Southwold, more than any other seaside resort, seems to epitomise the spirit of the pre-war British holiday. It has some of the country's best beach huts and today is certainly the No. 1 destination for holidaymakers heading for the Suffolk Coast.

In the Edwardian era and in the years following the First World War, the sight of people of both sexes in bathing costumes had become acceptable. However, changing in public was still frowned upon and could result in a fine.

'Scarborough was the first seaside resort at which bathing machines were seen, having been recorded in an engraving by John Setterington in 1736. It did not take long before they became a mandatory feature of every fishing village on the coast that aspired to cater to the gentry. The best description of a bathing machine is given by Tobias Smollett in The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker.'

Image to yourself a small, snug, wooden chamber, fixed upon a wheel-carriage, having a door at each end, and on each side a little window above, a bench below – The bather, ascending into this apartment by wooden steps, shuts himself in, and begins to undress, while the attendant yokes a horse to the end next the sea, and draws the carriage forwards, till the surface of the water is on a level with the floor of the dressing-room, then he moves and fixes the horse to the other end – The person within being stripped, opens the door to the sea-ward, where he finds the guide ready, and plunges headlong into the water – After having bathed, he re-ascends into the apartment, by the steps which had been shifted for that purpose, and puts on his clothes at his leisure, while the carriage is drawn back again upon the dry land; so that he has nothing further to do, but to open the door, and come down as he went up – Should he be so weak or ill as to require a servant to put off and on his clothes, there is room enough in the apartment for half a dozen people.

As it gradually became more acceptable for people to be seen on the beach in their bathing costumes, villages of stripy changing tents were erected on the Edwardian sands and enterprising people made use of the abandoned bathing machines by removing the wheels and turning them into beach huts.

It is the existence of the pier at Southwold which gives us, unlike Aldeburgh, a wealth of postcard views back to the town's imposing seafront particularly North Parade.

Southwold Pier was built in 1900 by the Coast Development Company, principally for the use of their fleet of Denny-built "Belle" paddle steamers. P.S. Southwold Belle served primarily on the Thames to Great Yarmouth run and it is possibly her which can be seen in the postcard above. In the years before the First World War it was very fashionable to take excursions up and down the East Coast on these paddle steamers to Lowestoft, Ipswich, Clacton, Walton and London. Sadly, however, by the end of the 1911 season, the Southwold Belle was sold to pay off mounting debts. In May 1915, with World War I in progress and excursion traffic all but vanished, Coast Development went into liquidation.

Formerly Southwold ended at Gun Hill, but in the inter-war years a long row of bungalows both on the beach and alongside the road sprung up, continuing to the mouth of the river Blyth at Walberswick Ferry. Many of these buildings are now holiday homes or weekend 'cottages'.

By reaching the River Blyth and bearing right along the gravel track past the fisherman's huts and boats and the yachts one will come to the Harbour Inn where there is poignant evidence of this area's vulnerability to the sea. A high tide mark half way up the wall of the inn reminds us of just how high sea levels can reach! We should remember that Southwold is in fact practically an island surrounded by the sea on the east, on the south-west by the river Blyth, and on the west and north-west by the Buss Creek.

In part 2 we will show pictures in postcards of incidences of storm damage to Southwold's seafront going back to the early 20th century.

By the way if anyone can tell us anything about Mr Aldrich and his Tea Hut we should be grateful - just post a comment.