Agatha Christie at...Greenway

Greenway

While in Devon, what Agatha Christie trail would be without a trip to Greenway? Agatha Christie called it "the loveliest place in the world". As always, the Queen of Crime was spot on. It's a beautiful Georgian building in stunning grounds, set back from the River Dart.

I remember the first time I caught a glimpse of Greenway, it was before it was open to the public. We took a boat trip along the River Dart and could see the imposing white Georgian house through the trees. It looked so far away, mysterious and secluded. A place I never thought we'd be able to visit.

However, the National Trust bought the house in about 2000 and set about restoring and renovating it - and what an amazing job they've done. It has been renovated in the style of the 1950s and contains a lot of the items and artifacts that Agatha and her second husband, Max, collected over their years together (I believe these were kindly donated by Agatha's grandson, Mathew Prichard).

You can tell Greenway was close to Agatha's heart as it features in quite a few of her novels.

***The following contains spoilers***

In Five Little Pigs, Greenway features as Alderbury - the house of Amyas Crale, and it is in the grounds of Alderbury that Amyas drinks his fatal glass of beer.

In Dead Man's Folly, Greenway appears as Nasse House. The grounds are the setting of a murder hunt, designed by Ariadne Oliver, the boat house is where Marlene Tucker is found strangled and Poirot navigates his way down the array of paths to the quay, where uses the bell to summon the ferry. The 2014 television adaptation of Dead Man's Folly was filmed here at Greenway, and sees David Suchet, as Poirot, wandering around the house and grounds.

Greenway also makes an appearance in Ordeal by Innocence, as Sunny Point House, and once again the bell on the quay is used to summon the ferry to Drymouth (Dartmouth).

Links to Greenway are not only limited to the house and gardens, but to the contents too. In the Hall there is a brass studded Baghdad chest that features in two of Christie's short stories The Mystery of the Baghdad Chest and The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding.

As part of the Agatha Christie Festival, we'll be making a few visits to Greenway. Hopefully we won't find any dead bodies in the Baghdad Chest...