Sandcastles, ice cream, fish and chips - all words which conjure an idyllic image of the British seaside.

But is there any image more postcard-worthy than that of the British beach hut?

We have long enjoyed an obsession with these small shacks which serve both a practical purpose and act as a sanctuary away from the hubbub of everyday life.

Like many other quirky mainstays of British culture, the beach huts of today are vastly different to those of the 1970s and 80s.

Buyers can expect to fork out as much as £300,000 for a hut now with many splashed with bright colours, kitted out with furniture and lavish decor.

But when Army major and former Mersea town clerk Edward Blackmore, together with his wife Christa, bought their beach hut in Victoria Esplanade, it only set them back a few hundred pounds.

The joys were simple and frequent trips to the seaside brought many years of happiness.

Their son, Martin, together with his partner and three boys, took on the hut after his mother’s death.

“We came over here when I was six. My dad was in the army based in Germany, where I was born,” said Martin.

“We came over in 1972 and bought the beach hut in 1974.

“My dad was heavily into sailing and wanted to buy a yacht but my mum put her foot down and said ‘The kids are too young’ so we ended up getting a beach hut instead.

“We spent all our summers down there. We would go and play in the sand, go swimming in the sea.

“Myself and my sister lived for the summer.

“Our hut was absolutely lovely, it had a deck on the front, you could sit up on it and look over the top of beach huts at the vista of the river where you could see all the boats.

“That’s what my dad used to enjoy, watching the sailing boats with his pair of binoculars.”

Families’ affection for their simple pleasure have come under assault, however, from arsonists and yobs who take a perverse delight in burning or trashing beach huts.

Scores of huts have been targeted along Dovercourt seafront and in Frinton and Mersea and despite the best will of beach hut associations, there is little which can be done to protect them 24/7.

There is also nature’s rage to deal with with huts being vulnerable to flooding, as seen by the devastation caused in Brightlingsea during the recent Storm Ciara.

Martin’s Mersea beach hut was burned to the ground in an arson attack earlier this year.

He has vowed to rebuild it next year after the threat of coronavirus has waned.

Despite their fragility huts are still popular.

Martin said: “Our hut neighbour was telling me he bought his about 20 years ago for £600.

“Now if you look on Rightmove the cheapest is about £20,000.

“People perhaps have got more disposable income, and some people see it as a good investment.

“I found young people like to have them as it’s nice for them to take their kids down there.

“My neighbour was worried as his parents are in their 80s and don’t travel anymore, they are used to spending their whole summer down at Mersea.

“It’s a lovely place to come to. They are for the older generation as well as the younger.”

Perhaps beach huts are popular because they are a physical manifestation of our nostalgic connection to the British coastline.

Take a trip to the beach and you feel a sense of ownership, a shared connection.

The hut is your homestead with the sand and sea at your door.

On a practical level, they also serve as a base of operations for the swathe of activities typically undertaken at the seaside.

The Tardises can hold a plethora of items from windsurfing boards and sails to tiny stoves to boil a kettle for a cup of tea and endless buckets and spades.

And with the world in lockdown, maybe, in due course, when restrictions are lifted, beach huts will again provide that sanctuary away from the pressures of everyday life.

Martin said: “You can go on holiday in the UK and beach huts are an easy way of doing it.

“We will have to see if there is a rise in people choosing to spend their summers on our coast after the lockdown lifts.”