Burgh Island Hotel

Pack your Schiaparelli gowns, beach pants and playsuits, and board the sea tractor for a trip back to the 1930s at this 'amazing Art Deco hotel', on a tidal island where the beau monde came to play. 'Burgh Island oozes glamour and sophistication whether you are popping in for a cocktail or staying to dance the night away,' reports a reader on their third visit. Bedrooms range from cosy doubles and deluxe to grand suites with a sea-view balcony. Agatha Christie’s beach house, where she wrote of murder most foul, sleeps four. All rooms have Devon fudge and Burgh Island toiletries. Everything is retro, from a transistor radio to the Bakelite phone to call for tea or coffee. You can eat fish and chips at the atmospheric old Pilchard Inn, take a dip in the romantic sea-bathing Mermaid Pool, sip cocktails in the Palm Court lounge, with its 'wonderful decor', enjoy a black-tie dinner in the ballroom, or eat more informally in the Nettlefold restaurant. Readers enjoyed ‘an excellent taster menu in the ballroom, and an à la carte meal in the restaurant, with largely seafood on offer’. Breakfast brings 'ample choice'. 'Service is beyond first class.' (Clare Pinto, AB)