Thanks to Sun & the Beach for gifting me a sunshade.
I don’t know about you, but I’m simply not genetically designed to cope with the sun.
I saw a TikTok last week about a woman who said she was designed to survive a harsh, Irish winter and I can relate to that pretty hard. But I like to be outdoors so what I need in my life is a LOT of high-factor sunscreen and plenty of effective shade.
Life is not easy when there’s a heatwave and your skin is as pale as mine!
Sun & the Beach Review
This weekend, I tried out a new sun shade from British company Sun & the Beach. Available in orange or blue, the shade is a huge stretchy square of fabric that can be simply attached to 2 poles to create a large shade from the sun. And it comes in this teeny bag:
The Sun & the Beach shade duffel bag contains everything you need to use the shade. There’s the shade (obviously) which has sand bags at each corner for use on the beach. There’s also a shovel (for the sand), four pegs (for use on grass), two collapsible poles, and even a little peg that you can attach to the shade to hold a towel.
There are a few things that are immediately brilliant about this sunshade:
- It’s UPF50 so will provide effective protection from the sun
- It’s massive (2.5m x 2.5m), so there’s enough space for a family
- It’s not stuffy like a tent, because the breeze can pass through
- It takes literally 60 seconds to put up
- When you’re done, it packs away into a tiny bag
As sun shades go, this is one of the best I’ve seen. I love how small it packs up – and there’s even space in the bag to stick a bottle of sunscreen and your phone.
It’s genuinely incredibly easy to set up, and your kids could manage it. In fact, here’s one of the owners’ children setting it up:
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What did we think?
At £95, the Sun & the Beach sunshade is definitely not as cheap as some sun shades but this is an item that I think will last a lot longer than cheaper sun tents.
It’s made by a British company, perfect for those of us who want to buy and support new British indie businesses. There’s a 14-day money-back guarantee if you don’t like the shade for any reason, plus free delivery.
To use the sun shade, all you need to do is stretch out the shade on the ground and attach each corner to the floor, using the pegs or sand bags provided. From there, just pop the two poles under the fabric and stand them up – hey presto, you have an open-sided sun tent! The shade can be easily moved as the sun moves, or if you need to adjust it when the wind blows.
There’s plenty of space for your family but mine is away with her Dad at the moment so you’ll have to make do with Teddy, who was happy to pose to illustrate the size of the sunshade, for the small price of three squares of cheese.
What I would say is that the sun shade from Sun & the Beach is REALLY flexible – you could use the shade in your garden on the grass, or fill the sand bags with pebbles on a stony beach. You can attach the corner ropes to trees or fences to make a sun sail in the garden, or flip it over your pergola. You can even attach it to your car for a shady picnic spot on a day out. The fabric is machine washable, too, so you can be happy it will stay looking good for a long time.
Win a SunShade with Sun & the Beach
Sun & the Beach have offered to give one of their amazing sun shades to one lucky reader of Who’s the Mummy.
All you have to do is complete the competition widget below and comment on this post where you’d MOST like to use this sunshade (my vote would be for the Maldives, while we’re dreaming). Bonus entries are available.
The competition will run for one week, and one winner will be chosen at random from all eligible entries after 11.59pm on 3 August 2021.
It would be great for picnics in the park, but I think it would get most use in the back garden.
Love this idea. So much easier than my tarp. I’d use it in our garden where there’s no shade
This looks fab!
Would definitely use in on any trip out, to the beach or the park! Always in need of some shade and this would be perfect!
Looks perfect to take out and about for me to hide under away from the sun!
this would be perfect inn our garden with no shade
Oh Sally I’d love to use this in the beach in North Devon- I love abroad as you do and travelling is incredible but as we are likely here for another summer season Devon (where I learned fo paddle board) gets my vote!
Hope you and Flea get away soon.
Xx
Wow! This looks great! I would use it everywhere, but particularly would love to use it on Cape Cod ❤️
Either at cricket matches or at the beach.
I would use it on Mwnt one of local beaches. In fact I’d use it on any beach I went too. I would also use it when out and about with my Cubs and scouts and in my back garden.
I think this would be great for in the garden. We have no shade.
I’d love to use it at the beach but I think it might get more use in the back garden, shading my grandson x
I’d use this shade in the garden so we could picnic on the grass in the shade.
I’d love to use the sun shade on a beach in Greece, overlooking the Mediterranean sea; although this summer, it’ll probably more likely be Brighton beach!
would be great in the garden or on the beach
We enjoy going for picnics, but sometimes struggle to find a shady spot, so this would be perfect to take with us.
Perfect in my garden x