Back Cover copy
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.
This intriguing account is richly illustrated throughout with a mixture of contemporary photographs and postcards, publicity material, posters and modern images. For those who remember the seaside holidays of their childhood this fascinating book will conjure up nostalgic memories, while for the modern historian it will be an invaluable chronicle of the period.
