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Findhorn beach huts: What's it like for the people living a 'hut life'?

Manda Stretch is a late adopter of hut life – but she says it's one of the best decisions she has ever made. The 74-year-old happily describes herself as 'a bit woo-woo' (she lives in Findhorn eco village and does a bit of meditation). Manda ended up with a shiny new beach hut – and the story of how she got here involves 'the call of the sea'. Her story is just one of dozens of hutters at Findhorn – and many more across the north and north-east. Some people buy to live the dream, some to entertain the grandchildren. Others let them out on AirBnB. Let's take a look inside hut life, with owners and developers… Recently, there have been headlines about the cost of buying a beach hut and a shock rise in fees at Hopeman. But on a sunny day in Findhorn, any controversy seems a world away from this idyllic 100metre stretch of brightly-coloured huts. Findhorn is an intriguing old/new version of beach huts. The beach had a thriving hut community in the 1930s, 1940s and into the 1950s. Now, a local company are well into the process of building and selling 30 huts. More than 20 are already up and 'inhabited'. Findhorn Holdings Ltd, owned by Sophie McCook, had their share of challenges to get the development over the line. A petition was raised to stop them being built in the first place and it was a fight that got as far as the Court of Session. Ian Sutherland McCook, architect, developer and Sophie's husband, has become the agent and official spokesman for the beach huts company. Kinloss couple Ian and Sophie's Findhorn beach huts plan came from hearing about Novar Estates selling off land in the area. A 100-yard stretch of the beach was purchased, with a vision to re-create the beach hut community of the 1930s-1950s. By the mid-2010s, the plan was becoming a reality. Ian said: 'There was some genuine opposition and genuine concerns that the huts might spoil the nature of the beach and detract from it. 'Our view was that there had been beach huts there before that were very popular and very heavily used. 'I just felt a family facility like beach huts would be an asset, not a liability.' Ian feels that has been borne out by the uptake of the huts and even thinks they acted as catalyst for other amenities – a motorhome park and coffee vans, to name but two. Ian added: 'Now, if you Google Findhorn, one of the first images that comes up is the beach huts.' So is there such a thing as a typical beach hut owner? Let's meet a few of them… Owning a beach hut might not have come until Manda was in her 70s, but it had been a childhood dream of sorts. The B&B owner and grandmother came to Findhorn about 22 years ago from West Yorkshire. She bought her Findhorn beach hut about three years ago. She said: 'I have very early memories of my aunt having a beach hut at St Anne's in Lancashire. 'When I was away on a winter trip to Thailand recently, I got a huge wave of nostalgia.' Manda came home preoccupied with renting a hut and Ian was the obvious first port of call. She got two weeks rent of an already-furnished hut – but within two days, she was sold (and so was the hut). Manda added: 'I phoned him up and said I cannot possibly move out, I'll have to buy it. And that was it. 'It's like a deep soul calling thing – the call of the sea. It was an inner drive and instinct.' Since then, Manda has made the most of her new place. Manda reckons she uses it at least twice a week ('as long as it's not raining') and her two grandchildren who live locally (she has three altogether) love it. She invites friends for picnics, singalongs and cherry stone spitting contests (it's exactly what it sounds like). She said: 'I might take my lunch down there. I've got a little camping gas cooker and I make a cup of tea, I open the doors and I sit and listen to Radio Four or I just have a little meditate.' Has it been worth it for Manda? She said: 'It's wonderful – the best thing I've done in my elder years. 'It's like a friend, always waiting for me. That's how it feels. No questions asked.' Gertrud Mallon and family own Number Nine Findhorn Beach. They make the most of it – but also share the love with others. Gertrud said: 'We love Findhorn and the beach hut is a family base for us. 'We use it all year round, whether it's for heating up after the New Year's Day 'dook' or for the summer holidays. 'We have a big family who all love coming here and we enjoy bringing friends, too.' At the times when Gertrud and co aren't using the beach ourselves, it's available to rent through Airbnb. Gertrud added: 'It's really special falling asleep to the sound of the waves and waking up to a beautiful sunrise.' Beach huts at Findhorn aren't a new thing, as these pictures from the past show. Ian, who runs 1 Architects, said: 'I just liked the idea that there had been beach huts there before. 'These huts are owned and used by people who live locally – they're not holiday homes.' Two of the huts still to be completed will be given to the community in the form of the Findhorn Village Conservation Company. Ian said: 'From day one, we said that we would make sure there was a community benefit, a long-term gain to the community.' Manda says 'go for it'. Ian and Sophie believed in them so much that they invested in building 30 of the things. But why should people spend their hard-earned cash on a beach hut? Ian said: 'For a family, it's just a massively enriching investment – there is no better experience than being down there and sitting on the beach with a drink in your hand and just listening to the sea. 'It's therapeutic and tranquil.' And what about the hut community at Findhorn specifically? Ian laughed: 'They're all unhinged. 'They're a bit like train spotters or stamp collectors – they really, really love what they've got and what they're doing. 'They're a remarkably pleasant, amicable, self-supporting bunch. We've got a WhatsApp group and everyone is always helping each other.' As Manda said: 'For those just looking on from the outside, it's £32k for a wooden shed with no windows. 'But it's so much more than that – it adds a dimension to your life that you don't really realise until it's there.'