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.

Agatha Adventures #1 - Introduction & Day One

Introduction 

Having spent the last few months visiting locations from the Sherlock Holmes stories and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's life, I decided to expand my horizons . Having read an article in the Sunday Times about the Agatha Christie locations of Torquay and the surrounding area, and given Christie's admitted use of the Holmes/Watson relationship for Poroit/Hastings in 'The Mysterious Affair At Styles', I decided to make a pilgrimage to the English Riviera. 

DAY 1    (04/10/2017)

Catching a train from London Paddington (unfortunately not the 4:50), after around 3 hours I found myself at Torquay railway station where in 1990, Christie's centenary year, Joan Hickson's Miss Marple and David Suchet's Hercule Poirot met for the first time. Finding my accommodation and dumping my luggage I decided to follow a walk deemed 'The Agatha Christie Mile'. First up was the Grand Hotel, the site of Agatha's honeymoon with Archie Christie on Christmas Eve 1914. 

 Walking towards the Harbour my next stop was Princess Pier, a favourite spot of Agatha's for roller skating and built in the same year that she was born. 

Nearby was Princess Gardens featured in 'The ABC Murders' and next to this was the Princess Theatre from which the official Agatha Christie Theatre Company tours each year. 

Across the road was Torquay Pavilion, and it was after a Wagner concert here that Archie Christie proposed to the young Agatha Miller.

 

Opposite the Pavilion is a bronze bust of Agatha commemorating the Christie centenary year in 1990, by Dutch sculptor Carol Van Den Boom-Cairns.

Crossing The Strand which is recognisable in a number of Christie's novels, I made my way into Beacon Cove and the Royal Torbay Yacht Club where Agatha's father Frederick Miller was a prominent member. 

Moving up a steep hill I overlooked the cove itself, it was here that Agatha once got into difficulty while swimming and almost drowned. 

Continuing up the hill I reached the Imperial Hotel which features in the novel 'Sleeping Murder' the last of the Miss Marple novels. The Imperial Hotel also appears as the Majestic Hotel in 'Peril at End House' and 'The Body in the Library'. 

On my way back into town, I passed a plaque indicating that Elizabeth Barrett Browning lived in what is now a hotel between 1838 and 1841. Stopping to get a bite to eat I returned to my hotel, and evening watching television and the first few episodes of Series 5 of 'Elementary', the DVD of which had arrived just before I left home. I also discovered that the bus timetable that I had picked up earlier, contained a number of discount vouchers for local attractions.

Sherlockian Sojourns - Special #1: (In) The Footprints of a Gigantic Hound

“One false statement was made by Barrymore at the inquest. He said that there were no traces upon the ground round the body. He did not observe any. But I did—some little distance off, but fresh and clear.", stated Dr. Mortimer

"Footprints?" asked Holmes

"Footprints."

"A man's or a woman's?"

Dr. Mortimer looked strangely at us for an instant, and his voice sank almost to a whisper as he answered.

"Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound!" [HOUN]

The following is a diary of my second trip to Dartmoor kept by myself at the time:

Monday 20^th September 2010

The train pulled up at a small wayside station and we all descended. Outside, beyond the low, white fence, a wagonette with a pair of cobs was waiting. Our coming was evidently a great event, for station-master and porters clustered round us to carry out our luggage. [HOUN]

Having failed to visit Dartmoor locations from “The Hound of the Baskervilles” on a previous occasion due to heavy fog, I decided to make another attempt. Starting off from London Waterloo (near to where Stapleton hired his cab to ‘dog’ Sir Henry), I made my way firstly to Exeter. Having some time to kill until my connection to Plymouth, I wandered round the town, having stowed my bag at a left-luggage office, coming across a Sherlock Holmes sign outside a city tobacconist.

Returning to Exeter Station, I travelled onwards to Plymouth, where due to becoming confused as to where the bus stop that I required was, just missed my intended bus which would have taken me the most direct route to Princetown, managing to break the strap of my bag by running. A quick telephone call to ‘Traveline’ revealed another bus in half-an-hour, but that I would need to continue to Tavistock and then out again, as the last bus from Yelverton to Princetown would have departed by the time of my arrival there. This journey continued without problems, and just over forty-five minutes later than planned, I was standing outside the High Moorland Visitors’ Centre in Princetown, formerly the Duchy Hotel where Conan Doyle had stayed with his friend Bertram Fletcher Robinson, when researching HOUND.

I then made my way across the square to the Fox Tor Café (named after the nearby tor and mire, the model for the ‘Great Grimpen Mire’), which had just closed for the day. However, following the signs to the attached Bunkhouse, I found a member of staff who let me into my booked room, and revealed that I had the bunkhouse to myself for all three nights. Settling in, I unpacked and ensured that I had my bag ready for the next morning. Following a brief meal at a nearby Pub, I decided to have an early night.

Tuesday 21^st September 2010

"That is the great Grimpen Mire," said Stapleton. "A false step yonder means death to man or beast. Only yesterday I saw one of the moor ponies wander into it. He never came out.” [HOUN]

"It is worth a mud bath," said Holmes. "It is our friend Sir Henry's missing boot." [HOUN]

The day started misty, but the local weather forecast predicted that the mist would swiftly burn away. This proved to be correct and at just after 10am, I left the bunkhouse, making my way via the Visitors Centre, buying two HOUND posters and a Sherlock Holmes Dartmoor Fridge magnet. Having confirmed the starting point of my proposed walk with Dartmoor National Park Authority staff, I strode off towards the indicated gate, and up my first tor (South Hessary) of the day. Following the instructions, after about forty minutes, I found myself at Nun’s Cross, and a short way further on, Nuns Cross Farm, and the prime candidate for Merripit House, Stapleton’s home.

