The Seaside: England’s Love Affair by Madeleine Bunting (2023) is set along the coastlines of England: ‘No European capital can lay claim to as many coastlines as London … all an easy day trip by train or car. Not to mention the delights further afield.’ Madeleine Bunting travelled to about 40 seaside resorts, staying in hotels, caravans, and holiday camps. Her aim was to understand the ‘enduring appeal of seaside towns, and what has happened to the golden sands, cold seas, and donkey rides of childhood memory.’ The book is sectioned according to the country’s beaches that the author visited, in a clockwise direction: Scarborough in North Yorkshire; Skegness in Lincolnshire; Dovercourt to Canvey Island in Essex; Margate to Folkestone in Kent; Brighton to Bognor in Sussex; Torquay to Weston-super-Mare in the South-West; and Blackpool and Morecambe in Lancashire. For her ‘research’ Madeleine Bunting talks to residents and holidayers, takes swims, and eats the local fare – mainly fish a
REJECT GREED; TREAD LIGHTLY; CARE LOCALLY; RESPECT DIVERSITY ... by Martina Nicolls