokesman said: "The council regarded Green Lane as a unique situation, justifying the new access road, with more than 20 properties affected and no alternative access.

"We are encouraging Mrs Harrison to speak to her neighbour about the potential for access using the neighbour's land, and will continue to do so in the hope that they can come to an agreement."

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