Greenway, House of Agatha Christie, Galmpton, Devon - stock photo

South-West England, Great Britain

Franz-Marc Frei/Getty

Greenway

Top choice


High on Devon’s must-see list, the captivating summer home of crime writer Agatha Christie sits beside the placid River Dart. Part-guided tours allow you to wander between rooms where the furnishings and knick-knacks are much as the author left them. The bewitching waterside gardens include features that pop up in Christie's mysteries, so you get to spot locations made notorious by fictional murders. Car parking must be prebooked; the better options are to arrive by Greenway Ferry or on foot.

Christie owned Greenway between 1938 and 1959, and the house feels frozen in time: check out the piles of hats in the lobby, the books in her library, the clothes in her wardrobe, and listen to her speak (via a replica radio) in the drawing room. The gardens feature woods speckled with magnolias, and daffodils and hydrangeas frame the water. The planting creates intimate, secret spaces – the boathouse and the views over the river are sublime. In Christie’s book Dead Man’s Folly, Greenway doubles as Nasse House, with the boathouse making an appearance as a murder scene.

The Greenway Ferry runs to the house when it's open, or you can take the Dartmouth Steam Railway from Paignton to Greenway Halt and walk half a mile through the woods. You can also arrive by hiking along the picturesque Dart Valley Trail from Kingswear (4 miles).


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Britannia Royal Naval College

1.79 MILES

The imposing building crowning the hills above Dartmouth was built in 1905 and is where the Royal Navy still trains all its officers. Guides lead you…

2. Dartmouth Museum

2.13 MILES

An eclectic collection of costumes, swords, ships in bottles and vintage toys, plus evocative WWII exhibits explaining how the area was a mustering point…

3. Butterwalk

2.13 MILES

Dartmouth's Butterwalk is a row of ancient timber-framed buildings that lean at an improbable angle. Despite looking as though they could collapse at any…

4. Bayard's Cove

2.36 MILES

It's worth tracking down Dartmouth's quaintly cobbled Bayard's Cove, the quay from which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail to America, having put into…

5. Dartmouth Castle

2.95 MILES

Discover maze-like passages, atmospheric guardrooms and great views from the battlements of this picturesque castle. The best way to arrive is via the…

6. Paignton Zoo

3.15 MILES

This innovative, 32-hectare zoo is by far and away Paignton's top draw. Spacious enclosures recreate habitats from savannah and wetland to tropical forest…

7. Brixham Heritage Museum

3.21 MILES

An eclectic collection of exhibits explores the town's salty history, majoring in sailboats, smuggling, shipbuilding and sea rescues. There are…

8. Coleton Fishacre

3.37 MILES

For an evocative glimpse of jazz-age glamour, drop by the former home of the D'Oyly Carte family of theatre impresarios. Built in the 1920s, its faultless…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "england/southwest-england/dartmouth/attractions/greenway/a/poi-sig/1019768/359010",
      "position": "superzone"
    }