Agatha Adventures #1 - Days Two and Three

DAY 2    (05/10/2017)

After the previous day’s hors d'oeuvre, it was time for the main course – namely Greenway, Agatha Christie’s holiday home, which also features under various guises in several of Christie's novels, namely “Dead Man’s Folly” (the David Suchet dramatisation was even filmed at Greenway), “Five Little Pigs” and “Towards Zero”. Greenway was bought by Christie and her second husband Max Mallowan in 1938. The house was occupied by Christie and Mallowan until their deaths in 1976 and 1978 respectively, and is currently owned by the National Trust.

Catching a bus from Torquay to Paignton, I made my way to the Dartmouth Steam Railway, which runs a train and bus service to Greenway. Taking a seat in one of the carriages being pulled by ‘Lydham Manor’, a locomotive built in December 1950 in Swindon for the Great Western Railway.

Alighting at Churston (the same station that Poirot and Hastings do in the novel “The ABC Murders” when investigating a murder at nearby Ellberry Cover), I made my way to the nearby courtesy bus, named ‘Miss Jane Marple’.

After a ten minute journey through winding country lanes, the bus arrived at the gates to the Greenway Estate. Following a winding path, and walking quickly to beat the rush, after about five minutes I found myself at the entrance to the National Trust site. Paying for entry and a guidebook, I made my way through a courtyard, stowing everything but my camera and spare batteries in a free locker, and entered the house.

Inside a steward gave me a guide to the house, from on top of a Zanzibar Chest, that inspired similar such chests in “The Adventure of the Baghdad Chest”, “The Body in the Library” and “The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding”.

Walking around the house, I saw a variety of Christieian mementoes, including her Damehood (which was hidden in a cupboard), a picture named ‘The Sad Dog’ which inspired the novel “Dumb Witness”, and large numbers of copies of her books in all languages.

Exiting the house, I made my way along a path to the two other parts of the estate featured in her books. The first was the Battery, with cannons, which was where the murder took place in “Five Little Pigs”, with a view across the Dart to the setting of “Towards Zero”.

 

Continuing along, I found myself at the Boathouse, another crime-scene, this time from “Dead Man’s Folly”. It was also here that Christie read her manuscripts, in a chair specially made for her.

 

 

Returning to the main courtyard, and retrieving my bag, I purchased some postcards and a book about all the characters in the Poirot stories, using a 10% off coupon.

Hurrying back down the winding path, I arrived at the gate just before the courtesy bus dropped off another set of passengers, and a few minutes later myself and two others go on for the journey back to Churston. The buses being timetabled in conjunction with the trains, I had only five minutes to wait before ‘Lydham Manor’ pulled back into the station. Around fifteen minutes later, I was exiting Paignton station, and catching a bus back to Torquay, after a brief stop for lunch.

Remaining on the bus past the stop where I had got on that morning, I found myself alighting outside the Torquay Museum, which features an Agatha Christie Gallery. Having paid for entry (again using a discount voucher), I made my way to the top floor, following signs for the ‘AC Gallery’. Walking through a mock-up of an Old Devon Farmhouse, I finally found the gallery. The main exhibits were two complete sets from the ‘Agatha Christie’s Poirot’ episode “Cards on the Table”, as well as complete costumes worn by Joan Hickson and David Suchet, as well as Christie’s own fur coat.

 

 

 The gallery also included leaflets with another version of the ‘Agatha Christie Mile’ with other locations noted that I had not visited the day before.

Having browsed the other galleries, which included ‘Explorers and Ancient Egypt’, ‘Local Studies’ and ‘Ancestors’, I made my way out of the museum, having stopped to buy a postcard and a leaflet about ‘Ashfield’, Christie’s childhood Torquay home, which also appears in fictional form in "Postern of Fate".

Walking back down a steep hill, I walked back along the front until just before the Grand Hotel, I turned up a side road, and made my way to Torre Abbey. Again using a discount voucher, I paid for entry, following the volunteer’s suggestion that I start at the top of the building and work my way down. Having learnt about the history of the Abbey, I made my way out into the gardens, heading for the ‘Agatha Christie’s Potent Plants’ garden, in which examples of all poisonous plants mentioned in Christie’s work could be found.

Having looked at a few more of the grounds, I made my way out of the Abbey, and after a minimum of wrong-turns found myself at All Saints Church, Torre, where Agatha was christened in 1890.

The next port of call, the former site of ‘Ashfield’, proved slightly more difficult to find, but finally after walking up a very steep hill, just before South Devon College, I found the plaque indicating that ‘Ashfield’ had been built on this site.

 

Walking back into central Torquay, I passed the site of the former dispensary that Agatha had worked in, the Town Hall where she had worked in a wartime dispensary, the site of the Athenaeum Rooms (now a Snappy Snaps) where the young Agatha regularly went dancing, and the Central Cinema which was formerly the Royal Theatre and Opera House.

However, of more interest was a business that seemed to be half barbers and half magic shop.

Reaching the main bus stops, I picked up some fish and chips, and caught a bus to just past the Grand Hotel, and Corbyn Head, which appears in “Postern of Fate” as Baldy’s Head, where I ate my fish and chips looking out to sea, before returning to my hotel for another ‘Elementary’ marathon.

DAY 3     (06/10/2017) 

Having breakfasted, I checked out, and walked to the bus stop of the previous day, catching a bus to the top of Torquay, Babbacombe, and the Bygones visitor attraction (using another discount voucher). This family-run attraction features a full-size Victorian street, with 15 shops and 9 period rooms. Having stowed my bag behind the counter, I made my way round the street, and the period rooms above, including a prison cell will an original HMP Dartmoor door, and Victorian handcuffs.

 

 

 

 

The top floor was given over to an old penny arcade, the Railways (including a 27-ton steam engine) and Wartime Britain (including a 'Trench Experience'). 

Retrieving my bag, I made my way to the bus-stop back, getting an open-topped bus back into Central Torquay. I then spent the time until my train home, browsing the shops, purchasing a German-language version of the 'Sherlock - Series 1' Blu Ray. Making my way to the station, I sat on the platform for around twenty minutes until my train arrived. Finding my reserved seat, I settled back to enjoy several 'Big Finish' audios via the app. Arriving back in London at 5.30pm, I made my way home, via the secondhand shops of Notting Hill.