Colourful beach hut at the East Beach Hopeman, Moray Firth. Grampian. SCO 9162.
Image details
Contributor:
David Gowans / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
DNJ44EFile size:
70 MB (2.2 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
5886 x 4156 px | 49.8 x 35.2 cm | 19.6 x 13.9 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
25 December 2013Location:
Hopeman, Moray Firth, Morayshire. Grampian Region. Scotland.More information:
The 44 multi-coloured 10ft x 13ft wooden structures on Hopeman beach in Moray, have been popular summer homes for over a century. However, any potential buyers of the huts face a long hard battle to purchase them and some of those on the waiting list don’t think they’ll ever get the chance to buy one in their whole lifetime. Dennis Slater, who is a member of the Hopeman Community Association, said: “There are only 44 huts in total and there’s maybe one that comes up for sale every year or two years. “I’m on the waiting list, but I don’t know where on the list I am. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get one in my lifetime - I believe they’ve even stopped taking names on the list now. “They’re like gold dust, especially as they’re normally handed down from generation to generation. “There are comfortably over 50 people on the waiting list and in fact I know many people who have had to wait well over 10 years for one, they’re so hard to get hold of.” Hopeman has two large sandy beaches split by the man-made harbour. The West Beach is the smaller. The East Beach is surrounded by large, grassy sand dunes, and has colourful beach huts and large rocky areas with excellent rockpools (the one at the eastern edge is known as Daisy Rock). Further to the east is a smaller hidden beach with stones and large rock formations. There are quite a few birds to be found on the beach, such as the herring gull, the great black-backed gull, the black-headed gull, the curlew and the oystercatcher. The areas of gorse heathland surrounding the eastern beaches are home to the whitethroat, the robin and the yellowhammer. Now and then bottlenose dolphins turn up in the Moray Firth off the coast of Hopeman, from where they can easily be seen. Hopeman Harbour is in between the East and West Beaches. It is small and now mainly houses pleasure vessels. In the past it was used for landing fish caught by fishermen from the village.