2020 marks 100 years for the reason that international well-known novelist Agatha Christie printed her first guide. The most efficient-selling creator used to be born and grew up in Torquay and later spent her summers at her vacation house at the River Dart. 

The lovely panorama of South Devon impressed Agatha Christie right through her lifestyles in addition to lots of her tales.

Agatha Christie wrote her first novel whilst staying at Haytor on Dartmoor. Credit score: ITV West Nation

It used to be a number of the rugged panorama of Dartmoor that Agatha Christie wrote her first novel – “The Mysterious Affair at Types” – which additionally marked the debut of her Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot.

She used to be despatched to Haytor in Dartmoor by way of her mom, who was hoping the far off location would encourage her daughter to jot down.

A tender Agatha Christie enjoying with a diabolo within the grounds of the circle of relatives house at Ashfield in Torquay. Credit score: The Christie Archive Accept as true with

Martin Harris, the creator of the “Reputable Information to Agatha Christie”, says she had an enchanting manner of writing.

“She deliberate meticulously what her tale line could be. She would then move out and in fact discuss out the discussion. So when she got here to stick on Dartmoor she would have walked for hours, possibly six hours at a time.  

“She used to be right here for best ten days however she completed her first novel.”

“The Mysterious Affair at Types” used to be rejected a number of instances sooner than after all being printed in 1920. It used to be the beginning of an extended a hit profession as against the law author and one the place she endured to be impressed by way of the Devon panorama.


Born in Torquay, Agatha became places she knew into fictional puts of homicide and intrigue.

Agatha Christie volunteered as a nurse in Torquay throughout Global Conflict I. Credit score: The Christie Archive Accept as true with

Her time volunteering as a nurse in Torquay throughout the First Global Conflict gave her wisdom of one in every of her favorite strategies of homicide, poison.


On a non-public stage she had a lifelong love affair with the ocean – specifically at Meadfoot Seaside, as Matt Newbury, creator of “Agatha Christie’s Devon”, explains:

“Throughout Agatha’s formative years it used to be the cool seashore to return to, so she just about spent all her summers right here.   She swam right through her lifestyles, she got here again to this seashore in her eighties and swam right here as neatly.

Agatha used to be a willing bodyboarder and realized to surf status up whilst visiting Hawaii along with her first husband. Credit score: The Christie Archive Accept as true with

Matt Newbury says, “What a large number of other people do not know about her is she is among the first other people to do rise up browsing. She used to be browsing in Hawaii and taking in large waves.

“She used to be moderately a dynamic persona and I believe that is what makes her perceive her characters and be capable of write fascinating characters.”

Kents Cavern in Torquay featured in ‘The Guy within the Brown Swimsuit’ – the author known as it Hampsley Cavern. Credit score: ITV West Nation

However as a kid, it used to be what lay underneath the bottom in Torquay which additionally induced Agatha’s interest.

James Hull from Kent’s Cavern says: “Her father used to be desirous about Torquay Herbal Historical past Society which funded the excavations at Kent’s Cavern, which will have to have fed that love affair she had for archaeology.  

Agatha’s 2nd husband, Max Mallowan, used to be an archaeologist and she or he assisted him on various digs. Credit score: The Christie Archive Accept as true with

James Hull continues, “In a while in lifestyles she were given married to an archaeologist and went to the Heart East to do excavations and that brought about a large number of novels afterward and naturally her fourth guide, “The Guy within the Brown Swimsuit”, has Kents Cavern in it.”

Agatha’s whodunnits ‘And Then There Had been None’ and ‘Evil Below the Solar’ have been set at Burgh Island. Credit score: ITV West Nation

Agatha Christie’s writing profession spanned 5 a long time. Burgh Island used to be the foundation at the back of two of her maximum a hit books, “And Then There Had been None” and “Evil Below the Solar”.

Within the 1930s, the tidal island attracted the wealthy and well-known, together with Agatha Christie, who used to be given a purpose-built writing retreat. 

The seashore area used to be first constructed within the 1930s as a author’s retreat for Agatha Christie. Credit score: ITV West Nation

She’d come right here and overlook all her troubles and woes and simply take into consideration what the tale used to be going to ivolve and get on and write it.

Giles Fuchs, Proprietor, Burgh Island Resort

Giles Fuchs, Proprietor of Burgh Island Resort says: “It will have to have given her all kinds of concepts and the speculation of an island as the very best location to dedicate against the law.  It additionally creates that pressure as a result of you’ll’t in fact get off.”

Recognized in the community as Mrs Mallowan, Agatha Christie spent many satisfied years at Greenway her vacation house at the River Dart. Credit score: The Christie Archive Accept as true with

Devon used to be an unending supply of creativity for Agatha Christie – but it surely used to be additionally house.

She spent her summers at Greenway at the banks of the River Dart and declared it the most endearing position on the earth.  

Belinda Smith from the Nationwide Accept as true with at Greenway says: “it used to be an overly particular position for her. If you are in search of someplace to get in conjunction with your nearest and dearest then she selected Greenway.”  

Agatha playing an trip along with her daughter Rosalind and circle of relatives – and canine. Credit score: The Christie Archive Accept as true with

Belinda Smith provides, “It used to be the place she got here for the vacations, it used to be the place the circle of relatives loved the panorama of Devon, picnicking on Dartmoor or the journeys at the river.  

“It used to be an overly non-public position to her and simply actually enjoyable, so she might be that mom, that grandmother and spend time with the circle of relatives.”

Agatha Christie – Queen of Crime and daughter of Devon. Credit score: The Christie Archive Accept as true with

It can be 100 years since Agatha Christie’s first novel used to be printed –  however her readership continues to develop.

And it’s the South Devon panorama she weaved via such a lot of of her books that has performed an enormous section within the Agatha Christie legacy.

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