Greenway: Agatha Christie's Riverside Home

The world's best-selling crime writer kept her happiest secret on a wooded hillside above the River Dart — and arriving by boat is half the pleasure.

Greenway is one of those places that earns the word magical without embarrassment. A late Georgian house set deep in woodland above the River Dart, it was Agatha Christie's holiday home from 1938 until her death in 1976, and she adored it utterly. The National Trust has cared for it since 2000, preserving the house much as Christie left it — full of books, curiosities and the comfortable clutter of a family actually living there.

The rooms feel genuinely inhabited rather than museumified. Christie's library, the collection of archaeological finds she accumulated with her husband, the archaeologist Max Mallowan, display cases of objects that feel like props in an unfinished mystery — all of it adds up to a portrait of a rich, private inner life. Fans will spot that Greenway itself appears, lightly disguised, in several of her novels: Dead Man's Folly is the one to read beforehand.

The walled garden is lovely, and the grounds — sweeping wooded paths down toward the river — reward a slow afternoon. There is a boathouse on the bank below the house, familiar to Christie readers as a crime scene, and rather less sinister in person.

The journey matters here. The classic approach is by ferry from Dartmouth or Torquay across the estuary, or by the seasonal passenger boat upriver from Dartmouth — a short, beautiful trip through the wooded Dart valley that gives you the house from the water before you reach it. Walkers can approach on the South West Coast Path and the Dart Valley Trail. Driving is possible but the lanes are narrow and parking limited; the National Trust actively encourages arriving by boat or bus.

Check National Trust opening days and booking requirements before visiting — Greenway is popular and timed tickets are sometimes needed. Combine it with a look at Dartmouth itself, one of Devon's finest harbour towns, to make a full day of the river.

— People & places