Burgh Island Hotel

A sea tractor ferries guests across the sands to this white concrete Art Deco edifice on a tidal island, built as a party venue in the 1930s, and what a swell party it is! Room names nod to illustrious past guests. Suites such as Noël Coward have a lounge with Deco furniture, Devon fudge, bespoke toiletries. Agatha Christie’s writing retreat will sleep six. A trusted reader and a Guide insider tell separately of a compact room with poor lighting and with a metal-framed window that wouldn’t shut: he hated it, and she forgave everything for the fun of it all. We hope the recent refurbishment has sorted out the glitches. The furniture in the Jane Marple room was old-fashioned, ‘which is precisely the point’. There was no hospitality tray, but ‘tea or coffee is delivered every morning. Room service is ordered via a Bakelite telephone.’ After a dip in the sea-bathing Mermaid Pool, you can enjoy afternoon tea or cocktails under the ‘peacock’ ceiling of the Palm Court, eat seafood in The Nettlefold, or put on the Ritz for a black-tie dinner in the Grand Ballroom. The 13th-century Pilchard Inn is the place for fish and chips and a pint.