As if we didn’t get our fill of stunning countryside and coastline in Port Isaac, today’s journey on the KERA/Transcendent Travel Iconic British Classics 2024 Tour saw us, sadly, leave the picturesque home of Doc Martin for the equally as stunning family holiday home of Agatha Christie, The Greenway Estates.

Aside from the estate being the setting for the murder-mystery novel “Death at Greenway”, Dead Man’s Folly, the final episode of Hercule Poirot series starring Sir David Suchet was filmed there. Written in 1954, “Dead Man’s Folly”, you might remember that Poirot was directed to a winding path that led along the wood with glimpses of the river below.

“It is a beautiful place,” said Poirot of Greenway. “A beautiful house, beautiful grounds. It has about it a great peace, great serenity.” Unfortunately, for the victim, the boathouse also became quite the suitable place for a murder as it would be far enough away from the day’s events and easily accessible from the river.

Fortunately, we all made it safely out of the boathouse so no sequel to “Dead Man’s Folly” on this trip. Next up, a brief visit to the seaside town of Torquay, aptly dubbed “The English Riviera”. Fortunately, I found the sea and it was right where Basil Fawlty told Mrs. Richards, “…over there between the land and the sky“! Torquay was the birthplace of Agatha Christie in 1890. With 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, Christie remains to this day the best selling novelist of all-time.

As much as I tried to find Fawlty Towers, it was The Grand Hotel that loomed large over the seafront. Agatha married Archibald Christie on Christmas Eve 1914 and spent her honeymoon there. The Grand Hotel remains a fixture of the Torquay coastline today and still retains an Agatha Christie suite.

Our tour heads to Midsomer Murders country tomorrow with stops in Dorchester-on-Thames and lunch at the White Hart Hotel followed by a required pint at the Six Bells Pub. The fact that Dorchester-on-Thames has been the site of well over 200 murders on Midsomer Murders, cross your fingers that we all get out alive to be able to share our experiences. Cheers.