Holiday Camps

A wonderfully illustrated history of the British holiday camp with an emphasis on the golden age of the 1950s and 1960s.

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-in package that included accommodation, food, and plentiful entertainment. This title celebrates the communal and the kitsch, grandmother competitions, chalets, Redcoats and the other well-known symbols.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-in package that included accommodation, food, and plentiful entertainment. The market leader was Billy Butlin whose camps operated on a vast scale, and offered a brightly coloured 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, glamorous grandmother competitions, chalets, Redcoats and all the other well-known symbols of an incredibly popular form of twentieth-century holiday.