Burgh Island

Burgh Island is a small tidal island on the South Devon Coast that is home to Burgh Island Hotel. This luxury Art Deco hotel was built in 1929 by filmmaker Archibald Nettleford. It became a very glamorous place to stay attracting many famous visitors including Winston Churchill, Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, Agatha Christie (who wrote two of her books here) and the Beatles. Less famous visitors included my Dad who lived here for a short time during the Second World War.

 My Dad, who sadly died a number of years ago, was interested in Family Hisory and wrote his memoirs. He joined the Army on the beginning of the Second World War and ended up for a few months stationed at Burgh Island.

 The Platoon I was sent to was sent to was stationed on Burgh Island, Bigbury on Sea. The island was some three hundred yards from the mainland connected by a causeway that was only usable at low tide. There were only a few buildings on the Island, a luxury hotel, a  village pub and a  remains of a former chapel on the summit. 

We were accommodated on one floor of the Hotel, the rest of which while we were there was used as a Film Studio. At the time we had one day off a week on such days we often stood in as extras  for which we were paid £1 for a day's work. Besides ourselves there was a small Coastal Artillery detachment manning a huge 6 inch mortar. When this was fired into the sea we used to row out in an assault boat to collect the stunning fish which had been blown to the surface by the explosion of the mortar.

One of the advantages of being on an island was that the Orderly officer could not come and turn out the Guard whilst the tide was in. In any event you got early warning of his approach as his car was clearly visible coming across the causeway. Another advantage was having the only Pub in the area on our doorstep.

It is still a wonderful location and the Hotel eventually suffered damage during the 2nd World War, was then converted into self catering apartments. Then in the 1990's it was converted back to it's former glory. The hotel is sadly outside our price bracket, but you like us, can peep in via it's website and see it's wonderful Art Deco interior here. 

The tide was out and we enjoyed walking over the sands, before joining part of the South West Coast path and climbing over the cliffs to find a beautiful hidden bay.

Turning inland we found a wonderful old 13th century inn, where we found sustenance to help us on the walk back to the car, the cliffs seem so much steeper walking back in the opposite direction! 

These pictures were taken on a short break away before Easter. It's strange seeing these blue skies as they are in such short supply at the moment, I know we English are well known for talking about the weather but everyone I meet at the moment seems to be asking when it will stop raining! Locally the farmers are unable to get their cows back out into the fields, sow the crops and the price of hay has escalated.

Wishing you a good week, I have a few full weeks ahead, so apologies for not being around much.

Sarah x