The Agatha Christie Greenway House in Devon used to be the summer house of the famous crime novelist Agatha Christie (1890-1976) and the place she called “the loveliest place in the world!”
It is a historic Georgian house that resides by the River Dart, surrounded by beautiful and romantic gardens. Christie purchased it with her second husband, Max Mallowan, as a holiday home in 1938, and the family had spent many of their summers and holidays there. Here she wrote several of her novels and got the inspiration for four crime fiction novels – The ABC Murders (1936), Five Little Pigs (1942), Towards Zero (1944), and Dead Man’s Folly (1956). The latter was adapted into a movie filmed in Greenway and its boathouse (where the murder scene occurred).
Christie selected all the items in the house, including the furniture, decorations, sentimental items she brought from her childhood home, and unique items from her travels worldwide and her husband’s Middle Eastern excavations.
In 2000, the family gifted the Greenway estate to the National Trust. Soon after, the gardens got opened to the public without access to the house since her daughter and son-in-law, Rosalind and Anthony Hicks, occupied it. When they passed away in 2005, Christie’s grandson, Mathew Prichard, gifted the house and its contents to the National Trust. After a massive restoration project, Greenway House was opened to the public in February 2009.
The house got organized as it was in 1950, presenting personal items, art collections, books, photographs, and portraits in the different rooms, including the Morning Room, the Drawing Room, the Kitchens, and the library. It allows the visitors to get a pick into the author’s life and her family’s as they explore the house and the feeling they are about to enter at any time.
Also on Greenway is a second-hand book shop, a gift shop with lots of themed souvenirs, and the Greenway House tea rooms.
Do not miss strolling the gardens, the view at the battery point, and the visit to the famous boathouse.
Among the annual special events held in Greenway are the Greenway Literary Festival in June, the International Agatha Christie Festival on Christie’s birthday on September 15th, and the Autumn Tea Festival.
13 km north of Greenway lays Torquay, a beautiful town on the English Riviera and the hometown of Agatha Christie. A self-guided walking tour along Torquay’s seafront follows many of Christie’s landmarks and memories as part of the Agatha Christie Mile – a celebration of Christie’s legacy.
Agatha Christie's Greenway House and Garden
Step inside Agatha Christie's former holiday home, Greenway, as Christie's grandson takes you on a tour of the house and garden. Mathew Prichard shares some of his dearest memories of Greenway Estate which is now run by the National Trust and open to visitors between February and October.
Find out more at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway
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Agatha Christie's Greenway House and Garden
Step inside Agatha Christie's former holiday home, Greenway, as Christie's grandson takes you on a tour of the house and garden. Mathew Prichard shares some of his dearest memories of Greenway Estate which is now run by the National Trust and open to visitors between February and October.Find out more at http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway
This post is also available in:
Español