Bones Under The Beach Hut

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There weren't many proper beach huts on Fethering Beach. Just a few ramshackle sheds once owned by fishermen, which had been converted for use by holidaying families. For proper regimented beach huts, with pitched roofs and the proportions of large Wendy houses, you had to go west along the coast to the neighbouring village of Smalting. And it was there that Carole Seddon had the use of a beach hut for the summer.

Smalting was a picturesque — very nearly bijou — West Sussex village, whose inhabitants thought themselves superior to the residents of Fethering. In fact, they thought themselves superior to the residents of anywhere. Like many of the villages along that stretch of coast, the earliest extant buildings were fishermen's cottages, which had been refurbished many times, ending up as elegant well-appointed dwellings, mostly bought by comfortably pensioned people downsizing in retirement. A couple of large houses had been added to the village in the eighteenth century, and a few more spacious holiday homes had been built by the late Victorians. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Smalting had become a fashionable seaside resort and rows of neat Edwardian terraces had sprung up. In the nineteen thirties two private estates had been developed either side of the village, and with that further building stopped. Unlike Fethering, Smalting did not spread northwards and so did not have room for any of what was still disparagingly referred to as 'council housing'. The army of cleaners and home helps who serviced the needs of its residents all came from outside the village.

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