Stepping Back in Time at the Iconic Burgh Island Hotel

Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend 3 nights at the amazing Burgh Island Hotel with my friend Louise.

Burgh Island is a small island accessible at low tide from Bigbury-on-Sea in Devon. When the tide is in it is completely cut off from the mainland and accessible only by the sea tractor.

It was built in 1929, and its remote location made it the ideal setting and inspiration for various murder mystery novels and indeed, Agatha Christie herself stayed there.

It’s perfectly preserved and when you stay you find yourself in an Art Deco wonderland. You can almost feel the presence of past famous guests such as Noel Coward, Josephine Baker and Winston Churchill. Nothing is too much for the staff and without exception every staff member we met there was polite, friendly and a joy to interact with.

We arrived at low tide and were greeted on the mainland at the secure car park. Our cases were loaded onto the 4x4, and we were driven, slowly, across the sand to the hotel. On the way over our driver pointed out all sorts of interesting things and gave us a potted history of the hotel.

From there it was straight into the Palm Court where we were greeted with Champagne and told all about what to expect from our stay.

What followed was three days of cocktails, glamour, sea air and genuinely one of the best mini breaks of my life!

The sea tractor has been transporting hotel guests since 1929. The current iteration is only the 3rd model and has been in service since 1969.

It departs every hour or so and is quite exciting to be on. Even if you arrive and depart at low tide it is well worth taking a trip on it when the tide is in just for fun!

There is a private cove at the hotel which is accessed down a wooden tower. It’s only for hotel guests and can give you, if you are that way inclined, a marvellous sea swimming experience.

Given it is October we were NOT that way inclined!! I did, however, have a paddle and quickly lost feeling in my feet. Louise and I agreed we would definitely bring swimming costumes next time we visited and plenty of other guests did partake in a dip – we could hear them screaming from the warmth of the bar…

As suggested, we did indeed take the sea tractor over to the mainland. The village is very quiet on a weekday (much busier at the weekend) and we had a brilliant walk for an hour or so exploring the rocks and the beach. There is a great beach café and if you are feeling active there is a surf school there that can help you out with paddle boarding etc.

We also took a walk around the island itself. This was great. There is nothing but treacherous cliffs on the other side from the hotel which Louise and I loved. We lived out our best Agatha Christie lives, watching out for suspicious looking characters who may have a mishap on the rocks. There were no suspicious characters to investigate so we went to the Pilchard for a pint instead.

The Pilchard is the pub on the Island. It has been there since 1336! It is small and dark and absolutely brilliant. You can feel the history oozing out of it. We ate there on our first night and the food was sublime. It gets busy at the weekend though but there are loads of places to sit outside.

The cocktail menu at the hotel is fantastic. There are loads of options that I had never heard of and versions of old favourites. We were also reminded the staff could make anything we wanted even if it was not on the menu.

Louise and I thoroughly enjoyed trying our new things and were asked by the waiter at one point if we had tried everything on the menu! I pointed out we had not actually as neither of us like whiskey. We had made a significant dent in the menu though!!

One of the nicest things about the getaway was the chance to really glam up. More is more at Burgh Island, and we loved it. We both took a lot of outfits with us, but we knew we would need jeans and boots for walking in the morning, relaxed but smart clothes for lounging around the Palm Court in the afternoon and then evening outfits.

On Saturday night we ate in the Grand Ballroom. This is a black-tie evening, and it really lived up to our expectations. It was thrilling to be in such a glamourous environment, and we loved looking at everyone’s outfits.

Burgh Island Hotel is a really glamorous and luxurious experience. Every part of it makes you feel special and everyone staying looks so happy to be there. The staff make you feel special; our suite was amazing and yet it does not feel stuffy at all.

Louise and I will absolutely be going back.