The couple, who are both in the police force and live in Surrey, aim to bring their children, Hannah, 8, and Ben, 5, to their seaside home as much as they can this summer. “They are in their element. All they need is bikes and surfboards, a picnic on the beach, and they’re happy,” she says. “It feels safe here, and they have more freedom than on a holiday abroad, when you worry about an unfamiliar environment. We would live here if we could.” The weeks they don’t use it, they let it out via Holiday Rentals — and have been pleasantly surprised by the response (holiday-rentals.co.uk/409083).

Buying in the autumn, as they did, can be the key to getting a good price. After all, if property hasn’t sold by September, the vendors may accept a lower offer to shift it before winter sets in.

Andrew Dutson, a musician, also bought not on the seafront, but close — from the front door of his white-painted, two-bedroom Grade II-listed cottage in Deal, Kent, you need only turn left to find the beach at the end of the street. He paid £190,000 for the cottage at the beginning of last year. “Deal is pretty, but not as well known as Whitstable, which makes a difference to prices,” he says. “When I bought, the asking price had dropped by £30,000 and there were several properties on the market.”

Dutson, 37, lives in southeast London, so he can get to Deal easily at weekends. “I love it here, and friends do too — there’s a music festival every July, and with Dover close, for day trips to France, as well as the new high-speed Kent rail service starting up, it has been a good buy.” (Dutson’s home can be rented at holidaylettings.co.uk /68524.)

Another way to buy a seaside home for less is to forget about that period fisherman’s cottage and focus on the less architecturally appealing 1960s and 1970s houses. Not only do they tend to be cheaper, the big picture windows give you a better coastal view than a teeny period mullion window. And don’t forget all of the new-build flats that were built in many seaside towns at the end of the boom, many of which have failed to sell and have had their price cut.

Still too expensive?

Buy something in a run-down state and renovate it. It is not easy to supervise workmen at a distance, but it could save you money. Or, if you’re feeling brave, buy land and build from scratch. You can pick up a plot large enough for a single home for less than £100,000 (although, at that price, it won’t be on the beach). Land without planning consent is cheaper, and even if you can’t get permission to build, you could put up a tent, or possibly use it for a mobile home — which could be more luxurious than you think (see right) — depending on the local authority. For details, visit buildstore.co.uk , www.uklanddirectory.org.uk or selfbuildabc.co.uk

Team up with your family or friends: you’ll only use the place for some of the year, so why not share costs? Establish a clear schedule of who has it when, and get the ownership structure right: buy as “tenants in common”, rather than as “joint tenants”, which is how you would buy with a spouse. This means your stake will go to your heirs, rather than the others, when you die.

For something more formal, buy into a fractional-ownership scheme, which gives owners a few weeks a year. The website yours2share.com has a forum where fractional owners looking for people to share can post advertisements.

Additional reporting by Anna Mikhailova

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