Visitng a muder location at Greenway, Devon , UK

If you're an Agatha Christie fan, you may have heard of her novel Dead Man Folly. Do you know the TV film was filmed at Agatha Christie's holiday home in South West England called Greenway? Greenway is set in a very secluded location by the River Dart with sublime views, and covers around 36 acres. To give you an idea how big that is, it took me around 10 minutesto walk from the carpark to the house, and from the house to the famous boathouse (see below) about 20 minutes.

To get to Greenway House you have to drive from the nearest village down a very narrow lane which is just enough for one car to pass by. During that one mile drive, which felt like forever, I was so worried there would be oncoming traffic!! Luckily I made it to the car park safely. I'm not sure what one would do if there was oncoming traffic!! From there, it was another ten minute walk to the house. Greenway is so well hidden at such a tranquil setting, no wonder Agatha Christie wrote so many great novels during her holidays here!!!

_{Walk from the car park to the house}

GREENWAY HOUSE

For such a famous person, Greenway is quite a modest house. By the way, in case you're unfamiliar with the author, "outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare, Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time". _Source Some of the exhibits on display at Greenway give you an idea of how famous she was.

Yet her holiday home is so low-key, you wouldn't think it once belonged to such a famous person. The downstairs of Greenway consisted of the drawing room, nothing to flashy, but it did have a Steinway boudoir grand piano that dates back to the 1800s. Agatha Christie was quite an accomplished pianist as well as a great writer.

Then there's a large dining room which could easily sit 10 or 12 people. One thing that caught my eye in the dining room was the curve door. If you look at the wall, it is slightly curved and it's not from me taking a wide angle shot. The door follows the contour of the wall, such a beauty.

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UPSTAIRS

Moving upstairs, the first room that is open for public viewing is the toilet. This is a very interesting room. The toilet you see at the far end is a mobile toilet that belonged to Agatha Christie. Her husband, Max Mallowan was an accomplished archaeologist and when she went with him on his expeditions, she insisted on taking her own personal mobile toilet. I don't blame her for that! There are also a few trunks in the toilet, presumably part of their expedition luggage.

This is the couple's bedroom, another modest room. Apart from the main bed, there's an additional bed in the room. That was used by Max Mallowan when he went on his expeditions, and apparently, he found it so comfortable that he insisted on sleeping in it even after he returned home from his expeditions.

The Library

It would be surprising not to find a library in an author's home. When I entered the library, a series of murals around the room caught my eye. They looked a bit out of place. It turns out that during the second world war, the US Coastguards used Greenway as their base.During their stay at the house, one of the coastguard was an artist and he painted murals documenting their 11 month journey from America to Greenway. After the war, Agatha Christie decided to keep the murals as a memento to the war.

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Nature

After touring the house, I went outside for a walk, through the grounds to the Boathouse. There's a lot of outdoor space at Greenway, a whole 30+ acres. Much of the grounds were developed by the previous owners and date back to the 18th century. The walled garden near the house has a summer house and that's where the gardeners grow whatever they grow. The woodlands are situated at a higher level up than the house and there are some gorgeous view points looking out to the River Dart.

I loved how they had installed a nature poetry board in the garden. Visitors could write their poems using the magnetic words. Sadly a lot of the magnets had fallen off the words and I was left with limited options for my poem. I think I still did a pretty ok job 😀

listen to acorns gather the fallen crunch
sprinkle red leaves toward you
when apples ripen forest turn
tall bird whisper with splash

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THE BOATHOUSE

And finally we arrive at the famous Boathouse. This is situated at the far end of the grounds. The boathouse was built around the 18th century. There are two levels, with the lower level directly by the River Dart. It is thought that back in those days, people like to bathe in the river as they believe it was good for their health. Then during the second world war, the US Coastguard used the boathouse to train and prepare for the D-Day. I walked down to the river bank, but there wasn't much to see and the lower level was closed to visitors.

The upper level of the boathouse had one biggish room. There was nothing special about it either, other than it features in Agath Christie's novel Dead Man Folly. This is the location where Marlene Tucker was killed in the novel. I actually watched Dead Man Folly after I visited Greenway, and it was great to see the places that I had been not too long ago, including the exact spot where the murder took place.

Anywhere, what I really want to show you, is my favorite photo from my visit to Greenway - this sublime view of the River Dart from the Boathouse balcony.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of Greenway, and learned a bit more about one of the greatest authors in the world.

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