A long-awaited new beachside café with floor-to-ceiling windows and a rooftop viewing platform is set to open in February offering a new perspective on Lincolnshire’s less well-known natural coastline.
After delays caused by the pandemic and last-minute snags, the new Vista at the Boatshed is now gearing up to open just yards from the wide strip of golden sand at Huttoft Beach.
Expecting to welcome its first customer by the end of February, the new café is the latest development along the county’s quieter coastline, away from the hustle and bustle of its popular family seaside resorts.
Following the success of new-builds, Gibraltar Point Visitor Centre in Skegness, and the North Sea Observatory at Chapel Point, the new Boatshed café aims to boost visitor facilities as part of the Lincolnshire Coastal Country Park.
A quiet rural beach backed by sand dunes, Huttoft, also known as Moggs Eye, has long been popular with locals because of its large Car Terrace, which allows vehicles to park practically on the beach.
Less than 50 metres from the beach, the new café replaces an old run-down boat shed and will have inside and outside seating, as well as a rooftop platform with views across countryside in one direction, and out to sea in the other.
Run by the same operator as the very successful Seascape Café at the North Sea Observatory at Chapel Beach, just a few miles south of Huttoft, there are also plans for it to host ‘pop-up’ summer food and other events.
Best known for its seaside resorts, the less-well-known natural coast offers some hidden gems and year-round wildlife spectacles, from winter breeding seals to huge flocks of migrating birds and a wealth of wildflowers.
As well as coastal walking, it is also a big draw for bird watchers, with waders and hunting marsh harriers in the summer to returning brent geese in autumn and thousands of black tailed godwits in winter.
A series of access points with parking are dotted around these quieter stretches, each offering something a little different, whether a nature reserve, circular walking routes, beach huts or a cycle path.
Among the latest developments has been The National Trust’s first coastal nature reserve in the Midlands, a former golf course at Sandilands, which has become an all-year nature reserve, and will be developed and protected as an important wildlife habitat over the coming years.
And the £2m North Sea Observatory – the UK’s first purpose-built marine observatory with a café overlooking the sand dunes and sea – has become a popular visitor draw since it opened just over three years ago at Chapel Point beach.
For the latest on the Boatshed café, see www.facebook.com/huttoftboatshed
For more details about visiting Lincolnshire, www.visitlincolnshire.com
