Beach hut bought for £500 is now worth £400,000

A shore investment! Beach hut bought for £500 is now worth £400,000 – even though it has no running water or mains electricity

• The hut with no running water or electricity is in highly sought after Mudeford

Bought for £500 in 1965 by her parents, a Dorset beach hut holds many joyous memories for Sarah Thomas and her family.

Now the modest seaside bolthole with no running water or mains electricity in highly sought after Mudeford is worth £400,000.

Mrs Thomas’ parents Jean and Peter Purvis bought the beach hut with the help of a £400 inheritance from her grandfather to save money on family holidays.

Their three children grew up having all their holidays at Hut 178 and did not travel abroad until they were adults.

The hut has remained with the family ever since, with four generations enjoying summer breaks there.

This Dorset beach hut bought for £500 is now worth £400,000 – even though it has no running water or mains electricity

This Dorset beach hut holds many joyous memories for Sarah Thomas and her family. Pictured: Sarah and Alwyn Thomas (back) with Sarah’s niece, Ellie Purvis and Sarah’s Sister-in-law Chrissy

Mrs Thomas’ parents Jean and Peter Purvis bought the beach hut with the help of a £400 inheritance from her grandfather to save money on family holidays

Since her mother’s death in 2020, Mrs Thomas, 58, a gardener, is the registered owner along with husband Alwyn, 71, a retired gas heating engineer.

The couple, who have three daughters, share the hut with Mrs Thomas’s siblings Jane Kew, 62, a retired calf breeder, and Rob Purvis, 54, an agronomist.

Although the huts have one registered owner, the siblings would share the proceeds if they sold it.

But Mrs Thomas has vowed never to sell the hut – despite its value having skyrocketed to more than the average UK house price – because ‘we have too many happy memories of it’.

She intends to pass the hut on to her three nephews and one niece who, she accepts, may end up selling it to help them buy a house in the future.

Mrs Thomas, of West Wellow, near Romsey, Hampshire, said: ‘We are not a rich family and we most definitely couldn’t afford a hut at today’s prices.

‘Mudeford is seen as a rich man’s playground today but there’s still quite a lot of huts here that have been in families for generations.

‘We don’t ever think of selling it. When it passes to the next generation they may want to, then the money could go towards buying houses.’

Mudeford, where the beach hut can be found, is seen as ‘a rich man’s playground today’

Mrs Thomas has vowed never to sell the hut – despite its value having skyrocketed to more than the average UK house price

The exclusive peninsula at Mudeford, near Christchurch, is cut off from traffic. The only way to get there is by foot, land train or a short ferry across the harbour.

A boom in beach hut prices has made it the most expensive place in the UK to buy a hut. One hut went on the market for a record £575,000 in 2021.

Growing up, the Purvis family lived in Michelmersh but spent most weekends and school holidays from April to October at their beloved beach hut.

Mrs Thomas said: ‘We’d go every weekend and holiday. We’d go down after school on a Friday and often I would go to school with a headful of sand on Mondays because we would get home so late on the Sunday.

‘In the summer we’d be down there for the whole six weeks and just come home occasionally to pick some vegetables.’

Over the years, the hut has been upgraded and now has a solar panel providing lighting, as well as a gas oven and grill.

Mr and Mrs Thomas pay £3,800-a-year licence fees to Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, which owns the land.

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