Skegness

Skegness is a seaside town and civil parish within the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. Located on the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, 43 miles (69 km) east of the city of Lincoln it has a total resident population of 18,910. Grid reference: TF564636.

Skegness is the location of the first of the Butlins holiday resorts, built in 1936, which remains within the area to this day, and in this capacity, remains one of the more famous seaside resorts in the United Kingdom.

The name would appear to indicate that Skegness has its origin in the Danish period of settlement of England although there is no reference to a village named Skegness in the Domesday Book. Local historians say that the town took its name from Skeggi (meaning 'bearded one'), one of the Vikings who established the original settlement to the east of the current town which was washed away by the sea in the early sixtenth century. However, it is much more likely to have derived from words which appear in modern Danish as skæg, beard and næs, nose or in geographical terms, headland.

Lying within the historic county boundaries of Lincolnshire from a very early time, for governance, the parish of Skegness was in the Marsh division of the ancient Candleshoe Wapentake in the Parts of Lindsey.

Longshore drift carries particles of sediment southwards along the Lincolnshire coast but at Skegness, the sand settles out in banks (tombolos) which run at a slight angle to the coast forming the beard. The slightly elevated dune land sheltered the small natural harbour which the Danes found behind the banks. The finer sediment drifts on to find a home in the mud of The Wash, beyond Gibraltar Point.

In August 1642, a consignment of arms and money, probably raised by Queen Henrietta Maria, in the Netherlands for the support of King Charles I's campaign in the Civil War, was forced into Skegness by the ships of the Parliamentarian Earl of Warwick.

Skegness was primarily a fishing village and small port until the arrival of the railway in 1875. In 1908, Great Northern Railways commissioned a poster to advertise excursions to the resort, the first being from King's Cross, London on Good Friday 1908, leaving London at 11.30 am. The 'Skegness is so Bracing' poster featuring The Jolly Fisherman helped to put Skegness on the map and is now world famous. The poster, derived from an oil painting by John Hassall (illustrator), was purchased by the railway company for the 12 guineas. Paradoxically, Mr Hassall did not visit the resort until 1936. He is said to have died penniless.

Most of the land in what is now the downtown core formed part of the estate of the Earl of Scarbrough and he, together with his agent H.V.Tippet, realised that the extensive sandy beach could be made attractive to holidaymakers from the industrial towns of the English Midlands, a clientele already developed by Thomas Cook. He planned the town as a resort from 1877 and it expanded rapidly, but along with many other UK resorts, especially those on the cold North Sea, it lost out to the cheap package holiday boom which opened up Spain (in particular) to the average holidaymaker after World War II currency restrictions were lifted and travellers could leave the UK with more than 50 pounds.

Ingoldmells, the parish to the north of Skegness, was the site of the UK's first Holiday Camp, started by Billy Butlin in 1936. Butlins is still there today, in modern dress, at the north end of the town, on the road to Ingoldmells. It maintains its appeal as a popular destination for family holidays, and attracts thousands to the resort in the low season with music weekends encompassing 60s, 80s, soul and other genres.

Bob's Holiday Rating 4/10
Bob's Daytripper Rating 5/10

Perranporth

Perranporth (Cornish: Porthpyran) is a village on the north coast of Cornwall, England, in the United Kingdom, 6 miles (9.7 km) south-west of the surfing resort of Newquay and 6 miles north-east of that at Porthtowan. The village has a fine links golf course and a civil airfield suitable for visitors arriving by private plane. Perranporth has a population of 3,066.

The village, and its large sandy beach, face the Atlantic, with hundreds of miles of uninterrupted fetch producing large waves, making it one of the most popular surfing destinations, along with neighbouring breaks at Newquay, Chapel Porth and Porthtowan. At low tide the sands extend up to Ligger Point, 2 miles (3 km) to the north.

History and toponymy

The village's name is Cornish for "Saint Piran's cove". Saint Piran is the patron saint of Cornwall and his white-on-black cross features on the county's flag.

It is believed that Saint Piran founded the church near to Perranporth (the "Lost Church") in the seventh century. Buried under sand for many centuries, it was unearthed early in the twentieth century, but again left to the mercy of the sands in the 1970s. Plans are now afoot to make it accessible once more.

During the 1999 solar eclipse, Perranporth was the one of the places in the country that was known to have a clear view of totality.

Tourism and culture

Perranporth hosts an inter-Celtic festival each October, Lowender Peran, drawing people in from all six of the Celtic nations.

Perranporth is a family holiday destination. There is a lifeguard service on the beach from May to September. The beach is generally safe for bathing but there are dangerous rip currents around Chapel Rock on a falling tide. The sand dunes (Penhale Sands) adjacent to the northern part of the beach are used for orienteering championships. There is also an army training camp and golf course here. The southern end of the beach is backed by dramatic cliffs, with natural arches and stacks, and tin-mining adits. This headland is called Droskyn Point, and on top of it is a youth hostel with views of the coast and a large sundial, situated beside the South West Coast Path.

Notable people

The well-known motor engineer and designer Donald Healey was born and died in Perranporth. The author Winston Graham lived in Perranporth for many years and his famous Poldark novels, which were televised, starring Robin Ellis and Angharad Rees as Ross and Demelza, are based on the history of the area and its local families. "Hendrawna Sands" in the novels is Perranporth beach.

Bob's Holiday Rating 9/10
Bob's Daytripper Rating 3/10 (too far for a day trip)

Bognor Regis

Bognor Regis is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It lies 55.5 miles (89 km) south southwest of London, 24 miles (39 km) west of Brighton, and 6 miles (10 km) southeast of the county town of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east northeast and Selsey to the southwest. The nearby villages of Felpham, briefly home to the poet William Blake, and Aldwick are now suburbs of Bognor Regis, along with those of North and South Bersted.

Bognor Regis has a large town centre, much of which has either been pedestrianized or made pedestrian-friendly. Since the end of World War Two the town has been subject to some piece-meal commercial redevelopment, notably in the early 1960s when a new shopping parade and road (called Queensway), a health centre and a high-rise block of flats were built on land just north-west of the High Street. In the three decades between 1950 and 1980 much residential development took place to the west and north of the town, since then mostly in-fill development has taken place, predominantly redeveloping land on brownfield sites that had formerly been used for commercial business.

Sir Billy Butlin opened one of his Butlin's Holiday Camps in Bognor in 1960. The camp later became known as Southcoast World until 1998 and is now known as Butlin's Bognor Regis Resort. In 1999 Butlin's erected a large indoor leisure park, the buildings construction sharing aspects similar with the Millennium Dome in London. In 2005, a new £10m hotel, called "The Shoreline" was unveiled at the Bognor Regis resort. A second hotel "The Ocean" is due to open on the site in Summer 2009 and general landscaping and upgrading has also taken place. Postcards featuring the Butlins' Reception Hall and Sun Lounge were reprinted in the book Boring Postcards (1999). More luxury hotels are planned for the site. In May 2009 Butlins have also announced that they will be looking into adding a third hotel to the Bognor Regis site.

The town has several areas, and buildings, that still firmly link it with its past. Good examples, and prominent local landmarks, are the Royal Norfolk Hotel and Hotham Park.

The Anglican parish church is dedicated to St. Wilfrid while the local Roman Catholic church is dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows.

Bob's Holiday Rating 8/10
Bob's Daytripper Rating 8/10