Welcome to Greenway, the Devonshire holiday home of England’s most famous crime novelist, Agatha Christie.
Bought by Christie in 1938 for £6000 (I know, inflation sucks), the Greenway estate is now managed by the National Trust, who have opened the house and gardens up to the paying public. It’s a veritable heaven for Agatha Christie fans, who can delight in seeing her very own typewriter and personal library, to name just a few of the house’s many details. I, for one, found her handwritten – and rather disturbingly detailed – ‘Notes on Poison’ probably the most intriguing part of my trip. She really did do her research!
Despite the English setting of many of Christie’s works (Murder on the Orient Express being a notable exception) her global interests are evident in both Greenway house’s interior and its extensive gardens. A surprising abundance of West African tribal-influenced decor and Buddhist iconography frequents the drawing and sitting rooms, and a bronze Kuan Yin statue provides the pièce de résistance to the stunning East Asian-inspired pond. Christie met her husband Max Mallowan on an archaeological dig site in what is now Iraq, and they then travelled extensively together, so it’s no wonder they picked up a few design tips.
It would be apt to call Greenway hauntingly beautiful, given the prevalence of ‘death’ among the 66 titles of Christie’s famed detective novels, and I can indeed say that I was awestruck by its subtle sophistication. I can see exactly why Christie and Mallowan decided to buy this property, and only wish I could do such a thing myself! But I’m unsure if I would have used Greenway in all the same ways as dear Agatha, who – esoterically, to put it nicely – erected an elaborate cemetery for her beloved dogs around the fernery’s central fountain.
Not only are the walled gardens – one of which is managed by the local primary school, a tradition begun by Christie herself – bursting with colour, but the woodland trails too are simply mesmerising. I could get lost in there for days. There is something spectacularly unique about being immersed in natural verdure and yet catching the scent of the sea as you walk. For Greenway overlooks the River Dart, a gateway to the English Channel accessible via Greenway’s boathouse, the very scene of poor Marlene Tucker’s murder in one of Christie’s Hercule Poirot mysteries, Dead Man’s Folly, and its later screen adaptation. Visitors are also greeted with many behind the scenes photos of moustachioed David Suchet on set, and even his signed copy of the script.
But Greenway existed both before and after Agatha Christie, and its history outside of her life proves just as captivating. The Greenway estate seems to have a particularly enduring connection to war, from holding POWs captured during the Spanish Armada in the late 16th century, to housing evacuee children during WWII. What’s more, the boathouse was used to practice the infamous D-Day landings, an unexpectedly beautiful memorial of which can be found in the library: when stationed at Greenway to prepare for the landings, Lt Marshall Lee of the US Coast Guard painted a set of 13 murals across all four walls depicting the places they passed and events that occurred during their eleven months spent travelling to Greenway. Lee did not have Christie’s permission to paint the library walls, and indeed she was somewhat shocked to discover his work when Greenway was decommissioned and returned to her in 1945. But, as she writes in her autobiography, Christie declined to have this ‘historic memorial’ painted over. After all, a great artist recognises her kind.
Suffice it to say that Christie’s artistry is constantly on one’s mind when exploring Greenway. One has to be of a certain brand of genius to be able to distinguish ‘the loveliest place on earth’ (as Christie herself termed Greenway) from, frankly, a good murder spot. All I can really say to sum up the Greenway experience is that this duality is what makes it. Come and visit the home of a woman who knew how to decorate just as well as she knew how to poison. And don’t forget to visit the secondhand bookshop on your way out!
