A man has created a tiny winter wonderland inside a tiny beach hut on the coast – complete with fairy lights, tinsel and Christmas gnomes.
Adrian Gullick, 54, from Bideford, Devon, has spent the last nine years visiting his beach shack on Christmas Day with his mother’s ashes, to eat a roast and hand out mince pies to festive dog walkers.
“As people smile as they walk past, I’m happy”, Adrian told Jam Press.
He bought the beach hut for £7,000 with inheritance left by his mum Florence Gullick, 81, who passed away from dementia in 2012.
Having visited seaside town Westward Ho! as a child with his late mum, the plasma cutter chose to buy a beach hut as a tribute.
Adrian added: “When mum died in 2012 I got some inheritance, not really knowing what we were going to do with it.
“Then my wife Marie came home from work saying her friend’s mother was selling her beach hut, and we just thought perfect, it only cost £7,000 at the time.
“They now go for over £20,000 but I have no interest in selling it.
“I pop down the hut at least twice a week pottering around or just sitting there with a cider and a pasty watching the world go by listening to tide coming and going.
“I would visit Westward Ho!, when I was a child. It’s less than ten miles from where I grew up. It’s a great place and the beach is massive.
“When my brother died in 2010 we would drive mum down to Westward Ho!.
“She always loved fish and chips. We’d just park up in the slipway car park to eat.
“It’s just a special place to sit and remember family and friends.”
Each year Adrian decorates the tiny hut with fairy lights and baubles to get in the festive spirit, taking care to wrap tinsel around the tribute pinboard of late family members, including his mum and brother Mike, who passed away in 2010.
Since then both Adrian and wife Marie have visited the hut on Christmas to spend the festive day remembering late family members and hand out treats and booze to beachgoers.
Adrian added: “I started putting a few decorations up at Christmas just to brighten the place up a bit.
“We’re always getting passers-by stopping for a chat about the hut or just asking if they can take photos of the hut or come in and take selfies with the gnomes.
“We take down a full Christmas dinner, mince pies and some drink, handing out mince pies to people out walking their dogs or walking off their Christmas lunch.”
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