YOURS for a mere £45,000… an old fishermen's shed near a Suffolk beach!Estate agents are describing the property in sought-after Walberswick as a "studio hideaway in need of improvement" with "mains electricity connected".

By Judy Rimmer

YOURS for a mere £45,000… an old fishermen's shed near a Suffolk beach!

Estate agents are describing the property in sought-after Walberswick as a "studio hideaway in need of improvement" with "mains electricity connected".

But the catch is that it's a shed built of concrete blocks, complete with corrugated roof, and measuring just 14ft 6in by 9ft 6in.

With Southwold's beach huts selling for £30,000-plus, it seems as if there's an unstoppable demand for any sort of property in the area – sheds included!

And prospective buyers, including artists and writers, are already queuing up, eager to find inspiration in the bleak setting.

"The property has been on the market for about four months and we have had quite a bit of interest in it," said a spokesman for estate agents HA Adnams. "Since I have been here it's the only shed we have had on the market".

Fishermen used the old shed to store their nets until around 30 years ago and before that it was a smokehouse.

Dubbed The Old Netshed by the estate agents, it doesn't even have a sea view, because the way is blocked by a defence bank built after the floods of 1953.

The shed backs on to the garden of 90-year-old Elsie Day, who lives at Bell Cottage, home to her family for more than three centuries.

"If it's worth that amount, I wish I had bought it years ago now!" she said. Daughter June Scobie, 67, added: "Five years ago if I said it was going for £5,000 you would have said, get lost – £45,000 is absolutely ludicrous."

Nearer home, for around the same money and offering a bit more space, the Evening Star website today shows a wide selection of properties – including a two-bedroom flat at Shotley for £41,995 and a studio flat in North West Ipswich complete with garage for £39,500.