Saturday on Burgh Island
Saturday 20th May 2017
Waved the girls off at Heathrow in the morning, then went back to Paddington to get a train down to Plymouth. From there a taxi to Bigbury and then the sea tractor across to Burgh Island! Spent a lovely afternoon wiling away the time in the idyllic Pilchard Inn and having a general wander around the island and the hotel, before dressing for dinner and lapping up the 1930s charm of the hotel in the evening.
Burgh Island
John's Pictures

12:19:46
Passing through Starcross on the train on the way down, was trying to get a picture of the River Exe Cafe. It obvioulsy wasn't going to work.

12:19:48

12:19:52

12:26:31
That lovely stretch of railway near Dawlish which runs right along the coast, and it feels like being on a boat.

12:26:36

14:07:37
Got a taxi from Plymouth to Bigbury and now Burgh Island was in sight!

14:08:51
Very pleased to be going over on the sea tractor on the way there, adds a sense of drama.

14:08:55

14:14:10
The hotel as seen from the sea tractor.

14:28:38
My room at the Burgh Island Hotel - Dorothy Button.

14:40:44

14:40:51
The view from my room. Sort of a sea view!

14:44:11
The foyer of the hotel.

14:44:31
The bar.

14:45:09
The ball room / dining room.

14:45:27
The bar again.

14:47:13

14:47:34
Outside the hotel.

14:47:40
The Captain's Cabin.

14:48:28
Looking back toward the mainland.

14:48:31

14:49:08
The Mermaid pool.

14:49:21

14:49:38

14:50:12

14:51:47

14:52:27
Can sea the beach house here where Agatha Christie used to stay.

14:54:51
The sea tractor again.

14:55:37
The delightful Pilchard Inn.

14:55:57
The difference in colour between this picture and the next is because for once I actually had my proper digital camera with me - so this is a picture with my camera...

14:57:17
...and this was taken with my phone.

14:59:02
The back of the Pilchard Inn.

14:59:22
The gates to the hotel.

14:59:30

15:00:34

15:03:34
Inside the Pilchard Inn. Absolutely love it here.

15:05:38
My little corner of the Pilchard Inn.

15:11:10

15:11:17

15:19:01
Pilchard Ale was very drinkable.

15:20:40
Outside the Pilchard Inn looking across the bay.

15:20:51

15:21:06

15:24:42

15:29:49

15:30:29

15:32:49
Back inside the Pilchard again.

15:32:56

15:33:11
Looking out through the lovely little alcove window in the Pilchard Inn.

15:33:12
More interior shots of the Pilchard Inn.

15:33:20

15:33:25

15:33:30

15:33:50

15:33:55

16:10:00
Eventually dragged myself out of the Pilchard Inn for a bit of a walk round the island.

16:11:02

16:11:07

16:11:11

16:11:35
Some nice flowers on the clifftop.

16:11:47

16:11:53

16:12:50

16:13:06

16:13:57

16:15:57

16:16:04

16:17:09
Such an absolutely gorgeous setting.

16:17:47
The tide was going out now so I thought I'd venture across the beach a bit.

16:17:52

16:18:27

16:18:38

16:19:19
A kitesurfer.

16:19:28

16:19:55

16:19:59

16:19:59

16:20:06

16:21:15

16:22:22
The hotel and the Pilchard Inn together.

16:22:26

16:24:25

16:25:30

16:26:22
Back into the hotel, I thought I should give myself plenty of time to dress for dinner knowing it takes numerous attempts to get a bow tie right!

17:59:28
A not insifnigicant fraction of the intervening hour and a half between this and the previous photo was spent watching YouTube videos and trying to remind myself how to tie a bow tie.

17:59:42
I'm reasonably satisfied with the end result.

18:09:54
Once I felt just about respectably attired I headed straight for the bar, where I had a twist on an Aviation and took it out on the terrace, which was starting to get just ever so slightly bracing by this point of the evening.

18:40:20
Went for a bit of a pre-dinner stroll perhaps partly just to help space the cocktails out a bit!

18:40:40

18:43:02

18:49:32

19:53:13
The Art Deco Trio who played during dinner.

19:53:22
It wouldn't be hard to imagine it was 1930!

20:15:25

20:15:44
Very vein selfie in the mirror of the gents, the only possible excuse being that I wanted to check my bow tie was still in order.

20:50:49
Went for a bit of a post dinner stroll (may have even been between courses?) to catch a bit of the sunset.

20:51:40
Found the Helipad! I wonder if it gets much use?

20:51:47

20:52:11

20:52:17

20:53:08
The helipad did happen to be the only flat surface around so certainly came in handy.

20:53:22

20:55:18

20:56:50

20:56:56

20:57:49

20:59:36

20:59:59

21:00:50

21:01:52

21:01:58

21:02:00

21:02:03

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21:03:23

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21:04:31

21:04:35

00:42:29
At the end of the evening, taken by a member of staff, who had rather superbly let me perform sabrage out on the terrace - not a lot of hotels would I suspect!

00:42:31

00:42:34
All the other guests had gone to bed by this point, so I let the staff do the same by going off to bed myself.