We have a fine sea, wholesome for all people, profitable for the body, profitable for the mind … the boats are dancing on the bubbling water, the colliers are afloat again, the white bordered waves rush in, the children do chase the ebbing Neptune … all the sea is sparkling, heaving, swelling up with life and beauty this bright morning.
Charles Dickens, from ‘Our English Watering Place’, describing Broadstairs
Apart from the colliers, Dickens (writing in 1851) might have been describing the Broadstairs we saw just last week. And while bright mornings were in short supply, we did see the sun occasionally.
Even when the sun was absent we found, despite my last post of monochrome images from our visit, enough colour around the town to brighten even the dullest day.
A good sea – fresh breezes – fine sands – and pleasant walks – with all manner of fishing boats. Light houses, piers, bathing machines and so forth are its only attractions, but it’s one of the fresh and free-est little places in the worlds.
Charles Dickens, also from ‘Our English Watering Place’
Again, little has changed although the bathing machines have been replaced by traditional seaside beach huts, the source of much of this colour. Several of them are brightly decorated and although privately owned or rented, are on show for all to enjoy, so I’m sharing these, and some of the town’s other more colourful sights, for Natalie’s Photographing Public Art challenge.
Beach huts
Elsewhere shop signs, flowers and even some of the people I saw around the town provided colour for my photos. Some of these (and some of the beach huts above) have been edited to increase the colour pop a little, given the lack of sunshine to do that job for me!
More splashes of colour
I last visited Broadstairs in July 2024, when all these photos were taken
54 Comments
SoyBend
Great pictures of the beach huts, the plain ones and those with paintings on them.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – yes, even the plain ones are colourful!
Annie Berger
I see my query about seeing the huts in color was answered in this post, Sarah. What glorious pics you took even though you had no sun until your last day. Love, love the gorgeous colors.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Annie 😊 Yes, the weather was disappointing but we had a good time, and the icing on the cake was meeting up with Phil and Michaela (the Hungry Travellers) one evening for a few drinks, dinner, and a lot of great conversation!
Annie Berger
Glad you all finally met up in person and not just through exchanging comments on each others’ blogs. Would love to have been a fly on the wall then!
Sarah Wilkie
It would have been great to have you and Steven join us too, and not just as flies on the wall!
leightontravels
This really makes me miss home. There is just something about the English seaside that always gets me a bit nostalgic. I have never been to Broadstairs but I did make it to nearby Margate a few times as a kid with my nan. Absolutely love the Dickens quote and the colours throughout these images. You have a talent for capturing people with funky hair. I’ve heard that the British summer has been dreadful at times from various friends around Britain, I wish I could actually throw over some sunshine and degrees from here in Georgia where it has been unbearably hot at times.
Sarah Wilkie
Broadstairs is more ‘genteel’ than Margate and unusually for Kent has some sandy beaches, but has many of the same trappings of an English seaside resort 🙂 Yes, I’m drawn to colourful hair like this and have been known to ‘stalk’ someone to capture a shot! And it’s been a really poor summer so far apart from one hot week at the end of June. Apparently we have the jet stream to blame!
margaret21
OK, you win! Broadstairs IS colourful – and all summed up so well in your header photo. And everything definitely being given a helping hand by those beach huts.
Sarah Wilkie
Haha, yes, it is in parts for sure 😁 It’s an odd blend of quaint historic (overlaid by an obsession with Dickens!) and traditional English seaside – I rather like that about it 🙂
margaret21
Never been there. Maybe one day …
Sarah Wilkie
I think you’d like it – and we had the bonus of an evening spent in the delightful company of the Hungry Travellers, Phil and Michaela 🙂
margaret21
Result! No wonder you had fun.
equinoxio21
July colours. 👍🏻
Sarah Wilkie
In a ‘normal’ July they would be brighter and sunnier!
equinoxio21
Is there any such thing as normalcy any more? (Not sure there ever was…)
Sarah Wilkie
Good point!
equinoxio21
I did think the world could tend towards, but no. We’re an obtuse species.
grandmisadventures
vibrant beautiful pictures- I especially love all the painted beach huts 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Meg – the huts do brighten the scene 😀
Brad M
Lots of little punches of color.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Brad – yes, in that dull weather I wanted to seek out and share those punches!
restlessjo
So many beach huts! I love them.
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, it’s a great place for them, as is much of the Kent coast 😀
norasphotos4u
Love all the vibrant colors
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Nora 🙂
lisaonthebeach
Love the colors, Sarah! What are the beach huts used for? They look very tiny to me in the first picture, then I saw a person and it helped me gain perspective. I love them!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Lisa 🙂 People rent or buy a beach hut to use as a base for a day at the beach. They can change before or after a swim, store beach toys and equipment, like chairs, shelter in poor weather, eat a picnic in the same poor weather – and sometimes they have a small camping stove to make hot drinks and simple meals.
lisaonthebeach
I was wondering, I just didn’t see anyone using them. Must be off season. They look so colorful!
Heyjude
I like Broadstairs and you certainly found plenty of colour. Like Anabel I am wondering whether I am too conservative with my hair colour. I just have a complete fear of the blue rinse brigade…
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Jude 🙂 I know what you mean about blue rinses!
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
More great hair! I think I am being far too conservative with mine.
Sarah Wilkie
I sometimes wish I had the nerve! Maybe if I were 20 years younger?!
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
I often have one colour in the front but that’s as far as I have gone.
Sarah Wilkie
That’s more than I’ve done – I’ve always stuck to natural shades 🤔
Natalie
Sarah, I love the colourful beach huts and your selection of the vibrant colours. Thank you for your PPAC contribution. Have a wonderful week ahead.
Sarah Wilkie
Glad you enjoyed them Natalie, I was pleased I had something for PPAC this week as it’s been a while since I joined in!
Easymalc
You’ve missed the most colourful thing of all I reckon Sarah. Fergy in Broadstairs during Folk Week 🤪
Sarah Wilkie
Haha yes 🙂 Those days though are gone, sadly. He tells me he’s pretty much housebound now but isn’t bitter about it. He was very interested to hear all the news from the Euromeet which I shared with him.
Easymalc
Thanks for the update!
Amy
Love these beach huts, Sarah! Colorful and delightful!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Amy, glad you liked them 🙂
thehungrytravellers.blog
I bet you’d have had difficulty making a shot of Bleak House look colourful, whatever the weather! It is definitely nice in Broadstairs though, it’s a shame you didn’t catch a better spell of summer.
Sarah Wilkie
Very true about Bleak House, Phil – I don’t think I even attempted a single shot of it! And it’s always a weather lottery when planning an English trip, and we still had a good time 🙂
Anne Sandler
Love the colors that added to my morning Sarah! The beach huts are so cute.
Sarah Wilkie
They are, aren’t they? A real symbol of the English seaside!
janet
What a colorful way to start my Sunday, Sarah. Thanks!
Sarah Wilkie
Glad you enjoyed the colours Janet 🙂
Teresa
Beautiful burst of colours. I am also going to post about beach houses sometime soon. Will see when I can organise my thoughts. Thanks for sharing Sarah.
Sarah Wilkie
Glad you liked them Teresa 🙂 I’ll look forward to seeing yours!
bushboy
A colourful post for my Sunday evening, thank you Sarah
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Brian – your Sunday evening is of course my Sunday morning 😆
Sue
Some great splashes of bright colour, Sarah, and I like the way pink is a prevailing presence
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Sue 🙂 You’re right, there was quite a lot of pink around!