Breaking the ice in Denmark

THE Winter swimmers, the "Icebreakers" (Isbryderne), hosts the yearly Skagen Winter Swimming Festival, which next year takes place the 25th-28th of January 2018. The event is organized in cooperation with the local Tourist Board Turisthus Nord.

The Skagen Winter Swimming Festival welcomes all true Vikings and guarantees ice cold sea dips, hot drinks, a close encounter with the unique nature of Skagen and a varied program.

Each morning starts of course with a morning sea swim for all participants at "Sønderstrand" near "Grenen".

The Winter Weather in Skagen is raw and gritty, and the winter swimmers therefore put their courage to the test when they meet the ice cold wind and waves. But the atmosphere is fantastic and invigorating! After the cold swim hot soup is served by Jacob's Café.

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Picture Credit: visitdenmark.co.uk

Eastbourne celebrates seaside nostalgia

#SUMMER holidays in the UK’s sunniest place are being celebrated by Heritage #Eastbourne in a free ‘Vintage Summer Holidays’ exhibition at the Redoubt Fortress, Open until September 5, it illustrates the resort’s journey from a Victorian seaside ‘tennis town’ to a 1970’s mass market seaside town.

From arts and crafts, seaside holiday history, and Lewis Carroll’s holidays in Eastbourne to archive film footage of Eastbourne holidays from yesteryear, the exhibition celebrates the town’s reputation as a bustling seaside resort.

Visitors will discover what brought holiday-makers to Eastbourne from as early as the 1870’s, when health vacations and sporting breaks were popular, through to the 1900’s when people travelled from far and wide to spend lazy summer holidays on the beach.

Children can get hands-on by making postcards and holiday memorabilia, while parents can relax in the parade ground with a coffee from the vintage Outpost café.

There’s a photo-booth section in which visitors can put on a sunhat and a moustache, pose in a deckchair and re-create a vintage photograph from a past holiday, and visitors can read the diary of a young Victorian girl holidaying in 1873 and discover what family holidays were like in 19th century Eastbourne.

The exhibition is open daily, 10am-5pm.

www.EastbourneMuseums.co.uk

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‘Seaside Czar’ can turn the tide and revive resorts

THE British Hospitality Association (BHA) says a Seaside Czar should be appointed ‘to help Britain’s forgotten seaside towns fight back from decades of decay’.

Called Creating Coastal Powerhouses, the report says businesses in seaside towns are more likely to fail – especially if they provide accommodation – and urges the government to create Coastal Enterprise Zones to encourage investment.

The report says people living in seaside towns are more likely to be poorly educated, unemployed, unemployable, lacking in ambition, claiming benefits, and living in multiple occupation housing.

A separate survey, conducted by Bourne Leisure, found that more than half of the British public have not visited the British seaside in the past three years, and 65% believe that the British seaside is run down and in need of investment.

Nine out of the 10 most deprived neighbourhoods in the UK are seaside communities, according to the Department for Communities and Local Government 2015 Index of Multiple Deprivation.

The report highlights several reasons for the decline, including the collapse of shipbuilding and fishing, the demise of the traditional annual holiday by the seaside, growing drug use, and cutbacks in budgets affecting maintenance of public places, street cleaning, and tourism promotion.

The BHA cites the successful regeneration of Folkestone in Kent and the Jurassic Coast in Dorset and East Devon as examples of how the British seaside can recover.

Ufi Ibrahim, chief executive of the BHA, said: ‘Our members recognize the problems facing many coastal communities, but we also know there are fantastic opportunities to boost these places and help revive the Great British Seaside holiday.

‘250 million visits are already made to the UK’s coast each year, generating £17 billion to the economy. But we know there is a lot more to do – and that can only happen with a concerted effort by a committed government and the private sector. Together we can turn the tide and bring a smile back to the seaside.

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Blackpool rocks for affluent Brits

A TWO-YEAR campaign to shift perceptions of #Blackpool has resulted in an increase in affluent tourists who want to visit the seaside town. 

The local tourist board launched the Blackpool's Back campaign in 2014, re-positioning it as a family resort, highlighting its world-renowned attractions.

Among ABC1 respondents who have seen the campaigns advertisements, 65% in the north and 67% in Scotland would consider a visit to Blackpool, compared to 51% and 44% respectively who hadn't. Visitor satisfaction rates are on the increase for the second year running, from 89% in 2014 to 93% in 2015 (84% 2013).

