ENGLAND'S HOLIDAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 242, 12 October 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

ENGLAND'S HOLIDAYS.

SOUTH COAST RESORTS, GROWTH OF WATERING PEACES. LOVELY TORQUAY. But yesterday an American who had travelled through England said that English towns and villages were now so closely linked by excellent roads and so nearly overlapped that before long the whole country would be one big city. This comes as a shock to those who knew England when the most popular health and holiday resorts were half a day's journey from London and when the journey itself was not the least excitement of the holiday. Most colonial travellers are advised to visit Brighton or "London by the Sea," in Sussex, and Torquay, in Devonshire. Both these coastal towns were made popular by Royalty, although recognised holiday resorts long before kings and princes placed the seal of their approval upon them. Brighton has seen itself drawn ever nearer London by improvements in means of transport." The old four-in-hand coach; was followed by the railr way—the trains steadily increasing speed until the days of the famous "Brighton Express"—and the railway yielding much of its'human freight to the motor cars of to-day. (_. "Fashionable Brighton." The history of Brighton as a place of recreation, rest and pleasure dates from 1750. In 1783 the Prince of Wales (afterwards King George IV.) made Brighton the fashion, and it may in truth be said that it has been *in fashion ever since. The railway (through from London to Brighton) was opened in 1841, and from then until this day the town has been a special favourite with wealthy Jews. In 1831 the resident population of the town was but 40,000; to-day, with its suburb ot Hove, it has 200,000. The floating population during public holidays is probably beyond computation.

Mr. Harold Clunn, in a book on famous South Coast resorts,* has selected Brighton as the first of seven of England's southern coastal health resorts for his extended histories of the towns, and to journey with him to any one or the seven is to learn to know not only its physical features but the most ultimate details of its neighbours, life, and excursion advantages. We ourselves FJ«S$ 4 S normal- times, -

"No corner," says Mi\ Clunn, "on the sliores of the Mediterranean, on the lake shores of Italy and Switzerland, in America, or in the Southern Seas, can properly be said to excel Torquay in the loveliness of its exquisite domestic scenery, and its perfect climatic conditions in spring. It boasts more sunshine and less frost than many popular resorts of the Riviera." Napoleon gazed upon Torquay-from the deck of the Bellerophon, and probably regretted that he had not done so as a conqueror instead of as a prisoner. "Enfin, voila un beau pays," said he. "Select" Bournemouth. Amongst the most popular of English South Coast resorts is Bournemouth, with its gentle breezes, pine trees, and beautiful gardens aud public walks. It is, -perhaps, a little depressing to the hol|daymaker, for it is a place much recommended by the medical profession to invalids, convalescents and elderly people. Consequently, it is the ambition of the residents and tradespeople tokeep it quiet, orderly, "select," and rather expensive. A report says that "the peaceful, uneventful life of Bournemouth was rudely shaken by a murder in 1921," and this is probably the only event of any newspaper importance which has stirred beautiful Bournemouth in many years. The population is now 150,000. There is nothing of the guide book about Mr. Clunn's history of theee towns, and there are over 200 photographs to illustrate the seven resorts he has studied, the pictures themselves being of historical value, some being reproduced from drawings a century old. Worthing and Bognor have been brought, into public favour during the present year by the fact that it was to the latter town King George V. was sent during his illness to recuperate. Bognor is now "Bognor Regie." ■ Up until this date Bognor has been the inexpensive resort of midd e-class workers with small incomes and large families. Having been fifty years behind the times in the matter of accommodation, it will offer colonial visitors a taste of old-fashioned hospitality until fashionable visitors following the King convert it into something more like "hHi-class Eastbourne," which has since early Victorian days simply crackled and rustled with the prim starchiness of exceeding propriety.

Railway facilities between all the ]ar«'e south towns and London are surprisingly good. The Brighton express is a seventy-five-miles-an-hour, sparkling steam conveyance which is the perfection of smooth and comfortable running, and the.Worthing train does sixty-one miles in less than eighty-one minutes. When you go for a holiday you do not wish to waste a great part of it on the way to the place selected. Mr. Clunn has set out to assist you in your selection. ♦"Some Famous South. Coast-Resorts/'by H. Clunn. (Whittingham, Ltd.).