Agatha Christie & the English Riviera

This morning, we stroll through Torquay and along the picturesque promenade to see some of the places the ‘queen of crime’ spent time as a young woman, such as Princess Pier where she roller-skated with friends and the Pavilion where she attended many concerts. We will also stop and see some particular places that feature in her novels such as the Princess Gardens where the mysterious figure of Alexander Cust, in the A.B.C. Murders, contemplates a series of murders and the Imperial Hotel, in its splendid cliff top location, visited by both Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple in the novels Peril at End House and Sleeping Murder. In the afternoon, we visit Torquay Museum to see the only permanent gallery devoted to the life and work of Agatha Christie.

Today, we journey to Greenway House, the residence of Agatha and her second husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan. Bought by the couple in 1938, they spent many years living here and Agatha used the estate as inspiration for her novels Dead Man’s Folly and Five Little Pigs. The house and the surrounding area have also played parts in several other books. This afternoon, we spend time at Burgh Island. The beautiful Art Deco style hotel here named after the island was used by Agatha as the setting for her book And Then There Were None and the Hercule Poirot story Evil Under The Sun.

On our last morning in Torquay, we stroll along the coast to view further sites associated with Agatha Christie including the Royal Yacht Club where her father, Frederick Miller, would spend a great deal of time and Beacon Cove, which in the early 1900s was the Ladies Bathing Cove and where Agatha frequently swam and on one occasion very nearly drowned. Our tour ends upon return to the hotel before lunchtime.