National Trust - Greenway

Greenway Road, Galmpton, Brixham, Devon. TQ5 0ES
t: 01803 842382 cafe 661903
e: email
w: www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Information

AGATHA CHRISTIE’S HOLIDAY HOME, GREENWAY,
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

On Saturday 28th February 2009, and with thanks to generous grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund¹ and Devon Renaissance, the National Trust opened Greenway House in Devon, the holiday home of Agatha Christie and her family. For over two years volunteers, builders, curators, conservators and craftsmen have been working round the clock to re-create what Agatha Christie described as ‘the loveliest place in the world’.

Agatha Christie made Greenway her holiday home from 1938 until 1959. Visitors will now have the opportunity to view the many personal collections and mementoes of our best-loved mystery writer and her family and will find a house that portrays the spirit of a holiday home in its 1950s heyday. Here Agatha Christie gathered with her family and friends for long summer days together, often to celebrate a novel just completed for publication.

Agatha Christie’s family gave Greenway to the National Trust in 2000 and for several years visitors have been able to enjoy the beautiful woodland garden, with its romantic pathways that lead down to the Dart estuary. However, as the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Rosalind and Anthony Hicks, the house remained closed to the public for their quiet retirement. Following their deaths in 2004 and 2005, the house passed to the Trust, along with the generous gift from Agatha Christie’s grandson, Mathew Prichard, of the majority of the contents.

Among the rooms that will be on view are:

· The Library at Greenway; The most stunning aspect of the Library is a frieze painted on the walls by Lt Marshall Lee an unofficial war artist of the United States Coastguard, while the house was requisitioned by the admiralty in the autumn of 1943.

· The Drawing Room; Agatha Christie spent summer evenings here reading a chapter from her latest novel, described as the ‘Christie for Christmas’, to the assembled house party of friends and family. She played the grand piano in the room and was a keen pianist, but was terribly shy of performing in public.


Robyn Brown, National Trust Property Manager for Greenway commented: “It has been an enormous and expensive task to restore the house and garden, but I hope that visitors come and enjoy them in the way that many of the previous owners have done – as a family holiday home in which parties have congregated and celebrated a combined interest in gardens, a love for travel, literature and music as well as the beauty and inspiration of Devon and its surrounding coast and countryside.

Due to traffic restrictions in the lanes leading to the property all visitors are encouraged to arrive by green ways to Greenway. However, visitors wishing to arrive by car can do so by prior booking only at www.nationaltrust.org.uk/greenway or by telephone 01803 842382 (open 10-4). There is currently a very high level of interest in this wonderful house and unfortunately this means that we will have no option but to turn away cars that have not booked ahead. Please check the National Trust website for updated details.