Do you remember a time when seaside summers were always golden? When the deep, soft sand was warm between your toes and the sun glinted brilliantly from a true blue sky? Or did it just seem that way?

What about the explosive showers and the trussed-up piles of windswept deckchairs? The gritty sandwiches clutched by shuddering, goose-pimpled children? Not just the grand hotels, the colourful amusement parks and the sweeping esplanades, but the ubiquitous boarding houses a "stone's throw from the beach". The book revels in all of it: the bathing beauties, the donkey rides, the glitzy funfairs, and pleasure domes, the lit-up piers and the dark and romantic shelters. Can't you just small the salty tang of it?

An entire chapter, running to eighteen pages, is devoted to seaside amusement parks. This is not a history of seaside parks, but an evocative ramble through some of the most beautiful photographs ever taken of seaside funfairs. The Chapter features parks as diverse as Southend's Kursaal, Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Hunstanton's Rainbow Amusement Park, and several pier funfairs, where seaside holidaymakers can enjoy thrilling rides over the sea.

Other chapters concentrate on seaside icons such as piers and promenades, bathing beauties, life on the beach, beach huts and pavilions. You will long for a visit to the seaside after reading this book!

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