History began for Saunton Sands Hotel - a gorgeous art deco hotel when it was opened in 1933 by Sir John Christie, who also built the Glyndebourne opera house. The arrival of the railways had boosted tourism in Devon and the hotel was served by the Ilfracombe line, which ran through Braunton.
Since then, Saunton Sands has operated continuously as a hotel, apart from a brief interlude during the Second World War, when it was requisitioned to house the Duke of York Military School.
The founder of Brend Hotels, Percy Brend, spent many wonderful days at Saunton Sands with his future wife Florence when they were courting in the 1920s, and they both loved the place with a passion. They watched the hotel being built and Percy promised Florence he would buy the hotel for her one day. Many years later in 1977, Percy Brend fulfilled that dream when he purchased the Saunton Sands Hotel. By this time, the hotel had fallen into disrepair so Percy and the Brend family set about refurbishing it to return it to its original glory.
Today, the hotel has a reputation as the leading luxury hotel on the North Devon coast.
Saunton Sands Hotel overlooks the beach at the northern end. This is cordoned off a few times a year and the beach used as an air strip for military transport planes, to practice beach landings and take offs.
Saunton Sands was used as a location for the 1946 Powell and Pressburger film A Matter of Life and Death (sometimes called Stairway to Heaven), and can be seen where David Niven's character is washed up on the beach after he jumps from his plane without a parachute – and survives.
It was a major location for the 1978 horror film The Shout, along with the adjacent Braunton Burrows.
The beach was used as a location for the Second World War Anzio landings scenes in the 1982 Pink Floyd film The Wall and as the backdrop for over 700 wrought iron hospital beds on the cover of the band's 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason. Saunton Sands also doubled for the Normandy beaches in 2014's movie Edge of Tomorrow.
In the late 1990s the beach was used for the video for the Robbie Williams song "Angels". In 2013 it was used again for the video for the Olly Murs song "Hand on Heart".
The BBC One series A Very English Scandal filmed scenes as Saunton Sands to depict a California beach, complete with digitally-rendered palm trees, where the character of Peter Bessell (Alex Jennings) lives.
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