Note that our listing currently includes only those beaches which have received official approval from the landowner or local authority. There are more than a hundred other beaches where naturists gather, and countless quiet spots where people strip off to swim and sunbathe. British Naturism is actively campaigning for more beaches to receive official approval. Below is an introduction to the many promising developments in the growth of nude beach use. In the last 200 years we have become a civilisation of town dwellers, and our holidays have more and more come to be a time to satisfy a craving for sun, sand and sea.
Most seaside resorts go back no further than the last century.
The idea of wearing clothes to go swimming is even more recent, and only became the norm towards the end of the Victorian period. Sunbathing has only come into its own since the start of this century, and like swimming it is much nicer in the nude. Bathing costumes do not keep you warm, particularly when wet. They have got steadily scantier and more revealing since they were invented, when the original idea was to cover the entire body. Over the years many people have come to realise that they are not really necessary at all.