Bigbury on Sea

This popular family resort has a stretch of National Trust coastline and extensive sands. The most interesting attraction here though is Burgh Island, which is actually only a part-time island. When the tide is out, it is possible to walk across the sandbar linking it to the mainland. At other times, visitors reach the island by a unique sea tractor, specifically designed for this crossing. It can operate in seven feet of water, in all but the roughest conditions, and it’s well worth timing your visit to enjoy this novel experience.

The whole of the 28-acre island, complete with its 14th-century Pilchard Inn, was bought in 1929 by the eccentric millionaire Archibald Nettlefold. He built an extravagant art deco hotel, which attracted such visitors as Noel Coward, the Duke of Windsor and Mrs Wallis Simpson, and Agatha Christie. The Queen of Crime used the island as the setting for two of her novels, Ten Little Niggers, (later renamed And Then There Were None), and Evil Under the Sun. A feature film of the latter was filmed on the island in 2001. The hotel, which has been described as “a white art deco cruise liner beached on dry land” is still in operation, its wonderful 1930s decor meticulously renovated in the 1990s.