Summer 2015 saw the resort record the highest visitor figures in August for three years.

A revamped #Blackpoolhasitall campaign will run for a third year in 2016, with TV advertisements in Scotland and the north of England.

Head of the Blackpool Cluster for Merlin Entertainments, Kate Shane, said: ‘Now we've successfully shown that Blackpool is definitely back, we're ready to show that Blackpool has it all, too. There are lots of exciting developments this time around to encourage even more parents to come and share their own childhood memories, or create new ones together."

Statistics from Google show Blackpool is second-only to London in the most-searched-for destinations in the UK so far this year, with Stonehenge, Centerparcs and Bath making up the rest of the top five.

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Bands by the sea

PLANS are in hand to stage Thorpefest, an outdoor music festival at the Thorpeness Country Club, near Aldeburgh on Suffolk’s Heritage Coast on July 2.

Featuring almost a dozen bands from 12noon until 10pm, the charity concert replaces the Music by the Sea event, which has been held outside the White Lion Hotel on Aldeburgh’s sea front since 2012.

Peter Osborne at organisers TA Hotel Collection said: ‘With music by the Sea attracting more than 10,000 people, it has become necessary to move and revamp the event. The privately-owned Thorpeness Country Club is the perfect secure venue with both indoor and outdoor space including a large lawn overlooking the sea.

‘For the first time, it would be a pre-sold ticketed event welcoming 3,000 people to enjoy some great music performed by national acts, emerging local artists, tribute bands, and favourites from previous years.’

Bands include the Austin Beats, whose repertoire features music made famous by The Rolling Stones, the Kinks, and other artists from the 50s and 60s.

Champagne, beer tents, and a BBQ would be provided by the Thorpeness Dolphin Inn and the White Lion Hotel.

Tickets are priced at £12 per person, or £10 for Thorpeness Country Club members, £8 for under 12s and free for under 5s.

For full details, go to www.thorpenesscountryclub.co.uk, www.whitelion.co.uk, or www.brudenellhotel.co.uk

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Coming up in Cornwall …

St Ives September Festival – September 12-26: The biggest arts event in the South-West sees a plethora of talent performing around the town. More than 300 events in two weeks of music, exhibitions, walks, talks, workshops, films, comedy, theatre, plays, stories, and poetry. www.stivesseptemberfestival.co.uk

Newquay Fish Festival – September 11-13: In its 13th year, the festival fuses Newquay's holiday scene and its fishing community and attracts more than 40,000 visitors. www.newquayfishfestival.co.uk

Looe Music Festival – September 18-20: Playing host to bands including Jools Holland & His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and The Proclaimers, the stage overlooks a beach lined by steep cliffs and the harbour. Expect an eclectic mix of high energy ‘keep you on the move’ music delivered back-to-back from either end of the beach and around the harbour, plus acts on every street corner, and in every bar and restaurant. www.looemusic.co.uk

Great Cornish Food Festival, Lemon Quay, Truro. – September 25-27: Local celebrated seafood chef and staunch festival supporter, Nathan Outlaw, headlines a packed timetable of master classes, cooking challenges, and tastings. More than 60 exhibitors and 30 food experts will be taking part in what is said to be the largest event anywhere dedicated 100% to Cornish food and drink. www.greatcornishfood.co.uk/festival

Falmouth Oyster Festival – October 8-11: The festival celebrates the start of the oyster dredging season, quality of Cornish Seafood and, in particular, dredging by sail and hand punt. The four-day festival is packed with cookery demonstrations by leading local chefs, with oysters, seafood, wine, and ale to sample, plus children's shell painting, entertainment in the form of sea shanties, a town parade, live music, an oyster shucking competition, and Falmouth’s Working Boat race. 

www.falmouthoysterfestival.co.uk

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50144889@N08/7178135126">St Ives. Panorama_5. Nikon D3100. DSF_0448</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">(license), http://www.flickr.com/photos/7149027@N07/5952010569">Jools 1</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">(license), http://www.flickr.com/photos/24509941@N00/6827851640">JOH_5771</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">(license)

Bournemouth tops seaside search league

TRAVEL interest to UK coastal destinations has increased by up to 64 per cent according to new data from hotel comparison site trivago.co.uk.

Hotel searches made during the hottest days (June 29-July 1) were compared to searches made the previous week. #Bournemouth emerged as the UK’s favourite seaside resort, followed by Blackpool, Brighton, Scarborough, and Whitby.

