Burgh Island

Hotel review

Arriving at Burgh Island Hotel can be a challenge, depending on the time of year and the weather conditions. On a sunny day, when the tide is out, it’s a delightful stroll across the strip of sand which connects it with the mainland, or ferried in one of their chauffeur-driven cars from neighbouring Bigbury. But if the tide is in, the only access is via their vintage sea tractor, which grinds its way through a shallow sea to the island’s slipway. You should not stay here without experiencing this contraption at least once. It’s a unique way of arriving.

The hotel was built in 1929 in Art Deco style, with Crittal-style metal-framed windows, and today’s management has sought to preserve it as something of a time capsule. Bedrooms retain their period fittings; each is named after a famous personality of the 1930s, and pre-war memorabilia line the walls. Many famous personalities have stayed here, from Noel Coward to Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson and Winston Churchill. But perhaps their most famous resident was Agatha Christie, who wrote two of her famous novels here — 'And Then There Were None' (1939) and 'Evil Under the Sun' (1941) — both heavily inspired by the wild and windswept setting. She stayed in a dedicated beach house below the main hotel overlooking the rocks, which sleeps six and can be booked. Not surprisingly, "Agatha’s Beach House" is heavily over-subscribed.

In honour of Christie, the hotel hosts murder mystery weekends, where guests dine together and are invited to guess who amongst them has done the evil deed. Evidence of that deed is the chalked outline of a body on the floor of Reception. They are nothing if not thorough!

At all times, you are invited to get into the spirit of the age of the flapper by dressing for dinner in the ballroom — specifically, black tie — and dancing to jazz from the Swing Era. It makes you feel like you're in a Bertie Wooster novel or a Poirot mystery, with cocktails in martini glasses. The menu here is fine dining, featuring the freshest fish and local produce. Alternative dining options include the brasserie-style Nettlefold Restaurant, and the historic 14th-century Pilchard Inn, a wonderful former smugglers' haunt of cosy cubby holes and a wood-beamed bar.

Regardless of whether nostalgia and dressing for dinner are your thing, the hotel boasts a spectacular setting. Most of the 26 rooms have full sea views with sit-out balconies accessed through French windows, which, blissfully, can be left open at night for fresh sea breezes and the sound of the waves to lull you to sleep. Because they were built in the frugal 1930s, they are not large, but they are bright, and many have roll-top baths. All have GPO-style Bakelite telephones and an old-fashioned wireless. 

There are some great walks in the area, either an easy climb to the top of the small 26-acre island for sweeping coastal views, or longer loops along the mainland coast, where you can often spot seals, dolphins and porpoises. There's also a wonderfully secluded seawater 'Mermaid Pool' (where the hotel keeps fresh lobsters), surrounded by rocks and crags for bathing, a pontoon for sunbathing, a tennis court, a croquet lawn and a spa.

James Dunford Wood