From the 1930s to the 1960s, millions of British people chose to spend their annual summer break at a holiday camp, taking advantage of the all-included package that provided accommodation, food, and plentiful entertainment. The market leader was Billy Butlin whose camps operated on a vast scale, and offered a brightly colored leisure land in contrast to the drabness of post-war rationing. The holiday camp story, however, goes back to the 1890s, and it continues into the present day with signs of a revival in camp fortunes.

Kathryn Ferry celebrates the communal and the kitsch,...

Behind the enduring popularity of beach huts lies a story of classic British eccentricity. Immensely photogenic and appealing, these colorful seaside buildings are direct successors of the Georgian bathing machine, which first appeared in the 1730s as a peculiar device to protect the modesty of rich and fashionable bathers.
Kathryn Ferry paints a picture postcard view of the classic British seaside holiday through the history of beach huts and bathing machines, revealing how the changing fashions in society shaped their design and development. A fascinating celebration of the evolution...

The nineteenth century saw huge changes in design and technology, with middle-class homes seeing drastic changes from the time of Queen Victoria's accesion in 1837 to her death in 1901.

This book looks at the social history of rooms in the Victorian home and at how, thanks to industrialized mass production, people were empowered to make choices about how to decorate their homes. Numerous exterior and interior styles were available as Victorian architects and designers grappled towards a new decorative language by testing the best from the past. This meant that families could choose...