The most expensive coastal destination in July was St Ives in Cornwall, where an overnight stay cost an average of £160. This was followed by Poole (£140), Portsmouth (£127), Newquay (£117), and Brighton (£116).

The cheapest prices were found in Blackpool (average of £60 per night during July 2015), followed by Skegness (£62), Scarborough (£79), Weston-super-Mare, and Southend-on-Sea (both £82).

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End of the British two-week holiday?

THE NUMBER of people taking a two-week holiday has decreased by 46% over the last five years, according to a study by Travelodge, which surveyed 3,000 British adults about their holiday plans for 2015.

It found that UK holidaymakers are opting for one week away, with four shorter breaks spread out throughout the year. This year, 70% of Britons are planning a domestic break, with less than one in five (19%) taking a two-week holiday.

But the traditional #seasideholiday is back in vogue as more than half (56%) of Britons are heading to the coast this summer, with top destinations including Cornwall, Devon, Blackpool, Brighton, and Bournemouth.

The next most popular type of holiday is the #ruralescape, with 35% exploring the UK countryside in places such as the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Scottish Highlands, Norfolk Broads, and Cotswolds.

The number taking #citybreaks has fallen this year to 25%, from 37% last year. Top city break destinations for 2015 include London, Edinburgh, York, Bristol, and Liverpool. 

A Travelodge spokeswoman said: ‘Our 2015 holiday index has revealed an interesting trend, with Britons taking more multiple breaks throughout the year, which suggests the end of the traditional two-week break.’

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The golden age of the British seaside

David Kernek has been enjoying a new book about a long gone British institution

SOME of the most unclouded memories of my childhood in a gritty, post-war inner London borough were of annual one-week holidays in Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast. I remember the beaches – most of them newly-cleared of WW2 mines – the end-of-the-pier shows, the ice cream and hot dog stands, the tea stalls on the prom, candy floss, chips served up on pages from yesterday’s Daily Mirror, the stench of boiling hops from the town’s brewery and, of course, because it was July, the relentless east wind, rain, and the icy sea.

Great Yarmouth’s brewery has long since gone – there’s a supermarket on the site now –just as the world of the Great British #Seaside experience has vanished. It was the product of the 19th century railway boom that carried the toiling masses and their children from the dark, satanic cities to their weeks by the sea, creating a coastal network of towns – many of them previously small fishing ports – whose principal business was the provision of pleasure. Its end came a little more than a century later, done in – year by year – by the growth in the 1960s of the foreign package tour industry. The toiling masses could have their funfairs, hot dogs, chips, and tea in Benidorm, plus the things the Blackpools, Brightons, and Butlins’ couldn’t guarantee: sun and a warm sea.

Beside the Sea: Britain’s Lost Seaside Heritage by Sarah Freeman is an affectionate and informative history of the rise and protracted decline of this island’s coastal pleasure towns, from #Blackpool, #Brighton and Bangor and Scarborough and Southport – the towns that gave us holiday camps, donkey rides, knobbly knees and beauty contests, deckchairs and funfairs, and the great piers stretching out into the oceans. It was in the pavilions at the end of the piers that the entertainment stars of the 20th century laid the foundations of their fame.

Max Miller began his career on Brighton’s – now destroyed – West Pier. The Rolling Stones played the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton in 1964. By 1963, the Beatles had played at that venue 27 times. My first adolescent crush was on Helen Shapiro, a very young blues and pop singer. She topped the bill at a variety show in Great Yarmouth to which I was taken. I’ve never forgotten her!

Beside the Sea: Britain’s Lost Seaside Heritage by Sarah Freeman. Aurum Press, £25.

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Picture Credit: Eastbourne Bandstand - geograph.org.uk - 256414 by Colin Smith. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons, Courtesy of Beside the Sea: Britain's Lost Seaside Heritage.

Eat and drink … on the beach

THIS year’s St. Ives Food and Drink Festival (sponsored by Carbis Bay Holidays and Tregenna Castle Resort) takes place on the white sands of Porthminster Beach. 

Here local food producers, restaurants, and chefs, will be showcasing the best of what the Cornish town – and the county – has to offer. 

The festival (May 16-17) will feature cooking demos, stalls selling quality Cornish produce, a paddleboard competition, and a music stage.

www.stivesfoodanddrinkfestival.co.uk

www.visitstives.org.uk

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Picture Credit: "St. Ives - Bay" by Franzfoto - Own work via Wikimedia Commons, "Moules-marinieres-p1010564" by Rama - Own work via Wikimedia Commons 

Ferry deal for foot passengers

ISLE OF WIGHT ferry operator Wightlink has started an online booking service and introduced lower fares for foot passengers.

