Your chance to enjoy some of the best views in Yorkshire - from your very own beach hut

For over a century, visitors to Scarborough have been able to enjoy the fun of a seaside day out from the comfort of a quintessential beach hut.

But in 2018, two landslips on the town’s South Cliff damaged eleven of the coastal chalets beyond repair, leading to their demolition.

Now visitors to Scarborough’s South Cliff can set up their deck chairs once more and gaze out to the North Sea in true Edwardian style after new wooden chalets have been rebuilt by the council.

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A £580,000 building project has seen the huts, under the town’s Clock Cafe, recreated - right down to the cheery multicoloured front doors.

Martin and Jenny Johnson and their daughter, Lisa, enjoy one of the new chalets.Martin and Jenny Johnson and their daughter, Lisa, enjoy one of the new chalets.
Martin and Jenny Johnson and their daughter, Lisa, enjoy one of the new chalets.

The rebuild has been funded by North Yorkshire Council, who let out the chalets on daily or weekly hire basis.

The new chalets are already being put to good use by visitors and residents alike.

For retired Scalby businessman, Martin Johnson, his wife Jenny, and their family, it means they can return to their “happy” place once more. They have rented chalets on the Scarborough coastline for almost 50 years and felt “lost” when number 250 succumbed to the weather.

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“Beach chalets are in our blood – both of us grew up spending hours at chalets in Scarborough rented by our families so it was only natural that we rented one ourselves,” Mr Johnson, 82, said.

“Our three daughters also grew up with them, and when they return home it’s one of the first places they want to go to. The newly built chalets are lovely, very true to the originals and it’s great to see them reopened.

“We love the community that is generated by them – we have a lot of friends we have met there. It is a very relaxing place to come to sit and watch the sea, the children playing on the beach, and meet friends for coffee.

“We are now of an age where we’re not running out to the sea, but looking at the children on the beach, they all do what we did - joining up rock pools with little canals and enjoying a degree of freedom, flying kits and loving the space, the sand and the water.

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“It’s an iconic piece of the Scarborough seaside experience.”

Mr and Mrs Johnson have travelled the world since their retirement but, in his words: “We’ve been to Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands, but the views from the chalets across to the castle and to the sea take some beating anywhere in the world.”

It’s a view that has been enjoyed since 1911, when the first chalets at the North and South Bays were built.

And taking pride of place in Mr and Mrs Johnson’s chalet when they visit is a framed photograph of Edwardian families enjoying the outlook from the very same vantage point.

The world has changed, but for families now able to enjoy the chalets once more, there’s still nothing quite like a trip to the seaside.

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