The beach huts between Southbourne and Bournemouth Pier never fail to put a smile on my face during a dog walk or a morning run, so when I heard that Cath Kidston had transformed five of them with their beautiful prints, I couldn’t wait to go down and have a peek! We took a trip to Bournemouth Pier (the beach huts are numbered 2368 – 2372, just down from the Harry Ramsden’s restaurant) on the day they were unveiled to take in the new addition to the seafront.
Brightly coloured beach huts are part of the geography – and charm – of Bournemouth seafront (and a lot of the East Dorset coastline), and I always feel that there’s something quintessentially British about seeing families lounging on deckchairs outside of their beach huts, soaking up the sunshine and reading the newspaper or enjoying a picnic. I’ve always thought of the Cath Kidston brand as very ‘British’ too – nostalgic, floral prints that bring cheer to the kitchen and all over the home (including wardrobes, pajama drawers, laundry rooms and all sorts!) Cath Kidston have a store in Bournemouth town centre, so it seems a perfect match that they’ve ventured further towards the seaside to deck out some of our beach huts in their wonderful prints.
The beach huts feature classic prints (Antique Rose and Button Spot) as well as key prints from the Spring/Summer collection – Clouds, River Fish and Paradise Fields. I adore the River Fish print (and the fish are perfect for the aquatic placement!) – but the cloud beach hut definitely has my heart. I have been lusting after the Gola x Cath Kidston cloud print trainers for some time so to see the print in beach hut format is very exciting!
Luckily the sun put his hat on for the unveiling of the new huts, and so Tom, Tamsin and I took a wander down to the seafront with the doggies to have a good look. Max and Bodhi were very good and agreed to pose for a photo! I sometimes called Bodhi ‘cloud-dog’ as he looks like a fluffy cloud with legs, so it was very apt that he did some posing in front of that beach hut (though he didn’t sit quite as well as Max!)
{last photo pinched from Tamsin!}
The beach huts will be there until September and are well worth a visit (you can even rent them for a day!). They’re part of a new campaign called #RandomActsofKidston where the brand are aiming to bring a bit of cheer to people’s days with their iconic, bright prints.
I was so glad it was a sunny day, as it was the day after we arrived home from Bali, so I was worried I was going to have to be piling the jumpers on! It was nice to still be able to wear sunglasses and flip flops. I bought this coral lace-y top from M&S before I left but didn’t take it with me, so that’s been rolled out this week and I’ve been wearing it at every opportunity.
// top : marks and spencer : £35 {instore, can’t find online}
// jeans :
// flip flops : rip curl {bought in Bali}
// sunglasses : £125
Make sure you make a trip to see the beach huts if you’re down our neck of the woods before September – they definitely won’t fail to put a smile on your face!
