An excerpt from the introduction to a book of photos celebrating the traditional seaside holiday since 1945

Cockles on the pier; stripy deckchairs; amusement arcades; fishing boats; bingo parlours; fish n chips on the beach; a bandstand; Punch & Judy; crazy golf; fresh shellfish; sticks of rock; crab sandwiches; walls ice-cream bricks; candy floss; saucy postcards; inflatable beach toys; buckets and spades… all essential elements of the great British seaside holiday.

These evocative images always seem to transport me back to a simpler time - when the summers were much longer and warmer of course - and this is what makes an English seaside holiday so attractive: the character and atmosphere of most seaside resorts remains unchanged by time. Timeless in an ever-changing world.

Similarly, the traditional seaside pursuits have remained unchanged throughout the decades: amusements on the pier, crazy golf, fishing for crabs, exploring rockpools… all intrinsically 'British' pastimes caught in a sandy timewarp. When you stand on Brighton pier playing a one-arm bandit while you eat your candy floss, you know that someone probably stood in the same spot doing the exact same thing 30, 40, even 50 years ago. Whilst we're on the subject, a pier is something else I always crave in a seaside resort - almost to the point where I actually think twice about staying somewhere with no pier. A pier gives a place a focal point (and adds to the atmosphere). Then there's the fresh seafood stalls : cockles, mussels, whelks, winkles, crab claws, lobster tails, prawns… of course you can buy all these things from your local fishmongers but somehow they just don't taste the same as when you eat them by the sea. The same goes for fish & chips too. The first thing you should do when you arrive at any seaside resort is to head to the nearest beachside fish & chip shop and then sit on the promenade wall to enjoy this typically English treat (remember, plenty of salt n vinegar).

They tell us that since the advent of cheap package foreign holidays in the 60s, seaside resorts in the UK have been in decline. I don't doubt this: there must be thousands of people visiting Spain and Greece nowadays who, years ago would have favoured Bournemouth or Southend. Another point to consider of course is that with the huge growth in car-ownership over the last 30 odd years people generally expect to be much more mobile than before. Therefore less likely to want to spend their fortnight's summer holiday in one place, preferring to tour round the area rather than stay put in one resort. But surely the biggest disadvantage of a UK holiday is the unpredictable weather. For example, in 5 years of holidaying in the UK with my family, only ONCE have we had good weather - and that was when we went 'off-season' in early May. The weather really does make a difference - it can make or break your holiday.

If the weather is on your side however, there's simply nothing to beat a day - or a holiday - by the English seaside.