Bach (New Zealand)

Bach (New Zealand)

A bach (/ˈbætʃ/) is a small, often very modest holiday home or beach house. Alternatively called a crib in the southern half of the South Island, 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 is Welsh for small, although the pronunciation of this word is somewhat different. Baches started to become 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."