Old fashioned seaside holidays inspire a great deal of nostalgic affection among British people. Quintessential elements such as seaside donkeys and sickly sticks of rock are easily identifiable and memorable ingredients of a tradition that most people in this country have experienced. Focusing on the one-hundred-year period from 1870 to 1970, this book taps into collective nostalgia for an inside look at how ordinary people spent their seaside holidays. It examines what it actually meant to go to the seaside and what one could expect upon arrival, as well as various places to stay and how to spend one's days. Each chapter explores a different theme in order to build up a picture of holiday life and how it changed over time.

The inter-war period saw the annual holiday become part of the lives of large numbers of people in Britain for the first time. In the Edwardian age it had been a privilege enjoyed by the few, but by the end of the 1930s, 15 million people were going away to the coast for a week or two. This book explores all the facets of the seaside holiday--where people went and why; how they got there; where they stayed; and what they did. We take in the first holiday camps, which opened in the 30s, as well as some wonderful modern hotels that were the epitome of sophistication and style. We examine the architecture of pleasure, in the form of cinemas, piers, lidos, and pavilions. This intriguing account is richly illustrated throughout with a mixture of contemporary photographs and postcards, publicity material, posters, and modern images.

This detailed academic cultural study looks at the rise and fall of the seaside holiday in Britain. John K. Walton offers a broad interpretation of the holidays and resorts, looking at who went, where they went, what they did, and how they were entertained.

Using photographs from the National Monuments Record, these photopacks allow you to find out what Victorians wore on the beach, how developments in transport reflected great social changes and much more. The new restyled packs each include 8 A3 posters and fascinating facts so they are ideal as lessons starters and as an interactive resource for learners.

From the abandoned piers to the dazzling arcades, celebrate the British seaside through the lenses of Britain's most popular photographers, featuring Tony Ray-Jones, David Hurn and Simon Roberts and new work by Martin Parr.--Museum website.

The inter-war period saw the annual holiday become part of the lives of large numbers of people for the first time. In the Edwardian age, it had been a privilege enjoyed by the few, but by the end of the thirties, 15 million people were going away to the coast for a week or two. This book explores all the facets of the seaside holiday - where people went, and why; how they got there; where they stayed; what they did; and what they wore. A visit to Blackpool's Golden Mile to leer at its lurid attractions, including the unfrocked Rector of Stiffkey, contrasts sharply with the remote, unspoilt beaches of Cornwall. We take in the first holiday camps, which opened in the thirties, as well as some wonderful modern hotels that were the epitome of sophistication and style. We examine the architecture of pleasure, in the form of cinemas, piers, lidos and pavilions. For those who remember the seaside holidays of their childhood, this fascinating book will conjure up many nostalgic memories.

Fifty-five piers. Two weeks. One eccentric road trip. Before the seaside of their youth disappears forever, two friends from the landlocked Midlands embark on a peculiar journey to see all the surviving pleasure piers in England and Wales. With a clapped-out car and not enough cash, Jon and Danny recruit Midge, a man they barely know, to be their driver, even though he has to be back in a fortnight to sign on. Join Jon and Danny as they take a funny and nostalgic look at Britishness at the beach, amusement in the arcades, and friendship on the road.

Long before the Victorians the Georgian elite made the English seaside their playground Discover the invention of the English seaside holiday in the days when royalty was ruthlessly dunked beneath the waves, when lodging houses catered for dukes and where resort visitors ranged from dying consumptives to marriageable misses to scandalous rakes - and the Prince Regent at his most outrageous. From the origins of sea bathing in the 16th century to the pinnacle of sophisticated Assembly Rooms, hotels and bathing establishments, this book charts the rise of the English seaside resorts before the arrival of the railways in the 1840s heralded the arrival of mass tourism and changed the way the English took their holidays for ever. Long before the Victorians every English county with a coastline had its resort with piers, sandcastles on the beach, donkey rides, sea bathing, souvenirs and the seaside landlady - this is the story of how, and why, they grew.

In Seaside Shelters, Will Scott documents and celebrates the wide variety of shelters adorning the British seasides. A testament to the heyday of British summer holidays and the country's notorious fickle weather, the shelters now mostly stand deserted. Scott's talented eye captures the, at times faded, beauty of the buildings. Most of the shelters were built in the late-19th and early-20th century and cover a wealth of architectural styles, from Victorian to Art Deco to Bauhaus. Locations range from iconic seaside resorts to lesser-known gems along the coast, including Blackpool, Great Yarmouth, the Isle of Wight, Clacton-on-Sea, Portsmouth, Aberystwyth, Swanage and Cromer.

This “interesting, insightful book” by the author of Deep South reveals “a side of Britain few visitors see” (The New York Times Book Review). After eleven years as an American living in London, the renowned travel writer Paul Theroux set out to travel clockwise around the coast of Great Britain to find out what the British were really like. The result is this perceptive, hilarious record of the journey. Whether in Cornwall or Wales, Ulster or Scotland, the people he encountered along the way revealed far more of themselves than they perhaps intended to display to a stranger. Theroux captured their rich and varied conversational commentary with caustic wit and penetrating insight. “A sharp and funny descriptive writer . . . Theroux is a good companion.” —The Times (London)