Art Deco Hotel in Devon, cocktails, gorgeous beach

Bigbury-on-Sea was a small fishing village on the Devon coast. Only 250 ms offshore was a tidal island called Burgh, cut off from Bigbury by the tide twice every day. The skyline at the top of Burgh Island was dominated by the remains of the Huers hut, where fisherman kept a lookout for shoals of pilchards. The Huers hut was built on the site of a chapel dedicated to Saint Michael, as part of a small monastic community that originally inhabited the island.

The Pilchard Inn was initially a C14th hideout for pirates and criminals on the run. The most notorious one was an Elizabethan smuggler called Tom Crocker, who was ?shot outside the Pilchard Inn by a Revenue officer. The Inn, situated at the foot of the island, is still popular.

When the music hall star George Chirgwin built a fairly ordinary wooden house on Burgh Island in the 1890s, his guests were thrilled. Weekend parties must have seemed very private and romantic.

Burgh Island was sold in 1927 to filmmaker Archibald Nettlefold who built a substantial hotel in the increasingly popular Art Deco style. Golden beaches and glamorous living were clearly visible to everyone on the Devon coast.

Burgh Island Hotel

fully restored to its 1930s Deco glory.

Note the sea tractor transporting guests at high tide

What did Art Deco architecture look like? In the inter-war era (c1925 -1939), Art Deco architecture was an opulent style whose richness was a reaction to the forced austerity of The Great War. It may have been used for any type of building, but I tend to think of it being most apt for leisure and pleasure – hotels, cinemas, theatres, bars and cruise ships. Deco petrol stations, bus and train depots, although not glam­­orous, were loved for their association with modernity and mobility.

Art Deco architecture popularised a style that was elegant, funct­ional and modern, largely white, streamlined and geometrical. It often drew on modern technology like aviation, electric lighting, radio, ocean liners and sky scrapers for inspiration. The bold use of stepped forms and sweeping curves, chevron patterns and the sunburst motif were very popular; symmetry and repetition were every where. Ribbon windows were preferred but porthole windows could add a nautical element.

Externally, Art Deco used steel framed construction, reinforced concrete and plate glass. Internally, Art Deco was characterised by use of materials like aluminium, stainless steel and inlaid timber.

So it should not surprise anyone that in the inter-war period, Burgh Island had become one of the most popular hotels in the West Country. Improvements and additions to the hotel were made during the 1930s and no facility was more popular in summer than the outside dance floor  - for romance under the stars or the Palm Court deco bar.

And there was a literary connection – crime writer Agatha Christie loved Burgh, living in the Beach House which was first built as a writer’s retreat! Christie wrote two books while on the Is­land (And Then There Were None 1939 and the Hercule Poirot mystery Evil Under the Sun 1941). Appropriately both books were filmed for tv on Burgh Island and in the Burgh Hotel. During the annual Agatha Christie Festival, Burgh Island Hotel hosts an in-costume lunch; visitors can see the actual spots on the island that made their way into Dame Agatha's books.

 

Noel Coward lounge

Original 1930s furniture

Palm Court cocktail bar
with the stained glass dome

When the tide covers the sand bar, access is by the sea tractor, as seen in the photo. It is a cute method of transport, but impract­ic­able in rough weather. When the tide is out, walking is easy.

In WW2 Burgh Island’s location on the coast meant the hotel was used by the armed forces. And was damaged by a bomb. It was only restored to its 1930s glory in 1985 and then again in 2001.

Fortunately Burgh Island is now a Grade II listed building and a fine example of Art Deco hotel architecture. The ballroom has been restored to Gaumont glamour, with a recessed ceil­ing and stepped angular pelmets in bronze, grey and pink. App­roach the ballroom by a flight of wide steps, flanked by the original black Vitralite panels. In the Palm Court room they have installed a mosaic fountain with peacock-feather motifs, inspired by the original peacock-domed glass ceiling. The grand suites are sooo Deco in their original 1930s furniture and their refurbished decoration, you might expect the playwright Noel Coward to walk in at any moment.

The book Great White Palace by Tony Porter is subtitled “Agatha Christie and all that jazz - the magical story of Burgh Island and its hotel”. On holiday in the West Country in 1986, the Porters fell in love with Burgh Island, with its little remembered Art Deco hotel. They bought it and over a ten year period, they restored it to its former glory, a reminder of the delights of a bygone era. The book includes many of the original 1931 drawings by artist Charles Mayo.

Bigbury on Sea, and Burgh Island,

southern coast of Devon.