The great white palace

Agatha Christie and all that jazz - the magical story of Burgh Island and its hotel In 1986 Tony Porter and his wife had successful careers as fashion consultants in London's West End where he ran the fashion store Biba. On holiday in the West Country, they fell in love with and gave up everything to buy Burgh Island, off the coast of Devon, with its near-derelict, long-forgotten Art Deco hotel. Over the next ten years they laboured to restore it to its former glory and transformed it into the beautiful, luxurious place it is today. Since the hotel's inception in 1929, the rich and famous have been holidaying there and Tony Porter's The Great White Palace is an affectionate and entertaining reminder of the giddy delights of a bygone era.