As an island nation, Britain is quick to celebrate its maritime history and heritage, but for most of us our relationship with the sea is through the seaside resort. We share more or less fond memories of building sand castles, splashing around in the sea and eating fish and chips, sometimes with a light sprinkle of sand as an accompaniment. However, the vast majority of holidaymakers will never have seen a seaside resort from the air, unless they have gone up in the balloon in the centre of Bournemouth or indulged in a pleasure flight over a resort such as Weston-super-Mare. This collection of aerial photographs, produced by Aerofilms Ltd mostly between 1920 and 1953, tells the story of England's seaside resorts as holiday destinations, but also as working towns, blessed with the sea as their backdrop. It also illustrates the type of entertainments available for holidaymakers and highlights how the seaside holiday at some resorts became big business with industrial-scale facilities and infrastructure.

All stretches of the coastline, and all sizes of resorts, are featured in this title, and have been studied to explain what gives England's seaside towns their special character.

The seafront is ever changing, depending on the time of day, the state of the tides, and the month of the year. At once natural and artificial, it is a place to live, work, and play, a site for commemoration, experimentation, and relaxation. The Seafront examines how this highly complex space has been created, re-created, and adapted over the past three hundred years. It tells the story of seaside holidays and how the arrival of increasing numbers of tourists transformed natural coastline into the manmade environments of modern resorts, and describes along the way the engineering of sea defences, the facilities designed for sea bathing, and the fun factories and fun fairs of the twentieth century. Glitteringly illustrated throughout, the book celebrates the many and diverse aspects of the seafront's history, geography, character, function, and meaning.

A sweeping, richly illustrated architectural study of the large, historic New England coastal resort hotels

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.

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.