No mystery to lure of Burgh Island where you can celebrate Agatha Christie’s work ahead of BBC drama Ordeal by Innocence
NERVOUSLY checking my watch for the third time, I was becoming concerned my wife was late for the hotel’s black-tie dinner.
The barman had just revealed this was a favourite bolthole of Agatha Christie, and provided the setting for her murder mystery And Then There Were None.
Cut off from the mainland due to a high tide and with a storm raging outside, I was surrounded by strangers — was this to be a whodunit?
Thankfully, moments later, my wife Kelly, inset with Ryan, emerged dressed in her vintage outfit and I could finally relax in the surroundings of the Burgh Island Hotel.
My trip comes ahead of BBC1’s latest Agatha Christie drama, the three-part Ordeal By Innocence, starring Bill Nighy starting on Sunday evening.
For fans of the author this hotel stay was the perfect warm-up.
Visit Burgh Island
Accommodation options and how to get to Burgh Island:
STAYING THERE: One night’s B&B at the Burgh Island Hotel, including a three-course dinner, is from £210pp.
Offers available.
Call 01548 810 514 or see .
GETTING THERE: Trains from London Paddington to Totnes with Great Western Railway start from £40pp return.
See .
Dressing for dinner in The Ballroom is compulsory at this stunning art deco hotel on its small island 200 yards off the South Devon coast.
The hotel advises — and I wholeheartedly agree — to head to the bar for a “snifter” at around 7pm before dinner.
And twice a week, on Wednesday and Saturday nights, the house band will tempt you on to the dance floor.
The surroundings were on a par with the three-course dinner of lobster ravioli, pork loin and coffee macaroons.
The hotel is probably best suited for adults and older teenage kids.
Those aged 13 or under must take High Tea in the Captain’s Cabin.
We had arrived following a comfortable three-hour train trip from London to Totnes then a taxi to Bigbury-on-Sea, where we first clapped eyes on the imposing hotel.
The only way to reach the Grade II listed building was by sea tractor.
After loading our suitcases, tuxedo and evening gown on board, we took the five-minute ride to the island.
Walking into the hotel for the first time is like stepping back 100 years.
And a lot has happened there in that time.
The property was used as a recovery centre for servicemen during World War Two.
King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson stayed there.
The Beatles used the hotel while they played a concert in nearby Plymouth.
And, of course, there is also the rest of the 26-acre island to enjoy. We explored it via several trails in the bracing sea air.
The end of the walk coincided with hitting upon the island’s 14th-century pub, The Pilchard Inn.
Unlike the hotel, the quaint boozer is open to non-residents who either walk over from Bigbury-on-Sea or jump on the sea tractor for £2 each.
The hotel has a sea-water Mermaid Pool and manager Vlad will also arrange surfing and paddle-boarding in the causeway.
We were staying in the Nettlefold room, named after the hotel’s first owner Archie Nettlefold.
It is one of 25 rooms in the complex.
MOST READ IN TRAVEL
Guests can also stay in a studio above the Pichard Inn or The Beach House, built in the Thirties as a writing retreat for Christie.
It’s there she wrote And Then There Were None and Evil Under The Sun.
To relive the spirit of a bygone age and celebrate Christie’s work, there is no finer place than Burgh Island.
As the barman Gary McBar, who has spent 25 years serving cocktails on the island, said: “You feel the spirit of Agatha on your shoulder.”