British beach etiquette - lighthearted

[OrangeSunset]

We are on holiday on the SW. It’s packed, beaches heaving.

I totally cannot understand how much stuff people take to the beach - and each year I swear it’s getting more. Windbreaks, tents, chairs, and now a new thing….trolleys to transport all the stuff. Plus those inflatable sofa things.

The bit I find really nuts is when people position a windbreak so they can’t even see the sea! What is the point in even going to the beach if you cannot enjoy the view. Some construct almost completely circular camps.

To me, it’s the equivalent of putting your phone up at a gig and recording the whole thing instead of actually watching it.

It’s an oddly British social practice. France - towel or beach mat, an umbrella to stick in the sand for shade if really hot. These are low level and don’t create barriers across the beach for everyone else and do for dogs, kids etc requiring shade.

If it were up to me…chairs only if you are medically unable to sit on the sand. When did teenagers need a chair!

I am really hoping there is someone out there who shares my incredulity at this madness!

@Etulosba

I just go as i am. Go in the sea in my knickers, then air dry. Towels are for wussies. I don't know why anyone would need to take snacks, water and a rucksack. Come on people, get a grip!

You need to get a grip!

I turn up naked, swim naked, then walk home naked, and wet.

I dare say the reason people take more stuff to U.K. beaches, is the unreliability of the weather. Having shelter from a shower makes perfect sense.

Best is a beach hut, though. Dh rented one for a beach week with family inc. little Gdcs. The bliss of not having to cart all that paraphernalia back and forth! Not to mention a convenient refuge from the odd shower.

Its an oddly British social practice - towel or beach mat, an umbrella to stick in the sand for shade if really hot.
Nope, I've seen the same thing in the USA.

If it's not blocking the view it's noise. My latest was the couple who sat right beside us and turned their music on full blast.

I just wanted to be outside, somewhere natural and calm, to see and listen to the sea - but appreciate this is a shared space.

The one that made me sad was the young mother who arrived with two children under the age of three. Struggled to drag the pushchair across the sand, arrived with the kids and a large bag.
Put out a blanket, unclipped the baby from the pushchair, undressed each child into beach wear.
Three year old watched another child play, ran off and stole the child's bucket and spade, mum chased him, told him off, brought him back, made him sit with her, he ran again, she went and got him. He cried.

She fed both children , cleaned their hands, redressed them both into new outfits, put the food and blanket away and struggled back off the sand.
Ii made me sad that she had made such a huge effort, yet she nor the kids didn't seem to benefit at all.
No play, no digging in the sand, or collecting shells,no paddling. No time for her with a book or magazine whilst the baby slept and the three year old played, no time for her to just stop and rest, enjoy the peace.
It was almost as if she knew the beach was a great thing to do, but not what to do whilst they were there.

I take a wetsuit for a short swim. My lips are blue after 30 mins and I can't stay in the sea for longer. Small tent to get changed too.

We always laugh at the beach trolleys. The stress of packing and unpacking all that stuff makes my teeth itch.

We're minimal: umbrella if hot, towels, a picnic, a book for me, newspaper for him, bucket and spade for kids.

Hate the faff of having so much stuff.

We use a trolley, if we are spending an entire day at the beach we will take what we need to make it comfortable. Wind breaks and chairs are essential, swimming clothes and towels, buckets and spades, cool box and mats. Much easier to put in one trolley than trying to carry it all.

I feel there is a slightly smug competitiveness to beach minimilism in the same way some make one roast chicken feed five for four days. We always had a beach tent which was a bugger as sand got into the poles but it was a place to put towels, bag of snacks and drink. Body boatds had their own bag carried by son 2 as a back pack. That also takes sundry other bits of crap. I have a chair as I sit and read and occasionally shouted 'lovely darling'. However, each to their own. I do agree that the family who seems to have to snuggle up to you when there is tons of space is just beyond belief. Also found ball games bloody annoying too. Do love looking at sandcastle creations though and rather miss those days.

We live near the beach and always take a couple of camping chairs if we are spending some time there. Very handy, lightweight. have a strap to carry on your shoulder and make it an altogether much more pleasant experience.

@BigPyjamas

We always laugh at the beach trolleys. The stress of packing and unpacking all that stuff makes my teeth itch.

We're minimal: umbrella if hot, towels, a picnic, a book for me, newspaper for him, bucket and spade for kids.

Hate the faff of having so much stuff.

That's great if it works for you but there's no need to laugh at people for doing it differently to you.

This year I treated myself to a proper UV safe umbrella. I sat, shady and cool under my brolly while the children pottered about. Much smaller and easier than a beach tent (especially when packing up) and as I react badly to too much sun it was brilliant.

