Worlds First Sandcastle Hotel
They have the sun, the sand, and the sea, but you can’t get much more of the beach where they’ve also got the world’s largest and only sand castle hotel made entirely of sand on Weymouth beach in Dorset, UK.
A girl reading a book as she tries out a sand bed the world’s first sand hotel.
Photo EPA
What you won’t find there is a closet or any shower or toilet facilities, so you’re going to have to sleep with your legs crossed.
It took a team of 6 and a digger eight days, laboring 12 to 14 hours a day — 600 hours altogether — to build the 50 foot (15 meter) square by 13 foot (4 meter) high sand hotel using 1,000 tons of sand and water from the sea — and a lot of hard work.
General view of the open-air sand hotel complete with sand pillow and sand bed.
Photo EPA
Photo EPA
Photo Getty
The open air family room with a sea-side view has a double and single bed made of sand which will set you back a mere $21 (£10) a night to sleep under the starry skies. You can wake up to the ocean when the “tide laps through the door.”
One word of warning, the sand does get everywhere, but it is a bit of an adventure since it has no roof.
“The beds are made of sand so it can get everywhere, especially between the toes.” said Anderson.
View of the entrance to the world’s first sand hotel on Weymorth beach, Dorset, Britain.
Photo EPA
Photo Getty
Photo Getty
The hotel was the brainchild of sculptor Mark Anderson who was commissioned by the website LateRooms.com, designed to look like a giant sand castle.
It’s made from Weymouth beach sand, the finest in the world for making sand castles, says Anderson.
“I have been on about 200 beaches and have only found one in Tasmania with sand as fine for making sculptures as Weymouth.” he said.
The sand hotel was orchestrated as a publicity stunt by the hotel company, and the biggest sand structure ever built in the UK, designed for the renaissance of beach holidays after its research found that 57% of the country’s holiday-makers were shunning foreign destinations in favor of British seaside resorts.
General view of people enjoying themselves by the beach
next to the world’s first sand hotel. Photo EPA
Children playing in front of the sand hotel by sand sculptor Mark Anderson.
Photo EPA
Research by Laterooms.com predicts 37 million people will enjoy British beaches this year.
Rising living costs and the credit crunch influenced 51% to holiday in the UK this summer. A total of 75% of people said they were planning to visit UK beaches they went to as kids because they were feeling nostalgic.
More than half of vacationers (55%) said they decided to stay in the UK because of the strong euro, while 32% said they were shunning carbon-heavy flights in favor of closer destinations.
You can book reservations to sleep in the gigantic sandcastle, but you’d best hurry, as it’s only available from now until the tide or rain washes it away.
To make a reservation to stay in the Sand Hotel, call LateRooms’ sand hotel booking hotline, quoting “Under the Stars” on 020 7841 6682. Rooms are available on a first come first served basis — book before the tide comes in.
Specialist sand sculptor and creator of the LateRooms sand hotel provides his top tips on building the perfect sand castle for those who would like to try their hand at sand sculpting:
• Saturate sand with water.
• Pick up a good size double hand full, if it’s too wet it will drip through your fingers, if it is too dry it won’t hold together, if it’s just right it will hold together nicely, enabling you to plop it down in an area which you have previously marked out as the base shape of your sculpture.
• Repeat this process adding a little water to the sand which you are building onto, to help the binding/ strengthening process.
• Keep going until you are at the desired height and then using a small trowel, palette knife/artists spatula type tool carve into the sand, have a straw to blow off the crumbs/debris.
Other handy hints from Mark:
“I usually have reference images of what I want to carve to help me achieve a likeness but it is also good fun to make things out of your imagination.”
“Another method of getting the sand into place is to be by the shore, and use the already damp sand, adding a little water to help the bonding process. But watch out for the incoming tide.”
World’s First Sand Hotel
Related stories:
Sand Castle to the Sun – New World Record
Sensational Sand Sculptures – Hampton Beach Competition
This is crazy but I would never ever stay here.
How fun! But talk about finding sand in all of the wrong places. For days. Muah!
That is so creative. You Brits, so ahead of us in so many ways. I’d definitely stay there. Actually it just now may be on my radar. –Writer of Planet Pink n’ Green – http://www.planetpinkngreen.com
Yikes! I can’t imagine waking up after sleeping on a bed made out of sand. Where do you find this stuff?
Hehe, I would think that a stay at the sand hotel would be more of a ride for the experience, rather than a comfortable place to sleep, Arasys
Awesome! Reminds me of the one made of ice.
I can’t think of a ’shingle’ reason to stay there.
*takes hat and leaves*
Err, where do I plug my shaving machine?
You will have some difficulties with that Jong
This is bare bones as far as creature comforts go.
A sandcastle hotel? How funny, but it’s perhaps a great idea. By the way it looks uncomfortable, and I think I would never stay here.
Creative idea but not very practical, I wonder if they have room service
Hehe, somehow I doubt that there’s room service
But it would certainly add to the experience if there was. For the low rate offered, you really can’t expect a whole lot 
Yeah it doesn’t look very comfortable. I hate being at the beach and getting sand in my bed let alone sleeping in a bed that is sand.
I couldn’t imagine myself spending the night there.
That’s a fine looking sand castle… sure would love to stay atleast for a couple of hours…
Yikes, isn’t England the place it rains all the time! Hopefully you can get a ‘rain delay’ clause for your overnight stay. For everyone who has ever spent a night on the beach, this looks like real fun!
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come on
so funny hotel and so beautiful pictures
it is very interesting things
thx a lot for sharing with us!