My name is Trudi and I live and work in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight.
I make little wooden Beach Huts and Coastal themed art using a range of found, reclaimed and re-purposed materials, including; old deckchair wood, paper tickets once issued by Ventnor’s Longshoremen, driftwood, off-cuts and beachcombed items.
The idea was originally inspired after a conversation with my best friend Sophie.
Her family has been looking after and working on our local beach as Longshoremen since 1830.
The Longshoremen’s duties included: hiring out deckchairs and windbreaks, offering wooden rowing boats and canoes for hire for the more adventurous, and taking visitors out in the Motor boat for trips along the beautiful coast. In Victorial times, Bathing machines were wheeled down to the shoreline so that bathers could change and swim in privacy – a very popular past time and there were even separate days for gentlemen and ladies to use the beach. When the bathing machines were no longer in use, the Longshoremen re-designed and re-purposed them to create the iconic beach huts still in use today.
Sophie and I spent many happy hours on the beach and we often helped her dad to collect the deckchairs and sweep out the sand from the huts at the end of the day. So many fond memories of summers on the beach.
I remember seeing the reels of coloured paper tickets issued by the Longshoremen and the stacks of deckchairs waiting to be repaired at the end of the season. The Beach huts were unbolted and dismantled before the winter storms ready to be repaired and repainted for the next season.
We were looking at the old tickets and old deckchair frames and agreed that they were too good to throw away – so I asked if I could try to make something with them. This is where the spark of an idea came from.
Since then I have been asked to make all kinds of beach huts and coastal scenes and use the paper tickets and pieces of old deckchair wood wherever possible. The memories of the summer holidays and family fun are often evoked by seeing beach huts. I have been commissioned to re-create bespoke family favourites and special huts for weddings and birthdays.
I am planning on extending my range of UK beach huts as there are so many different designs to choose from – so watch this space.
Many people ask about the change of name – this came about as I originally used my own name but everyone says “Oh you’re the Beach Hut Lady’ so it stuck.
If you have any designs that you would like to see, please get in touch.
Vendor Biography
My name is Trudi and I live and work in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight.
I make little wooden Beach Huts and Coastal themed art using a range of found, reclaimed and re-purposed materials, including; old deckchair wood, paper tickets once issued by Ventnor’s Longshoremen, driftwood, off-cuts and beachcombed items.
The idea was originally inspired after a conversation with my best friend Sophie.
Her family has been looking after and working on our local beach as Longshoremen since 1830.
The Longshoremen’s duties included: hiring out deckchairs and windbreaks, offering wooden rowing boats and canoes for hire for the more adventurous, and taking visitors out in the Motor boat for trips along the beautiful coast. In Victorial times, Bathing machines were wheeled down to the shoreline so that bathers could change and swim in privacy – a very popular past time and there were even separate days for gentlemen and ladies to use the beach. When the bathing machines were no longer in use, the Longshoremen re-designed and re-purposed them to create the iconic beach huts still in use today.
Sophie and I spent many happy hours on the beach and we often helped her dad to collect the deckchairs and sweep out the sand from the huts at the end of the day. So many fond memories of summers on the beach.
I remember seeing the reels of coloured paper tickets issued by the Longshoremen and the stacks of deckchairs waiting to be repaired at the end of the season. The Beach huts were unbolted and dismantled before the winter storms ready to be repaired and repainted for the next season.
We were looking at the old tickets and old deckchair frames and agreed that they were too good to throw away – so I asked if I could try to make something with them. This is where the spark of an idea came from.
Since then I have been asked to make all kinds of beach huts and coastal scenes and use the paper tickets and pieces of old deckchair wood wherever possible. The memories of the summer holidays and family fun are often evoked by seeing beach huts. I have been commissioned to re-create bespoke family favourites and special huts for weddings and birthdays.
I am planning on extending my range of UK beach huts as there are so many different designs to choose from – so watch this space.
Many people ask about the change of name – this came about as I originally used my own name but everyone says “Oh you’re the Beach Hut Lady’ so it stuck.
If you have any designs that you would like to see, please get in touch.
Kindest regards,
Trudi