Burgh Island Hotel
An Art Deco hotel on a Devon tidal island, reached at high water by sea tractor.
Burgh Island sits off Bigbury-on-Sea in south Devon, joined to the mainland by a sandbar that the tide covers. At low water guests walk across; at high water they ride the sea tractor, a machine on stilts built for this crossing and used nowhere else. The island also carries the Pilchard Inn, a fourteenth-century pub open to day visitors, which is why this register places it at P2 rather than P4 — the hotel does not have the island to itself.
The hotel is a white Art Deco block built in 1929 and restored rather than modernised: black-tie dinners, a ballroom, a natural sea pool in the rocks. Agatha Christie stayed and wrote here, and two of her novels are set on the island. Around twenty-five rooms and suites, plus the separate Beach House.
The sea tractor. A working vehicle rather than an attraction, and the only one of its kind. It sets the rhythm of arrival, dinner and departure.
Preserved, not refurbished. The hotel operates as a 1930s property on purpose, down to the dress code. That is either the whole appeal or the reason to stay away.
Who it is not for
Burgh Island is wrong for guests who want contemporary comfort — the building is period and behaves like one. It is wrong for travellers who dislike dress codes and set dinner hours, both of which are enforced. And it is wrong for anyone wanting the island to themselves, since the pub and the beach draw day visitors. Those wanting a private British island should look at Isle of Eriska.
Sources
- burghisland.com — Art Deco hotel, sea tractor crossing, Pilchard Inn on the island
- Room count and current dining arrangements unverified. Confirm before publication.
Booking
Private Island Resorts arranges each stay on request, quoting the rates available for the island and dates. No benefit should be assumed unless it is confirmed in writing for the individual reservation.
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