Grandfather camps out on Dorset beach for six days to secure beach hut

Huts at Avon Beach, Dorset. Rex

A dedicated grandfather has been camping in the cold on a Dorset beach for six days to make sure he's first in the queue to get a sought-after beach hut.

Keith Duell, 68, has nabbed first place in the annual beach hut queue at Avon Beach in Mudeford to ensure his family get a full summer season beach hut at the popular tourist spot.

According to the Bournemouth Echo, the beach huts aren't available to book until Monday morning, but Keith wants to ensure he's first in line and has set up a tent on the beach.

'My wife of 43 years hasn't been very well so doing this is payback time for her for putting up with me for so long,' Keith said.

'I fish in the bay and she comes and sits with me. This way if the weather is awful, she can sit in the beach hut.

'Our grandchildren will love it.'

Keith arrived on Wednesday and said he and his wife visited Avon Beach on New Year's Day, where they saw the notice that only one seasonal beach hut was on offer.

His wife Christine said: 'We didn't know when to start queuing and wondered whether to leave it until the weekend, in the end I told him to come down.

'We just looked at each other and I said we've got to do it.'

According to the Daily Mail, Keith uses a nearby public toilet for washing facilities and entertains himself by reading books and chatting to passers-by.

'When I am in my tent I often hear people walk past and say things like 'he must be mad,' he said.

'Everyone here has been so hospitable and really thoughtful. When you are here every day you get to see amazing scenes of nature.

'The foxes come along the beach at night and I saw a seal in the sea the other morning.'

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