OLPRO Beach Hut Review

Living near the seaside, we go to the beach regularly – in fact it is safe to say we are at the beach in some form on a weekly basis.

Last year I had a large UV tent to use for the kids which I bought from Lidl, which was nowhere near big enough for us.  I remember trying to sit in it whilst trying to feed a very tiny Sebastian, having to hunch over to squeeze inside.  Add Isaac and Eliza into the mix and there was no room to move, plus it was a nightmare to fold down, so it soon got relegated to the cupboard, never to see the light of day again!

A few weeks ago I was offered the unique pop up UV+ 35 rated OLPRO Beach Hut to review.

To put up the beach hut you simply take it out of the bag and throw out the 80cm disc shaped material and the 2m x 2m x 2m ready-made beach hut will appear!

As you can see the kids loved it and were reluctant to leave the Beach Hut once it was up.  We did have an issue with one of the sides folding in, but this was soon rectified by OLPRO’s amazing customer service.  I tweeted them @Olpro1 and within a minute they send me an instruction video of how to straighten the internal wire that had become twisted – brilliant!

The Beach Hut also comes with a canopy and canopy poles to give you that extra shade. It has internal storage space and hooks for hanging essentials as well as a ventilation window and door. It is fully waterproof with taped seams and made from Strong 190T Polyester.

The challenge however is in putting it back down.

The instruction video is on YouTube and they make it look so easy!

It took me half an hour of frustration to do it just the once, and I had to walk away and come back to it.

Once I had done it the first time, I practiced again a couple more times to make sure I had the knack before I even dared to take it down the beach where people would be watching.

The OLPRO Beach Hut is easy to carry anywhere, but it is quite heavy so I would only recommend if you were planning on staying down the beach for a few hours. Once out you can peg down the corners and if you’re on a beach, use the great sand pockets all around the outside to keep your hut in place, plus you can put out the guy lines (if needed) to give you extra stability.

The printed sides emulate the classic beach hut look, with a wooden panel print in three different colours – red, yellow or blue. The OLPRO Beach Hut has enough room for 3 or 4 people and is large enough for chairs, furniture and even the pram and is ideal for changing. It comes with three hooks where you can hang things – great for drying Eliza’s her towel after she dragged it in the sea!

I have to admit that it is brilliant on the beach.  We arrived at Bournemouth Beach really to watch the P1 Super Stock Power Boat Racing and secured a position by the Pier, making sure we didn’t obscure anyones view of the water.  We stored everything inside the Beach Hut and Kian still found room to get changed and have a mid-afternoon snooze.

I was also happy that Sebastian was sheltered from the midday sun as it is UV+ 35 approved and it makes a great sunshade for when he wanted to play in the sand too. The only thing I will do next time is leave the door shut as an inquisitive bee went inside and took ages to find its way back out again!

By the end of the day, the sea breeze was beginning to pick up so we decided to take the Beach Hut down.  This is where we had a real challenge as the wind kept catching it and folding it back to the flat position was tricky.  Kian had to lay on it at one point.

Despite my home practice I could not fold it down for love nor money.  Eventually 5 well-meaning young men came to my rescue and although it wasn’t folded properly it was secure enough to get the majority of the beach hut in the bag to get it back to the car.

Once home I took it out of the bag in the garden and guess what?

I folded it properly first go – typical!!

I do like the OLPRO Beach Tent and it will make a great base on the beach during the Air Festival, or any festivals we go to this year.  If you do invest in one, make sure you can fold it back down confidently before you take it out with you!