We brought 2 chairs with us on a recent family outing - for elderly DGPs, in a party of 14 people. Otherwise there were 2 rugs and a few beachtowels to sit on, swim gear for those interested in getting wet, a couple of books for those not, various foods and flasks and bottles for picnics emerged from different backpacks, a disposable BBQ and a couple of camping tools for it to cook sausages and a tin of beans (as the DGF wanted to relive a camping trip with his boys in their early teen years...)...and that was it. (Well, other than someone sensibly brought a bag for gathering all rubbish in 1 place, which we dropped in the bin as we left).

Basically, there were about 6 people in the party carrying bags on their backs (just small daybags that they normally take hiking etc anyway - not "2 weeks trekking the Alps" size), 2 teens were delegated to carry the chairs, and the rest carried their sunglasses - we all had a lovely time.

(Although we used to bring a tent on the ferry to the islands on the buggy when DSiblings were young - as some were only babies a few different years and shade was definitely needed for them when we were there all day).

(Said tent being a small 4 man ridge-tent back in the early 80s - I'd be crouched well over in it now, nothing like the size of my modern 4 man tunnel tent).

So much bloody judgement on this thread. It's a rare treat to get to the beach with 3 kids, one with ASN, and I'm there all day. If I want to take the kitchen sink why is it affecting you lot? Bore off.

We spent the day at the beach today. We took 3 towels, 2 mats, a wetsuit each, a picnic, 2 books, bodyboards and a bucket and spade. We didnt have a beach tent or windbreak but I wished I had a trolley to cart it all from the carpark to our space!! It was so busy that when I went to the loo (about 15 min walk from our "camp") I was glad of the inflatable flamingos and various other stuff as markers to get back!

Top spots today:

An inflated, very new and expensive looking double camping mat being transported to the beach fully inflated. I reckon a good couple hundred ££. No way would I be dragging that to the beach with the number of dogs I’ve seen using the beach as a loo!

Full sun lounger set up, including side tables, fridge, full size BBQ. This was next to the most minimalist set up - literally a girl with her book and a sarong.

It reminds me of images from some cities with the plush apartments right next to the favelas.

I am actually coveting some of those low level beach chairs. The ones where the seat is on the sand - so not blocking anyone’s view.

The person next to us today brought a gas BBQ with them!!

Would much rather a gas BBQ (if they must) than those horrible, tin foil things that stink to high heaven and always blow their acrid smoke in our direction.

What ever happened to a chippy tea on the benches on the prom or your sandy blanket, in paper? Not a proper seaside day without it (put your papers in the bin, if they’re full, take them home)

We go to a very busy beach and use a tent to 'claim' a space against all the big encampments. Have previously just put a few towels down, gone for a swim and come back to find people sitting virtually on top of them.
Plus as people have said useful for seagull free eating/ changing/ wind shelter especially if eating when at less busy beaches, ours is lighter and smaller to carry than a windbreak too.

OP you would have been proud of the family near us today. 1 bag and 1 towel between 6 of them. They didnt stay long and the kids went in the sea in their clothes!

I take a load of crap to the beach because it’s windy and cold. Fold up chairs, tent thing, picnic blanket etc. We use the tent as wind shelter and for getting changed out of wet stuff. Chairs for sitting on because if it’s cloudy and overcast the sand is cold.

If i know it’s going to be reliably hot (e.g. in Spain) then of course I’m fine with just a towel to lie on, I’ll dry off in the sun and the sand is warm. That’s not the case on the Northumberland coast!

fizbosshoes

OP you would have been proud of the family near us today. 1 bag and 1 towel between 6 of them. They didnt stay long and the kids went in the sea in their clothes!“

One of our happiest beach memories, our eldest was 6, we took her and a friend to our reasonably local pub on the beach for a meal (The Rashleigh at Polkerris if anyone knows it, lovely spot and 20 years ago often quiet). Out of season but glorious early spring day. Her mum came to pick her up, it was such a lovely evening that she decided to join us for a drink . We watched the girls paddling from the terrace, told them to be careful not to get their clothes wet, they’d have to go home in them (friends quite a way, in Falmouth).

Of course, 5 minutes later they were both sat in the shallows 🤣 hey ho, in for a penny, they took them off and splashed about in pants and vests for another half hour.
We stripped the girls, wrapped our daughters friend in my husbands - massive - cricket jumper and my hoodie and our daughter in dad’s gym t shirt (so basically a very, very long dress) with the old towel we carried in the boot in case of dog accidents (thankfully pretty clean) around her shoulders.

The pub brought them hot chocolates with marshmallows and cream and we all stayed on another half an hour or so watching the sun go down

The girls were still talking about what a wonderful night it had been 10 years later

@Coogee

It's not just British,

It certainly isn’t. I have seen similar windbreak corrals in Australia. In another country we regularly visit, it isn’t unusual for families to turn up on the beach in several 4x4s with tents, gazebos, long trestle dining tables, chairs and a generator to power their fridge. Plus the obligatory sound system.

That just has to be somewhere in the GCC.

(Where’s the GCC?)