Greenway
The National Trust, Greenway
On Saturday 28th February 2009, and with thanks to generous grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Devon Renaissance, the National Trust opened Greenway House, 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’.
The dedicated team has worked hard to ensure that the spirit of Greenway has been kept very much alive. The Trust has calculated that over 10,000 hours in total have been worked by volunteers on the project. For the first few weeks, when visitors arrive at the property, they will see staff in the final stages of putting the house back together, enabling the public to share in this process rather than wait until work is completed later in the year.
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.
Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie’s grandson commented: “At last! After many years of toil on behalf of the National Trust, Greenway is restored to its former beauty and ready for the public to come in. What I wish most is that the people who visit it feel some of the magic and sense of place that I felt when my family and I spent so much time there in the 1950s and 1960s. If they do, then our gift of Greenway will be well worthwhile. Good luck. I can sense Greenway rubbing its hands in expectation!”
Green ways to Greenway: Ferry: enjoy a cruise on the River Dart from Dartmouth (use Dartmouth Park & Ride, bus service every 15 mins, allow at least 4 hrs parking) and Dittisham.
Since 2004, over 45% of visitors to the property have arrived by ‘green transport’, either by bus, ferry, bicycle or walking.
First Published March 2009 By The Dart