The company now allows groups of 10 or more foot passengers to book their crossings online. Foot passenger bookings can be made via its group travel webpage – www.wightlink.co.uk/go/tickets-prices/group-bookings

For groups travelling to the island by foot, Wightlink offers discounted return ferry fares, which start at £12.20 per adult and £6.10 per child. Foot passengers also have the opportunity to bring their bikes on board at no extra charge.

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Islands in the bays

MALTA’S government wants to build floating islands for swimmers and sunbathers, one in St Thomas Bay, Malta, and the other at Marsalforn, Gozo.

At 4,300 sq. ft., they will be connected to the shore by a floating walkway. 

They will have diving boards and mooring facilities, there will also be nets to keep jelly fish away from swimmers.

The government hopes to have them in place by June.

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Picture Credit: "Malta - Marsaskala - Secca il-Munxar" by Frank Vincentz - Own work via Wikimedia Commons

Best US family beaches

FAMILY VACATION CRITIC, a TripAdvisor site, has announced the winners of its annual Best Beaches for Families survey. 

‘When choosing the top family-friendly beaches, we consider a number of factors – it's not just beautiful sands and picturesque views,’ explains Lissa Poirot, editor-in-chief of Family Vacation Critic. ‘Beyond clean, safe beaches, we're looking for beaches that offer a well-rounded experience for families – accommodation, dining and entertainment within close distance of the beach, and plenty to keep the whole family entertained while in town.’

The list of the best beaches for families includes:

• Virginia Beach - at right - Virginia Beach, Virginia 
• Manatee County Beach – Holmes Beach, Florida 
• Fort De Soto Park – St. Petersburg, Florida 
• Rehoboth Beach – Rehoboth Beach, Delaware 
• Crescent Beach – Block Island, Rhode Island 
• Cape May Beach - at top – Cape May, New Jersey

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Picture Credit: "Cape May Beach Ave, NJ, USA" by Smallbones (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons; "Virginia Beach, VA, USA" by Protoant (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

Where to see the whale sharks

WESTERN AUSTRALIA is preparing for another big whale shark season, following sightings of the world's largest fish near Exmouth in the State's Coral Coast region ....

More than 19,000 people visited the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef in 2014 to get up close with the creatures, who migrate to the Western Australian shores between March and August each year to feed on plankton and krill.

Whale shark swim tours will begin from Coral Bay and Exmouth from mid-March until August, allowing visitors the opportunity to have a face-to-fin encounter with whale sharks – which can grow up to 59ft in length.

www.westernaustralia.com

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Picture Credit: "Requin baleine" by zclemz - Own work via Wikimedia Commons.

££££s lost by West Country rail closure

LAST year’s closure of the mainline railway linking Devon and Cornwall in England could have cost the UK economy from £60 million to £1.2 billion, says the Devon Maritime Forum (DMF). 

Train services to Cornwall – one of Britain’s main holiday regions – were stopped after tracks were washed into the sea at Dawlish in early 2014 during severe storms. The forum said all industries were hit by the destruction of the line.

The track was re-opened in April at a cost of £35 million.

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Seaside towns given £36m investment; projects in 36 towns to get funding

BRITISH seaside towns are to benefit from a £36 million investment by the government’s Coastal Communities Fund.

The money will be used to fund projects in 36 towns with £2 million to go towards Blackpool’s Illuminations, £2.7 million to refurbish Scarborough’s market, and £3.8 million to extend the Tate St Ives gallery.

A new cycle and walking path will also be built in Dawlish linking the town to the Exe Estuary Trail route.

Coastal Communities minister, Penny Mordaunt said: ‘Backing our coastal towns so they can rise up and drive forward their local economies is a key part of our long-term economic plan to secure a brighter future for Britain.’

VisitEngland’s James Berresford added: ‘The seaside towns, local communities, attractions, and landscapes that form part of this are a huge draw for domestic and international visitors. Investment is key and there is a need for coastal towns to continuously re-invent themselves and to strive toward attracting visitors all-year round.’

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Picture Credit: "Lusty Glaze Beach, Newquay - geograph.org.uk - 215949" by Gary Rogers via Wikimedia Commons.