Jaderune Pen Pals

I have travelled in England (and Wales ) this summer and thought the non-English members of this forum might be interested in a couple of places.

First up is Cleethorpes. A small traditional English seaside town. It is on the east coast and for most of the year when the east wind blows it is cold enough to freeze the bells off a monkey. But on a hot sunny summer day it can be bliss. It has a clean sandy beach which shelves gently so a huge expanse of sand is exposed at low tide.


A bit chilly on the day the photos were taken and those on the beach were wrapped up against the breeze.


You can see the darker wet sand marking high tide. In the distance is the pier. Full of slot machines and the smells of candy floss and chips (Fries).


Donkey rides are available for the children. Being a clean beach, no dogs allowed to prevent children playing in dogs mess, a key job is walking behind the donkeys collecting the droppings.

Then on to the madness of Mudeford. An idyllic place on the entrance to Christchurch harbour. To be dealt with in another post as only three attachments allowed per post.

Mudeford is a sand bar at the entrance to Christchurch harbour. It is an idyllic and popular spot with great views across to the chalk cliffs of the Isle of Wight or in the other direction across the harbour.


The Isle Of Wight


Sunset across Christchurch Harbour

Some traditional English resorts have 'Beach huts'. These glorified wooden sheds reach their pinnacle at Mudeford. You are allowed to sleep in them, but they have no running water or drainage. The Council (Barangay) provide toilets and showers. Lighting is by gas lamp or electricity from batteries, usually charged from solar panels.


Some of the beach huts at Mudeford are in the above photograph. Now for the madness, these huts rarely become available. When a Beach Hut does come up for sale it goes for over 100,000 pounds. Roughly 7 million Pesos upwards. No that is not a mistake. You can google Mudeford Beach Huts for proof. On top of that you have to pay the Council (Barangay) 2000 pounds (140,000 Pesos) a year for the Showers and Toilets.

It is a lovely place, but even if I had 100,000 pounds, I do not think I would buy one. A friend's beach hut is currently valued at 120,000 pounds - madness.

I hope you enjoy this insight into this little bit of the world.

chaychay644 wrote:great pics Chas..thanks for sharing them..

Thanks, your comment is much appreciated.

Awesome! Im curious coz the color of the sand is brown..like a dessert sand. My "mare" who lives in Paris now, she was showing me pics of the places in France..wow, i always admire the views there..so nice.

Nice photos Chas, the white cliffs and that sunset in particular look fantastic.

By the way, I can confirm that it's not only mad dogs and Englishmen who go crazy for those beach huts. There are a some very similar huts on a few Aussie beaches and the lengths that people will go to to get their hands on them has become the stuff of urban legend. I'd put up some pics of the Aussie huts just out of interest but I don't want to steal your thunder.

Red - I think the colour of the sand comes from the underlying rocks. That wonderful almost white sand you see in the Philippines and elsewhere comes from coral. If the coast is volcanic the sand can be black. France is a great country, I have had many fantastic holidays there.

Estu - please add your photos to the post. I would like to see them.

Part of the flag painted on the first hut should look rather familiar Chas.


Even the name of the beach is borrowed... 'Brighton'.



I hope the images work, I'm a forum posting novice. I think this last one has been retouched.


Take care all.

Hi eStu

I don't know if it is just me, but I cannot see your first two photos. I have tried two different browsers. I like the third photo, it could be England. I live about an hours drive from Brighton UK. The beach at Brighton UK is just pebbles, but the town itself is very nice.
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Thanks for the update - I can see them now. Yes the flag is familiar

Thanks for the tip Chas,

I've tried to load a few more pics up, the previous ones had been showing on my PC but perhaps they were just loading from my cache memory?

Incidentally, the crazy prices you mentioned are pretty much the same as what the bathing boxes here in Australia sell for (circa 170k to 200k AUD). I'm not sure what that tells us though, madness accounts for globalism?

Hopefully one day I'll get to see the original Brighton, pebbles and all.

Stu.