Continuing on, I found the indicated brook, and following it round a hillside, found myself overlooking the infamous Fox Tor Mire, better known to Sherlockians as ‘The Great Grimpen Mire’. Having taken many photographs, I decided to take a video with narration from the book. However, a sudden gust of wind blew the piece of paper with Stapleton’s conversation with Watson about the mire from my hand, into the brook. Not wishing to leave it there littering the moor, I had to pile up my stuff, and step into the brook to retrieve it, getting my feet slightly wet despite my boots.

Following the brook onwards, I found the main road, which having followed for around another forty minutes, listening to the Clive Merrison radio version of HOUND, and going up and down several more tors, I found myself back at the Visitors Centre.

Returning to the bunkhouse, I took the opportunity to have a short rest and some lunch, before striding up the nearby North Hessary Tor to the strains of excerpts from Teddy Hayes’ HOUND musical, “The Baskerville Beast”. At the top, I was able to see across the many local tors, including the Bellever and Vixen Tors observed by Watson when on his hunt for the convict, Selden.

Walking back down, proved much easier, and the lack of anyone else in the vicinity meant that I decided to join in with the songs.

Back at the bunkhouse, I changed my clothes, watched some television, had another Pub meal, and retired to the strains of an audio play, “Holmes and the Ripper”, starring ‘TV’s voice of the Daleks’, Nicholas Briggs, as the Great Detective.

Wednesday 22^nd September 2010

I have said that over the great Grimpen Mire there hung a dense, white fog. It was drifting slowly in our direction and banked itself up like a wall on that side of us, low but thick and well defined….

"It's moving towards us, Watson.", said Holmes

"Is that serious?"

"Very serious, indeed--the one thing upon earth which could have disarranged my plans..” [HOUN]

The day again started misty, but again the local weather indicated that the mist was soon clear. I therefore strode out for a walk taking in the likely location of the huts where Holmes hid out whilst on the moor, as well as the most likely Dartmoor candidate for Baskerville Hall. However, first I needed to find a taxi to the start point of my walk, Shipley Bridge, a small village between South Brent and Buckfastleigh. Having finally found a taxi, the driver had little idea where he was going, and mumbled and grumbled for much of the hour-long journey. However, we finally made it, and having paid £35 (!), I started off on my walk, passing and being passed by a large group of cyclists. I followed the directions, and was soon opposite Rider’s Ring, the remnants of a stone age settlement, where Holmes would have hidden.

Continuing up a track to the top of the large Avon Dam, I found myself being confused as to where to go next. However, at this point, a helpful middle-aged couple turned up, who it seemed were walking a route that was identical to the one that I had planned from that point onwards. They therefore begrudgingly agreed that I could follow them. However, fifteen minutes later, we had not reached the stream that we had expected to. Even worse, thick fog had begun to descend onto the moor. Looking at their map, the couple decided that as they were not yet halfway round their circular route, they would retrace their steps, and as it ended close to Hayford Hall, a model for Baskerville Hall, I decided to do so also. Having reached the point where we had met, and walked up a steep hill, all we had to do was follow a series of marker posts to the main road. However, these petered out on several occasions, and though I strode off in front at the couple’s insistence, I had to stop to wait for them to catch up and point me in the right direction twice.

Finally reaching the road, given that the fog was increasing, I decided that there was no point wandering left down the road towards Hayford Hall, as I would be unable to see or take a picture of it in the fog. I therefore strode off right, to walk the two miles to Buckfastleigh. As I had hoped, my earlier walking companions caught up with me in their car, and offered me a lift into Buckfastleigh.

On reaching Buckfastleigh, I made my way to the Steam Railway, and the station that would have been the one that Watson, Mortimer and Sir Henry would have arrived at.

 

  

The last train of the day had gone, and so having spoken to Traveline again, decided to return to Princetown by bus. The first part of the journey went fine, and I found myself back in Plymouth. However, due to problems with the bus that I boarded at the bus station, and heavy traffic due to it being rush hour, I became aware that I would not only miss my connection in Yelverton, but that there would also be no buses from Tavistock. I therefore still alighted at Yelverton (the likely location of the stables from “Silver Blaze”), and wrongly believing that Princetown was only a mile away, strode off. However, having walked a mile and finding a sign indicating ‘Princetown - 5 miles’, I called for a taxi, particularly as the fog was getting worse. Ten minutes later it arrived, and for fifteen minutes, we slowly made our way through the fog, avoiding moor ponies who had strayed on to the road. Back at the Visitors’ Centre, I walked back to the bunkhouse.

My evening followed a similar pattern to the previous one, as I went to bed, listening to the concluding part of “Holmes and the Ripper”, musing on an unsuccessful, expensive day.

Thursday 23^rd September 2010

“I give you my word that I shall be very glad to have you back safe and sound in Baker Street once more.", said Holmes. [HOUN]

Having packed and returned my key, I caught my first bus, to Yelverton, where for the first time, I managed to catch a bus onwards, this time to Plymouth. I then spent several hours in Plymouth, including walking along a pavement with Sherlockian quotes.

Catching a train from Plymouth, and changing at Newton Abbot, I made my way to Exeter again. After a half-hour wait, I finally caught the London Waterloo train, changing at Clapham Junction to get home earlier than expected.