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| Burgh Island Hotel inspired one of Agatha Christie’s most famous crime mysteries |
This wonderful art deco hotel is on Burgh Island, in Devon, and was the setting for two novels by crime queen Agatha Christie, who lived in Devon and stayed at the hotel on occasions. We admired the building, which looks a bit like a 1930s cruise ship, but we stayed with our Elder Daughter, who has just moved to Plymouth. Her boyfriend (I should say partner) teaches at one of the city’s secondary schools, while she has just finished her training and any day now will start her first job as a nurse in the main hospital down there.
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| I’m not very good at taking photos of people, but I rather like this one of my daughters paddling. Lucy (the elder) is on the right, and Emily (the younger) is on the left. |
Anyway, that’s quite enough of me and my family. Back to Burgh Island, which is around 300 yards from Bigbury Beach, and you can walk to it when the tide is on the way out – Elder Daughter and her boyfriend have done it, and walked on the island, which is about a mile around In addition to the hotel there are three houses, and a pub called the Pilchard Inn. However, when we went to the beach the tide was on the way in, and we were worried we might get stranded there until the tide turned. The Burgh Island Hotel has a special tractor, where seating for the driver and passengers is raised on tall wheels, high above the sand and water, so everyone can cross the causeway safely, without getting wet.
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| The rocks along the sure were full of fissures and clefts, and weathered into sharp points and pinnacles, made of thin layers, like slate or shale. |
The island’s reputation for attracting celebrities seems to date back to the 1890s when music hall star George H Chirgwin built a wooden house and invited guests to weekend parties, but the present hotel was created by film maker Archibold Nettlefold who bought the whole island in 1927. For just over a decade it was one of the most fashionable and popular places for the glittering social elite of the day: as well as Agatha Christie, guests included Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, and Noel Coward.
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| The lower part of the rock was smoothed by waves, and you could see the twisted strata. Some of the looked like the feet of giant creatures stuck in the sand. |
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| A view of the island, showing the hotel on the left, and the Pilchard Inn on the right. |
The Book Trunk 
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