The island of Great Britain being small, the natural place for holiday relaxation and enjoyment is its extensive coastline, above all its southern and eastern coasts, though Blackpool, which is probably the best known and most crowded seaside town, and the favorite resort of the mass-population of industrial Lancashire, is on the north-west coast. Distant and little-inhabited areas like Northern Scotland, are too remote for the development of large seaside resorts.

For most children, going to the seaside suggests a week or fortnight of freedom on the beach, ideally a sandy one providing ample opportunity for the construction of sandcastles, fishing in pools for stranded shrimps, paddling in shallow water or swimming in deep. Children’s entertainments may include the traditional knockabout puppet show "Punch and Judy 55, donkey rides, paddleboats in artificial ponds, mini-golf and the swings and roundabouts in local fairgrounds. Their parents spend sunny days swimming in the sea and sunbathing on the beach. Not that the British sun can be relied on and the depressing sight of families wandering round the town in mackintoshes and under umbrellas is only too common. However, there are always the shops with their tourist souvenirs, plenty of cafes and, if the worst comes to the worst, the cinema to offer a refuge.

The average family is unlikely to seek accommodation in a hotel as they can stay more cheaply in one of the many boarding-houses. These are usually three or four-storeyed Victorian buildings, whose owners spend the summer season letting rooms to a number of couples or families and providing three cooked meals a day at what they describe as a reasonable price, with the hope that in this way they will add enough to their savings to see the winter through. Otherwise there are the caravan and camping sites for those who prefer self-catering.

Nowadays, even when an increasing number of people fly off to Mediterranean resorts where a well- developed suntan can be assured, or explore in comfort Swiss lakes and mountains or romantic Italian or Spanish cities, the British seaside is still the main attraction for families, especially those with younger children. As they queue for boat trips, cups of tea or ice-cream under grey skies and in drizzling rain, the parents are reliving their own childhood when time seemed endless, their own sandcastle the most splendid on the beach, the sea always blue and friendly and the sun always hot.