It could be an hour well spent .  Have a look at some local books, most seaside resorts are proud of their beaches and show them off. There will be pictures of beaches crowded by our Victorian ancestors.  Seaside holidays in Britain were the 'in thing' then. No bargain foreign package holidays to distract the Victorian holidaymaker, just the long hot days of our British summers. When I look back on my childhood, not quite Victorian, although it seems a very long way off now, I can remember those pleasant summers days.  Out in the fields of daises, picnicking on home made bread and butter, with a slice of home made cake, washed down with pure ice-cold water from a spring. Hay making through July and August.  The summer seemed to go on for ever.  Where have our summers gone?  After two hot days now, the weatherman cries that there is a storm on its way, but it is awfully nice in Spain, and in Greece it is 100 degrees in the shade! Sorry, back to those over crowded British beaches in Victorian times.

The beaches really did get crowded in those days , and where there are crowds, there are coin and jewellery losses.  So, make a note of where the photos show the crowds were, and head off there yourself.  Making a sketch of the beach is a good idea.  Section it off, making notes of   what was popular in each section.  If there is a large area where nothing much showed up in the photographs, make a note that this would be a section to avoid.