Bach (pronounced Batch, with the alternative of Crib in the southern part of New Zealand) is the name given in New Zealand to structures akin to small, often very modest holiday homes or beach houses. They are an iconic part of New Zealand history and culture, especially in the middle of the 20th century, where they symbolized the beach holiday lifestyle that was becoming more accessible to the middle class.
"Bach" was originally short for bachelor pad, but actually they often tended to be a family holiday home. An alternative theory for the origination of the word is that "bach" in Welsh means small.
Baches started to became very popular in the 1950s, as better roads and more available cars allowed family beach holidays, often to the same beach every year, and hence to the construction of a bach in that spot. One humorous definition of the bach, is "something you built yourself, on land you don't own, out of materials you borrowed or stole.
Early baches rarely enjoyed amenities like connections to the water and electricity grid or indoor toilets. They were furnished basically, often with second hand furniture.
In more recent times the basic bach has been replaced by the modern "holiday house", more substantial, more expensive (reflecting increasing affluence, and vastly increased coastal land values) and usually professionally built (due to stricter building codes).
Another important change has been the subdivision of coastal land, with increasing numbers of residents and visitors, bringing traffic, cafes, mobile phone coverage, craft shops and other conveniences to what were originally empty beaches and bush-filled gullies. Some bach-dotted beaches in the 1950s have today become suburban areas.
(from wikipedia)
